Innovative Projects Realized

China’s Western Development Program in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, while coastal ‘Special Economic Zones’ and ‘Open

Cities’ flourished in eastern China, western regions still languished in relative poverty. To

bridge this gap, Chinese authorities launched an ambitious development campaign in

2000: the “Western Development Program”, aimed at bringing domestic and foreign

investment, expertise and capital into the vastness of western China.

As China struggles to meet its growing energy and export needs in the 21st century, an

opportunity awaits foreign commodity companies that can reach these booming regions.

Teck Resources Limited (Teck), like other Western mining companies, has recently been

making some in-roads into China, focusing on resource-rich peripheral regions, in

particular Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang. However, there are still many

socio-political barriers that inhibit these foreign companies from accessing the lucrative

Chinese market.

This research aims to shed light on how the WDP is affecting the above-mentioned

peripheral regions and if it has/is impacted/ing Teck’s role in China in the period 2005-……TOECONTINUED

Examining the effects of an integrated parenting and nutrition intervention on child development

Early childhood (up to age 5 years) is an important and vulnerable period of development. Cognitive and socio-emotional skills during this period are strong predictors of later life outcomes such as employment status, mental health, and overall well-being. Children are particularly sensitive to external factors in this period, and it is therefore important to understand the mechanisms which influence their development. The Engaging Fathers for Effective Child Nutrition and Development in Tanzania (EFFECTS) trial is an intervention which aims to improve child development by targeting parenting and feeding practices. Parents were assigned to one of five groups: a mother-only nutrition intervention, a nutrition intervention for both mothers and fathers, a mother-only integrated nutrition and parenting intervention, an integrated nutrition and parenting intervention for both mothers and fathers, and a local standard of care control. My research project will consist of testing the following hypotheses: 1) an intervention approach that engages fathers will benefit children’s cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes, 2) an integrated parenting and nutrition intervention will benefit child outcomes, and 3) an approach that both engages fathers and integrates parenting and nutrition will benefit child outcomes.

Contactless Length Measurement System for Forestry Applications using Optical Flow

Current dangle-head processor measuring systems used in logging operations are prone to a number of problems including component wear and inaccuracies due to inconsistencies in bark thickness, density, and texture. This project aims to mitigate the majority of these issues by implementing a contactless measuring system that utilizes computer vision. With no moving parts, components will be replaced less often, reducing downtime and losses. A measuring system that uses computer vision also creates the possibility of future work involving tree species classification and quality control checks. Axis Forestry Inc. is looking to bring modern, intelligent technologies to a vital industry in Canada that can improve overall operator efficiency and optimize tree usage for less waste.

Development of cold anesthetization and packaging technologies for waterless transportation of live shrimp

Warmwater shrimp are dominant in Canada’s shrimp market, and they are mainly imported from Asian countries. Final market value of the imported shrimp can be increased if they are alive; however, shipping live shrimp in water is cost-prohibitive. To reduce the weight-associated cost, shrimp growers are interested in transporting live shrimp in waterless conditions. Unfortunately, the waterless environment can cause a poor survival rate of shrimp. Thus, we aim to reduce the mortality of shrimp during waterless transportation by developing cold anesthetization and packaging technologies. Both cold anesthetization and packaging processes will be optimized based on their effects on shrimp’s weight loss, survival rate, antioxidant enzyme activities, and lipid peroxidation. This project will provide a cost-effective and practical approach to achieve a high survival rate of shrimp during 18-h waterless transportation.

Application of Data Analytics Approaches for Solvent-Assisted Bitumen Recovery Pilot Analysis

This project will develop data-driven models for production performance analysis and optimization for solvent-assisted bitumen recovery operations and related processes. Effective operations of solvent processes are crucial for improving oil production and maintaining a low solvent-to-oil ratio (SOR). Although the recent developments in digital oilfield technologies have enabled real-time surveillance of downhole operating conditions and production data, analyzing the large amount of collected data remains challenging without customized data analytics tools.
The industry partner has gathered a comprehensive data set in a pilot study. Data-driven approaches will be integrated to establish relationships between the collected data and relevant reservoir (operational) parameters. The project outcomes will offer important insights on how to optimize solvent operations. This knowledge is crucial for field-scale operations design.

Just-In-Time Scaling of Cloud Based Video Games using Machine Learning

Ubisoft’s cloud-based video game ecosystems experience the workload up to 5+ millions players in a typical week. Workloads on game servers are of different scales, ranging from tens of clients per game server to thousands of clients for traditional workloads. To guarantee game player user experience, a pool of servers is launched to react to demands but servers are idles in most of the time. Scaling down servers is even more complex because of the persistent connections to maintain the states and records of players and games. Current scaling tends to guarantee service requirements but incurs significant hosting costs of idle servers. This project aims to investigate a Just-In-Time scaling of game servers. We develop machine learning models to produce more accurate workload in terms of active servers needed. Our approach applies decision fusion to achieve better workload forecasting. Machine learning models are integrated to game platforms of Ubisoft. The success of this research forms a base for a larger scope of collaboration that incorporate more games and online game servers towards a Just-In-Time cost saving scaling system on cloud resources.

