An increased VOC emission from coatings (paints, varnishes, glue, resins) allows faster curing of the coating and stabilization of the emissions resulting in less residual VOC that can be emitted from the material in the future. Hence, it is desirable to emit the majority of the VOCs quickly so that once the building is in […]

Friction stir processing has been developed as a method for modifying the microstructure and properties of an alloy. However, no efforts have been made to determine how the formation of amorphous phases can be promoted during friction stir processing, or whether a composite involving an amorphous or nanocrystalline matrix and carbon nanotubes can be synthesized.  […]

The conventional continuum-based physical relations that describe heat and fluid flow in bulk materials, such as the Navier-Stokes and Fourier equations, break down at sub-continuum scales. The failure of these relations, along with the current trend of miniaturization in man-made devices and wide spread use of nano-structured systems, urge for development of new computational techniques […]

Preparing materials on the nanoscale is essential for current and future devices. However this presents many technical and scientific challenges. Nonetheless, nanocrystals also offer unique opportunities for novel, energy efficient devices. This project aims to understand subtle changes in material properties on the nanoscale via optical spectroscopy. Specifically our group routinely prepares high temperature superconductors […]

    There have been tremendous advances over the past few decades relating to the synthesis and characterization of nanostructures.  People have fabricated various types of nano-scale particles, rods, tubes, shells, core-shells, etc and ofcourse synthesis of nano-scale molecules has been a goal of organic and inorganic chemistry for a long time. Advances in synthesis and […]

Solar energy has long been recognized as one of the most abundant forms of clean energy. Countless research efforts around the globe are contributing to the steady decline in the cost of photovoltaic power, with the promise of reaching grid parity in the near future. This is a complex target, as the price of conventional […]

Culverts are used in our highway systems for two purposes:  drainage and as bridge structures.  There are thousands of culverts in every province in Canada.  The large-sized culverts used as bridge structures can be up to $6,000,000 to install.  As such, installation of a culvert can be a significant investment for our highway infrastructure.  Failure […]

Canola oil is mainly used in food industries. Besides, it has wide range of applications in biodiesel industries; however, the feasibility of biodiesel production from canola oil is still a challenge. Due to higher cost of canola feed, canola and soybeans are the two main crops widely used to produce biodiesel in Canada. Canola fibre […]

Infectious diseases remain the major cause of death and economic losses in animals/humans. One way to reduce this is by vaccination. Unique and sophisticated biotechnology-based approaches are needed to produce safe, cost-effective, and highly efficacious vaccines. Potential benefits of these vaccines could include the induction of long lived immunity, ability to immunize newborns and induction […]

An association scheme of order n is a certain collection of nxn matrices whose entries are 0’s and 1’s that form the basis for an algebra under both ordinary and elementwise multiplication.  They share many of the algebraic properties of finite groups, and have many applications in graph theory and design theory.   One of the […]

The Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Related-Virus retrovirus (XMRV) is a gammaretrovirus of mouse origin that can infect humans and a broad range of animals. The virus was first identified in a subset and prostate cancer tumors and more recently in patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Studies estimate that between 3% and 10% of the […]

The three main components in wood chips are cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. Traditionally, cellulose is the main constitute of pulp, which is the product of pulp mills and is used as the main raw material for paper production in paper mills. The lignin, however, is mainly burned to supply the heat requirement of the pulp […]