Student Publications
Engineering Graduate Student Publication Showcase
Welcome to a collection of published papers by our Engineering graduate students. Here, you can explore the research and findings from our students as they contribute to various engineering fields.
Each paper reflects their hard work and dedication, showcasing a range of topics. We invite you to browse through their publications and see the valuable insights they’re bringing to the Engineering community.
Join us in recognizing their hard work and the impact they are making in academia and industry!
Winter 2025 Publications
EVSE
The use of efficiency metrics for cross-jurisdictional assessment of household hazardous waste collection and recycling
Household hazardous waste (HHW) has proliferated with the growing consumption of household products, highlighting the importance of an effective management program. Although industrialized nations have employed collection programs for HHW, their efficiencies are not appropriately assessed. North America currently lacks comprehensive studies on the efficiency of HHW programs. This study introduces two metrics: Collection Ratio (CollectRat) and Recycling Ratio (RecylRat), to analyze the efficacy of HHW collection and recycling. The study develops predictive models for these metrics to identify key household characteristics influencing HHW management practices. Management practices are shifting towards recycling, although reuse remains low, peaking at 20.9 % in California and 10.8 % in Texas. By examining the metrics using American and Canadian datasets, results show that collection rates are higher in highly populated regions, unlike recycling rates. Most Canadian HHW programs have adopted the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, while California has recently introduced EPR for certain household products, leading to increased public awareness and improved waste management practices. Findings suggest HHW collection ratio alone does not represent waste recycling well. The rate of collection and recycling depends on household characteristics such as family size, educational attainment, and other factors. The use of efficiency metrics in forecasting models helps to understand trends in HHW management in North America and can be applied to other jurisdictions.
Mim, S. J., Richter, A., Gitifar, A., Chowdhury, R., Ng, K. T. W. (2025) “The use of efficiency metrics for cross-jurisdictional assessment of household hazardous waste collection and recycling”. Journal of Cleaner Production, 503, 145420.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145420Supply-disposition storage of fresh fruits and vegetables and food loss in the Canadian supply chain
Analyzing transportation and storage inefficiencies at the initial stages of the food supply chain is crucial for minimizing early-stage losses and enhancing food lifecycle efficiency. However, most food system studies,focused on retail and consumer stages. This study delves into the intricate dynamics of fresh fruit and vegetable waste generation at the supply-disposition storage stage, aiming to identify distinct waste generation patterns and predict food loss in Canada using regression analysis. Total food waste generation for 64 fresh fruits and vegetables exhibited a notable increase over a 22-year study period from 2000 to 2022, and fresh vegetables consistently surpassed fresh fruits in average waste generation by 25.9 %. Despite a higher per capita waste generation for fresh vegetables (1.26 kg∙cap-1∙year−1), the steeper growth rate in fruit waste emphasizes the need for nuanced strategies for each category at the supply-disposition storage. The waste generation showed a positive linear relationship with supply, imports, and domestic disappearance in the food supply chain (R2 = 0.80 to 0.99, p < 0.0001), denoting a significant potential impact of supply-disposition parameters on individual waste generation. Two distinct regression models were developed to forecast fresh fruits and vegetables waste generation, and both demonstrated high predictability (0.924 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.975) and low RMSE values (1.571 ≤ RMSE ≤ 3.318). Imports and exports appear crucial to minimize food loss at supply and disposition storage. The proposed analytical approach can be beneficial elsewhere to enhance fresh food supply inventory management and minimize food loss at a global level.
Chowdhury, R., Mim, S. J., Tasnim, A., Ng, K. T. W., & Richter, A. (2025). Supply-disposition storage of fresh fruits and vegetables and food loss in the Canadian supply chain. Ecological Indicators, 170, 113063.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.113063Exploring the role of negative emission technologies in regional power system planning toward carbon net zero--A Case Study for the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada
Negative emission technologies (NETs) such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC) are essential for offsetting difficult-to-reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, critical for achieving a net-zero carbon future. Therefore, an optimization-driven negative emission technologies (ODNET) model has been first developed in this study for deploying NETs in Saskatchewan's power system using a mixed-integer fractional chance-constrained programming approach with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) assessment. Results indicate that renewable energy including solar, wind, and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) will dominate future power generation, with natural gas-fired equipped with CCS supporting the low-carbon transition. Applying BECCS and DAC together not only reduces total system costs by 9 %, but also helps achieve carbon net zero ahead of schedule. DAC is expected to deliver 4.28 Mt of negative emissions, while BECCS could provide over 48 Mt of negative emissions and generate over 40,000 GWh of electricity. Moreover, the power system's low carbon transition will enhance SDG indicators in renewable energy share, fossil fuel reduction, and CO2 emissions mitigation. This study highlights optimized strategies for regional power system planning toward carbon net zero and clarifies NETs' roles and potential applications in future power systems.
Xu, Y., Huang, G., Liu, Y., & Chen, L. (2025). Exploring the role of negative emission technologies in regional power system planning toward carbon net zero--A Case Study for the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Energy, 136351.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2025.136351SSE
Availability and Sustainability Aware Service Function Chains (SFC) Allocation and Embedding in Edge-Cloud Continuum
The rapid evolution of network services, driven by innovations like virtualization and edge computing, has transformed the way modern applications are deployed and managed. Service Function Chains (SFC) formed by putting Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) in a particular order enable flexible and scalable network solutions. However, their virtualized nature introduces new challenges, including their availability and sustainability. Their joint balancing in SFCs deployment is crucial to meet the stringent requirements of next-generation networks. This study presents a novel approach for availability and sustainability-aware SFCs allocation and embedding in the edge-cloud continuum. It introduces embedding policies tailored to prioritize availability, reduce carbon footprint, or achieve a tradeoff between the two. Simulated Annealing (SA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithms (GA) are employed to optimize VNF redundancy strategies. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, achieving robust fault tolerance while minimizing carbon footprint. The tradeoff-aware policy and PSO based redundancy strategy achieves 95.88% availability while cutting the carbon footprint by 37.6%.
Shahab, M. H., & Sharma, Y. (2025). Availability and Sustainability Aware Service Function Chains (SFC) Allocation and Embedding in Edge-Cloud Continuum. Procedia Computer Science, 257, 637-644.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705092500818X