Projets novateurs réalisés

Outcomes of Indigenous fishing methods for fish health and fisheries sustainability in a changing world

Many fish populations have declined across Canada, due to diverse pressures including overharvesting, pollution, habitat degradation, and more. Prior to colonization, Indigenous management systems supported large-scale fisheries alongside healthy fish populations. These systems are being revitalized by their communities, to meet the needs of both people and fish, and move towards more sustainable fisheries practices. On the Lower Fraser River, six First Nations, in partnership with Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance (LFFA) are doing just this. In this process of revitalization, we will be studying traditional Indigenous fishing technologies, and their implications for the health of Pacific salmon populations in the river and its tributaries. From this work we hope to advance the goals of LFFA and UBC’s Centre for Indigenous Fisheries to protect Fraser River salmon and promote First Nations’ rights to fish through scientific partnership.

Valorisation des matières résiduelles textiles(de l’entreprise Certex) envoyées au sited’enfouissement

L’intérêt de la recherche réside dans le fait qu’une entreprise comme Certex envoie à l’enfouissement entre 750 et 1000 tonnes de rebuts de textile annuellement. Les auteurs Stall–Meadows et al. (2012) affirment que près de 100% de ce type de rebuts pourrait être recyclé.13 L’objet de cette étude consiste à évaluer les perspectives de défibrer sur place les articles de maison et les vêtements, de développer de nouveaux marchés et de réaliser une étude de faisabilité (rentabilité) du projet pour le compte de l’entreprise Certex. Aussi, la plupart des chercheurs s’accorde sur l’importance de trouver de nouvelles avenues pour réduire les déchets de textile post-consommateurs envoyés aux sites

SLICEnce

Canadian salmon production is the fourth largest farmed salmon industry in the world. Farmed salmon is British Columbia’s (BC) largest agri-food export with a total economic output of $1.6 billion annually, which represents 60% of total production in Canada. Approximately, 90,000 tonnes of farmed salmon are produced in BC every year which in turn supports approximately 6,500 jobs. This project represents a collaboration between partners that have been heavily committed to the Canadian aquaculture industry for decades, including an academic institution (UPEI/AVC), a non-for-profit organization (BC CAHS), a pharmaceutical company (MERCK), and salmon producers (Grieg, Cermaq and Mowi). The partners will combine their respective expertise in sea lice genomics (UPEI/AVC), sea lice collection (aquaculture companies’ staff), parasiticide product knowledge (MERCK) and performance of sea lice bioassays, diagnostic testing and assay development (BC CAHS; ISO/IEC 17025 accredited). Sea lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, is an ectoparasite that commonly infects wild and farmed salmonids. Atlantic salmon are particularly susceptible to infestations and these infestations can lead to osmotic imbalance, skin ulceration and multiple welfare issues. The parasite impacts salmon production by limiting their growth, increasing their susceptibility to secondary infections and continued costs of treatment.

Development and implementation of social media marketing of Maskwiomin products

Maskwiomin is a start-up company, founded in 2020 and located in Sydney, NS, that manufactures and sells creams and soaps made with birch bark extract derived from a traditional Mi’kmaq skin remedy. Maskwiomin derives its name from the Mi’kmaw words of maskwi = birch bark and omin = oil/extract. The extract is traditionally produced in a fire pit method where birch bark is heated in a sealed container that allows the extract to drip out at the bottom. The extract has a multitude of biomedically active compounds and has been successfully applied for a variety of skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, rosacea, rashes and more; sometimes with dramatic improvements within 24 h.

The company is now looking for a Mitacs intern to assist with the development and implementation of a social media marketing strategy to increase the growth of the company through online sales (www.maskwiomin.com). The intern will take professional pictures of newly re-desgined packaging and develop social media posts. Business analytics data is used to track media posts with conversion rates to website and sales.

Broadband Impedance Matching for HF radar applications

In the proposed project, the intern will develop circuits through simulation for broadband impedance matching for high-frequency surface-wave radar antennas transmitting at HF frequencies. This will allow the range resolution of transmitting antennas to be improved so that targets, as well as ocean surface wave and current parameters, may be respectively better detected and estimated. This will help Maerospace Corporation to provide cost-effective solutions for promotion of maritime security, prevention of illegal fishing, among other important applications.

