Innovative Projects Realized

The application of Dried Blood Spot samples to Nutraceutical Metabolomics studies and related applications using LCMS based detection

The current approach for testing compounds of interest in blood such as drugs or nutrients involves drawing blood samples into vials that then require refrigeration prior to testing. Since transportation to remote laboratories is challenging, people need to go into medical labs to have their blood tested. This research will develop improved techniques that enable blood samples to be collected from a finger prick onto a specially designed card that eliminates biohazards and makes the sample stable at room temperature so that it could be mailed or sent by courier to a lab. This work will develop blood collection cards that make analysis simpler and more efficient. Ultimately, individuals may be able to collect their own blood samples at home and send these to labs for analysis rather than needing to go to a lab to have their blood drawn. In short this research will improve access to blood testing. Word count:

Development of analytical methods to monitor Curcumin compounds from Dried blood spot (DBS) samples

The work will develop a simple blood test that will enable the detection of a valuable Natural Health Product, Curcumin, that is commonly found in Tumeric, to be detected in blood samples from only a simple finger prick. It is believed that curcumin has important medicinal effects such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. However, it is known that Curcumin absorption is quite low from simple consumption of turmeric and as a result a simple blood test will enable proper estimation of body absorption amounts for this valuable Natural Health Product.

Long term modelling of power prices

Power prices are a significant contributor to the overall risk of almost any large-scale industry. In particular, energy companies such as TransAlta who are active participants in many regional power markets have a strong interest in understanding the long-term risks they are exposed to. This project seeks to develop a model that will help TransAlta to understand some of the uncertainty in medium to long-term power prices in California, the Pacific northwest, and Alberta. This model will be based on the dynamics of daily settled power prices, and will seek to take into account projected changes in demand, generation capacity and emissions regulations, as well as any forward-looking information embedded in market prices for futures and other derivative contracts.

Optimisation of a charging system for small electric vehicles using lithium ion batteries

Electric golf carts and other low speed electric vehicles use lead acid batteries. There are now more than two million low speed electric vehicles operating in North America. Based on lithium ion replacement and demonstration programs carried out by Electra and our partners, there appears to be a strong interest from these industries and other low speed vehicle manufacturers to convert to lithium ion battery packs. A majority of the fleets using low speed electric vehicles in North America have purchased and set up charging infrastructures for their vehicles. All of the chargers currently used are designed for lead acid batteries. If these chargers are used to charge lithium ion battery packs there is a high probability of damage occurring to the lithium ion packs due to an improper charging profile. In this proposal a development plan is presented for the development of a charge optimization system that will allow the continued use of lead acid chargers for lithium ion battery packs. The charge optimization system would work with the lead acid charger and would provide the optimized voltage and current profiles in real time for a lithium ion battery.

Battery Rickshaws in New Delhi: Socio-Economics and Environmental Impact

In the past four years, the number of battery-powered rickshaws in New Delhi has grown from a few dozen to around 100,000. These vehicles have zero-emissions, play an important role in the urban transport system and provide employment opportunities for low-income groups. However, they are not covered by existing transport regulations and there is currently debate amongst local and national policymakers, the judiciary, operators and civil society as to how to regulate them. There is, however, little information on which to base regulatory decisions and little is known about the level of regulation operators can bear. This study aims to fill this lacuna by providing the first systematic survey of operators, their vehicles, their operations and their costs and revenues. It will also assess the environmental impact of battery rickshaws by investigating the recycling processes and value-chains in the informal recycling sector for the lead-acid batteries which power them. It will then make policy recommendations regarding appropriate regulation and environmental impacts.

Efficient design of quiet turbomachinery stages with a unique coupling method

Most current propulsion and ventilation systems still suffer from poor efficiency, noise issues and too high emission levels. Little efficiency gain could yield significant reduction of energy waste, noise pollution, gas consumption and pollutant emission. Moreover a lot of the large rotating facilities do not meet their target performances and suffer from early degradation and fatigue issues causing some significant cost increase and losses to the companies producing them. Current design tools of such systems have been shown to be limited by their too strong modeling assumptions on the actual unsteady and turbulent nature of the flow in these systems. The present project proposes to combine the most accurate and efficient turbulent flow solver AVBP with a massively parallel code coupler OpenPALM. A coupling method based on the overset grid approach will be developed and tested to couple multi-copies of the massively-parallel unstructured compressible LES solver for turbomachinery applications.

