Innovative Projects Realized

The Physical Conditions of Gas In Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies

The single most important factor in determining a star’s brightness, evolution and ultimate fate is its mass. For this reason, the determination of many intrinsic galaxy properties – including star formation rate – must assume an initial distribution of birth masses for stars.

If we are to develop a general theory for star formation in galaxies, we must determine whether the star formation process (and the initial distribution of stellar masses) is fundamentally different between galaxies and, if so, pinpoint the physics driving this variation. This is the underlying motivation for my research.

My program uses highly detailed observations of molecular gas in 40 nearby merging and post-merger galaxies to obtain new insights into the physics of star formation. By measuring chemical abundances in the star-forming gas, I will probe the fossil record of galaxy formation that is imprinted by galaxy evolutionary history and the distribution of the star masses at birth. These observations will be compared with advanced theoretical modeling to yield the best ever constraints on this fundamental star mass distribution, allowing for the most definitive tests yet of star formation and star populations in galaxy mergers.

Shipping Noise Characterization in Shallow Water Environment

Underwater acoustic propagation modeling was largely advanced by the world’s Navies from WWII until the early 2000’s. Growing evidence of the effects of sounds from human activities on marine life has made propagation modeling relevant to a much broader community including marine biologists, ecologists, regulators and environmental non-governmental organizations. In this project we aim to advance the state-of-the-art in application of underwater acoustic propagation modeling by integrating it to three problems: understanding changes to the arctic soundscape from climate change and increased vessel traffic, detection and localization of vessels, and understanding how sound propagates in turbulent environments around tidal turbines and how that affects turbine-animal interactions.

Assessment of impacts of upstream developments and climate change on Carp River Watershed

There are plans for residential/commercial/industrial developments in upstream sections of Carp River Watershed (CRW). This will have impacts on the quantity and quality of the river water downstream as well as the sediment loads. In addition, due to climate change it is expected that both quantity and quality of the Carp River will deviate from the norms. Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) is in charge of managing and protecting Carp River Watershed. Due to expected future impacts, MVCA is interested to conduct a research study on this watershed, which involves collecting field data through sampling and developing water quality/hydraulic models using numerical models (e.g., CE-QUAL-W2/QUAL2K, SWAT) in GIS environment. After calibrating the models with field data, different scenarios, for example with and without low impact development components and/or restoration plan details, can be assessed. In addition, different climate change scenarios and sensitivity and uncertainty analysis will be another spinoff from this project. Outcomes of this research project will help MVCA with planning and decision-making in management of the CRW.

L’optimisation de la culture du cannabis par le contrôle de l’environnement intérieur

Les Canadiens et Québécois peuvent maintenant se procurer des produits du cannabis en plusieurs variétés. Le pourcentage du taux de THC et CBD qui se retrouve dans les divers produits proposés procurent aux consommateurs des effets reliés à la variété. Par exemple, certains produits offrent une expérience plus énergisante et d’autres un effet plus relaxant. L’augmentation et la diminution du pourcentage en THC et CBD offriront donc une sensation plus ou moins intense pour le consommateur.
Il est donc impératif de mieux connaitre le développement des plants et leurs évolutions afin de mieux standardiser et gérer adéquatement les taux de THC et de CBD.
Une collaboration avec la compagnie Verdélite bénéficiera à toute l’industrie québécoise. L’objectif est d’optimiser et de standardiser les paramétrages de croissance du cannabis à l’aide de technologie innovante et de domotique programme. Le tout, afin que le Québec puisse bénéficier des nouvelles recherches pour les installations futures.

The cultural identity in the Buddhist thought of modern China and Japan — taking the Buddhist reform movement of Taixu rabbi as the research object

The outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War undoubtedly made Master Taixu’s Buddhist Movement Renovation a mirage. The Japanese Buddhists have turned to believe that the cruelty of the war lies in China’s tenacious resistance. The staged achievements of the “East Asian Buddhist Conference” have also been declared bankrupt.
The purpose of this lesson is to use horizontal comparison method to select a representative and typical modern Buddhist master, Master Taixu. Through sorting out his memoirs, diaries, autobiographies, works and other documents, this lesson focuses on the modern Sino-Japanese relations and analyzes whether East Asian Buddhism in the same civilization circle has the internal unity beyond the nation, the relationship between religion and politics and the causes behind it.

Affect Recognition of Human Players in VR Games

Recent research has shown that people can perceive which affective state one is in simply by looking at body movements (without facial expression). Because of this, it has been possible to train machine learning algorithms to automatically recognize the affect of users from their body movements, to be used in human-computer interaction. This project consists in trying to adapt and deploy the same type of algorithms in a VR environment, where only partial movement information is available (hands and head positions of the user). A collaboration between the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI and Vancouver-based VR studio Inscape, this project deliverable is an AI that can predict the affective state of the VR user in realtime.

