Innovative Projects Realized

Development of a preventive vaccine against BK virus in transplanted patients

The majority of individuals (80% of the population) have been infected with polyomavirus BK (BKV), but are asymptomatic or have only endured mild symptoms. The virus then resides in the kidneys where it persists in a dormant state for the life of the individual. The virus can, however, become reactivated in the case of deep immunosuppression, most often occurring as a result of kidney transplantation. When this happens, it causes a disease called BK virus nephropathy (BKVN) in 20 to 40% of renal transplanted patients, which causes the loss of the transplant in up to 60% of affected patients. Therefore, potent preventive strategies against BKV, such as vaccination, are urgently needed. By evaluating anti-BKV immune cell responses and identifying BKV protective immune cellular components, we will reveal targets suitable for the development of a vaccine for patients on the kidney transplant waiting list, ultimately allowing them to fight BKV infection after kidney transplantation.

Combining telemetry and mark-recapture models to manage a mixed stock fishery

In 1995, proportions of several stocks of Fraser River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) began to enter the Fraser River system early to spawn creating uncertainty in mortality and spawning abundance estimates. This has created large problems for fisheries management in their attempt to protect less abundant stocks. To address this issue, Fisheries and Oceans Canada performed a large tagging study of sockeye salmon using radio telemetry in the Harrison River. This study aims to estimate distribution and mortality between the three sockeye populations in the Harrison River since the change in run timing. Using this information, a detection function will be developed to estimate the probability of a detecting a tag given that it is in the range of detection. The industry partner will benefit by enhancing their ecological modelling capacity and the ability to estimate detection efficiency in radio telemetry tagging studies.

Next Generation Engine

The next generation of engines will needs to comply with increasing stringent pollutant emissions legislation. These engines will also have to be able to accept a wide range of gaseous fuel composition and have the capability to operate on liquid fuel either for emergency backup or for full baseload operation. Additionally, they will need to able to burn alternative fuels, both gaseous and liquid, and either as blends or as pure fuel. These requirements impose significant technical and modeling challenges.
The proposed research project aims to enhance modeling capabilities and to progress the development of clean combustion technology.
The students participating in this project will be an integral part of the development team. They will acquire a comprehensive understanding of gas turbine combustion systems and solve real engineering problem using their engineering and scientific knowledge.

Study of mobile maintenance related asset utilization in mining operations at New Afton Mine Site

This project corresponds to a study of utilization of assets at the New Afton mine, in Kamloops, BC. With the collaboration of New Gold’s conglomerate and Thompson Rivers University this will collect sufficient data internally and by comparing it with publicly related information of similar companies and using statistical tools and optimization models, will provide recommendations that can be used in the whole mining sector.
The benefit for New Afton will be understanding the proper way to manage its resources and how to function proactively with to the economic cycles that arise in the industry.

Understanding and Reducing Community-Based Personal Support Workers’ Risk of Occupational Injury

Personal Support Workers (PSWs) provide 70-80% of all paid home care. Unfortunately, community-based PSWs experience occupational injuries at more than twice the rate of the general population. This internship centres on three complementary studies to improve our understanding of why these injuries happen and how they might be prevented:
1) An 18-month study of 930 community-based PSWs to build a risk factor model that relates their risk of pain and injury to daily client care activities, working organizational/social environment and personal circumstances.
2) Direct measurements of physical risk factors for back injury as PSWs assist clients with activities that are known to be stressful (e.g. bathing, transferring).
3) Workshops and interviews with stakeholders in the home care sector (workers, schedulers, management, ergonomists, policy makers, etc) to identify promising avenues for developing interventions to reduce injury.
Collectively, these projects will make a substantial contribution to understanding how to prevent PSW injuries.

Finite Element and Probabilistic-Based Analysis of Dents in Pipelines

Pipelines are a common means to transport oil, gas, and other petroleum products used by citizens in everyday life. Permanent inward deformations, called dents, can develop along a pipeline, most of which are not a safety concern. The objective of the project is to develop the processes used to accurately assess the safety of different types of dents. Maintaining pipeline integrity is of utmost importance to protect the environment and the community. The results of this project will allow pipeline companies, such as Enbridge, to improve the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the transportation of important resources.

