Innovative Projects Realized

Condition assessment of infrastructure facilities using combined image processing and sensing technologies

As Canada’s infrastructure grow older every year, the inspection and maintenance of these capital intensive assets becomes more challenging. Most deterioration mechanism occur over a long period of time. Certain defects remain unnoticed during regular inspection until it is too late. Unfortunately, delayed diagnosis of defects can significantly increase the annual cost of maintenance.
Inspectors and maintenance managers demand innovative methods that help them identify and quantify deficiencies earlier, and more accurately. This R&D project proposes an innovative condition assessment of infrastructure facilities without direct interaction of labour in a timely and cost-effective manner. A combined approach of sensing technology and image processing is proposed to 3D-map the condition of a structure over time. To do so, highly accurate sensors and transducers are installed along the structural members under inspection to monitor the internal changes. The sensing results are combined with the map of surface changes. TO BE CONT’D

Investigation of In-Situ Flux Effect on Hydride Properties in Zr-2.5Nb Pressure Tubes in CANDU Reactors

In the operation of CANDU reactors, the Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes holding the cooling water and fuel bundles are susceptible to hydride cracking-induced crack initiation mechanisms, known as delayed hydride cracking and overload crack initiation. It is required to evaluate the likelihood of DHC and overload crack initiation from service-induced flaws to determine whether the pressure tubes are still fit for continued service for the integrity assessment of pressure tubes. Furthermore, the continuous fast neutron irradiation alters the properties of the pressure tubes, which pose potential effect on the formation of brittle hydride and possible crack initiation as well. This proposed experimental work will address hydride cracking mechanism change upon irradiation by using proton irradiation from an accelerator, which is much faster and less expensive compared to in reactor neutron irradiation. TO BE CONT’D

Inkjet printing of conductive nanocellulose inks for flexible electronics

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are rod-shaped nanoparticles extracted from renewable cellulose sources that possess impressive mechanical and rheological properties, are non-toxic and biodegradable, and have potential applications in coatings, adhesives, biomedicine and energy storage devices, to name just a few. In combination with conductive nanoparticles, CNCs can be used in inks for printing conductive circuits for electronics. The role of CNCs is to stabilize the conductive nanoparticles and improve the “printability” of the inks. This project aims to produce and characterize CNC-based inks, and to use them to print transparent conductive patterns. CNCs will be prepared through sulfuric acid hydrolysis of cotton. Three inks will be tested: (1) CNCs mixed with silver nanoparticles, (2) CNCs with silver nanoparticles synthesized in situ (commercially available as PolyBioSilver), and (3) CNCs mixed with carbon nanotubes. TO BE CONT’D

Stage de recherche en biologie synthétique

Le projet consiste en un stage de recherche en biologie synthétique, un domaine scientifique émergeant reliant biologie et ingénierie afin de construire ou modifier des systèmes biologiques dans le but de répondre à certaines problématiques. Les maladies infectieuses sont des causes de pertes économiques majeures à l’échelle du globe, entre autres dans l’industrie agroalimentaire. Le projet sur lequel l’étudiante va travailler s’intéresse à la prévention de la pleuropneumonie contagieuse caprine, une maladie ayant un fort impact économique, entres autres en Asie et en Afrique. Son rôle sera d’assister un chercheur post-doctoral de l’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) dans le développement d’une souche bactérienne pour développer un vaccin contre cette maladie. Le projet sera réalisé dans l’équipe de Carole Lartigue, chargée de recherche à l’INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine. TO BE CONT’D

Pilot-Scale Mycoremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Impacted Soil

Mycoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacted soil utilizes mushroom to decontaminate polluted soil. Specific mushrooms including shiitake, oyster and other white rot fungus have been successfully degraded a wide range of recalcitrant soil contaminants. However, this process is quite slow and is sometimes limiting. It is hypothesized that insufficient bioavailable phosphorus supply likely limits the mycoremediation performance. To increase nutrient bioavailability to fungi, conventional mycoremediation will be modified by applying gaseous form of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and triethyl phosphate (TEP).
PHC impacted soil will be mixed with the compost inoculated with fungi. Vapour mixture containing NO2 and TEP will be pumped into the bioreactors. Microbial communities will be characterized using molecular analyses. Understanding mechanisms behind uptake of PHCs and phosphorus by fungi will shed more light on optimization of the mycoremediation process.
Stimulated fungal growth and activity resulting from increased nutrient bioavailability is expected to result in significant soil cleanup.

