How are operating rooms assigned to surgeons? Why can’t operating rooms be open 24-7?
To answer the question of operation room efficiency, The CBC’s White Coat, Black Art host Dr. Brian Goldman spoke to Professor Dionne Aleman (MIE).
The answer? Not so simple. Professor Aleman, an affiliate of the Centre for Research in Healthcare Engineering (CRHE), explained a number of medical and administrative personnel are needed, which prevents operating rooms from being open 24 hours. Also, emergencies need to be accommodated as they arise.
Professor Aleman has worked with Toronto General Hospital using quantitative modeling techniques to improve their operating room scheduling.
Surgeons presently select their preferred surgical hours. In her study, Professor Aleman determined how to better schedule patients based on a variance, or uncertainty. “We looked at lots of historical procedures to see how often was the anticipated surgery time the actual surgery time that happened,” says Aleman.
With the study now concluded Professor Aleman is working to implement a pilot project on operation room scheduling with the University Health Network.
To listen to the interview, visit CBC.ca.
Professor Emeritus David F. James (MIE) has received the 2011 Annual Award from the British Society of Rheology (BSR) for his contributions to the understanding of flow properties of viscoelastic fluids.
Professor James achieved fame for his “tubeless siphon,” liquid that can flow uphill, which he discovered while a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology. He demonstrated his discovery in the 1967 quiz program, “I’ve Got A Secret.”
He joined the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering in 1967. In 1984, he received the inaugural Teaching Award from the Faculty, and later served as Chair of the Division of Engineering Science from 1991 to 1995.
Though he retired in 2005, Professor James acts as a teaching mentor, applying his nearly 40 years of pedagogical experience in the classroom to help new faculty become better teachers. He continues to direct research at the U of T Rheology Laboratory in areas of fluid mechanics, flow of non-Newtonian fluids, as well as experimental and theoretical rheology, among other fields. He is currently supervising four graduate students.
“I am delighted that Professor Emeritus David F. James has been recognized by his colleagues of the British Society of Rheology,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “On behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate him on this honour and his exceptional commitment to ongoing teaching and research.”
The Society was first founded as a British Rheologists’ Club in 1940, with the objective of promoting science and disseminating knowledge in the areas of pure and applied rheology, a field which studies the flow of matter. Today, one third of the Society’s 400 members are from outside the United Kingdom.
Professor James will give a plenary lecture and receive his award at the Society’s meeting in Aberystwyth, Wales on December 18, 2012.
Professors Dimitrios Hatzinakos (ECE), Javad Mostaghimi (MIE), Brent Sleep (CivE) and Murray Thomson (MIE), as well as alumnus Phillip (Rocky) Simmons (ChemE 6T4, MASc 6T5, PhD 6T9), have been recognized by the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) for their outstanding engineering achievements.
Professor Mostaghimi received the Julian C. Smith Medal “for achievement in the development of Canada.” Dr. Simmons was awarded the K.Y. Lo Medal “for significant engineering contributions at the international level.” Professors Hatzinakos, Sleep and Thomson have been named EIC Fellows for their exceptional contributions to engineering in Canada.
Professor Hatzinakos holds the Bell Canada Chair in Multimedia and serves as Director of the Identity, Privacy and Security Institute at the University of Toronto. His research interests are in the areas of multimedia signal processing, multimedia security, multimedia communications and biometric systems. He is particularly known for his research in blind deconvolution, digital watermarking and medical biometrics. His work in these areas has been cited more than 1,000 times. He is author/co-author of more than 230 papers in technical journals and conference proceedings, has contributed to 17 books and has seven patents. A committed educator, Professor Hatzinakos has supervised the research work and thesis completion of more than 50 graduate students.
Professor Mostaghimi is the Director and co-founder of the Centre for Advanced Coating Technologies and holds the title of Distinguished Professor in Plasma Engineering. World-renowned in the area of thermal spray coatings, Professor Mostaghimi led the development of CFD software packages that model the impact and solidification of molten droplets on solid surfaces. His work has led to advances in the aerospace, automotive and resource processing industries, and he has founded three companies based on his research. Professor Mostaghimi was named a Fellow of EIC in 2010. Other honours include the Ontario Professional Engineers Award for Research and Development and the NSERC Brockhouse Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.
