Innovative Projects Realized

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems for Precision Agriculture in Canadian Stone Fruit Orchards

On this project, the use of tethered remotely piloted aircraft systems to protect stone fruit orchards will be explored. The intern sill design and evaluate the performance of such aircraft systems and conduct both ground and in-flight testing of the system. BAAZ UAV will benefit from this technology and the potential deployment to support Canadian stone fruit producers in adapting to increasingly unpredictable and unfavourable growing conditions due to climate change.

Development of new RNA-guided dual-cleaving nucleases

Gene editing with RNA-guided nucleases based on the CRISPR bacterial defence system (clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats) has revolutionized both basic science and therapeutic applications. However, CRISPR associated (Cas) nucleases are not optimized for all types of gene-editing applications. In particular, the double-strand breaks made in DNA by the Cas proteins are imperfectly repaired by cellular DNA repair pathways that lead to a spectrum of gene-editing outcomes. The goal of this project is to develop new dual-cleaving RNA guided nucleases that generate defined gene-editing outcomes and that can target sequences not accessible by commonly used Cas9 nucleases. Given the wide-spread adoption of gene-editing technologies, the new dual-cleaving nucleases would provide alternative and improved gene-editing tools for basic scientific studies by academic and industry researchers. For Specific Biologics, this partnership supports future downstream therapeutic use of new dual-cleaving nucleases to target genetic mutations that cannot be targeted with current gene editors.

In Pursuit of Local Histories: Regent Park Film Festival and the Immediacy of the Archive

To commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2022, the Regent Park Film Festival will commission four local IBPOC artists (prioritizing gender diversity and those from Regent Park or similar communities in Toronto) to produce digital media art works that engage with the history of Regent Park. The basis for their artistic engagements will include visual source material such as archival footage of Regent Park (documentaries, news coverage, home videos from residents etc.), as well as narrative forms set in Regent Park (short and feature films, web series episodes, music videos etc.). The Mitacs Post-Doctoral researcher will support the production of the films both through archival research, interviews with community stakeholders and the creation of an online digital interface that will support and extend the films.

Generative Face Models for Video Chat and Broadcast

In today’s world, the video chat and conferencing has been a necessary part of overall routine life (both personal and work). Currently, the video chat and broadcast technologies require lots of bandwidth to transmit high quality data. In overall project, we aim to make video transmission data intelligent by using the state-of-the-art AI technology. This will not only reduce the size of video data but will also include the ‘instructions’ to give users creative control of their representations and serve as a segue to the metaverse – the intelligent part.
In this part of the project, we are planning to utilize the state-of-the-art face generating StyleGan2 neural network that convert the face video data into the compressed, intelligent, and ready-for-transmission data format. At the receiving end, the transmitted instructions will be used to regenerate the transmitted video data. The additional instructions to manipulate the video will provide the useful mechanism to generate the avatars with realistic faces – a must have feature for upcoming metaverse.

Gamification Best Practices- building the foundation of advanced learning

Gamification is the process of adding game elements to something in an effort to encourage participation and increase engagement. It has been used throughout multiple sectors and industries for the last decade and has been proven to have a positive impact on user engagement and enjoyment. Through this increased engagement, gamification is able to provide its users with a significant, deep learning experience that has been shown to aid in skill development and increase knowledge retention.
The study of gamification has many foundational knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to enhance the use of gamification and secure its longevity as a tool for engagement and motivation. One significant gap is the lack of a standardized best practice for the use of gamification. According to a review of recent literature, game design and design elements play a key role in the success or failure of a gamified application. The oversaturation of repetitive and basic game design elements typically employed by content creators, such as points, badges and leaderboards have some questioning whether the current iteration of gamification has reached maturity in relation to its effectiveness.

Suivi expérimental qualitatif et quantitatif d’un jardin de pluie en climat nordique

Cette étude vise à déterminer le niveau de performance du jardin de pluie aménagé dans les conditions du climat nordique. Les résultats du suivi expérimental qui seront obtenus devront permettre de mettre en évidence les points forts et faibles du système implanté à Longueuil, afin d’en améliorer le fonctionnement en climat froid aussi bien en termes quantitatif que qualitatif. Le potentiel de réutilisation domestique des eaux pluviales capturées par cet ouvrage sera aussi étudié.

Feasibility and Benchmarking of Quantum Random Number Generation for Distributed Ledger Technologies

Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) is a promising technology to provide true randomness as a service for many computing uses, such as cryptography. The company Quantum eMotion develops an affordable product called QNG2 which offers quantum random number generation in a compact device (i.e., PCIe card) which can easily be used in any standard PC with their accompanying software. Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are quickly becoming a popular utilization of
cryptography for a wide variety of domains, such as cryptocurrencies, digital art, and supply chain management. A source of truly random numbers is often desirable to enable application logic, harden security, or improve the efficiency of the system. The objective of this project is: to investigate the convergence of two cutting-edge technologies: quantum random number generation and blockchain based distributed ledger technologies, and to assess the feasibility and evaluate the potential of QRNG powered DLT systems and applications.

