Innovative Projects Realized

Regression Model Development for Parametric Analysis of Graphene Based Hydrogen Storage

In Canada, the transportation sector accounts for 25% of all emissions. Hydrogen fueled vehicles is one option that has a great potential to reduce Canadian and global CO2 fuel emissions. This research project investigates production parameters that influence hydrogen storage capacity in storage materials in order to optimize the production process and increase the hydrogen gas storage capacity of current materials. Hydrogen fuel and its associated solid state fuel production will help ensure a made in Canada clean energy transition for decarbonization in the transportation sector, combatting climate change and ensuring a green future for the planet.

Development of smart battery energy/thermal management systems for health-conscious DC fast charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) power flow

Intelligent health-conscious battery management system (BMS) and advanced battery thermal management systems (BTMS) are essential to improve performance of energy utilization, safety, and cycle-life. Improvement in the energetic performance on all these levels encourages integration and development within the full thermal installation. This project will look at Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML)-based intelligent state estimators for health-conscious BMS/BTMS and also develop advanced thermal management systems. Based on prior work, advanced BMS and BTMS will be developed, so as to to deploy these strategies on a larger scale, to enhance cycle life and capacity for decentralized energy storage services in a smart grid scenario, including health-conscious vehicle-to-grid (V2G) power flow as well as health-conscious DC fast charging (DCFC). This project will develop an intelligent healthy module/battery selection and optimization algorithm to leverage V2G operation without impacting user experience and battery health.

Hybrid quantum safe certificates for heterogeneous contexts of use

In the context of the rapidly changing digitization of our society and the emergence of quantum computing, securing digital communications is of paramount importance. Among the challenges is the improvement of digital certificates, which are essential for the integrity and non-repudiation of electronic transactions. Thus, a balance must be struck between improved performance, backward compatibility and resistance to side-channel attacks. This research will focus on identifying the optimal combination of cryptographic schemes for post-quantum secure hybrid certificates. The objectives of this work are to strengthen digital certificates against quantum threats, promote their interoperability among various systems, and develop agile and backward-compatible certificates that ensure seamless authentication in heterogeneous networks, thus paving the way for a smooth transition to future cryptographic technologies.

La Digital Markets Act (DMA) et la régulation du numérique en Europe : l’UE, de puissance réglementaire à puissance industrielle?

Mon projet de recherche vise à comprendre et décortiquer la stratégie de «souveraineté numérique» mise de l’avant par l’UE au cours des dernières années, et ce, sous le prisme de sa politique industrielle. Alors que les États-Unis ont récemment signé le Chips and Science Act, qui apporte à l’industrie américaine 280 milliards de subventions, et que la Chine a développé dans la dernière décennie une véritable industrie compétitive de la tech (Picart 2023 ; He 2022), l’UE, qui a longtemps privilégié la concurrence, commence à s’engager dans cette lutte industrielle mondiale avec des législations comme le Digital Markets Act (DMA), mais aussi le Chips Act, promulgué en 2022, et autorisant aux États membres de recourir à des subventions pour la fabrication de semi-conducteurs sur le territoire national (Poitiers et Weil 2023). En plus de déterminer si l’UE souhaite atteindre sa «souveraineté numérique» par le renforcement de son pouvoir industriel, je désire savoir si l’adoption du DMA, première grande législation destinée à encadrer les géants du numérique, marque un virage dans l’approche préconisée par l’UE pour lutter contre les géants du numérique (favoriser la concurrence vs. développer des géants européennes)

Efficient Avatar Facial Control for Social Presence in Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration

The objective of the research project is to develop a comprehensive framework for avatar-mediated communication in AR/VR environments, with a focus on avatar facial expressions. The framework is intended to enhance the efficiency of communication in Mixed Reality (MR) remote collaboration situations, which can be variously applied to education, industry, and medicine, by providing a more immersive and information-rich experience. The outcomes of this project could potentially have far-reaching social impacts by improving communication and collaboration in a variety of contexts.
The current research topic aims to develop a comprehensive framework for avatar-mediated communication in AR/VR that is not limited to a specific country or culture. Therefore, this international exchange program aims to demonstrate that the proposed framework is applicable to a broad range of cultures by including participants from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of the Northern Cod stock

The Northern Cod Acoustic Telemetry (NCAT) project in collaboration with the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) and the Atlantic Groundfish Council (AGC) aims to fill gaps in our knowledge of the Northern Cod stock via the use of genomics and telemetry. Within the genomic component, our goal is to compare the genomic composition of cod tissue samples collected in the 1990s, when the stock collapsed, to cod collections from the late 2010s, to evaluate changes in the genetic diversity and structure of the stock and to identify regions in the genome that might be differentiating cod exhibiting different life history traits. The telemetry component entails analyzing detection data of >700 cod individuals which have been implanted with an acoustic tag. Detections are being found by multiple inshore and offshore receivers along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. This analysis will provide information about cod distribution, movements, and habitat preferences.

Fibronectin Type III domain-containing (FNDC) : facteurs clés dans les fonctions ovariennes chez la vache ?