Scalable User Interface Designs for Scheduling Software

Coconut Calendar provides an appointment scheduling software platform to customize the on-line customer booking experience for small home-based services-provider businesses, such as massage therapists, hair stylists, or home cleaners with only a few locations. Coconut Calendar is now expanding their business to larger clients with dozens or even thousands (e.g., IBM) of customers. The challenge is to bring that same intimate booking experience to business with thousands of customers in hundreds of locations; however, the interface designs that were successful on a small scale (e.g., drop-down menus to represent a list of items) are not effective when there are hundreds of items. However, transitioning the entire system to a large-scale interface solution (e.g., searchable list) sacrifices the user experience for Coconut’s core market of small home-based business owners.TO BE CONT’D

Credit Card Fraud Detection Using Machine Learning

The National Bank of Canada (NBC) is currently trying to put in place an automatic credit card fraud detection system based on advanced learning algorithms. Credit card fraud happens when someone steals a credit card, credit card information or personal identification number (PIN) and uses it without permission to make a purchase or withdraw money from an automated teller machine (ATM). Credit card fraud is a multimillion dollar problem faced by all financial institutions. Predictive features based on the NBC’s data will be researched, and various learning algorithms used for anomaly detection will be explored. A success in this project will have a direct impact on NBC’s business.

Colour Change Materials for Novel Display Technology

At Halion, we believe that in the next 5 years displays will be everywhere. They’ll be in devices you wear, and on your walls at home, blending information into your environment. But to do that effectively we need a new display technology that is low power and visible in any lighting condition. We base our displays on the idea of inks on paper – there’s usually enough light to read a book or a magazine, and neither of those need a battery to work. There is a large gap between bright, vibrant displays and low power, highly visible reflective displays. At Halion we are building the technology needed to bridge this gap, focused on high visual quality, without compromising cost or power consumption. This accelerate project is focused on the synthesis of the coloured materials we need to bring this display technology to your next devices.

Prevention of Workplace Injuries amongst Temporary Foreign Workers employed in Toronto’s construction industry. How much do we actually know?

The issue of workplace safety for migrant workers employed in the construction industry received

much media attention in Toronto, in December 2009, when four migrant workers died on Christmas

Eve, after a scaffold used to repair balconies collapsed. It was unknown if the men were wearing

safety harnesses or not and if wearing of safety equipment would have been resulted in them staying

alive. Such incidents raise a question mark about the enforcement of health and safety regulations,

adequate training and proper maintenance of equipment on worksites. The purpose of this research

project is to investigate how much do temporary foreign workers (TFWs) employed in the Toronto

construction industry know about workplace rules and regulations as they particularly relate to injury

prevention. The proposed research project will fit very well with SPT’s research priorities and has the

possibility to address some of the anticipated City of Toronto funding cuts, which may negatively

affect the SPT’s, outlined organizational research initiatives.

Quantifying Impact of Transportation Electrification on Electrical Power Grid and CO2 Emissions through Big Data Analysis of Vehicle Driving and Charging Profiles

In this project, charging and driving data of 1000 electric vehicles (EVs) across Canada will be monitored and analyzed to figure out the impact of EVs on the electrical power grid, and their potential capability to reduce CO2 emissions. For this purpose, the degree to which a particular electricity grid profile, the vehicle type and driving style, and charging patterns impact CO2 emissions will be studied. This project will also try to improve the understanding of required charging infrastructure for EVs to address customers’ range anxiety, and help infrastructure providers with decision making. Outcomes of this research will enable FleetCarma to further communicate with local distribution companies (LDCs) in Canada to manage their supply and demand profiles. TO BE CONT’D

Stability or Narration: The Role of Analytic-Holistic Thinking in Achieving Self-continuity

Research has documented evidence of the positivity and desirability of self-continuity. A sense of self-continuity can be achieved by holding an identity that is stable, construing one’s life as a story, and making an associative link to the past. However, the current literature on self-continuity has not yet shown which strategy is more effective to some people than other. In the proposed research, we attempt to test whether people with different thinking styles (analytic-holistic reasoning) take divergent route to achieve a sense of self-continuity. Specifically, we hypothesize that analytic thinkers would take an essentialist strategy to achieve self-continuity, focusing on the stable attributes that persists over time. In contrast, holistic thinkers would take a narrative strategy to achieve self-continuity by making sense of inevitable changes over time, connect different experiences, and building meaning and coherence of the selfhood.

Understanding ATV Use: Improving Conservation Methods in New Brunswick, Canada

The increase of illegal All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) riding on New Brunswick beaches causes concern for the integrity of sandy beaches and dune systems which are important barriers for coastal protection. These ecosystems are home to a variety of species including the endangered shore bird, the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). However, although these birds are often found in close proximity to recreational activity, there has been minimal research on the potential for human-wildlife conflict, which occurs most often when there is competition for a shared resource (e.g. nesting habitat versus space for recreation). Therefore, there is a need to understand public values, attitudes, and social trust in natural resource management agencies in order to better understand how these can influence support for successful conservation initiatives. To understand these relationships, my research will use a close-ended, pre-tested questionnaire to collect data on key components such as: attitudes towards management options, beliefs about environmental impact of ATVs, social trust in natural resource management agencies, and socio-demographic characteristics of participants. This research will contribute to an under-researched topic of assessing social trust in natural resource management agencies and how this influences public acceptance and expectations for environmental management […]