Innovative Projects Realized

Extended Technology Assessment of Advanced In-situ Recovery Methods for Oil Sands

In-situ recovery methods for oils sands are applied to reservoirs containing bitumen that are too deep for mining. To date there has been only one commercially viable in-situ recovery method, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), involving high pressure steam injection and bitumen production using horizontal well pairs located near the base of oil sands formations. While SAGD has enabled conversion of significant resources to reserves (about 170 billion barrels), SAGD has many economic and environmental limitations. SAGD capital and operating costs are high making many projects uneconomic at current low oil prices. Water usage and carbon emissions are also high in SAGD making the process environmentally unsustainable. The Accelerate Cluster projects are aimed at finding new recovery methods that reduce costs of delivering energy to the formations and that also reduce water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. TO BE CONT’D

Deep Sensor Fusion of Appearance, Depth and Thermal Camera Features for Autonomous Driving

The purpose of the proposed research is to explore a deep sensor fusion framework for autonomous driving using a thermal camera and stereo camera. This is a useful driver assistance application for challenging environments such as night-time and rainy or snowy weather. Single sensor, such as monocular, stereo and thermal camera-based autonomous driving applications are not robust enough for practical applications. The monocular camera which provides descriptive appearance information is affected by illumination variation. This can be addressed by utilizing stereo-based depth information. However, the stereo depth is less reliable at nighttime. This issue can be addressed by using the thermal camera. It can be seen that features obtained from the thermal camera and stereo camera are complementary, resulting in the increase of robustness of autonomous driving applications. In our previous research we effectively fused stereo-based depth information and monocular camera-based appearance information using the novel ChiNet. TO BE CONT’D

Data Security and Privacy Assurance at LABVI

IoT devices gather a huge amount of information and, consequently, bring many privacy threats. For example, the huge amount of information collected with IoT devices could be used in individual and behavioral patterns profiling. Thus, new safeguards for privacy and data integrity must be specified.
This project aims to resolve data privacy issues using a proposed data privacy assurance with a blockchain model. The objectives of this project are as follows:
1. Assessment of the state of the art of data protection standards, security protocols, privacy policies and regulations and ethical charters.
2. Assessment of privacy challenges and standards in IoT context.
3. Identification of critical factors required for the specification and implementation of a privacy assurance in the context of LabVI
4. Validation of a new data privacy assurance blockchain model.

Biogas production from bioplastic

Plastic litter currently accumulates in oceans, causing a ‘plastic soup’. Therefore, the past years many biodegradable plastics were developed and marketed. Most biodegradable plastics after their use end up in organic recycling, where materials are turned into compost and renewable energy (biogas and heat). However, many biodegradable plastics that are claimed to be ‘biodegradable’ are actually not biodegradable under commercial waste processing conditions. Under lab-scale conditions bioplastics poorly degrade. The biodegradable potential of bioplastics is therefore currently not used.
At least two types of biodegradable plastics (rigid versus foil) of commercial bioplastic producers will be anaerobically digested using the gas displacement method. Both biodegradability and biogas production will be analysed. To possibly speed up the anaerobic digestion process, the effect of pretreating the biodegradable plastics (e.g. particle size reduction) on biodegradability will be investigated.

Management System Standards, Management Systems Software, andOrganizational Learnin g & Performance: Making the Connections

The aim of the project is to investigate how organizational learning and periormance can be

enhanced, diminished, or not affected at all th rough use of environmental and other

management systems standards and related software. The survey research method

(questionnaires) will be used for data collection followed by statistical analysis of the data in

order to determine if a relationship exists or not between the dependent and independent

variables. A report describing and analyzing the findings of the research wi ll be prepared. The

project will assist Intelex Technologies in determining the effectiveness of their products as a

resource for the implementation and management of management systems and in enhancing

periormance.

A Comparative Analysis of Outdoor Education in the Chinese and Canadian Context

This project will examine the prevalence and context of Outdoor Education in China, and compare it to the established field of outdoor education in Canada. In addition, this research will examine the attitudes informing the interaction of Chinese schools with nature, and their natural environment and determining the cross-curricular and cross-cultural connections. Finally, these findings will be used to develop applications for educators in both countries. The scope of my examination of outdoor education is broad, including but not limited to physical education in an outdoor environment, field trips, and science lessons connected to the natural environment, among others. Through these findings, which will then be compared to Canada’s outdoor curriculum, direct applications of this research for Canadian educators likely to work with students from China and otherwise abroad will be drawn.

