Innovative Projects Realized

Improving Automated Clay Seam Tracking for GPR-on-borer Systems Used in Potash Mining

This project will attempt to improve knowledge of the condition of the roof of mining rooms in potash mining. Typically a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems pointing overhead and connected to a mining machine is used to assess the conditions of the roof. This is important in order to avoid rock falls which endanger lives, equipment and the operations of potash mining. The goal of this project is to improve the algorithms that are used to determine the stability of the roof so that dangerous situations can be more easily recognized by operators of mining machines through advanced signal and image processing.

Using Augmented Reality to Improve Quality in a Discreet Component Assembly Process

Quality control in manufacturing can be a challenge. While many use AR (Augmented Reality) to reduce error in training processes or to assist with the assembly process, this research will introduce AR as a means of performing quality checks while the worker is assembling, thus allowing him or her to do two jobs at once. DAQRI will be used as a smart visor/helmet to provide visual cues to the worker, eliminating the need to check a status screen for updates, as well as identifying any assembly errors and providing a means to fix the problem. The goal is to use AR to make an employee both an assembler and quality controller simultaneously. Effectiveness will be measured by assessing number of defected finished products before and after implementing the system, as well as how soon the defects were detected, and how quickly they were corrected compared to traditional means.

A comparison of finite element model-predicted brainstem strains between injurious and non-injurious laboratory reconstructed football impacts

Studies of concussive events have shown that the response of the brain during an impact may not be the most reliable predictor of concussion, since the injury may be more closely related to the forces affecting the brainstem. A laboratory crash test protocol was developed to simulate player-to-player collisions in contact sports using crash test dummies and the impact forces on the dummy head were calculated. This study will assess the response of the brainstem during concussive events using information from these reconstructed football collisions as input to a computer model of the human head and neck. The computer simulations will provide important information to further study the concussion injury mechanism. In the future, this methodology will be used to analyze collegiate and youth impacts in sports, as well as to assess the performance of new helmets.

Développement d’un imageur ultra-rapide pour déterminer la minéralogie dans des carottes de forages

Ce projet porte sur le développement d’un instrument à savoir MISSION CORIOSITY de la compagnie canadienne ELEMISSION basé sur la spectroscopie optique LIBS et qui aura pour but de fournir une imagerie élémentaire de la surface des échantillons rocheux sur place et en temps réel. Donc la compagnie espère mettre au point leur système afin que qu’il soit déployé dans les mines pour que l’industrie minière puisse automatiser leur procédé de triage de minerais en temps réel et sur place. Ce qui rend le procédé plus rapide et moins couteux.

Lifestyle and cognition: a large-scale approach – Year two

Online cognitive testing provides unprecedented opportunities for exploring human brain function among the general population. Cambridge Brain Sciences Inc has created an online cognitive testing platform that has attracted more than 1.5M users and has hosted more than 300 studies of cognition. This research plans leverage their unique dataset to explore the interrelationship between demographic and lifestyle factors, and cognitive performance on a massive scale. For example, investigate how factors such as age, sleep, exercise and practice interact within this large population to impact the profile of cognitive performance. A series of large-scale online intervention studies will be conducted to examine which of these factors causally influence particular cognitive domains and over what timescale. This unique partnership will shed new light on the links between brain function, structure and connectivity, and changes in lifestyle and cognitive performance and will certainly yield an abundance of publishable data.

Remote Condition Assessment of High Voltage Insulators Using RadiatedElectromagnetic Fields

There exist hundreds of thousands of high voltage outdoor insulators in North America whose

monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and replacement cost thousands of dollars for the utility

companies. Further, inspection of insulators on live lines has resulted in accidents to the live

line personnel. The main objective of this research is to develop remote condition

assessment techniques for outdoor insulator inspection using electromagnetic radiation. This

project includes development of sensors that can capture electromagnetic radiations from the

insulators and algorithms that can classify the type of the defect or contamination on the

insulators. The outcome of this project enables the line crew to remotely identify defected

insulators and distinguish them from polluted ones.

