Quality Assessment and Enhancement of Retinal Images

Babies who are born prematurely are at risk of developing a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP), which if left untreated, can lead to permanent blindness. RoP causes characteristic changes in the retinal vasculature, which can be seen when looking into the eye. Because the infants need to be monitored regularly for this condition, and […]

Read More
Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of a Large Scale Industrial Biochar plant

Slow pyrolysis is a process to convert biomass residues to valuable biochar products, which are used in agricultural, wastewater treatment, animal feed, carbon sequestration etc. IRSI focused on identifying optimal pathways for converting biomass into high quality biochar with maximum energy efficiency and minimal environmental degradation. This project focusses on modelling and simulation of a […]

Read More
DEVELOPMENT OF A PROCESS MODEL AND ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR NEXEN’S PARTIAL UPGRADING TECHNOLOGY – Year two

Production of bitumen in Canada has increased considerably in the last decade. Due to its heavy nature, bitumen needs upgrading in order to make it marketable. Partial upgrading, where bitumen is upgraded into transportable oil that meets pipeline specifications, has the potential to maximize the benefits of bitumen commercialization. However, there is not any economical […]

Read More
Investigation of Wood I-joists for Floor Applications in Mid-rise Wood Construction

PinkWood Ltd of Calgary is the largest wood I-joist producer in Western Canada. To-date it has been supplying primarily to the low-rise residential construction market. With the increased interest in mid-rise wood buildings up to 6 storeys, PinkWood is interested in expanding into this market segment. Penetrating into this non-traditional market segment will require the […]

Read More
Moving to Breathe, Breathing to Move: An interdisciplinary study on the benefits of choral and dance exercise for people with neuromuscular conditions

In this collaborative project with Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC), we will design and run choir singing and dancing programs for people with neuromuscular conditions, in order to study whether it improves their quality of life and their ability to breathe. Both singing and dancing have been shown to have significant medical and quality of life […]

Read More
Alberta High Resolution Wetland Inventory Methodology Development – Year two

This project aims to operationalize innovative methods for developing cost effective wetland inventories across Alberta by use of numerous sources of remote sensing data, namely light detection and ranging (LiDAR), synthetic aperture Radar (SAR), and optical imagery. The project will formalize a mapping specification, develop training and validation datasets (available in-kind from the academic supervisor […]

Read More
Quantifying soil organic carbon sequestration performance of the City of Calgary Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation Demonstration Project: Assessing potential provincial carbon emissions offset credit opportunities

The emerging emissions trading market provides the province of Alberta an opportunity to diversify its economy and drive climate change mitigation innovation. By improving the efficiency of earning carbon credits, more economic opportunities and carbon sequestration industrial applications are feasible. The City of Calgary Dewatered Biosolids Land Application – Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation […]

Read More
Extended Technology Assessment of Advanced In-situ Recovery Methods for Oil Sands

In-situ recovery methods for oils sands are applied to reservoirs containing bitumen that are too deep for mining. To date there has been only one commercially viable in-situ recovery method, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), involving high pressure steam injection and bitumen production using horizontal well pairs located near the base of oil sands formations. While […]

Read More
Fast and robust real-time precise point positioning – Year 2

The main outcome of this Mitacs-sponsored project will be a robust navigation software capable of providing accurate navigation solutions for commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Such a software will further elevate the industrial competitiveness for the partner corporation, the Profound Positioning Inc. (PPI). After finishing this project, PPI will be able to offer more comprehensive […]

Read More
Investigating the effectiveness of mental health services offered through the Zebra Centre: Assessing what works for children who have been abused

This project will serve as the first formal program evaluation for the Zebra Centre, which has been serving victims of abuse in Edmonton and the surrounding area for 15 years. Program evaluation would open up opportunities for the Zebra Centre to learn about their strengths and areas of need in regards to their ability to […]

Read More
Finding innovations to improve calf gastrointestinal health

The neonatal and pre-weaned periods are the most challenging in dairy production, resulting in the highest mortality and morbidity rates, with diarrhea proving the most common cause of calf health problems. In order to treat and control this diarrhea, producers often rely on antibiotic therapy. An alternative is to provide living microorganisms (probiotics) that minimize […]

Read More