Innovative Projects Realized

Development of Chitin Nano-whiskers Epoxy Nanocomposites for High Mechanical Performance and Structural Applications

Chitin is a vastly available resource in the form of waste from the fishing industry in Canada and worldwide. BOCO Bio-Nanotechnologies has currently the infrastructure in place for scalable extraction of CNWs (Chitin nano-whiskers) from crab shells. CNWs are crystalline regions of chitin, possessing high strength, stiffness and aspect ratio, making them ideal for reinforcement of polymer matrices. A significant market opportunity for BOCO is to incorporate CNWs in epoxy matrices to develop epoxy nanocomposite resins with high fracture toughness and mechanical properties. However, CNWs are significantly more hydrophilic as compared with epoxy resins, creating a challenge for incorporation. The objective of this project is the develop processing techniques for incorporation of CNWs within the epoxy matrix followed by a parametric evaluation of the effect of CNWs on the fracture, mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy resins. TO BE CONT’D

Replanification dynamique des traitements de radiothérapie

La compagnie Elekta est spécialisée dans le développement d’équipements et de logiciels dédiées aux traitements en radiothérapie pour les centres de traitement de cancer comme celui à Laval (Centre Intégré de Cancérologie de Laval). Les traitements sont administrés par des équipements appelés accélérateurs linéaires qui projettent pendant une durée définie des rayons sur la région cancéreuse. Pour un patient donné, les traitements doivent être journalier et les reports ou annulations de ces derniers mettent en péril le succès de la thérapie.
L’allocation des traitements à ces machines reste complexe car de nombreuses contraintes opérationnelles sont à considérer et chaque patient possèdent des besoins différents pour la configuration des accélérateurs linéaires. En raison des bris d’équipement ou des changement dans l’état de santé des patients, des ajustements dans la planification des traitements, récurrents et effectués de manière manuelle, perturbent les cycles de traitement. TO BE CONT’D

Augmented decision making capabilities for innovation management and continuous improvement by organizations

In this project, our goal is to set up a framework of data collection to support user profiling which could be used to identify influential users in decision-making. The profile will be built based on the information of individual users obtained by collecting user activities in rewarding challenges that encourage employees, customers and partners to participate. In order to derive the profile, natural language processing tools are applied to extract useful information. After the user profile is obtained, we will conduct profile analysis which obtains user decision-making weight index, that is, the larger the index, the greater weight will be assigned to the individual in future decisions. In addition to the decision-making weight index, user interest can be extracted, such that subsequent services could be targeted on those influencers to increase efficiency.

A Customized CAD Tool for Automated CNC Program Code Generation

To develop parts from an initial design to the final product is a very tedious process in the mold manufacturing industry. Computer Numerical Control (CNC) plays a major role in the mold manufacturing industry to create products in a fast and efficient manner. The goal of this project is to automate the CAD to CNC program code generation. A customized CAD tool will be developed that reads a three-dimensional (3D) CAD file specification for a part, and automatically synthesize optimized G-code that will be used to program the CNC machine to manufacture the given part. There will be no manual intervention involved in G-code generation. The generated automated system will speed up the G-code generation task which is currently being done manually. TO BE CONT’D

A Snow Water Equivalence Estimation Prediction (SWEEP) System to Improve Hydrologic Forecasts in British Columbia

The mountains of British Columbia store vast, but varying, amounts of water in winter snowpacks. Accurate estimates of snow water equivalent (SWE) in these mountains are critical for hydroelectric power generation and flood forecasting, but the current observation network is often insufficient. Working with both industry and academic partners, Mitacs interns will use airborne laser measurements of snow depth, satellite-based observations of snow cover, and ground-based snowpack measurements to reduce errors in river forecasting. Knowledge and methods generated by this work will aid reservoir operation across British Columbia.

Property Testing of Linear Threshold Functions

Inferring underlying properties of a dataset is a fundamental task in the fields of learning, statistics, and data analysis. In recent years, the amount of data which we have access to and would like to analyze continues to grow at an astronomical rate. Algorithms that were previously considered efficient for learning properties of the data are no longer feasible in this domain, and in many cases it is even prohibitively expensive to look through the entire data-set. This motivates the study of property testers, highly-efficient algorithms for determining whether a set of data satisfies a desired property, or is far from any data-set satisfying that property, while observing only a small portion of the data.
This work continues the study of property-testing of linear threshold functions (LTFs), a fundamental class of functions for learning theory, optimization, and computational complexity. TO BE CONT’D