Design and implementation of wideband and low-side-lobe-level antenna array in LTCC technology for automotive millimeter-wave radar sensor applications

This project is a collaboration between MMSENSE Technologies and the Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems (CIARS) at the University of Waterloo to research, investigate, and design an integrated radar module at millimeter-waves. These sensors, which will be utilized in automotive applications such as forward collision alert, rear traffic crossing alert, blind spot detection, bike, motorbike, and pedestrian detection, require a wide field of view, operation from near range of 30 cm to about 300 m as well as high resolution in distance and angle measurements with scanning of the traffic scene. To address these technical requirements, a planar wideband antenna array in LTCC will be designed to be utilized in the automotive radar sensor technology. MMSENSE Technologies is currently developing products in millimeter wave band for sensing and communication markets and this project will resolve some of the challenges they have encountered in this area. It will help MMSENSE Technologies to stay competitive and develop efficient products for emerging automotive applications

Evaluation of apoptosis and proliferation rates in juvenilerat tissues

During maturation, juvenile rats have dramatic histomorphometric changes within their tissues, including marked proliferation and cell death. These background changes should not be mistaken with drug-induced pathologic features. This is critical for optimal drug toxicity studies. The main objective of this study is to build a database on apoptosis and proliferation at different time points in juvenile rats. Both the data on juvenile tissues and the development of optimized techniques will be a strong commercial asset to the private partner.

Modular and Affordable: Exploring the Successes, Challenges, and Lessons Learned in Using Modular Housing for Affordable Housing Projects

In January 2009, the federal government of Canada proposed to invest $400 million nationally over two years as a one-time economic stimulus measure to address the issue of affordable housing. In certain situations multi-storey wood frame housing forms may be used where land value requires a higher density to achieve an economically viable project and community planning objectives; however, new single storey modular housing construction will be used wherever possible, dependent on specific community needs, conditions, partnerships and resources.

This study will examine the use of modular housing to address affordable housing needs in British Columbia to inform policy and so that other jurisdictions may learn from the BC experience. It will do so by interviewing key informants who worked in the planning and production phases of the project to understand the strengths and weaknesses different stakeholder groups perceive in using modular housing for large scale affordable housing projects.

Implantation d’une approche de gestion Lean au sein de la Ville de Sherbrooke: le rôle de la communication dans l’appropriation du changement

Mené en contexte réel, le projet de recherche vise à étudier l’implantation d’une approche de gestion Lean au sein d’une administration municipale, soit la Ville de Sherbrooke. L’implantation sera appréhendée sous l’angle des processus de communication et du rôle que jouent ces derniers dans l’appropriation du changement. Cette recherche qualitative, conduite sur près de trois ans, s’effectuera à l’aide de la méthodologie des systèmes souples et de la recherche-action. En plus d’étudier et de soutenir les processus de communication liés à l’implantation d’une gestion Lean au sein de la Ville de Sherbrooke, la recherche soutiendra les partenaires dans une démarche continue d’apprentissages et d’amélioration. La recherche permettra de dégager un modèle exploratoire conceptuel de gestion qu’ils pourront utiliser lors de la mise en oeuvre de nouvelles actions d’implantation et de changement. Enfin, tout au long du projet, ils bénéficieront d’un transfert continu de connaissances pertinentes à leur réalité.

Collaborative Research on A spectral method for Cahn-Hilliard Equation

Cahn-Hilliard, appears in mathematical physics, describes the motion of two phase separating from each other. It has a wide range of applications in diverse fields such as material sciences, nanotechnology and semiconductor fabrication. There is a considerable research interest in studying the solution of the equation; however, the exact solution is hard to find. Therefore, it is desirable to develop accurate and efficient numerical algorithms to solve the problem. Spectral method has been proved having very good approximation and fast computation speed. My aim is to study spectral method in finding solution of the Cahn-Hilliard equation. Finally, we will simulate the solution of the equation which models some real world problems. The Mitacs Globalink Research Award presents a good way to carry out collaborative work with researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in China, and this is also important in training for a young researcher.

Synthèse de composés hétérocycliques aromatiques destinés à l’industrie de l’électronique organique et étude de l’efficacité de scavengers supportés sur résine développés par Matrix Innovation

Un catalogue de produits chimiques composés d’oligomères hétérocycliques aromatiques à 5 membres symétriques et asymétriques comportant des unités thiophène, furane ou pyrrole et de faible teneur en métaux sera créé. Les composés d’intérêt seront issus principalement des réactions sans utilisation de catalyseurs métalliques, notamment le couplage de Stteter suivi de la réaction Paal-Knorr. Les réactions seront développées petite échelle chez le partenaire académique au Département de Chimie de l’Université Laval. L’étude des paramètres de mise à l’échelle sera effectuée dans les installations du partenaire industriel. La mise à l’échelle sera effectuée afin de préparer des composés d’intérêt de l’ordre du multigramme aux fins de commercialisation. L’efficacité des scavengers supportés sur résines développés par le partenaire industriel sera aussi étudiée dans le cadre du présent projet. Des études de piégeage des métaux résiduels seront faites sur les produits des réactions catalysées par des métaux préparés dans le laboratoire du superviseur. L’étude se fera par dosage à l’aide de l’ICP-MS