Innovative Projects Realized

Investigation of enhanced superplastic forming behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V alloy sheets for aerospace applications

Titanium alloys are used to manufacture aerospace components that require high strength at high operating temperatures such fan blades, heat shields and jet engine exhaust cones. Parts that have complex geometries are commonly formed at high temperature (around 900°C) so as to achieve maximum ductility during the forming process. By applying a small oscillating load during the forming process, the titanium alloy is expected to deform more uniformly and to a greater extent than during conventional superplastic forming. The objective of this investigation is to determine the ranges of amplitude and frequency of the oscillating load that will optimize the formability of the titanium sheet. The results of this research will ultimately be applied to industrial processes in order to improve process robustness and part quality while reducing cycle time and manufacturing costs.

Travail sur des polymères interface pour développer des surfaces multi-stimulables

Le projet à pour but d’obtenir une surface avec des propriétés qui peuvent changer grâce à une stimulation. Dans notre cas une stimulation à une longueur d’onde précise.
Dans un premier temps je dois synthétiser un polymère qui va permettre de changer la nature de la surface de silice. Ce processus ce fait en plusieurs étapes et avec différentes techniques en laboratoire.
Je dois ensuite greffer ce polymère sur la surface, avec encore une fois plusieurs étapes à effectuer en laboratoire.
Pour finir il faut caractériser cette surface pour conclure de l’efficacité ou non de notre projet. Plusieurs technique seront utilisé, pour caractériser l’épaisseur, la nature et l’efficacité de notre surface face à la stimulation extérieure.

Nurturing Good Beginnings: Evaluating and Assessing the YWCA’s community care program for new mothers/birthing parents

The YWCA aims to evaluate, through partnership with McMaster University, the impact of Good Beginnings, a program providing support for mothers/birthing parents who are vulnerable, precarious, and at-risk for postpartum depression. The program provides service for approximately 70 postpartum people and their babies annually, for a total of 500 people since 2014. During these six years, the YWCA has collected entrance, mid, and exit data from program participants. The research partnership will analyze these data, determine the strengths of the program, and set the foundations for ongoing evaluation and best practices to further meet the needs of the community. The primary goal of this project is to maximize positive social impact among vulnerable populations through quantitative and qualitative impact assessments which will inform the expansion of this and similar programs. This project assessment will provide the YWCA with leverage in the form of tangible results in obtaining sustained program funding.

Elaboration d’un sytème polymerique d’encapsulation d’ARN messager

Le projet consiste à synthétiser un nouveau système d’encapsulation d’ARN messager. L’objectif est donc de développer un matériau polymère plus stable et moins coûteux pour son utilisation dans des applications comme les vaccins à ARN messager. Grâce à ce nouveau système nous espérerons rendre les traitements plus efficace lors de leur insertion dans le corps humain.

Pour qu’un système d’encapsulation soit efficace il faut qu’il respecte trois grands points :
– le premier est la protection du l’ARN car ce dernier doit pourvoir atteindre les cellules sans être dégradé dans le corps.
– le second est une bonne fonction de ciblage puisque l’ARN doit pouvoir être conduit vers un certain type de cellules pour pouvoir déclencher une bonne réponse immunitaire.
– le troisième est une bonne libération de l’ARN messager dans le cytoplasme de la cellule lorsque notre système d’encapsulation atteint les cellules.

C’est donc à partir de ces trois conditions primordiales que nous allons élaborer un nouveau système polymérique qui, nous l’espérons, sera plus efficace et moins coûteux que ceux utiliser aujourd’hui.

3D Object Detection, Lane Detection and Pose Estimation using RGB Images and LIDAR

The goal of this project is to use information from color cameras, greyscale cameras and LiDARs to detect objects of interest at the farm,as well as estimate the location and orientation of those objects. This research would allow Mojow to develop a 3D object detection system which can be used in their decision making systems. The expertise from the research team at the University of Alberta helps the Mojow team to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of different approaches and algorithms and quickly prototype and test the most promising ones. This ultimately saves significant time for the Mojow development team and allows them to focus on proven concepts with more predictable outcomes.

Neurostimulateur/neuroenregistreur de l’activité cérébrale pour la surveillance de l’épilepsie

L’épilepsie peut entraîner des crises violentes et touche entre 0,5 et 1% de la population dont ?30% souffrent d’épilepsie réfractaire aux médicaments et bénéficierait de la neurostimulation. Des recherches démontrent la capacité de prévoir les crises 24 heure à l’avance, donnant la possibilité au patient de prendre des mesures d’atténuation. Ce projet vise à développer un système électronique effectuant une lecture de l’activité cérébrale avec résolution cellulaire, extrayant les caractéristiques principales de la décharge neuronale et transmettant cette information avec une compression par codage algébrique dans un lien sans fil. Contrairement aux implants épileptiques actuels limités à quelques dizaines d’électrodes sur plusieurs mm2, chaque circuit, d’une taille < 1 mm2, peut enregistrer simultanément l'activité de 1600 canaux à un pas de 20 ?m. En collaboration avec notre partenaire, nous visons réaliser le premier système d'enregistrement et de stimulation synchronisé et distribué comportant jusqu'à 6400 électrodes adaptées à des implantations à long terme.

