Innovative Projects Realized

Application of Global Predictive Real Time Control Strategy to Improve Flooding Prevention Performance of Stormwater Basins

Sustainability as one of the key elements of Smart cities, can be realized by employing Real Time Control Strategies for city’s infrastructures. Nowadays Stormwater management systems play an important role in mitigating the impacts of urbanization on natural hydrological cycle. Besides, these systems have a huge potential to be managed in such a way that they would be adaptable to global challenges like climate change. Hence, a dynamically managed system that can adapt itself to instability of the environmental conditions is desirable. Some Global Predictive Real Time Control algorithms will be developed in this project to optimize the performance an integrated system of stormwater management basins in terms of flooding prevention. Then a Hybrid metaheuristic approach from the combination of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Genetic algorithm (GA) will be employed to achieve a sufficiently good solution to our optimization problem. At the end, an improved performance at system-level for the stormwater basins is expected which will result in much less flooding in downstream urban areas in comparison to static managed basins.

Development of an efficient process to produce influenza virus-like particles in insect cell culture platform

Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent influenza infections. However, the current production of influenza vaccines in embryonated chicken eggs has limited capacity during pandemics or high demand seasons, and is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. Consequently, there is a need to develop a robust production platform that can efficiently accelerate the production process and ultimately replace the egg production system. The aim of this research project is to use insect cell culture-based technology to rapidly produce virus-like particles (VLPs) as influenza vaccine candidates. VLPs are non-infectious particles that mimic the native structure of the virus eliciting a strong immune response in a safer manner. In our project, the production of VLPs will occur after introducing the variable dominant surface antigens in an insect cell line stably expressing the VLPs core protein. The project will deliver novel knowledge on the cell line development and inducible system in insect cells platform as well as novel bioprocessing technologies.

Value-based care in abdominal surgery: Measuring recovery outcomes that matter to patients

As surgery enters the era of value-based care, it is advocated that postoperative recovery be measured using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) as they provide a mean to incorporate the patient’s perspectives and experiences into research and clinical decision-making. In abdominal surgery, this is currently precluded by the lack of PRO measures specifically developed and validated in the context of postoperative recovery. The core goal of this research project is to develop a PRO measure aimed to assess postoperative recovery from the perspective of patients undergoing abdominal surgery. This project will be conducted in three phases: Phase 1: qualitative interviews with patients to develop a conceptual framework and generate relevant items, Phase 2: use of Rasch Analysis for item-reduction and scale formation, and Phase 3: further assessment of measurement properties based on traditional psychometric methods.

Drying, harvest, and storage conditions of buckwheat hay used for commercial production of rutin

Production of rutin, a high value of nutraceutical, from buckwheat hay in Manitoba has the potential to be much less labour-intensive and inexpensive compared to that produced offshore from other crops. However, the optimum drying condition of buckwheat hay and the relationship among drying conditions, harvest times and the amount of rutin in the dried hay is not known. An inexpensive and faster method to determine the amount of rutin should also be developed for the factory production of rutin. The objectives of this proposed project are to determine whether the drying conditions and harvest times influences the production of rutin extracted from the dried hay.

The effect of a topical analgesic on neuromuscular endurance and pain

It has been shown that topically applied gels, which contain menthol, result in a cooling sensation and reduce the sensation of pain. Because neuromuscular endurance activity leads to sweating and muscle pain we seek to discover the effect of BioFreeze on various forms of neuromuscular endurance activity and muscle soreness. This discovery will require 3 main research objectives, all of which will be conducted as research studies with the goal to be published in peer-reviewed journals. Performance Health will get the benefit of understating potential application of BioFreeze and potentially how to further market their product.

Issues in Northern Governance and Development

The research plan has been jointly proposed by the academics of the International Centre for Northern

Governance and Development and Cameco Corporation to meet the needs of industry,

federal/provincial/local governments, and Northern Saskatchewan residents by researching key issues

related to northern development and governance strategies. The research results will assist in the

improvement of prosperity and well-being in Northern Saskatchewan, while the collaboration and

education itself will increase local research capacity in Northern and Aboriginal communities.

Students’ research will advance the academic understanding of governance and development in a

Northern context and will foster collaboration among industry, community, government, and

researchers to solve real world issues in a timely and pragmatic way.

Green technology use in gold recovery: Deer Cove

The Deer Cove gold mine is located approximately 4.2 km north of Ming’s Bight near Baie Verte, north-central Newfoundland. Free gold has also known to occur in the surrounding till. While preliminary studies have been done it is still unknown if the gold in the till can be economically and more importantly environmentally recovered using green technologies.
This project will investigate the possibility of developing an economically viable green process to extract gold from the till in Deer Cove, leaving natural habitat intact. The final product will be a feasibility study that covers the potential to economically mine using green technology. The work will set up the possibility and framework for field trials.

