Innovative Projects Realized

Effect of Hydrostatic Testing Pressure on High-temperature Fatigue Life of Boiler Wall Tubes

Boiler wall tubes are important components in boilers for safe and efficient operation. After service exposure, boiler wall tubes often require replacement or repair, in which new sections of boiler tubes are welded onto the old boiler walls. Following the repair welding, the code requires the boiler be hydrostatic tested before putting the boiler back to service. Our long-term objective is to develop a safe boiler tube hydrostatic test standard. Our short-term objective is to measure the effect of pressure test on welded and repaired boiler wall tube performance.

Improving cancer care operations

This project is composed of three sub-projects, all sharing the goal of improving cancer care

operations. The first project aims to improve the scheduling of ambulatory clinics at Princess

Margaret Hospital and Women’s College Hospital. Better scheduling will result in less

overtime, improved utilization of shared resources, and increased patient satisfaction. The

second project is focused on optimizing the treatment planning process for patients receiving

radiation therapy at Princess Margaret Hospital. A treatment planner uses sophisticated

software to design radiation therapy treatments in consultation with an oncologist. Much effort

is spent in trial-and-error approaches working with the software. Our approach will reduce the

manual effort and subjectivity needed to design treatments, ultimately making the planning

process more consistent and efficient. The third project, in collaboration with Cancer Care

Ontario, aims to evaluate the efficiency of medical surgery departments of hospitals and

cancer centres across Ontario. Hospitals that are identified efficient will form a peer coaching

team to pass on effective perioperative practices…..TOBECONTINUED

Root associated microbiome of trees growing in a fractured bedrock toluene phytoremediation site

Phytoremediation (plant-based environmental cleanup) is a green, cost-effective alternative to conventional methods for contaminated site cleanup, which often involve extensive, community-disruptive, industrial efforts. Deep-rooted trees, such as hybrid Canadian poplars, can effectively be used to contain and clean up petroleum-derived contaminants in soil and groundwater resources. The proposed research project is aimed at verifying the suitability and efficacy of this plant-based technology for clean-up of environmental releases specifically affecting areas with complex geology, where intricate movement of groundwater and contaminants underground make assessing clean-up processes difficult. This research will assess the removal of contaminated water by poplar trees, as well as the changes in the population of microorganisms that use petroleum-derived products as food sources. The anticipated benefit of the proposed research for our partner organization and the industry as a whole is the evaluation of phytoremediation as a viable option for corrective actions at contaminated sites with complex geology.

Application of MagLev-based isolation technology for rapid and sensitive detection of Influenza virus

Influenza is a viral pathogen responsible for annually claiming thousands of lives (~650 000 per year) and posing a significant threat to all human life. In Canada, Influenza pandemics lead to direct economic losses including medical costs (estimated mean cost per treatment: $14,612.00), and indirect losses such as substantial workplace absence (Avg 10.8 days). Additionally, the mutative nature of the virus results in annual shifts to circulating strains adding complexity to treatment and identification by making it difficult to study and synthesize preventative vaccines for the circulating virus and all of its forms. Consequently, an elusive goal of infectious disease research and prevention is the development of a rapid and sensitive test capable of isolating and detecting novel Influenza strains quickly to ultimately decrease the spread of illness. Although several strategies have been developed for isolation and detection of influenza in a timely manner, these approaches have limitations, mainly due to requiring hours of processing that contribute to potential contamination, significant loss in viral load and whole infectious particles.
Magnetic levitation is a new technique being used to isolate specific ions and proteins from complex solutions.

Retrieval and monitoring of water quality parameters based on hyperspectral remote sensing data and intelligent algorithms

The research will develop an AI model driven by remote sensing data from a satellite, to identify the spatial variability of water pollutants present in lake water, to improve the understanding of the potential for algal blooms. With the development of the AI model, the use of remote sensing will be enabled to predict the potential for algal blooms in lakes that can then be used as an early warning system for water quality which will enable water intakes to water treatment plants can better plan their operating horizons to include, as an example, shutting down the intake system, to protect the integrity of the water treatment plant, and improve the quality of water provided to water consumers.

Failure analysis on X-750 CANDU spacer material using bulk mechanical test and ion-irradiation – Year two

The current project will focus on understanding the behavior of one of the most important CANDU reactor components when it is subjected to the reactor environment. This study will develop a fundamental understanding of the X-750 material’s behavior resulting in innovative technologies that benefit the nuclear industry in Canada. In the short to medium term the work will support the life management and refurbishment of CANDU nuclear plants, assisting CANDU owners to protect their multi-billion dollar investment and sustain the provision of economical electrical energy for the benefit of the Canadian consumer. In the medium to long term these technologies will support the development of improved reactor components, for improved reactor designs. This will help to assure future CANDU sales domestically and abroad and support the ongoing Canadian nuclear industry.

