Innovative Projects Realized

Exploring Membrane Distillation technology for water treatment in rural areas using modified membranes

Water is an essential commodity for survival of life on earth. The scarcity of potable water is increasing universally and that too is severe in rural and remote areas as they lack suitable treatment facilities/technology. Treatment of polluted water and desalination are the most promising options to meet the fresh water demand. Out of various treatment methods, Membrane Distillation is a viable technology that can produce fresh water from saline/impure water easily and economically. The proposed project focus on exploring membrane distillation technology to enhance the production rate at lower cost, hence making it suitable for remote areas. This study include fabrication of modified high performance membranes, their characterization and integration into lab scale treatment unit. Study will also incorporate optimization of working conditions of process and effect of fouling. The project is an experimental approach towards developing viable and easily deployable water treatment system, useful for rural arid regions.

Microwave-based Processing for Purification of Silicon

Silicon solar cells have increasingly been recognised as key components in future renewable energy

solutions. However, their sustained viability will depend on cell performance and cost, with the current

emphasis on thinner cells made from lower grade silicon. However, although such cells would be

cheaper, their performance would be compromised by the presence of even low concentrations “killer”

impurities such as iron which unacceptably reduce the cell efficiency. Current approaches to removing

iron to an acceptable level, or refining the feedstock, incur high energy input costs and yield toxic byproducts.

Our Canadian partner, Prised Solar Inc., is in the business of supplying silicon feedstock for

the solar industry and recognizing the expertise of the Ruda group in photovoltaics research and

technology for over two decades, approached us to develop a new low cost and environmentally

benign iron purification process for metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si). Recently, microwave

processing was applied as a means to rapidly heat and redistribute dopants in silicon……

Governing global shelter and natural hazards: A study of urban housing in Dhaka and Amsterdam

By 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the global population will reside in cities. As cities grow and are required to house growing urban populations, however, they are simultaneously grappling with climate change and rising rates of natural disasters. My dissertation examines Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, two cities that despite their differences, are urbanizing rapidly, require more housing, and face negative effects from climate change, notably flooding. I am interested to understand in light of these challenges how housing for low-income populations is being governed in these contexts. Low-income groups are important to study as they experience both fiscal hardship and are more likely to live in less desirable or protected urban areas. The research aims to further our understanding of the economic and environmental burdens faced by the urban poor in hazard-prone cities. TO BE CONT’D

A Novel Method for Immunoprotection of Tissue Transplants

Musculoskeletal extremity injuries, including traumatic amputations, represent the majority of injuries sustained by victims of traffic accidents, work-related traumas and military recruits injuries. Over the last decade, vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA), the transplantation of specialized tissue from a deceased donor, has become a good alternative for the reconstruction of devastating hand and facial injuries, like those in those wounded patients.
Transplantation tolerance, allows for elimination of immunosuppressive drugs, has been the “holy grail” for transplantation medicine since its beginnings. Especially for VCA, since acute rejection of the “foreign” VCA occurs in up to 90 % of patients, despite the use of potent immunosuppression drugs. Increased doses of immunosuppression, with life-threatening complications, or successful immunomodulatory regimens are required to prevent loss of the VCA. IDO is an enzyme that has shown to be able to lower the threshold for attaining immunologic tolerance. In combination with IDO, we will (further) explore the use of creating a so called “mixed chimerism state” for the induction of VCA tolerance. Mixed chimerism involves donation of immune cells from the donor to create a hybrid immune system in the recipient.

Fostering Equitable Urban Development through Community Control of Land

Gentrification and the commodification of housing have shaped New York City for decades to the detriment of low income communities. In response, these communities have organized to create long-term, viable strategies for maintaining housing affordability, green space, and urban gardens through community control of land. My research will explore how communities can leverage local needs and interests by gaining control of land to foster more equitable and resilient urban development. In order to do so, I will:
1. Identify key policies, institutional frameworks and organizational structures that allow communities to gain control of land
2. Develop a contextualized analysis of one formal and one informal form of community control over land in New York City
3. Contribute to capacity development of two community-based organizations (the New York City Community Land Initiative and the Smiling Hogshead Ranch) that are working towards building a more equitable city through community control of land.

Development and evaluation of a liquid desiccant membrane dehumidifier for Canadian greenhouses.

This project is going to develop and evaluate the performance of a noble dehumidifier. The design of that dehumidifier (SPLD unit) is already done by Nortek’s research group and submitted for the patent. The assembly of parts and lab testing of that SPLD unit will done during this project time. After lab testing, if all expected features are ensured, the unit will be installed in Greenhouse C. The initial control strategy will be made according to the previous environmental data. The data will be taken during running time of the unit and the control strategy will be modified. Finally, after analysing those data, the performance evaluation and comparisons are done in terms of energy, economy and environment as described in methodology. This performance evaluation of new technology will introduce a new era in greenhouse sector by providing an authentic information to all greenhouse growers as they can use this more beneficial technology to make more profit from their greenhouses.