Novel Ovulation Research-Recruitment Methods for an App (NORMA) Study

One purpose of the proposed research project is to contribute to the My Normative (MyN) app development by increasing the number of users on the app and maintaining long-term app usage. The second purpose is to verify the accuracy of the app’s menstrual cycle prediction in female persons of varying cycles less than or greater than 28-days, with or without ovulation. The project and MyN will initially target female persons in their reproductive years (18-35 years) with the bigger picture of representing all female persons of diverse backgrounds. The goal is to improve app engagement and create a platform that is inclusive, informative, and empowering to those who experience a menstrual cycle.

Anaerobic Bioaugmentation of a PHC Groundwater Plume: Pilot-Scale Experiment

Bacterial cultures are sometimes added to groundwater to increase the rate of degradation of contaminants. Three cultures that are able to completely biodegrade their primary compound to non-toxic end products in the absence of oxygen have been enriched from contaminated soils. The goal of this project is to demonstrate the efficacy of these cultures in a controlled field experiment. High resolution temporal and spatial data will be collected to estimate degradation rates, and support a process level understanding. This novel work will allow SiREM and Geosyntec to further expand its technical expertise, and provide high-value opportunities for field applications of for a suite of contaminants not currently in their portfolio.

Conception et optimisation d’un capteur de température par fluorescence d’une fibre optique dopée

Le projet proposé consiste à concevoir et à optimiser les performances d’un capteur de température basé sur la fluorescence d’une fibre optique dopée par un élément thermosensible. La dépendance du temps de vie de fluorescence de l’élément dopant la fibre optique sera utilisée pour mesurer la température de façon précise et reproductible. Ce composant photonique novateur a le potentiel d’augmenter la plage de détection des capteurs de température actuellement déployés en plus d’en augmenter significativement la robustesse et la fiabilité, et d’en réduire le coût de fabrication. Le projet proposé est en partenariat avec l’entreprise Rugged Monitoring qui est spécialisée dans le développement de capteurs à fibre optiques adaptés aux environnement hostiles.

Development of a 3D environment for ventricular puncture

Ventricular drainage is commonly performed in neurosurgery departments or in theemergency room. It consists of inserting a catheter into the brain, using a needle, until it reaches the frontal horn to drain cerebrospinal fluid for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. Nowadays, the learning of this gesture is only performed by companionship: there is no effective simulator for training in this type of surgery. Ampere lab robotics team has been designing haptic training simulators in the medical field for two decades. It is currently designing a haptic simulator that renders the various layers crossed by the needle during such an operation.

The outcome of this internship is the design of a 3D environment from real MRI images so that surgeons get a realistic visual feedback when training on this simulator before a future operation on a patient. The patient-specific MRI images will be obtained through a partnership with a local surgeon.

Study of the synergistic effects of fatigue and corrosion in CA6NM steels and welds for hydraulic turbine applications

In this project we propose to evaluate the synergistic effects of fatigue and corrosion to further understand the degradation mechanism of the alloys used by our partner. This will help the partner defining their total cost of ownership & develop mitigating corrosion strategies to ensure long term sustainability of their infrastructure. Specifically, we will i) study two types of soft martensitic stainless CA6NM (13%Cr-4%Ni) cast low carbon steel (as received and welded), ii) quantify their localized corrosion properties, iii) study the synergistic effect that static applied mechanical stress has on the corrosion behavior.

Investigate machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies in computing infrastructures in real-time

The industry partner, Metafor is developing a new class of IT system management solution. As part of this project, Metafor is building a product feature that monitors computer and network activities and looks for signs of anomalies. This is an important problem as anomalies are usually associated with abnormal user or system behaviors that can potentially result in problems such as system breakdown. As the properties of anomalies and normal behaviours are stochastic and dynamic by nature, efficient and intelligent signal processing and machine learning algorithms are required to detect these anomalies. In this project, the intern will do a comprehensive survey on the state-of-the art of real-time anomaly detection; investigate a set of system indicators or features as well as machine learning algorithms that can potentially be useful in detecting anomalies. Finally, the intern will implement suitable algorithms to predict the presence of anomalies in the system in real time.