Innovative Projects Realized

Prevention of microbial persistence on surfaces for Infection Control

The goal of the internship with Bioshield Technologies Canada, a developer of antimicrobial and biostatic products, is to evaluate a product formulated to be used as a surface treatment for microbial control. The project is part of a comprehensive research program aimed at developing improved protocols for infection and contamination in the hospital and food processing environments and related laundry care facilities. The research will be directed by scientists at Ryerson University and the University Health Network while Bioshield Technologies, will provide logistical support and arrange for access to the various industrial sites. The project will involve 3 interns who will get first‐hand experience in science‐beyond‐the‐laboratory and in the process build capacity in the critical area of infection/contamination control. Bioshield Technologies will benefit by the scientific data obtained in a Canadian setting, which is required for registration with Health Canada. Furthermore, demonstration of the product’s efficiency will provide the company a significant market advantage.

Large-scale Solar Farm Optimization for Ontario

Solar photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity. As the technology has evolved it has become increasingly attractive to companies to invest in large solar farms. Solar energy is an inherently intermittent resource. For companies to invest millions (each 10MW solar PV farm represents an investment somewhere between $40 ‐ $45 million) in developing solar farms they must possess extremely reliable predictions of the energy output of the system. To make these predictions not only must the night/day and yearly cycles be taken into account, but also variations in cloud cover for specific locations. In addition, the rates of change affect the performance of the inverters that tie the solar electricity to the electrical grid. The objectives of this internship is to establish site specific meteorological data and initial modeling of the inverters for the design and development of 10MW solar farms in six locations in Ontario to enable Axio Power Canada Inc. to increase the amount of solar energy on the grid.

Examining the Relationship between Work Environments, Burnout and Nurse

The purpose of this internship is to identify the relationship between work environments and satisfaction in nurses at York Central Hospital (YCH) in the Emergency Department and Medical/Surgical unit. The intention of this study is to identify the variables proposed in current research, equate to healthy work environments at YCH and to examine other contributing factors such as population acuity, in relation to quality work environments. The intern will provide interventions and study the effect of these on nurse satisfaction. The internship will 1) identify the variables associated with positive and negative work environments 2) identify the differences between variables in relation to workplace setting, critical/acute care versus medical/surgical nursing units 3) explore the variables related to burnout and nurse absenteeism and 4) verify the suggested elements in research that creates quality work environments through research intervention and post intervention analysis. The benefits of this research for YCH will be seen through more satisfied nurses, quality care and reduced financial burden all obtained through the maintenance of health work environments.

Evaluation of Analytics requirements in Socio-Economic Benefits of e-Justice

The goal of this internship is to provide the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Attorney General’s Information Technology team with a set of recommendations identifying the key factors in support of a business case to be presented to the Minister in 2009. The business case will delineate key initiatives related to the design, development and delivery of a citizen‐centered electronic Justice service. These objectives fully support the stated mission and goals of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Attorney General of British Columbia. This research will provide a shared understanding of the problematic areas, to give structure to the expressed ideas for improvement and to draft an implementation plan based on the business case.

Does Endovascular Coiling of Posterior Communicating Artery Aneurysms Result in

Preventing a brain aneurysm from bleeding is an important minimally invasive procedure. It involves specialized training to develop skills in manipulating a tiny tube from the groin artery into the brain. This is performed using highly specialized imaging/X-ray equipment. Once the tube is guided into the brain aneurysm, small coils are positioned within the aneurysm to prevent it from bleeding. The goal of this internship is to investigate the efficacy of this technique in treating one of the most common types of brain aneurysms located at the posterior communicating artery. The results of the project will help guide future modifications to the technique. The intern will be involved in subspecialty training in order to develop an understanding of the pertinent imaging modalities, patient-specific characteristics and image-guided techniques used for this treatment. The partner company, Ottawa Hospital Regional Imaging Associates (OHRIA), will benefit in advancing its research mandate. The interaction will function as a training ground for future neuroradiology experts with many being future OHRIA partners. This will ensure continued expert health care provision for the Ottawa region, and an important foundation for recruitment and development of OHRIA’s depth of services. This will maintain OHRIA’s reputation as one of the leading groups of radiologists providing radiology subspecialty training in Canada.

Developing and Assessing Composite Production Technology

Police commonly create composite pictures of criminals in order to aid their search for suspects. Traditionally, composites have been created from large sets of pictures or line drawings of features, (e.g. eyes, mouths, noses, hair). Such systems produce poor likenesses. 3D Sherlock Software is a computer-based program for developing facial composites that relies on three dimensional facial images. The program works iteratively based on images selected by users to move towards a better and better likeness of the target individual. This internship will test the effectiveness of the facial composite software for producing recognizable faces with volunteer participants using the software. The results will assist in guiding software modifications to address limitations and increase the success rate of recognition and thus the ultimate usefulness of the system to police.This project is in partnership with PRECARN.