TBIFinder : A new approach to identify and properly assess mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) is a common and devastating condition that severely affects millions of people around the world. Following an mTBI, also known as concussion, a medical professional performs standard neurological tests, however, these tests are very subjective, based on patient-reporting, and provide little to no insight on the severity of an mTBI. The company TBIFinder therefore revolutionizes brain injury treatment by providing a fully objective service that uses a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine to assess mTBIs. TBIFinder is a software platform equipped with a sophisticated algorithm that uses medical-grade MRI images to investigate structural and functional abnormalities in individuals suffering from mTBI. The TBIFinder technology has been created by an expert in the MRI field and the software is currently under development to increase access and distribution to the entire medical community. TO BE CONT’D

Development of Thermal Models Towards Reliability Assessment in Energy Delivery Network at FortisBC

The main mission of FortisBC is delivering energy (in the form of electricity and natural gas) safely and reliably at the lowest reasonable cost with lowest emissions. Any maloperations or unexpected interruptions in equipment of the energy supply network may lead to unreliable and unsafe conditions of power delivering to the consumers. For this purpose, continuous monitoring of the condition of the significant elements of the network is a vital need. This project aims to focus on two main components of the energy network, i.e., Power Transformers, and Transmission Pipelines. Aging of power transformers and operating the gas pipelines in cold temperature-areas increase the risk of failures in the energy delivery network. A comprehensive study will be carried out to explore the significant factors that impact the reliable operation of each system. A cost-effective and practical tool based on thermal science and engineering approaches will be developed to predict the life expectancy of power transformers and the minimum temperature of the transmission pipeline to prevent or minimize the corresponding failures in energy network.

Nano-varnish with integrated biomineralizable and antibacterial activity against dental caries

Dental caries is a major health hazard in the general population worldwide. Fluoride-based formulations are conventionally used to resolve this problem but they present certain important disadvantages, which has been overlooked. Here we propose to develop and characterize a non-fluoride based dental varnish using natural product conjugated nanoparticles that holds the potential of inhibiting bacterial plaque formation and repair early damage on tooth surface. The potential long-term benefits of this product are extensive and include prevention of dental caries and improved quality of life. The nano-varnish is inexpensive, fast and simple to use, which can be used by dentists/individuals with minimum learning curve. The varnish fills the unmet medical need for patients with high caries risk, particularly children.

Climate Services to Support Adaptation of the Caribbean Tourism Sector

The Caribbean tourism sector is critically important to the Caribbean economy and highly sensitive to climate change and its impacts. Climate-sensitive industries are exploring how to make best use of outputs of climate models, weather forecasting tools and early warning systems as strategies to boost their viability as climate change intensifies. Tools such as these can facilitate informed decision-making that minimizes climate risk and maximizes opportunities arising from extreme weather occurring in visitors’ countries of origin or in competing regions. This research project investigates the feasibility of using of historic climate data to account for observed trends/seasonality in historic visitor arrivals to the Caribbean, and tests to what extent these relationships hold under a range of conditions. The results of work will inform the development of specific, spatially and temporally-explicit climate information products to support public and private decision makers in the region’s tourism sector.

A green technology project: Development and production of eco-responsible, innovative biodegradable, recyclable and compostable food packaging materials based on natural fibers

Technological challenges in the pulping process of cellulosic fibers of different origins that can provide an optimal eco-responsible, biodegradable, recyclable and compostable alternative to polluting styrofoam packaging. AecopaQ stands out by using natural fibers grown and processed locally to the production of packaging trays for the food industry. AecopaQ is part of Canada’s sustainable development agenda. From conducting the current research project, AecopaQ will benefit in being one of the first Canadian companies in leading in the development and commercialization of 100% compostable trays for food packaging. Besides, the project will lead to the valorisation of local fibers, and the recycling of residual fibers. The current research work aims to study the formulation (composition, concentration, conditions) and processing conditions (such as mixing, thermoforming and drying processes) for achieving the required properties (thermal, mechanical, barrier, sealing, among others) of packaging trays for food intended applications.

Uncovering Soft Information from Stock Market Conference Calls: Asset Management Perspectives

Investors, regulators, and the general public consume a wealth of textual information every day. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence make machine-reading of textual information plausible. We tackle text mining of financial conference call transcripts—calls of significant corporate events that are widely followed by investors and institutional investors. Our conference calls data include over 200,000 calls calls held by North American companies. We will use textual analysis and machine learning in computer science, combined with large-scale portfolio-formation and regression analysis in financial economics, to uncover systematic patterns in conference calls that will affect future stock returns. Our project aims to enhance the trading strategies of the sponsoring organization, to ultimately benefit its Canadian institutional clients. Our project will also contribute innovatively to the academic literature on textual analysis of conference calls.