Catalytic Design for the Conversion of Fructose to 2,5 – Furandicarboxylic Acid

Carbohydrates are promising bio-feedstocks to synthesize functionalized compounds. The US Department of Energy identified seven compounds with a high oxygen to carbon ratio as alternatives to sugar fermentation to ethanol. Transition metals oxidehydrate fructose to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a monomer for green plastic (polyethylenfuranoate). The aim of this project is to develop a micro-fluidized bed process that converts fructose to FDCA. Applying WO3/TiO2 catalyst yielded of
22% to furfural and 15% to diformyl furan. Assessing Mn-TiO2, C-TiO2 catalyst in the process is one of the targets of this project. Screening tests will determine the most important parameters to improve the yield.

The development of short fragment SCODA (sfSCODA) for diagnosticapplications.

Emerging research indicates that a variety of short (<200 bp) nucleic acids contain a wealth of biological and medically-important information. Two attractive sources of short nucleic acid fragments include formalin fixed embedded tissues (FFPEs) and circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) in blood. The medical value of these tissues is often limited by researchers’ ability to extract useful and pure nucleic acids. It is difficult to purify such short nucleic acids using leading nucleic acid purification technologies, due to the low affinity of the purification columns, resulting in low yields of short nucleic acids. This project has the potential of purifying short fragments using a modified version of a novel electrophoretic technology (SCODA). Engineering SCODA for this purpose will allow the high yield purification of short nucleic acid fragments from complex samples, unlocking valuable diagnostic information.

Styrenic Polymers Debromination and Recycling

The current feedstock of en-life high impact polystyrene (HIPS) is currently impossible to be valorized and recyled due the presence of brominated fire retardants (FRs). The presence of those FRs is consequence of the need from the electronic industry
to compile with the security regulations. However, now those brominated compounds are to be banned due its harmful and hazardousness nature in humans and environment. Thus, a debromination process is required in order to allow HIPS recycling and valorization. The main duties during the research internship will be to be part of the daily work at the lab and to conduct the necessary analysis using the proper equipment. For the following 4 months the student will be primarily working with the main reactor (planetary ball mill). His duties will be to define the optimal conditions like time, rotation speed ratio plastic/catalyst/solvent, type of solvent etc. for the wet treatment of plastics in the planetary ball mill.

Micro Refinery Unit, GTL

The Home University, the Home Supervisor and the intern involved with this Mitacs Globalink project agree to be bound by the standard intellectual property (IP) terms of the Canadian university and, furthermore, hereby irrevocably assign all their rights, title and interest in and to any Project Intellectual Property to the Canadian University, as may be further detailed in a separate agreement to be signed by all parties involved. “Project Intellectual Property” shall mean any and all Intellectual Property developed by the intern during their internship at the Canadian University. By signing this memorandum, after having consulted with and obtained approval from the authorized personnel of your respective university, you are acknowledging that you agree to the standard IP terms of the Canadian University and to the assignment of the Project Intellectual Property. Finally, as the intern and/or the home supervisor may, in certain cases, have access to confidential information in the course of the project, all parties hereby agree to sign any confidentiality agreement reasonably deemed necessary by the Canadian University. The parties recognize and agree that the terms herein supersede any prior representation, agreement, negotiation or proposal pertaining to intellectual property

Excitation Energy Transfer in the Chlorosome Light Harvesting Complex

In Green Sulphur Bacteria, the chlorosome is the organelle responsible for the harvesting of solar energy, and for the transportation of this energy to the rest of the photosynthetic system. This is attained through the use of many pigment molecules, on the order of thousands, that are present within the chlorosome. These pigments absorb the sun’s energy in the form of electronic excitations. Recently developed models for the electronic structure for the chlorosome, in which the pigments are arranged as molecular nanotubes, will be adapted for use with quantum-dynamics simulations to model excitation energy transport within the chlorosome. This will create a more detailed picture of this fundamental energy transport mechanism in natural photosynthetic systems like Green Sulphur Bacteria, and will promote our understanding of both natural and bio-inspired photosynthetic systems.

Effet de la fatigue sur l’interaction entre la douleur et l’effort physique

Dans le cadre de mon doctorat, j’ai pu mettre en évidence que 30 min d’engagement dans une tâche cognitive exigeante induit une la fatigue mentale associée à une augmentation de la perception de l’effort lors d’une tâche motrice subséquente. Des données du laboratoire de Dr Pageaux suggèrent une interaction entre la douleur et l’effort nécessaire pour maintenir une performance motrice. Ce projet a pour but d’intégrer les travaux de nos deux laboratoires, afin de mieux comprendre l’effet de la fatigue sur la douleur et l’effort nécessaire pour maintenir une tâche motrice.
La fatigue sera induite par l’engagement prolongé dans une tâche cognitive exigeante (Stroop). La douleur, l’effort et la performance motrice seront mesurés avant-au milieu-après la réalisation de la tâche cognitive. Une seconde visite, contrôle, reproduira ce protocole à l’exception de la tâche c