Currently serving as Associate Chair, Research in the Department of Civil Engineering, Professor Sleep is internationally recognized for his research on remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, as well as pathogen transport in the subsurface. His publications, from his seminal PhD research to his more than 50 peer reviewed journal papers and three book chapters, have been widely influential and highly cited. Professor Sleep is currently leading a multi-university project to create more cost-effective water treatment technologies using an innovative combination of methods based on physical, biological and chemical processes. He has served on the British Columbia Science Advisory Board and the Water Science and Technology Board of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Dr. Simmons is President and CEO of Eco-Tec Limited, a global leader in water treatment and chemical recovery systems. Under his leadership, Eco-Tec has become a true Canadian success story, with operations all over the world and systems installed in 58 countries. Today, a number of Eco-Tec’s environmentally and economically sustainable processes have become the de-facto standard throughout several different industries. A champion of education and technology development, Dr. Simmons is currently Chair of the Advisory Board for the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry. He has also served as Chair of the Board of Governors for the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College.
Professor Thomson has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of alternative fuels, pollution control and combustion sensors, and his research has been widely applied in industry. He has commercialized and licensed four process sensors based on optics and spectroscopy, which are used by a number of companies to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions. He has also developed fundamental models of particulate emissions in flames, which he has applied to develop particulate emissions models for engines produced by companies such as Pratt & Whitney Canada. He has made outstanding contributions to the Canadian Section of the Combustion Institute, where he serves as Treasurer and as Member of the Board of Directors.
“We are delighted that the Engineering Institute of Canada has recognized the achievements of these five outstanding engineers,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “On behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate them for their accomplishments and thank them for their many contributions.”
Dr. Simmons, along with Professors Hatzinakos, Mostaghimi and Thomson, will be honoured at the EIC Awards Banquet on February 25, 2012, at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. Professor Sleep will be honoured at a joint Canadian Society for Civil Engineering/Engineering Institute of Canada gala on June 7, 2012 at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the election of Professor Milos Popovic (IBBME) to its College of Fellows.
Professor Popovic was nominated by his peers and was elected by the full membership into the official College of Fellows Class of 2012 for pioneering use of neuroprostheses for retraining brain functions in individuals following severe stroke and spinal cord injury.
AIMBE is a non-profit organization representing 50,000 individuals and the top 2% of medical and biological engineers. AIMBE represents academic institutions, private industry and other professional engineering societies.
Its College of Fellows is comprised of engineering and medical school chairs, research directors, innovators, and successful entrepreneurs who pursue AIMBE’s mission to provide leadership and advocacy in medical and biological engineering for the advancement of society.
“Dr. Popovic’s election is a great recognition of the scientific and engineering knowledge that the University of Toronto’s biomedical engineering community has to offer to international institutions such as AIMBE, which influence health technology in the USA,” said IBBME Director, Paul Santerre.
He joins IBBME core faculty members Peter Zandstra, Molly Shoichet, Michael Sefton and Paul Santerre as AIMBE fellows.
A formal induction ceremony will be held during AIMBE’s 21st Annual Event at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. on February 20th, 2012.
Today’s cutting-edge robotics technology is about making life easier. Many robots are even being developed to do tasks that many would assume only humans can do.
The CBC’s The National spoke to MIE Professors Andrew Goldenberg and Goldie Nejat about their innovations.
Professor Goldenberg and his researchers are perfecting a patroller robot – equipped with security cameras and infrared vision. “The robot actually acts as a human being, in terms of identifying the sources of potential problems,” said Professor Goldenberg.
Professor Nejat’s Brian the Robot is designed to assist in health care facilities and those in long-term care. It is a highly intelligent, human-like, socially assistive and interactive robot. Not only can it display an array of emotions when interacting with humans, it can cognitively stimulate and help with memory functioning through numerous activities.
“This is a robot that is going to interact with you. It understands what you’re saying from your speech, your body language, and then be able to interpret that and have its own assistive behaviour to help you,” said Professor Nejat.
To see the full feature story, visit CBC.ca.
“Energy conservation and renewable energy are key components of our green energy future,” explained MSE PhD candidate Michael G. Helander in a blog post for the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.
“With popular demand for flat-panel TVs on the rise, their alarmingly high energy usage … is increasingly becoming the focus of energy conservation efforts,” Helander added.
That is why he along with, PhD candidate Zhibin Wang (MSE) and supervisor Professor Zheng-Hong Lu (MSE), have created the world’s most efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on plastic.
Current OLEDs provide high-contrast and low-energy displays and is rapidly becoming the dominant technology for advanced electronic screens. The U of T Engineering team’s OLED technology has the potential to be significantly more energy efficient than liquid crystal displays (LCDs), while less costly than traditional OLED manufacturing.
“Both OLED displays and new durable solar cells can be manufactured in the province, creating new jobs and investment opportunities,” said Helander. “Together they are poised to play an important role in our green energy economy, creating wealth and skilled labour in Ontario, while saving the environment.”
To read Helander’s article, visit the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation website.