CARIC 2024: French Fries, Assistant Principals, and Hacking Self-Driving Cars

Can French Fries be less unhealthy?

Spoiler Alert: Potentially! 

Dr. Makan Golizeh’s ongoing research is exploring advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), a group of potentially harmful compounds formed between carbohydrates and proteins at high temperatures. AGEs are involved in the pathology of many chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and play an important role in the aging process. 

Heavy metals such as iron and copper catalyze the formation of AGEs. Chelating agents are able to bind to heavy metals and remove them from food and other biological samples. Phytic acid is one such chelating agent. 

Potatoes are rich in iron, which is believed to increase AGE formation during the french fry cooking process. At the same time, rice bran is a natural source of phytic acid. And so the question presents itself: Could incorporating phytic acid (through rice bran and on its own) decrease the formation of AGEs and therefore, make french fries less unhealthy? 

Dr. Golizeh peeled, sliced, rinsed, salted and air fried batches of potatoes, incorporating chemical grade phytic acid and rice bran in different batches. The cooked french fries were then chemically and sensorily analyzed. 

X-ray fluorescence analysis confirmed that phytic acid-treated potatoes had a significantly lower iron content. Spectrophotometric measurements showed that phytic acid-treated French fries had higher quantities of AGEs, whereas those prepared with rice bran had significantly less AGEs. Three compounds were found to decrease in rice bran-treated fries, two of which were tentatively identified by tandem mass spectrometry as toxic AGEs.

Further studies are needed to fully assess whether adding rice bran to potatoes, prior to frying, could make them less unhealthy by decreasing the AGE content of French fries. 

Evaluation of Man-in-the-Middle Attacks and Countermeasures on Autonomous Vehicles

To run its millions of lines of software, autonomous vehicles require sensors, complex algorithms, machine learning systems, and fast processors. Most new car models now include Wi-Fi modules that are used to transmit telemetry data to cloud servers in the background and gather real-time traffic data. 

Current vehicles have not yet reached full levels of autonomy, but these vehicles still rely on a vast number of sensors and a variety of communications systems to communicate vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-cloud, vehicle-to-internet, and vehicle-to-sensor. Attacks are possible along each of these communications channels. 

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks, where a threat actor places themselves between the target and a network access point, present a great risk to the autonomous vehicles, opening them up to having their controls taken over. 

Dr. AdbAllah, with student researchers, developed a model autonomous car with an Arduino and Raspberry Pi computer that was able to respond to stop signs, traffic lights, and stay within its lane. The group then was able to set up a MITM attack vector and identify this attack. 

Future research will analyze countermeasure techniques like VPNs TLS, S-ARP, and others.

Understanding the Self-Efficacy of Aspiring School Leaders

As a deputy superintendent, Dr. Tim Cusack was tasked with succession planning for his school district. The challenges of school leaders have increased in challenge and complexity but there has also been a lack of research into the professional identity of assistant principals. That is when he took a step back to understand the aspirations of his district’s assistant principals.

Question One: How would individuals self-assess their levels of self-efficacy and their desire to take on an elevated role in school leadership? 

Question Two: Do assistant principals want to pursue principalship?

His research uncovered that only 35 per cent of surveyed assistant principals wanted to pursue principalship. 21 per cent of respondents said they were not interested, and 44 per cent were undecided. He also found that the greatest gap was assistant principals’ belief in their ability to take on the managerial tasks that come with principalship. 

His survey data opened up a new series of questions wanting to explore why. 

Those who were interested in pursuing principalship most often cited wanting to lead a learning community. They also wanted to continue their work with students, teachers, and other stakeholder. 

Those who did not want to pursue principalship were concerned about workload and the additional challenges that come with the role. 

Those who were undecided primarily cited not feeling prepared enough to take on the role, while others cited similar concerns of workload and stress, or that they simply enjoyed their current role. 

But there was a signaled gap in both establishing what the role of the assistant principal was, and how to develop the individual to take on principalship.

The culmination of Dr. Cusack’s research is showcased in his book Leader Ready: 4 Pathways to Prepare Aspiring School Leaders. 

There is a need to harmonize aspiring leader preparation and training in school systems. Assistant principals have been a neglected demographic within educational leadership research .With greater focus on managerial processes and increasing mentorship support, it is likely more undecided individuals may choose to progress towards principalship.

Reengineering Well-to-Wheels Supply Chain for Sustainable Solutions

Between on-site excavators, loaders, and haulers; oil tankers, planes, and trains; and commuter planes, trucks, and cars, the oil and gas (O&G) industry has a wide array of intermediary transportation that emits CO2. We’ll call this global, complex supply chain between the source and the vehicle the wheel-to-well (WtW) supply chain. 

An important priority for the O&G industry is the reduction of their carbon footprint, especially as Canada strives to meet its Net Zero plan.

Dr. Ashish Thomas’ presentation identifies the key linkages between sustainable development goals and the O&G supply chain. He began by scrutinizing the current operational and supply chain strategy for the O&G firm in focus by reviewing its official corporate documents and sustainability reports. The case analysis provided an understanding of the company’s ecosystem and insight into developing effective low-carbon technologies and solutions. Dr. Thomas elaborated on the need for innovation and collaboration with intermediaries for the efficiency of supply chain practices and the greening of transportation and operations.

Reducing carbon intensity, improving fuel efficiency in logistics, adoption of alternative fuel, and improving reverse-logistics processes are just some of the ways the industry can (and is) moving forward to achieve its sustainable development goals.