Influence of slag characteristics on dephosphorization and refractory wear in steel electric arc furnace

The Canadian steel industry experiences fierce global competition. It is also under an increasing pressure to decrease its environmental foot-print. Continuous process optimization is, therefore, necessary for a sustainable operation. To produce high quality steel and concurrently reduce costs, trial and error cannot be effective. This proposal aims to advance the knowledge of electric arc furnace steelmaking process. The students, handling the project, will establish methodologies to simulate the industrial operation at lab scale to study the effects of interplaying operational variables on the steel quality and find the optimum set of process parameters for production of steel with utmost properties. The research results will be then validated at real scale. The major impact of the project on the industry will be to produce steel with superior quality meeting the national and global market demand, operate more efficiently with least disruption, consume lower amount of energy, and reduce costs.

Outils numériques pour l’étude des avions à propulsion hybride-électrique

La propulsion hybride-électrique a le potentiel de réduire la consommation en carburant des aéronefs et constitue une alternative plus réaliste par rapport à l’option tout électrique. Avec l’utilisation de sources d’énergies différentes, le processus de dimensionnement est complexifié et couplé à l’opération de l’aéronef. Cela nécessite alors une approche d’exploration par analyse de mission et d’optimisation au niveau du système au complet. Ainsi, des environnements de simulation et d’optimisation ont été développés lors de projets académiques précédents afin d’évaluer les bénéfices potentiels des propulsion hybrides. Les outils et modèles numériques ainsi développés seront implémentés dans le système d’analyse du partenaire afin d’accroitre ses capacités d’étude des technologies de propulsion hybride pour l’aviation.

Upcycling of Winemaking Waste By-Products into Sustainable Cosmetic Product Formulas

Cheekbone Beauty Inc. is an Indigenous Canadian-owned beauty company with a mission to transform the lives of all its
consumers through sustainable products and business innovation. The proposed project involves repurposing wine-making
waste (grape pomace) from local Niagara Region wineries into high-value added ingredients with anti-aging, anti-pollution, and sun protection properties, for cosmetic applications. This circular and sustainable economy project directly aligns with the company’s mission, and it integrates and honours the Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing.

The project interns will gain useful skills including technical advanced analytics (e.g. HPLC, GC-MS), and professional skills through the interaction with entrepreneurs as well as to expand their knowledge in the field of cosmetic science and technology. With this project, Cheekbone Beauty hopes to aide in the reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous people while allowing Indigenous people to lead themselves to a better path of healing and prosperity. The upcycle of high-valued active ingredients from winery waste will contribute to Canada’s growing circular and sustainable economy.

A Data-Driven Modeling Approach for Estimating Methane Emission Sources from Satellite, Environmental, and Oil/Gas Well Data

There has been an increased commitment to capping GHG emissions from oil/gas (O/G) operations. However, reliable monitoring and quantification of methane emissions from particular sources are difficult for several reasons: (1) high-resolution sampling data over an extensive geographical area is rare; (2) identifying emission sources from large-scale monitoring satellite data is extremely challenging, often yielding inconsistent and highly varying results.
Satellite retrievals of near-surface concentrations of atmospheric methane, together with other environmental (weather), and oil/gas operational/production data, can be used to infer potential emission sources. This project aims to develop practical workflows for quantifying methane emission sources from O/G operations by (1) building machine-learning models for correlating production data and well activity to methane emission rates, and (2) understanding the relationships between O/G activities and emission source characteristics. The outcomes would be useful for identifying better monitoring opportunities.

Performance of Cast Steel Replaceable Yielding Links in Steel Eccentrically Braced Frames

This research project is aimed at the development and experimental validation of a new generation of cast steel replaceable yielding links for use in steel eccentrically braced frames (EBF). The cast steel links can be used to make EBF more resilient than the conventional links. Through the collaboration with the industry partner, CastConnex, in the past four years, the performance of several sizes of cast steel links was experimentally tested. Currently, the performance of an EBF with the proposed cast steel links is being studied using an advanced simulation method. The proposed research will be focused on the experimental validation of an alternative design of the cast steel replaceable links to further enhance the performance of the links, proposing a method to improve the reusability of EBFs after an earthquake event, and detailed post-processing of the experimental results. This will ensure that little to no structural repair would be required for budlings using the proposed system, after major earthquakes. The performance of the newly proposed self-centering eccentrically braced frames will be studied through numerical and experimental simulations.