Impact du patron d’oscillation du faisceau laser dans le procédé de soudage hybride laser-arc sur la qualité, la robustesse et la métallurgie du joint de soudé.

Le projet de recherche se concentre sur l’étude de l’impact de l’oscillation du laser dans le procédé de soudage HLAW. En effet, l’utilisation de l’oscillation du faisceau laser dans les procédés de soudage laser ont montré des avantages en termes de qualité et de résistances mécaniques des soudures tout en maximisant l’écartement entre deux pièces en soudage laser.[9] Il est donc légitime de penser qu’un impact similaire sera observé dans le cadre du soudage hybride laser-arc. Si c’est le cas, l’entreprise partenaire gagnera en compétitivité (réduction des coûts de positionnement, de taux de rebus, d’utilisation machine) et en productivité (diminution du temps de production tout en augmentant la qualité) ce qui constitue un atout important.

Novel and efficient approaches of converting volatile fatty acids (VFAs) topolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)

Genecis Bioindustries makes bacteria that enables production of premium materials cost-competitively. Their first product line is a biodegradable plastic resin (PHAs) used for high-end applications, like 3D printing filaments and personal care products. Genecis can reduce production costs by 40% by using organic waste as the feedstock, lowering the barrier for plastic manufacturers to create healthy and affordable products. This project will be able to provide Genecis with the foundation of their 2nd generation synthetic bacteria – one that offers a higher conversion efficiency with guaranteed PHA production consistency. The consistency especially, is a huge step forward to ensure Genecis’ customers are able to receive high quality bioplastic to produce their end products in a consistent manner. This project would also ensure that Genecis is able to make a wide variety of PHAs that find application in various domains.

A Web-Based Traffic Steering and Orchestration Platform for NFV Services

Traditionally a Service Function Chain (SFC) consists of a set of dedicated network service boxes such as firewall, load balancers, and application delivery controllers that are concatenated together to support a specific service. With a new service, new devices must be installed and interconnected in certain order. This can be a very complex, time-consuming, and error-prone process, requiring careful planning of topology changes and network outages and incurring high OPEX. Through network function virtualization (NFV) service, carriers and service providers can dynamically create virtual environment for a specific SFC and eliminate the complex hardware and labor work.
While AWS (Amazon Web Service) is a big success in cloud services, there are few customer-driven platforms for NFV that provide the synergy of cloud services, core networks, and edge resources. In this project, we propose to develop an orchestration and traffic steering platform that allows customers to setup their service function chains dynamically through web. These SFCs will be deployed over the infrastructures operated by network and service providers automatically with elastic and optimal resource usage.

Measuring the contributions of non-crop areas to precision canola yield

Canola growers recognize that the beneficial arthropods that live in natural habitats and non-crop areas may play an important role in augmenting and stabilizing crop yields. These bees, flies, beetles, spiders and other arthropods may spill over into the crop, and through pollination or pest control, help to improve yields, decrease inputs, and increase profitability. A postdoctoral fellow will assess the relationship between natural habitats and canola yield that may result from these spillover effects, or other ecosystem services. Their task will be to use precision yield data collected by sensors on the harvesting equipment of grower-cooperators. These data will be applied to build spatial statistical models relating yield hotspots with non-crop areas in at least 60 fields. The partner organization, Canola Council of Canada, will receive an assessment of the potential for non-crop areas (which are very common in prairie canola fields) to contribute to yield, as well as advice which it can disseminate to canola growers about how to leverage any effects of non-crop areas effectively.

Use of remote sensing for eelgrass mapping in James Bay

The project is part of an ongoing program led by the Niskamoon Corporation that aims to develop a bay-scale monitoring program for eelgrass beds in James Bay (Eeyou Istchee). The Niskamoon Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that provides an efficient framework for cooperation between the Cree people and Hydro-Québec, enabling the implementation of the Cree/Hydro-Québec Agreements. The project will allow to develop efficient methods for the Niskamoon Corporation that will allow the Cree peoples to monitor the eelgrass beds located in their territory using a cost-effective, sustainable monitoring tools to track their environment. The combination of remote sensing tools being applied to quantify coastal submerged aquatic vegetation is unique and will advance our understanding of how to overcome challenges related to northern coastal waters. This project is a good example of the application of traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous expertise to develop an efficient monitoring program.

Selective Ablation of Circulating Tumor Cells by Dynamic Photothermal Therapy

Cancer metastasis is responsible for 90% of cancer deaths. In metastasis, a group of cancer cells detach from the tumor, entre the blood stream and ultimately make new colonies in other organs. In this study we aim to develop a new technology to target these cancerous cells in the blood circulation with laser irradiation. We will use absorbents that selectively home to these cells in the blood. These absorbers are able to convert the laser irradiation to heat and consequently kill the cancer cells they are attached to. This technology can be used as an alternative to current therapies for blood cancers and metastatic phase of other solid cancers.