Innovative Projects Realized

Design of an adaptable, customizable, and multi-user microfluidic process platform for fluidic applications

This NSERC Alliance MITACS grant brings together a world-renowned semiconductor micromanufacturing industrial leader Teledyne Micralyne, and a microfluidic device design and process development researcher to develop wafer-scale and versatile microfluidic fabrication processes adaptable to major microfluidic applications. It will provide a unique research and training opportunity for HQPs to enhance their professional and technical skills in the emerging fields of microsystems, semiconductor fabrication, instrumentation, and microfluidics through closely working with industrial leader.

Viewer-Centered Intelligent Advertising System for Bell Media

In this project we will develop an intelligent advertisement system for Bell. First, we try to better understand each customer’s preferences through the content they watch. In order to achieve this, we extract context attributes from the media content that a customer watches. The context attribute can be extracted by analyzing the video, audio, and the metadata. We then correlate these attributes with different product groupings such as retail, travel, insurance, etc. We establish these correlations by running focus groups, crowd sourcing and using publicly available data on product group spending as of function of the demography. This level of personalization will not only improve user satisfaction but also provides Bell Media with a more effective advertising platform, ultimately leading to increased engagement and revenue.

The Development of Solid-state Membrane for High-Performance Solid-State Li Batteries

As a leader in the production and use of renewable energy, Canada is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. In addition, Canada will ban the sale of fuel-burning new cars and light-duty trucks from 2035. To reach this goal, it is very urgent to develop new energy storage technologies for various applications, including electric vehicles (EVs) and grid energy storage. Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are the most popular battery systems, however, the technology can further benefit from improvements in terms of safety, lifespan, and energy density. Accordingly, solid-state batteries (SSBs) have recently emerged as a promising alternative energy storage system due to their ability to overcome the safety concerns presented by the flammable liquid electrolytes used in traditional LIBs. Benefitting from the use of solid-state electrolytes, SSBs can achieve greater energy density, longer-lasting performance and enhanced safety by replacing flammable liquid electrolytes. However, the manufacturing of SSLBs with high energy density, high performances, and low cost is now the bottleneck for practical application. To realize the energy density of the SSBs, the fabrication of thin SSE membranes with high ionic conductivity, strong mechanical properties, and interfacial compatibility is key.

A comparison of dairy with plant-based alternatives in seniors. Clinical study.

Our objective is to compare the effects of fluid milk (2% and lactose-free) and a simulated milk beverage, with plant alternatives to dairy on management of insulin resistance in older adults 60-75 years.

Dairy foods have a unique matrix and are a rich source of high-quality protein, healthy fats, and essential nutrients. Despite this, consumption of dairy (fluid milk, cheese as well as yogurt) in Canada has declined since 2004, particularly in the adolescent and older populations. This shift is encouraged by Canada’s Food Guide which acknowledges the inclusion of only low-fat dairy and greater emphasis on plant foods with water as the beverage of choice. These recommendations put the elderly at risk of adopting eating patterns favoring nutrient deficiencies, obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Data from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey show that elderly individuals who were emphasizing plant-based diets were low in protein and other essential nutrients. We have demonstrated that the consumption of dairy stimulates many metabolic responses that control blood glucose and appetite as well as provide essential nutrients. We have preliminary data showing this is not achieved by their plant-based alternatives…

Sheet Production of Advanced Aluminum Alloys via a Novel Thin Strip (TS) Casting Route

There has been a surprising increase in the demand for aluminum sheet primarily driven by the increased sensitivity to the negative environmental impact of plastic beverage containers, as well as the ever increasing demand to achieve substantive lightweighting of automobiles. Traditionally, aluminum sheets are made by casting molten aluminum into ~500 mm thick ingots through Direct Chill (DC) casting, and then scalping, homogenizing, hot rolling, and cold rolling to reach the final gauge thickness. Recently, a novel Thin Strip (TS) casting process has been developed by Hazelett CASTechnology ULC, which allows for direct casting of thin aluminum sheets of 2-5 mm thickness, thereby significantly reducing the energy requirement for processing to thin gauges, as well as offering a significant reduction in both capital and operational costs. However, the metallurgical properties of the TS sheets, their response to the subsequent cold-rolling/heat treatment processes and thus the final mechanical properties can be very different from the conventional norms. Therefore, product development using the TS route requires a comprehensive approach to process design/optimization of final mechanical properties).

Restorative Sport Nova Scotia: Toward a Restorative Sport Ecosystem

This innovation project will design and incubate a provincial restorative approach to respond to complaints arising from maltreatment in sport and enhance provincial capacity to work in a human-centered way across sport to mitigate and prevent further maltreatment by building inclusive and healthy cultures. This shift in responding to harm in sport begins by acknowledging the central role of relationships in sport and in turn the importance of sport in building strong and healthy relationships and communities. This project builds upon the internationally renowned restorative justice initiatives in Nova Scotia rooted in the research and scholarship of Professor Llewellyn. Restorative justice is a relational approach to justice that pays attention to the context, causes and circumstances in responding to harm and conflict. This ensures that underlying systemic issues are identified and addressed to secure “just relations” at interpersonal and institutional levels.