La vache laitière est infertile pendant les premières 10 semaines après la mise-bas, ce qui est dû en partie à une sécrétion altérée des hormones libérées par le tissu adipeux et musculaire. Une famille de telles hormones s’appelle les ‘Fibronectin domain containing’, et pendant mon projet j’ai découvert que deux de ces hormones inhibent la fonction de l’ovaire en utilisant les modèles de culture cellulaire. Afin de vérifier la fonction de ces hormones chez l’animal in vivo, on travaillera avec l’équipe au Brésil qui font des expériences in vivo en synchronisant la croissance folliculaire et en injectant des molécules directement dans le follicule ovarien. Nous allons profiter de ces expériences afin de tester directement l’effet des FNDC sur le développement folliculaire in vivo.
Nous prévoyons que des FNDCs diminueront la croissance folliculaire chez l’animal vivant, ce qui confirmera que ces hormones peuvent être des cibles pharmaceutique contre l’infertilité chez la vache laitière.

Development of AI-based decision system for facility safety using computer vision and non-destructive technology

This project is a collaboration between Korea’s Soongsil University NDT Lab and Canada’s Waterloo University Computer Vision for Smart Structure Lab (CViSS), aiming to promote new research at each institute and build smart construction and infrastructure monitoring. NDT Lab focuses on developing non-destructive engineering technologies for concrete internal crack width, reinforcing bar diameter and internal void detection, and residual strength prediction. They plan to use computer vision and machine/deep learning for advanced wave mechanics analysis and smart construction. CViSS Lab focuses on computer vision for structural evaluation and virtual reality applications. They plan to analyze infrastructure data through contact/non-contact sensors using computing and AI technologies, advancing smart infrastructure through convergence with virtual reality. The collaboration is expected to promote follow-up research by each institute to upgrade smart construction and infrastructure monitoring.

Development of purification for high-quality boron nitride nanotube liquid crystals

Boron nitride nanotube (BNNT), a structural analog of carbon nanotube, has emerged as a key-enabling material in various fields of extreme/major science thanks to its transformative properties such as high oxidation resistance, high specific mechanical strength, piezoelectricity, and high neutron shielding capability. To harness its unique properties, it is essential to fabricate macroscopic BNNT articles from their powder form. Prof. Kim’s team in Canada is the world’s leading expert in the mass production of BNNTs; however, the team does not possess a technology to realize high-concentration BNNT dispersion, which is critical to the fabrication of macroscopic BNNT articles such as BNNT buckypapers, thin films, and yarns. The intern’s group (KIST) in Korea led by Dr. Jang is a world-class leading group in the high-concentration BNNT dispersion technology. Therefore, there is a strong synergy in this global collaboration, which could expedite the progress in the development of BNNT applications based on ultra-high performance / ultra-high functional BNNT macroscopic assemblies.

Adiposité et santé cardio-métabolique et neurocognitive

Les désordres cardiométaboliques (ex. dyslipidémie, stéatose hépatique, résistance à l’insuline, diabète, etc.) et neurocognitifs (ex. troubles cognitifs, déficit de l’attention, atteinte des fonctions exécutives, démences, etc.) associés à l’obésité se manifestent différemment selon les régions du monde et selon les groupes ethniques. Certains groupes ethniques incluant les communautés autochtones et sud-asiatiques sont particulièrement affectés par certaines conditions cardio-métaboliques (ex : diabète, stéatose hépatique), et ce, plus précocement.

L’objectif de ce projet est de décrire la santé cardio-métabolique et neuro-cognitive d’individus ayant un diagnostic d’obésité et de comparer différents facteurs de santé en fonction de l’origine ethnique.

Puisqu’il s’agit d’un projet pilote et de faisabilité, nous souhaitons tester la faisabilité d’effectuer des projets de recherche en santé cardio-métabolique et neurocognitive et l’utilisation de questionnaires standardisés en nutrition, en activité physique et en performance neurocognitive, au sein de communautés rurales et urbaines, à l’international.

Accelerated shelf-life testing of snack foods

This MITACS supported collaborative project with Lassonde Inc., was to develop a tool for shelf-life prediction of packaged snack foods by obtaining data under accelerated testing conditions. The gathering of data involves holding the pre-packaged snack bars (provided by the company) at different elevated temperatures for selected times. The product quality during storage is periodically evaluated in order to pick-up appropriate indicator(s) which can potentially be modeled based on some established kinetic theory to be able to predict shelf-life at lower (room) temperature conditions. Quality parameters planned to be studied include: appearance (colorimeter), hardness & chewiness (texture meter), water activity, TSS, pH, acidity, volatile profile, and others like peroxide value as found appropriate. Sensory testing will also be done with support from the company staff. Selected kinetic models will be tested with the data for suitability. Since storage stability of dehydrated products depend deeply on moisture sorption isotherms (MSI), the MSI of the snack foods will also be evaluated. It is hoped that the study will yield meaningful parameters for shelf-life predictions.

Amplifying Indigenous Voices: A Comparative Analysis of Indigenous Publishing Initiatives in Canada and Australia

The research hopes to improve the ways that institutions and organizations in Canada can support Indigenous literature, through a comparison of initiatives in Canada and Australia designed for Indigenous creatives in the publishing industry. The project involves two phases. First, initiatives on websites of publishing institutions/organizations in Canada and Australia will be recorded to create an inventory. Second, interviews with key informants from the institutions/organizations will be conducted to provide a richer picture of the data. The Indigenous Editors Association (IEA) is the industry partner for this project, and the executive director of the IEA, Nadine Ryan, will be the industry supervisor. In supporting the intern’s project, the IEA will benefit through the work completed on their Digital Strategies Project whose research overlaps with the intern’s first project phase.