Lifestyle and cognition: a large-scale approach

Online cognitive testing provides unprecedented opportunities for exploring human brain function among the general population. Cambridge Brain Sciences Inc has created an online cognitive testing platform that has attracted more than 1.5M users and has hosted more than 300 studies of cognition. I plan to leverage their unique dataset to explore the interrelationship between demographic and lifestyle factors, and cognitive performance on a massive scale. For example, I will investigate how factors such as age, sleep, exercise and practice interact within this large population to impact the profile of cognitive performance. I will also conduct a series of large-scale online intervention studies to examine which of these factors causally influence particular cognitive domains and over what timescale. This unique partnership will shed new light on the links between brain function, structure and connectivity, and changes in lifestyle and cognitive performance and will certainly yield an abundance of publishable data.

Characterization and Strength of New High-Strength GFRP Bent Bars by Developing New Testing Protocol

Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete structures caused by aggressive environment in northern climates compromises the structure’s integrity and threatens the public safety. In Canada, the estimated infrastructure maintenance due to steel corrosion was approximately 57 billion dollars, while in Québec the infrastructure maintenance in 2014 amounted $1018.8 million dollars. The use of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement was emerging as cost-effective alternative reinforcing material to prevent corrosion problems. However, bending the GFRP reinforcement to form different shapes (such as bent bars for bridge barriers or stirrups as shear reinforcement for structural concrete) weakens their strength. Stirrups are mainly located as an outer reinforcement in structural elements and more susceptible to severe environmental effects, which accelerate the deterioration process and reduce the service life of the structure. Therefore, the strength and long-term performance of GFRP bent bars/stirrups shall be addressed to ensure quality/durability of the structure. TO BE CONT’D

Bioactive peptides and joint inflammatory response after in vitro human digestion of collagen hydrolysate

Genacol Canada Corporation Inc. manufactures a bovine-sourced hydrolyzed collagen supplement (Genacol® Original Formula), which has shown efficacy in two separate clinical trials for reducing joint pain. Following digestion, hydrolyzed collagen yields amino acids and peptides that can lead to the health promoting properties of the supplement. However, the specific identity and mechanisms of action of the peptide and amino acids produced from the digestion of the Genacol collagen hydrolysate that support joint health is unclear. Our proposed study aims to identify the bioactivity of the peptides and amino acids generated from digestion Genacol collagen hydrolysate using a dynamic simulated gut digestion model together with human intestinal, liver and cartilage cell cultures. This approach will help to ascertain the bioactive components contributing towards the health promoting properties of the Genacol collagen supplement and will aid in the development of more concentrated and potent hydrolyzed collagen products.

Advanced Materials and Technologies for Medical Imaging Detectors and Techniques

The proposed Mitacs program will provide internships for six graduate (thesis-based MSc and PhD) students, and two Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs) in a competitive R&D environment at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute (TBRHRI) – Canada’s newest health research institute. Interns will be involved in research projects which aim to develop and commercialize the next generation of customized detectors to improve medical imaging applications, which are chosen on the basis of the demands of the healthcare system and commercial opportunities developed in the TBRHRI. In particular, interns will be working on novel imaging detector materials and technologies which will provide improvements in performance (superior image quality and diagnostic capabilities) for many clinical procedures including anatomical and functional diagnostic imaging as well as for image guided radiotherapy. TO BE CONT’D

Long-Term Transportation Alternatives for Metrotown Redevelopment

Private car dependence represents a significant problem and a major obstacle towards a more sustainable future. A good combination of different modes of transportation can create an opportunity to overcome this issue. In this sense, integrating car sharing into Transit Oriented Development can be an ideal combination to promote a smart and sustainable development. This research will examine specific aspects of the relationship existing between car sharing and the public transit infrastructure. Research findings will then be used to explore how sustainable transportation planning can contribute to long range sustainability in a Transit Oriented Development project in Metro Vancouver.

Development of new therapeutics for castration-resistant prostate cancer treatment

Castration-resistant prostate cancer is a late stage disease and many people die of it due to lack of effective therapeutic drugs. In the current project, we propose to develop new therapeutic drug a to specifically target CRPC’s common weak points, which are MCT4 and eIF4E gene’s proteint products that play very important roles in regulation of cancer cell’s energetic and protein translation pathways. The project aims to develop an antibody drug, an small molecule chemical drug and a nanoparticle drug to target MCT4 membrane protein and eIF4E transcription factor protein. If successful, the project will lead to new drug development for treating this deadly disease.