Processing and inversion of landstreamer data using deep learning for near-surface seismic imaging

Seismic techniques are used to image the structure of the subsurface and expand our knowledge about the geological condition of the underground. The information acquired from these techniques is employed in domains such as the petroleum industry and clean energy development. Seismic studies also play a vital role in geotechnical projects and civil engineering. The acquired seismic data must be processed to be interpretable. Conventional methods for processing seismic data are time-consuming and labor-intensive. This problem is more noticeable when the data acquisition is performed using a landstreamer for near-surface studies. The near-surface studies are used to image the shallow subsurface for geotechnical purposes. Conventional methods for near-surface imaging are limited to one specific type of seismic data (surface waves, refractions, or reflections). To address these problems, Polytechnique of Montreal and Geostack will collaborate to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the processing of the seismic data acquired by a landstreamer. In this study, deep learning (DL) methods will be employed to also perform a joint analysis of surface waves, refractions, and reflections. This technique will reduce the processing time significantly while it can lead to a higher resolution and more accurate estimate of the subsurface.

Investigating the transmission of C. difficile in Hamilton-area hospitals and designing diagnostic assays for C. difficile

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection (CDI) is a common disease associated with hospital stays and is caused by a bacteria known as C. difficile. This project will examine transmission patterns of the bacteria and attempt to develop methods for detection of the pathogen in order to reduce incidence of the disease. This will ease the burden of patients on the hospital system, which I will be partnered with.

High-Value Fertilizer Synthesis from Carbon Dioxide

The extensive use of fossil fuels is responsible for emitting the main culprit of climate change — carbon dioxide (CO2). As electricity generated from renewables becomes more accessible, CO2 conversion into valuable chemicals using electricity is being actively explored as an economically viable solution for mitigating climate change. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers support almost half of the world’s population. But its production requires ~2% global energy and tonnes of CO2 released from the production.
To create a new application for CO2 conversion and nitrogen contamination remediation, I propose to synthesize nitrogen fertilizers from CO2 and nitrates (common nitrogen contaminants). Recently, I have shown the possibility of our project in a laboratory-scale device. During the visit, I will work on scaling up our reaction to an industrial scale. And the long-term goal for this project is to replace current energy-consumptive production with my reaction.

Projet VIREDA

L’étude vise à approfondir les perceptions-relations-occupation et sensations (PROS) liés aux attitudes et comportements alimentaires dysfonctionnels (ACAD) des sprotif.ve.s par les perspectives allocentriques et égocentriques de l’image du corps en réalité virtuelle. Les résultats attendus permettront une meilleure compréhension de l’image du corps chez les athlète et pourront soutenir les pratiques cliniques probantes pour un mieux-être alimentaire et corporels.

Jeudredi : un parcours vers la semaine de travail de 4 jours

La firme de jeux vidéo québécoise Eidos souhaite évaluer l’impact de l’implantation de la semaine de quatre jours, du lundi au jeudi, dans son organisation. Cette mesure mise en place à l’automne 2021, implique que la semaine de travail régulière passe de 40 heures à 32 heures par semaine sans que le salaire des employés ne soit affecté. Dans un premier temps, les quelques 500 employés de la firme seront sondés sur les effets de ce changement par exemple sur leur productivité, leur satisfaction au travail, leur bien-être au travail et sur d’autres aspects pertinents. Par cette consultation des employés, l’organisation partenaire obtiendra une vue d’ensemble des effets du changement et pourra, dans un deuxième temps, mettre en place des mesures adaptées aux besoins exprimés (p.ex. formation, coaching) afin d’assurer de maximiser les effets positifs de cette mesure et d’amoindrir certains désavantages.

Creating a Framework for Social Enterprise as a Bridge to Employment and Self Sufficiency for Kingstonians Living in Social Housing

Youth living in social housing often face a number of challenges to success, including histories of intergenerational poverty, high rates of mental health and substance use issues, limited educational attainment, and weak or absent work histories. Secure employment is one approach to addressing key social determinants of health, including having a secure income, food security, access to needed supports, and social connections. Work integration social enterprise (WISE) is an approach to employment generation that creates jobs in a supportive environment while also producing goods and/or services needed in the local community. This study will lay the groundwork for a WISE that will build the employment skills of youth in social housing. Data collection methods will include literature review, interviews with key informants, and visioning sessions. The project activities will be delivered by a post-doctoral fellow (PDF) with the support of a research team and an advisory panel comprised of local partners and relevant stakeholders.

Quantum Machine Learning for Doppler Radar Signal Processing in Clutter

Quantum computers are no longer fantasises of distant future. Recent advances in quantum computing hardware as well quantum algorithms offer a wide variety of possibilities to improve existing classical algorithms. Some of the operations involved in the standard classical algorithms might be performed much more efficiently using quantum machines. The current proposal will explore the new possibilities offered by quantum machines for improvements in the areas of radar signal and image processing. This proposal will investigate such possibilities theoretically and will also investigate the practical implementations in present day quantum computers. Thales will utilize the algorithms developed during this project in their machine learning algorithms aimed at defense and civilian applications.