High-accuracy optical and electromagnetic trackers are commonly used for image-guided interventions for tracking the position and orientation (pose) of surgical tools and target objets. In certain applications these tracking devices could be replaced by small, low-cost inertial measurement units (IMU), which contains integrated accelerometer-magnetometer-gyroscope sensors. Typical size of the sensor is a few centimeters by […]

Beside silicon, glass is the most important material used in the constantly growing field of micro-devices. Several applications need glass because of its unique properties: chemical resistance, transparency, low electrical and thermal conductivity, and biocompatibility. Some of these devices are: micro-accelerometers, micro-reactors, micro-pumps, and medical devices. The limiting factor for increasing the usage of glass […]

We are developing new ways of producing sustainable biofuels from non-food-competitive biomass feedstocks grown in Canada, such as switchgrass, forestry bi-products, and other forms of lignocellulose. However, in order to produce enough biofuels for transformative change to our nation’s energy infrastructure, there are many systems issues in the supply chain and chemical processing which must […]

If Canada or any other nation is to address its long-term transportation energy needs by massively expanding the use of biofuels, we must be sure that such an approach is truly sustainable. There are two main routes for biofuels: biological (such as fermentation of corn to produce ethanol) and thermochemical (such as the gasification of […]

To support the ubiquitous availability of broadband applications and services, multiple network-access technologies, including the wired Internet and various wireless networks, are expected to co-exist and interoperate. This integration of heterogeneous access networks brings forth unique challenges in the design of multimedia applications and services, since no single network meets the ideal of high bandwidth, […]

Collaborative network participants can jointly achieve advanced networking functions beyond simple relaying of data packets. They enable distributed network reconfiguration and autonomous tuning of software and hardware among peers, to support diverse and evolving application requirements and networking environments. However, the combination of mutual interference, network scale, decentralized control, and possible multihop radio instability, brings […]

Background, knowledge gap and therapeutic value: Lung disease is the primary cause for the morbidity and mortality of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). One of the major culprits of the CF airway diseases is chronic inflammation associated with dying neutrophils, accumulating DNA and colonizing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, the factors and pathways that regulate the pathological […]

The multitude of computing devices owned (and carried) by any given person is increasing. There is a clear need and opportunity to not simply replicate experiences across form factors, but rather to enable applications to easily span form factors. In the future, it is easy to anticipate that experiences will seamlessly grow and shrink by […]

Recently, there has been a growing interest in meta-analysis in many areas including medicine, education, psychology, social sciences. In literature, there are two main approaches used in meta-analysis: the fixed effect model and the random effects model. Under the fixed effect model we assume that there is one true effect size which is shared by […]

The current focus of this research group is developing a scanning probe microscope based approach that will enable us to perform dielectric loss spectroscopy (i.e. loss tangent measurements) on thin film samples with submicron spatial resolution. Our goal is to develop this technique, based on a dynamic form of electrostatic force microscopy, into a useful […]

We will determine use levels and patterns of selected pharmaceuticals in the Manitoba population and selected subpopulations, and to investigate the magnitude of such use during episodic events (e.g., resorts occupied only part of the year, with likely different drug use patterns). Our hypothesis is that an appropriate analysis of surrogate materials, namely wastewaters, provides […]

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) contain large number of tiny, low cost sensors. Many sensor networks have mission critical tasks that involve data collection in remote, inaccessible or hostile environments, such as battle fields, deserts, mountains, etc. These sensors are normally monitored and managed by a trusted authority commonly known as sink or collector. In certain […]