Innovative Projects Realized

Impact Fatigue Testing for Soil Openers

This project focus on designing a fatigue cycling machine to test soil openers for low cycle, impact fatigue. This process begins by identifying and characterizing the load in case, and then continue into detailed design, fabrication and commissioning. Characteristics such as robustness, reliability and safety will be strongly emphasised. This testing machine will then form a basis for further research on opener design.
It is very important to test the soil openers before releasing them, to assure that the customers that acquire them will not have problem during their seeding period. The outcomes of having the openers tested are beyond profit, it’s maintaining the company’s reliability in the present scenario.

Development of a novel stem cell-seeded extracellular matrix for treatment of chronic wounds

The bedsore or pressure ulcer is a serious health problem that affects many individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). These ulcers mostly develop on skin that covers bony prominences of the body, such as the hips and tailbone. Pressure ulcers are often very difficult to treat and not only negatively affect patients’ health, but also have profound impact on their quality of life. This speaks to the need for finding more effective treatment methods to address this problem. Our aim in this research project is to find a novel method to improve the healing of pressure ulcers. We specifically plan to develop a novel method to fabricate a liquid skin substitute. This liquid skin can then be applied to the wound site to cast inside the wound bed and fill the ulcer pockets similar to patching a pothole with liquid concrete. TO BE CONT’D

Investigating the Geochemistry of Selenium (Se) in the Residual from Biological Wastewater Treatment

Although selenium is an essential element for human and animal health, it has a narrow concentration range before becoming toxic. Industrial practices, such as mining, can result in elevated levels of selenium to be introduced into surface water bodies, hence, treating mine processing water and wastewater is commonly done to reduce the potential for environmental impacts. Bacterially mediated redox processes are currently used in the mining industry to remove selenium from wastewater. The byproduct of this treatment is a solid state residual which contains high concentrations of selenium. The objective of this research is to investigate how selenium is occurring in the residual which will aid in understanding the risk it poses. This improved understanding of selenium within the residual will support the decision making process for managing the residuals in terms of disposal options and thereby reduce risk to environmental receptors.

Offshore Pipelines and Risers in Deepwater

Exploration and production of oil and gas in deepwater increases the demand for offshore research not

only in Canada but also in other parts of the world. In deepwater, large floating platfonns are attached

to the seafloor by steel catenary type risers. The risers are generally highly stressed near the touchdown

point at the seabed. Stonn loading could increase stresses in the riser to unacceptable levels. Moreover,

deepwater offshore pipelines for transporting oil and gas are usually laid on the seabed but penetrate

partially due to their own weight and laying operation. In addition, the potential failure of deepwater

slopes is a major concern for oil gas industries and regulatory agencies. The main objective

of the proposed research is the development of newlimproved design tools for pipelines and risers in

deepwater. The budget will support training of 4 inte~.t (graduate students at Memorial University of

Newfoundland) research.

Analyse statique du code logiciel : Réduction des fausses alertes

Les développeurs/auditeurs utilisent régulièrement des outils d’analyse statique pour trouver des vulnérabilités logicielles. Malheureusement, ces outils sont loin d’être parfaits: une personne doit passer en revue ces vulnérabilités et décider de les traiter ou non. L’objectif de ce projet de recherche est d’augmenter les performances d’outils d’analyse de code statique tel que FindSecurityBugs (logiciel libre permettant d’évaluer la sécurité des applications Java et Android) en intégrant des concepts d’apprentissage machine afin de classifier automatiquement et de façon plus précise les alertes de vulnérabilité logiciel générées. L’utilisation d’une telle solution augmenterait l’efficacité des développeurs/auditeurs logiciels en réduisant drastiquement les erreurs de leur outil de diagnostic.

Assessing trust of artificial intelligence technology in the context of workplace relations

The goal of the project is to gain insight into individuals’ reactions to an artificial intelligence (AI) product currently in development at Kiite. The product is designed to fulfill some of the role responsibilities typically occupied by a manager. Trust is an important factor in both leader-employee relationships and in user experiences with AI-based systems. Thus, the partnership with Kiite offers a novel research opportunity to contribute to an emerging area of research on when and why humans are liable to (dis)trust AI technology in the workplace. We will conduct one-on-one interviews with participants from several organizations where Kiite is testing their AI product. The main outcomes will be communicating the findings in the form of a paper for an academic journal, a knowledge-translation piece for a trade-level publication, and an executive report prepared for Kiite, which will include actionable recommendations for improving their product.