Low temperature FTIR of Antarctic rhodopsin

Rhodopsins are a family of light sensitive proteins which are photosensory in complex organisms (such as humans) but have other functions (ion pumps and channels) in microbial organisms. We have discovered a new and unique group of rhodopsins which were isolated from a microbe in a fresh water lake in Antarctica, called Lake Fryxell. Through preliminary biophysical techniques I have shown that it functions as an inward directed proton pump which is unusual because the vast majority of proton pumps transport protons in the extracellular direction to generate energy. The biological significance of inward proton pumping is not yet known. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) probes vibrations of molecules and provides molecular details of protein function. Low temperature FTIR can be used to trap intermediate states and provides a more complete view of the mechanism. TO BE CONT’D

Pore system evaluation of core samples above and below the Oil-Water Contact in the Hebron field, Ben Nevis Formation with a particular focus on micro CT-scans

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the pore network with a particular focus on micro CT-Scans to obtain detailed rock structure in Hebron core samples above and below the oil-water contact (OWC). As part of the rock structure, morphological information such as pore shape, spatial distribution, and connectivity are going to be analysed. The image analysis will be used to extract the number of pore throats connected to a single pore (Coordination number), and the pore body-size to pore throat size ratio. Porosity is a property that is not straightforward property to quantify and describe using just one method since it includes a wide range of magnitude and complexity. Using the micro CT is possible to image the micro-pore structure that can not be easily described with conventional porosity measurements. TO BE CONT’D

Characterizing dissolved methane in groundwater in the Peace Region, Northeast BC, using a regional, dedicated groundwater monitoring well network

The rapid increase in shale gas development in the Peace Region has been accompanied by concern about environmental impacts, and in particular, fugitive methane migration into shallow groundwater. The goal of the proposed research project is to establish a dedicated groundwater monitoring well network in order to collect data to inform the following questions:
1) Where and how much methane is in groundwater in the Peace Region?
2) What are its origins/where does it come from?
3) Is groundwater methane in the region related to oil and gas development activities?
Data from the proposed monitoring network will augment existing data from domestic wells and be used to build a comprehensive, scientifically-defensible understanding of fugitive methane in the Peace Region. The Mitacs interns will lead the project, working closely with Geoscience BC, who can share the insights gained with its associated industry partners to better understand the issue and more effectively monitor fugitive gas.

Image Segmentation Techniques and its Application in Geosciences

TerraNotes Ltd is a geoscience company based in Edmonton, Alberta. TerraNotes has

developed or improved 75 proprietary techniques in geophysical applications. With the

current advanced techniques in making use of ground-based and airborne surveys, the

exploration industry can now routinely produce complex geophysical mappings. Hence it is of

importance to develop advanced image processing techniques which are capable of

identifying and extracting useful information and important feature from the geophysical

images. The present project will implement image segmentation programs using a waveletbased

approach, the developed multi-scale image processing techniques will make a

contribution to TerraNotes’ technologies for interpreting and analyzing complex geophysical

images.

Évaluation de l’efficacité de diverses formulations de produits naturels contre différentes bactéries pathogènes animales

En réponse au phénomène de la résistance aux antibiotiques, il y a beaucoup de pression pour diminuer voir cesser l’utilisation des antibiotiques dans les élevages. Plusieurs alternatives aux antibiotiques ont déjà été commercialisées et d’autres sont en développement. Selon des expériences précédentes dans notre laboratoire, les produits naturels offriraient une solution intéressante pour contrôler Clostridium perfringens, une bactérie pathogène de l’intestin des poulets. En effet, il y avait moins de bactéries pathogènes suite à des infections expérimentales dans les groupes de poulets recevant des produits naturels. Toutefois, les effets de ces produits sur d’autres bactéries pathogènes animales sont méconnus. Nous désirons donc tester divers mélanges de produits naturels du partenaire industriel afin de vérifier leur effet antimicrobien sur d’autres bactéries pathogènes animales. Ce projet permettra d’avoir une meilleure idée de l’efficacité des mélanges sur différentes bactéries pathogènes animales et d’optimiser leur utilisation dans l’industrie.

Molecular measures of yeast exhaustion in commercial brewing

Beer production is only as good as the yeast that make it. When yeast are first pitched for brewing, they produce the desired fermentation product—beer. But, after numerous cycles of fermentation, the yeast become exhausted and produce beer with unwanted flavors and alcohol content. As such, the beer is no longer fit for consumption. Over time, the stress of fermentation causes unwanted effects on the yeast’s genes, which ultimately compromises their beer-producing abilities. This project focuses on finding identifiers of exhausted yeast prior to their production of bad beer. If successful, brewers can use this knowledge to test their yeast’s health and prevent exhausted yeast from tainting the production of good beer. This will save brewers time, energy, and money that is regularly lost on bad beer produced by exhausted yeast.