Brain wave technologies for brain function monitoring and prognostication following severe anoxic brain injury

This project will use a breakthrough brainwave technology to track the recovery of patients who have serious brain injury after cardiac arrest. Doctors currently rely on behaviour-based tests at the patient’s bedside to measure their brain function, but this is not reliable. A better method is to measure brain function directly using brainwave information. We have created a new technology that can measure many different brain functions in a short time. The two different parts of the technology will allow us to measure different functions in the brain, including sensation, attention, language and awareness. The partner company HealthTech Connex Inc. is in the process of bringing to market a similar device called NeuroCatch, which also measures brain vital signs. The information gathered in this project will help the company better understand the impact of their technology on improving patient care.

Higher versus lower load resistance training in young men

There is substantial variability in an individual’s ability to increase muscle mass following resistance exercise training (RET). The final chapter of my doctoral thesis is designed to explore the relative influence extrinsic (e.g., the load lifted per repetition) vs. intrinsic (e.g., rates of protein turnover) factors have on RET-induced muscle hypertrophy. I am applying for the Globalink Research Award to learn dynamic proteome profiling from the method’s pioneer (Dr. J. Burniston). We propose that dynamic proteome profiling will elucidate rapid protein turnover of hundreds of proteins following the initial bouts of RET, and that the specific protein turnovers will be altered by chronic RET. In addition, we expect myofibrillar proteins to be markedly different between individuals and that their rates of turnover will be aligned of muscle hypertrophy following chronic RET. TO BE CONT’D

Fatigue and Motor Control in Dancers

Ballet is a form of physical activity where dancers perform complex motor skills at a high intensity involving gross muscular movement and balance. Ballet is appreciated through the artistic quality of the movement and to be able to perform at the highest level, dancers must not only train at an intensity comparable to an elite sports person, but also manage sensations of fatigue. This project brings together several scientific (physiology, biomechanics and psychology) and artistic disciplines with the aim of developing research-informed interventions to manage fatigue to not only perform better, but also reduce injury-rates. Fatigue is not limited to the force generating capabilities of muscles but also a neural reorganisation that defines commands to the muscles. Overall the aim of the project is to provide new information that will explain how some people can still carry out complex co-ordinated movement when fatigued. TO BE CONT’D

L’expérience française de la bibliothèque troisième lieu

Ce projet de recherche se découpe en deux parties : découvrir quels ont été les apports des théories de la bibliothèque comme « troisième lieu » dans le fonctionnement et l’organisation des bibliothèques en France et aussi préciser les éléments culturels particuliers au pays qui ont fait que cette nouvelle conception du rôle des bibliothèques avance à moins grande vitesse qu’en Amérique du Nord et présente plus de critiques envers ce modèle.

Development of case studies for business students

This research program aims to create a case study to teach classes of business administration course. Initially an in-depth analysis of the literature on case study development will be done to serve as the basis for building the cases. We will then analyze the existing data from interviews conducted by supervisors of this project with entrepreneurs of Canadian companies to serve as a basis for building cases studies using the knowledge of the literature review. As a final result it is expected to have well-developed two case studies based on literature and real cases for the efficient development of knowledge, skills and attitudes for students.

Numerical modelling of continuous centrifugal castingof aluminium tubes

Continuous centrifugal casting (CCC) is a new process to produce aluminium tubes with many advantages over classical extrusion: reduced amount of scrap and energy consumption, low transformation costs, more flexibility to produce tubes of different sizes… In CCC, a constant flow of molten aluminum feeds a rotary mold which solidifies the metal into a tube shape while a mechanism extracts the new cast tube in rotation. However technical challenges need still to be overcome to make CCC more reliable. The aim of this project is to develop a numerical solver used to optimize the feeding of liquid aluminium and the rotating drum. It will enable to reach a more constant thickness of the tubes together with an acceptable surface condition, meeting then the standard requirements.