Failure analysis on X-750 CANDU spacer material using bulk mechanical test and ion-irradiation

The current project will focus on understanding the behavior of one of the most important CANDU reactor components when it is subjected to the reactor environment. This study will develop a fundamental understanding of the X-750 material’s behavior resulting in innovative technologies that benefit the nuclear industry in Canada. In the short to medium term the work will support the life management and refurbishment of CANDU nuclear plants, assisting CANDU owners to protect their multi-billion dollar investment and sustain the provision of economical electrical energy for the benefit of the Canadian consumer. In the medium to long term these technologies will support the development of improved reactor components, for improved reactor designs. This will help to assure future CANDU sales domestically and abroad and support the ongoing Canadian nuclear industry.

Population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of mycophenolate and tacrolimus in pediatric kidney transplant recipients

Mycophenolic acid (MPA) and tacrolimus (TAC) are approved for use in post-transplant immunosuppressants to prevent graft rejection after solid organ transplantation. MPA and TAC are frequently used in combination as an immunosuppressive regimen in pediatric kidney transplant recipients. However, these two drugs have narrow therapeutic ranges and large interindividual pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variabilities. What’s more, in recent years, some previous studies have reported that there were drug-drug interactions (DDI) between TAC and MPA. Therefore, a new study is needed to build a population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model for TAC and MPA in pediatric kidney transplant recipients. The overall goal is to establish a population structural model incorporating both drugs and identify clinically significant covariates. Evaluation of the influence of drug-drug interactions and individual variabilities on the PK-PD changes will provide striking improvement in post-transplant immunosuppressive outcomes in pediatric patients treated with TAC and MPA.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) for First Nations Land Planning andInfrastructure Management — Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg

Working in partnership, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (KZA) and the Carleton Immersive Media

Studio (CIMS) propose the development of a novel, hybrid digital platform that brings

together the progressive community development initiatives of KZA with CIMS’ established

research record in the field of building information modelling (BIM). The research

challenges involved in the development of a comprehensive BIM for KZA are considerable.

First, the physical size of the property, some 18000ha, is well beyond the conventional

scale of a BIM. Secondly, the complexity and scale of the assets that KZA plan to

incorporate through the BIM (community archival information, data related to infrastructure,

existing GIS, planning proposals) challenge the parameters of current best practice for

BIM. We propose a hybrid BIM/GIS (geographic information system) that integrates new

and existing 2 and 3 dimensional data through an interoperable viewer client.

Mimicking Lung- and Gut-Pathogen Interactions Using a Hydrogel-Based Mucus Layer

The objective of this research is to investigate long-term interaction between host cell and pathogen. Research will be proceed using ATPS(Aqueous two phase system) and hydrogel. ATPS enable pathogen to form localized biofilm on mammalian cell tissue. To see long-term interaction, biofilm will be stably localized on mammalian cell using hydrogel, which protect mammalian cell from toxicity of PEG(Polyethylene glycol) and also form mucus. Interaction of Long-term biofilm – mammalian cell interaction will be analyzed by various methods such as cytokine response, cell viability, cell morphology using electro microscope, etc.
This research goes further from previous in terms of pathogen specificity, and cell line specificity, and adapting mucus using hydrogel. Thus, it can say result of research will reveal more realistic interaction of host-microbes.
For further study pathogen biofilm removal research using predatory bacteria will be done. Previous research shows predatory bacteria have biofilm removal effect of biofilm. This study will investigate whether predatory bacteria remove pathogen biofilm and decrease of pathogen biofilm virulence.

Utilization of biochar amendment for reduction of dissolved organic carbon in runoff water from soils covered with plant residue

Surface cover of soils with plant residue such as straw is known to be an efficient method to reduce soil erosion and nutrient loss from soils. However, from my previous research, it was revealed that surface cover reduced soil erosion and loss of nitrogen and phosphorous but increased loss of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) due to decomposition of the plant residue. As loss of DOC not only hampers soil conditions but also causes water pollution, it is necessary to develop a method to reduce DOC loss from the soils with surface cover. In this project, I will use biochar, which has a great capacity to sorb and immobilize DOC, as a soil amendment in combination with surface cover to reduce DOC loss. For the objective, I will conduct a series of experiments that include determination of the capacity of biochar to sorb DOC and investigation of the changes in DOC concentration in the soils amended with biochar in the presence and absence of plant material (surface cover) in the lab. I expect that the results of this research should contribute to increase in the efficiency of surface cover to reduce soil, carbon, and nutrient loss from soils.

The Next Generation Agriculture: Role of Functional Microbiome in Cannabis Breeding strategies against biotic stress

Plants including Cannabis host distinct beneficial microbial communities on and inside their tissues designated the plant microbiota from the moment that they are planted into the soil as seed. Understanding the microbial partnerships with Cannabis has the potential to affect agricultural practices by improving plant fitness and production yield of Cannabinoids. Much less is known about these beneficial Cannabis-microbe interactions, particularly,the role that Cannabis may play in supporting or enhancing them. This proposal aims to characterize the bacterial diversity, associated with susceptible and resistant Cannabis varieties to grey mold (GM) and Powdery mildew (PM) on Cannabis. We hypothesize that different varieties (susceptible and resistant) recruit and maintain different microbial communities and that select microbial strains are able to suppress GM and PM infections and increase protection. We also intend to compare the efficacy of CELEXT07, a new botanical product developed by the industrial partner proven effective against both diseases in greenhouse trials alone or with combination of the best endophytic microbes.