Innovative Projects Realized

Investigating the role of daf-7 on host identification within Strongyloides

Neurobiology of Depression

Development of a scalable battery management system for electric vehicles

Internship offer in Bioorganic Chemistry

Point Cloud processing for Smart Iceberg Management System

Newfoundland oil and gas industry needs unique engineering solutions for offshore structures and operations because of harsh environment. Drifting icebergs, if collide with an offshore structure, may cause serious damage leading to economic losses, ecological problems and loss of human lives. To protect the structure, icebergs can be towed away; however, it is a complicated process, especially when the underwater part of iceberg is hidden. This project contributes to a new technology that can be used onboard of towing vessels to assist captains when taking their decisions regarding towing. The Smart Iceberg Management System is able to obtain full iceberg shape in only 20 minutes, helping to decide where and how to tow. This should significantly improve success rates, safety and cost-effectiveness of the complicated towing operations.

Mobile Transaction Initialization, Authentication and Cooperation

The intern and organizational partner are looking for unique and interesting ways of using mobile devices

to help authenticate users and methods of cooperation between a mobile device and another device, a

PC for example. The intern will research and implement different authentication techniques on mobile

devices. Additionally, it is prudent to study and develop a way of simplifying user interactions while

maintaining a high level of security at all times.

Scale-up Synthesis of New-Generation Chiral Cyclobutane-based Bisphosphane Ligands

This research project deals with the development of the next generation of a set of chemicals on an industrial scale that form a catalyst in conjunction with a metal. The new catalysts are intended to be employed by Digital Specialty Chemicals’ customer in the manufacture of plasticizers, paints, and detergents. The intern will focus on the optimized chemical synthesis of critical components toward the final products, as well as the identification of commercially more viable options in terms of solvents used for the process. The new design of the target compounds of this project is expected to lead to more chemically-efficient and cost-effective processes, which will help solidifying Digital’s position as the main supplier of this product series for their customer.

Multiscale In-Silico Screening of OLEDs: Simulating the Formation of Organic Glasses and Computation of Optoelectronic Properties

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are thin layers of organic chemicals with that emit light. As a novel form of technology, OLEDs can be used to manufacture flexible and ultrathin visual screens for mobile phones and televisions. They are extremely efficient; they produce very bright lights while producing very little heat. Designing better and cheaper OLED technologies requires that we understand the structure, behaviour and properties of OLEDs at the molecular level. As of now, this is a work in progress. This project seeks to develop an integrated collection of computer programs that can simulate the way in which OLEDs form and predict how efficiently they convert electricity into light. Our grand objective is to have a sophisticated piece of software that can analyse thousands of molecules to see predict the ones that can produce the “best” OLED.

Pulse Radiolysis studies of nanoparticles for future radiation therapy applications

Although radiation therapy has come a long way in the successful treatment of some cancers, there are still problems that arise. The radiation used to treat tumors not only targets malignant cells but healthy cells as well, wreaking havoc by creating reactive free electrons in the aqueous cell environment. We propose the study of gold nanoparticles functionalized with ionic liquids using the radiation chemistry technique, pulse radiolysis, in order to test their viability as a mitigating “shield” against the collateral damage during radiation therapy. Gold nanoparticles have already been shown to have favorable radiation chemistry, quenching free electrons and preventing radical reactions however the radiation effects on the proposed ionic liquids are unknown. Furthermore our ionic liquids have shown increased stabilization of the gold nanoparticles in solution (lasting months) as well as antimicrobial properties. TO BE CONT’D

Étude de faisabilité technique des solutions de stockage thermique dans les bâtiments démonstrateurs de la livre Tree

Pour réduire efficacement la consommation énergétique dans le bâtiment, la nouvelle réglementation thermique 2012 impose de construire des bâtiments ayant une consommation inférieure à 50kWh/m².an. Dans cet optique, le projet de recherche constitue à évaluer si l’utilisation de matériaux à changements de phase dans la structure ou l’enveloppe d’un bâtiment serait pertinent comme solution de stockage thermique dans les bâtiments, autant d’un d’un point de vue d’économie d’énergie que d’un point de vue économique. Le projet a également pour objectif de développer des solutions permettant d’augmenter l’inertie de l’enveloppe du bâtiment ainsi que d’intégrer des systèmes de génération et de stockage d’énergie aux réseaux de distribution d’énergie.

Study on ZSM-5 zeolite-encapsulated Pt and its application in catalysis

Metal nanoparticles have drawn much attention during the last few years due to their unique properties, particularly their high catalytic activity in many reactions. Catalytic activity increases when the particle size decreases, thus the most active catalysts are below 5 nm in size. The objective of this project is to investigate the catalytic performance for the alkylation of benzene with methanol and hydrogenation of nitrobenzene and nitronaphthalene of a hierarchical porous Pt@ZSM-5 catalyst. In this catalyst, Pt nanoparticles are confined into the pores and cavities of the zeolite. This catalyst was synthesized by a dry-gel conversion in-situ synthesis method. The end goal is to obtain the most selective and stable catalytic reaction performance. This is done by testing the catalyst’s performance at different structural and textural properties. The varying properties of the catalysts are systematically characterized and implemented by wet impregnation techniques. TO BE CONT’D

Ammonia nitrogen removal from Congo Red wastewater by biological fluidized bed

The rapid development of human activities has caused a worldwide increase of nitrogen and phosphorus in rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Sewage and fertilizers are two examples of a variety of different sources responsible for this increase in nitrogen. Despite being an important nutrient for cell growth formation, nitrogen is often detrimental to the environment in high concentrations. The objective of the research project is the achievement of maximum removal efficiency of both COD and ammonia nitrogen from Congo Red wastewater, which is made possible by a high resistance to organic loading in the reactor. A study performed by Professor Pan and a collaboration of other researchers was effective in showing that biological treatment methods of wastewater contaminated by 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), an organic pollutant known for its environmental persistence and strong toxicity, were superior to physiochemical alternatives. TO BE CONT’D