Aeration of hydraulic turbines for increased dissolved oxygen

In warm climates, warm temperatures cause thermal stratification in hydropower reservoirs inhibiting mixing and leading to deoxygenation of waters at depth (hypolimnium). Turbines withdrawing water at depth result in low dissolved oxygen (DO) in the downstream flow having a large negative impact on the downstream riverine ecosystem. Legislation in the USA and elsewhere now requires hydropower operators to guarantee meeting minimum DO limits in downstream flows. Andritz Hydro Canada has initiated this project to optimize the elbow deflectors used in draft tube aeration, which is a technological retrofit approach not excessively impacting operation schedules. The main deliverables will be the optimization of the elbow deflectors, through a parametric study of the design parameters involved in maximizing bubble surface area and bubble concentration to result in an increase in dissolved oxygen concentration, and a set of data for validation of Andritz’s Computational Fluid Dynamics model.

An Efficient Data Analysis Pipeline

The proposed research project targets computational performance improvements of an data analysis pipeline. The project has a duration of four months and aims to achieve two objectives: (1) to properly characterize the performance of individual stages of the existing data analysis pipeline in terms of execution time, memory, and I/O, and (2) to improve the performance of individual stages where possible. The intern will use methods learnt and developed during the masters research and apply them to a real-world system at Acerta Analytics Solutions. The expected benefit to the partner organization, Acerta, is that the outcomes of the project will improve the performance of the existing data analysis pipeline.

Anomaly Detection using GAN

The proposed research project targets anomaly detection of event data. The project has a duration of four months and aims to achieve two objectives: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel approach on GAN for real-world data, and (2) compare it to alternative methods. The intern will use existing research resources, and will apply them to real-world data provided by the partner, Acerta Analytics Solutions, Inc. to evaluate the different methods. The expected benefit to the partner organization, Acerta, is that the outcomes of the project will improve the existing a software platform to detect failures in automotive vehicles, and eventually to predict them before they happen.

Develop integrated management of bacterial canker disease for greenhouse tomato –Phase II

Tomato is one of the most important greenhouse crops. The high nutritive quality, huge consumption, high yield potential and marketing value make tomato a popular household food and ideal commercial crop. However, frequent outbreaks of tomato canker disease resulting in devastating economic loss place it as a big threat to greenhouse tomato production. Tomato canker disease is caused by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm), a Gram-positive bacterium. It is very difficult to eradicate the Cmm pathogen once it has been introduced into a greenhouse.
Dr. Yuan’s lab recently identified several bacterial agents capable of suppressing/killing the pathogen that cause the tomato canker disease, including the Gram-positive bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa CR1 and Bacillus velezensis 9D-6. In addition, Dr. Yuan found that plant natural chemical salicylic acid suppressed the growth of Cmm pathogen. TO BE CONT’D

Dam Seepage Monitoring using Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing

The safe operation of a dam, such as Mactaquac, necessitates regular integrity monitoring over the structure lifespan. Optical fiber temperature sensing can provide seepage monitoring throughout a dam structure providing the operator with location specific seepage rates. Since the monitoring will be continuous over time and potentially operate over the lifespan of the dam operators can identify trends and evaluate repair effectiveness. The intern will be upgrading an existing laboratory instrument suite which will include calibration of the temperature measurements followed by installation of the sensor system at the dam site. Adapting the instrument suite for remote control through the internet as well as collecting temperature data from previously installed optical fiber sensing cables will be conducted. With several months of data collected, particularly including seasonal temperature changes, the intern will evaluate the data for seasonal dependent changes.

Characterization and Design of Additively Manufactured Components for Predictability and Materials Integrity

Rapid prototyping, or 3D printing, has inspired the imagination of the general public, from simple build-it-yourself “hobby” machines using polymer-based binder material with inkjet functionality, to portable printers that can fashion components in zero gravity on the International Space Station. The functionality is user-friendly, in that printed material is dropped onto a substrate in viscous plastic form, which solidifies to take on the designed shape. The resulting piece is a plastic prototype that may be used as-is, for some applications, or as scaled models to assist the product development process. This work focuses on 3D metal printing, specifically, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), to build three-dimensional, complex parts using metallic powders. We integrate materials science, design of experiments, and engineering design for the purpose of manufacturing components with complex geometries and lightweight, high-strength metallic-alloy properties for aircraft applications. TO BE CONT’D