Cave to Mill: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach Linking Orebody Knowledge, Footprint Reliability and Sensor-Based Sorting to Improve Safety and Productivity

The proposed research project aims to develop and verify new technologies and numerical tools directed at six main research focus areas: 1. Orebody Knowledge, 2. Grade Management, 3. Cave Mine Design, 4. Integrated Cave-to-Mill, 5. New Measurement Technologies, and 6. Hazard Management. This project will also see the establishment of a multidisciplinary research network, the International Caving Research Network, to be directed at maintaining Canada’s competitiveness in the international mining industry. The research will see several interns working closely with industry to help optimize value and ensure worker safety in deep underground mass mining operations. The research network includes a multi-disciplinary group of representatives from industry and academia covering the fields of geology, cave mining, geomechanics, and mineral processing.

Enzyme-assisted conversion of oat flour into protein isolate

Oat flour has high levels of nutrients, especially proteins, fibre and starch. While the starch and fibre is widely used in food formulations, the protein portion lacks extensive utility in the food industry. In order to extend the value-added utilization of oats, there is need to produce commercial-grade protein products. This work is highly relevant because of the current emphasis on plant proteins and their use to promote human health. The aim of this work is to develop a processing method that will enhance separation of the proteins from the other nutrients. An aqueous-based extraction process will be developed to separate the proteins from the other nutrients. The isolated proteins will then be investigated for potential use as novel ingredients to formulate high quality food products. The work will enable the partner organization become a major player in the global plant protein market and provide significant economic returns.

Méthodes de programmation dynamique stochastique pour la planification hydro-électrique moyen-terme sous incertitude

Le but de la planification hydro-électrique moyen-terme est de déterminer la quantité de ressources hydrauliques qui sera puisé de chacun des réservoirs d’un système de production pour répondre à une demande électrique ou en débit. Ces quantités ou politiques s’étendent en général sur des horizons de 1 à 2 années avec des décisions hebdomadaires ou mensuelles. La principale source d’incertitude dans ce problème est le volume d’eau que recevra notre système dans le futur. Une politique sera donc d’autant précise que le modèle des apports en eau permettra de capturer l’hydrologie locale.
Nous nous proposons de développer une méthode de calcul d’une politique basée sur l’utilisation d’un modèle hydrologique autorégressif à moyenne mobile. Nous étudierons ensuite une méthode hybride permettant d’aller tenir compte du détail d’un grand système de production comme celui d’Hydro-Québec.

Résolution temporelle de détecteurs monolithiques et pixellisés pour la tomographie d’émission par positrons avec temps-de-vol ultra-rapide

La tomographie d’émission par positrons (TEP) est une modalité d’imagerie médicale permettant le diagnostic et le suivi de cancers, maladies neurodégénératives et maladies cardiométaboliques. La prochaine percée majeure en imagerie TEP repose sur la mesure de temps-de-vol (TdV) ultra-rapide, nécessitant une excellente résolution temporelle des détecteurs du scanner. Les détecteurs conventionnels ne possèdent malheureusement pas la résolution temporelle nécessaire pour pleinement profiter des avantages apportés par le TdV en imagerie TEP tels qu’une réduction du temps d’imagerie, une détection de structures et lésions de plus petite dimension ou à faible contraste, et une ouverture de l’imagerie TEP vers une population pédiatrique. Il faut ainsi tenter d’optimiser les détecteurs en produisant un signal intense et ultra-rapide. Le but du projet de recherche est d’étudier et comparer la performance de deux familles de détecteurs pour les scanners TEP-TdV ainsi que de développer une méthode de génération rapide de signal. TO BE CONT’D

Characterizing the physiological correlates of post-release mortality in a model sportfish species

Recreational angling represents an economically and culturally important activity worldwide. However, stresses associated with catching a fish, particularly exhaustive exercise, can result in an impaired physiological condition and delayed mortality following the fish’s release which are harmful to the fish’s health and well-being. Additionally, because fish are cold-blooded, the degree to which angling affects fish survival is thought to be influenced by water temperatures; a significant concern with global climate change. Currently, the specific mechanism(s) that contribute to fish mortality after an angling event are currently unknown. The main objectives of this research are to determine the specific physiological pathways that cause a fish to die following an angling event (i.e. exhaustive exercise) and how temperature (i.e. climate change) can influence this effect. This will be done using barramundi, a species of fish native to Australia that is a popular sportfish. TO BE CONT’D