Tuning in to emotions of non-communicative persons

Many individuals who have severe disabilities or who have suffered traumatic injury are unable to move or speak, and hence, unable to communicate with their family and caregivers. The physiological systems of these individuals are typically functional and can change to reflect the unexpressed mental and emotional states of these otherwise non-communicative persons. In this project, we will design an exhibit which will collect data to generate an emotion classifier using changes in autonomic nervous system signals patterns. In the new “Mes émotions sont à fleur de peau” exhibit, the Montreal Science Center will have the opportunity to present ‘biomusic’ – a novel technology that converts physiological signals into musical output. The data gathered will be mined to generate a user-independent emotion classification system, which in turn will be applied for communication with some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

New Generation of Precast Sandwich Walls Using Ultra-High Performance (UHPC) Concrete and Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Connectors

Precast concrete sandwich panels are commonly used as architectural or structural walls. A typical concrete panel is made of two normal strength concrete wythes and a layer of a rigid insulation sandwiched in between. The purpose of this research is to design and experimentally validate a new generation of precast sandwich panels that are much lighter in weight by using a special ultra-high strength concrete, leading to only 25 mm thick wythes. This will lead to significant savings in shipping, handling and installation costs. Also, a more structurally efficient wall will be developed by introducing a new system that connects the two concrete wythes, enabling them to work together more effectively. For this, noncorrosive basalt and glass fiber ties and studs will be used to connect the wythes together because of their very low thermal conductivity, leading to a more thermally-efficient wall.

Terrain Sensing Mechanisms for High-Speed Navigation of UGVs in Heterogeneous Ground Environments

This project will develop and test mechanisms for high speed navigation and path planning in unknown (or semi known) heterogeneous rough terrains applicable to autonomous ground vehicles. The developments will solve problems in a number of areas including border patrol and infrastructure security.

The intern will work on and implement mechanisms for fast sensor data processing allowing high speed motion. The intern will spend 50% of his/her time performing his/her work at Mechatroniq in Calgary while the other 50% will be spent in the Autonomous Reconfigurable Robotics Robotic Systems (AR2S) research lab at the Univ. of Calgary. The partner organization will be able to demonstrate its capabilities by implementing and testing solutions using their knowhow while implementing a number of R&D formal aspects that will be developed at the AR2S research laboratory.

Évaluation de différentes biomasses pour l’élevage pilote de larves de mouches

Le projet consiste à produire, à partir de résidus organiques, des larves d’insectes pour la transformation en farines riches en protéines et en lipides, destinées à l’alimentation des animaux d’élevage. L’efficacité de la production de larves d’insectes selon différents types d’alimentation (mélanges composés de différentes proportions de résidus d’épicerie et de drèches de microbrasserie) sera comparée. La stagiaire participera à la réalisation, au suivi de la production en serres, à la prise de données, à l’analyse et à l’interprétation des résultats. Sa participation permettra au CDBQ de mener à terme le projet. Par conséquent, la productivité de deux types de mouches sera évaluée, de même que l’efficacité de la chaîne de production et la composition nutritionnelle des larves produites. Ce projet d’élevage pilote de larves de mouches sera documenté et contribuera au développement de l’expertise du Centre de Développement Bioalimentaire du Québec dans ce domaine innovateur.

Scalability of a low-polluting semi-gasifiercookstove and fuel intervention in theTibetan Plateau

Almost half of the world’s population cooks with highly polluting stoves and household air pollution (HAP) is one of the leading environmental risks for global health. Current efforts to reduce HAP have focused on improved cook stove and/or fuel interventions. However, most previous stove interventions failed to achieve reductions in air pollution exposures due to a combination of technological, affordability, and behavioural problems.
Our research will evaluate the scalability of low-polluting stove and processed biomass fuel intervention in the Tibetan Plateau, China. The specific research aims are as follows:
1. Quantify stove adoption, sustained use, and intensity of use
2. Evaluate individual and households factors that impact stove adoption and use
3. Measure the impact of different cooking patterns on household pollution
Improving our understanding of the scalability of stove-fuel interventions is important for policy and planning of scaling up these interventions at a regional-level in China and aboard.

Modélisation de la diversité végétale des marécages à l’aide d’inventaires de terrain et de la télédétection

Les milieux humides sont des écosystèmes particulièrement fragiles aux activités anthropiques et qui abritent une importante biodiversité. La mise en place de stratégies régionales de conservation reste limitée par la disponibilité de l’information quand à la répartition des espèces au sein des sites. L’objectif du projet est de développer des modèles prédictifs de la diversité des marécages pour le territoire de la ville de Québec. La composition végétale d’un échantillon de marécages sera caractérisée, puis les espèces seront mises en relation avec des paramètres identifiés par télédétection. Les modèles ainsi obtenus permettront de prédire la diversité dans les marécages non échantillonnées et de produire des cartes de répartition des espèces. Ces données seront utiles pour planifier la conservation des milieux humides de la ville de Québec afin d’optimiser la protection de leur diversité végétale.