Design and Control of Intelligent Robot Manipulator for an On-Orbit Service

One important and growing area for the application of space robotics is on‐orbit servicing (OOS) of failed or failing spacecrafts. The control of the robotic arm becomes very important in respect to force control and visual guidance in order to successfully accomplish a capture operation. Therefore, the goal of this research with Ovalbay Geological Services Inc. is to design an intelligent robot manipulator that will employ optimal path‐planning and object avoidance with a visual guidance system. The end‐effecter will employ force control derived from impedance characteristics in order to ensure smooth capture of target satellites. Lastly, the intelligence encoding will be based on a Finite State Machine design that will provide a high level of creating, modifying, debugging, and monitoring, reactive autonomy engines. All of the above‐mentioned aspects will be experimentally validated on a specially constructed arm that has already begun construction.

An exploration of nurses’ perceptions of individual accountability in clinical practice

Patients and their families place their lives and their trust in health care providers, and in the health care system every moment. Accountability is a legal, ethical and moral obligation to patients, families and health care agencies to meet a standard of care. The code of ethics for nurses and the nursing literature stresses the importance of nurses being accountable for their actions. This work fails to answer how nurses learn to be accountable, how nurses define accountability, and how they practice accountably. This internship will provide a theory that explains the process of nurse accountability in practice. The Capital District Health Authority employs hundreds of nurses and new knowledge about how nurses understand and practice accountability will assist the company to develop programs of learning to address gaps in accountability, or make organizational changes to foster a practice environment that nurtures individual as well as organizational accountability.

Scheduling and sequencing airport ground handling operations

Operations research and optimization techniques are common throughout the airline industry; however, comparable tools are not yet in use for ground handling operations. This research project with Omega Optimisation, developers of Optime™ – a system for automating and optimizing critical workforce management processes, will study and propose methods for the automatic planning of aircraft-maintenance procedures. Proposed methods will have to take into account specific constraints, including uncertainty regarding task duration and flexibility, and optimize staff management by minimizing slack time.

Regional variability of zooplankton population dynamics in the northwest Atlantic: Assessing environmental effects with an Individual-Based Model

The intern in partnership with Fisheries and Ocean Canada will apply an individual‐based model (IBM) to explore spatial variability in environmental forcing on the population dynamics of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. The IBM will include information on life history processes of C. finmarchicus (including development time, mortality and egg production rates) as well as the influence of food and temperature on these processes. The results of the model will be compared to data from two stations in the northwest Atlantic (coastal Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) to gain insight into observed temporal variation on C. finmarchicus abundance data for these two areas and the region‐specific effects of climate change on C. finmarchicus population dynamics, and the predator populations they support (fish, birds, whales).

Assessing and enhancing energy-production performance of wind-power sites in operation

Energy-production performance is one of the most frequently analyzed parameters by wind-power site operators. Carrying out performance assessments is not usually a technical challenge for so-called conventional sites. However, the complex nature of winds and their interaction with turbines does make it difficult to assess wind-power performance. To date, only standard CEI 61400-12-1, which assesses performance for a single turbine at a time, is accepted industry-wide. In addition, it is a relatively onerous method. Accordingly, this internship’s first objective is to develop new statistical methods to improve performance assessments for wind-power turbines and sites in operation. Once a satisfactory assessment method is devised, detection of any change in energy-production performance will be more effective.

The internship’s second objective is to improve, by various means, the performance of wind-power sites in operation. The end goal of the Mitacs Accelerate internship is to increase energy production at wind-power sites by 1%, which represents a projected financial gain of $4-5 million CDN for a 100-MW site over a 20-year period.

Adapting Sigma° software for the mining of transportation information using aerial photos as part of updates to topographical maps

Sigma° is a software application for updating topographical maps developed by Synetix for the Quebec government department for natural resources and wildlife (MNRF). The algorithm can be used to update communication channels with remote-detection images and the principle of using topographical maps to guide detection procedures. The initial version of Sigma° was developed and validated for Radarsat-1 and SPOT Panchromatic satellite images with a resolution in the order of 5 m. In the current project, Synetix was mandated by MNRF to adapt Sigma° to colour aerial photos with a resolution of 21 cm and improve detection quality, both in terms of reliability and geometric accuracy. Once it is installed at MNRF, the new version of Sigma° will save time and reduce costs in updating topographical maps (an activity that has been significantly delayed in several regions of Quebec). This project is in partnership with GEOIDE.