Experimental Investigations for Improvement of Oil Control for an Orbiting Sealing Application

Prime candidates for cleaner propulsion are the non-reciprocating combustion engines that combine high efficiencies of volumetric engines while being well-known for their high power density. Unfortunately, these engines are also well-known for their oil consumption that needs to be reduced before they are used for aerospace applications in order to meet customer perceptions, weight and forthcoming emission regulations. The first targets are to address leakage through the face-sealing Oil Control Rings (OCRs) and injected oil spilling away from the gas seals as they can be drastically reduced from current values without a significant impact on engine durability. This proposed project aims at reducing oil consumption through the development of improved OCRs and injection strategy.

Optimizing Artificial Turf Surfaces

Artificial turf has various components that can be altered to change its mechanical properties, such as stiffness and traction. Research has shown that optimal values of these properties exist for athletes to perform optimally and reduce the risk of injury. However, the majority of research on sport surfaces has been conducted on adult male athletes, and there is a lack of information on the needs of female and youth athletes. In addition, routine maintenance is required to maintain the mechanical properties of the surface. Wearable sensors and machine learning techniques have the potential to provide real-time quantification of field properties, reducing the burden on field managers. The partnership with FieldTurf aims to determine the optimal properties for female and youth players and develop real-time monitoring to ensure these properties are maintained. The overall objectives of the research program are to optimize artificial turf surfaces via two specific goals: i) determine the influence that surface stiffness and traction have on athletic performance and biomechanics of female and youth athletes and ii) develop algorithms that can quantify the mechanical properties of artificial turf surfaces using wearable sensors.

System for identifying and diversifying the interests of non-verbal autistic children while watching videos

It has been noticed that by exposure to videos containing letters, numbers, and shapes, the autistic child of preschool age and most often non- or minimally verbal (henceforth AC) reached a self-taught knowledge of written code as well as a vocabulary that facilitates his schooling several years later. This project is part of a vast research program that aims to develop a multimodal and personalized video recommendation system that will support AC’s linguistic progress and design a database on the evolution of language development in these children.
For the field studying autism, the approach will help researchers understand the mechanisms by which AC make choices and how they learn a language. This research provides a detailed portrait of each child taken individually but also identifies groups of children whose interests are similar (e.g., fascination with letters and numbers).

Dynamic characterization of Victoria grey clays

Grey clays are widespread soft glaciomarine deposits in the Greater Victoria Region. Seismic ground motions can be significantly amplified in the site with the presence of these soils. However, the understanding of the seismic response of Victoria grey clays is limited. This research aims to fill the knowledge gap by carrying out a collaborative research program, through which high-quality samples of grey clays will be obtained from the selected sites within Greater Victoria and transported to the UVic geotechnical lab for dynamic characterization. The test data will be utilized to develop a dynamic model and a cyclic softening process for Victoria grey clays. This research will contribute to (1) generating knowledge of the seismic behavior of Victoria grey clays, adding to the knowledge of soft clays in Canada, and (2) developing a rational dynamic soil model and a new cyclic softening process for simulating the seismic responses of these soils under earthquakes. These will increase Ryzuk’s capability to perform robust and economical seismic analyses and designs in Canada.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Innovative-Geosynthetic-Stabilized Unpaved Roads

Water accumulation in road bases is a major cause for weakening roads in Canada and worldwide. This research project is to investigate the use of a novel geosynthetic material called WickGridTM to minimize water accumulation and strengthen the road bases. A fully instrumented road test section will be constructed, in which trafficking tests and the long-term performance monitoring will be conducted for a two-year period. Meanwhile, a series of laboratory-scale model tests will be conducted to quantify the wicking capabilities and stabilization benefits of WickGridTM. Computer models are also developed to simulate the lab and field tests. The outcomes of this project are (1) quantifying the beneficial effects of WickGridTM in stabilizing unpaved roads against water weakening, (2) understanding the underlying stabilization mechanisms. The results of this research will help promote the application of WickGridTM in roadways and contribute to improvement of the design and construction practices of durable roadways in Canada.

Advanced stability and dynamic analyses of shallow arch bridges and railway bridges

Bridge engineers deal with various bridge systems to satisfy ever-increased bridge design requirements in safety, functionality, cost, aesthetics, etc. The proposed project aims to investigate in depth the stability and dynamic behaviours of two distinguished bridge systems. One is the shallow steel arch bridge susceptible to non-linear snap-through buckling, and the other is the railway bridge subjected to significant train-bridge dynamic interaction. The interns will conduct a detailed numerical analysis of a real-world shallow arch bridge to quantify to what degree the internal forces would be amplified under snap-through buckling. In addition, a bridge-track-train dynamic interaction model will be developed to examine the structural integrity of the bridge and track, and the riding comfort of the train for railway bridges. Research outcomes will place the industry partner, SYSTRA IBT, a worldleading pioneer in the analysis and design of shallow arch bridges and railway bridges.