Innovative Projects Realized

Estimating environmental performance of dehydrated poultry manure production using a Life Cycle Assessment approach

The sourcing and production of crop nutrient product used in agriculture have an environmental impact. To move toward a sustainable food system, it will be important to have a clear understanding of the environmental impacts associated with crop nutrient product. Dehydrated poultry manure is an increasingly popular crop nutrient product used within organic agriculture. Although it recycles raw poultry manure that may otherwise be landfilled, there is not clear understanding of its environmental impacts. The environmental evaluation of sourcing and processing dehydrated poultry manure through a life cycle assessment will assist both Envirem Organics Inc, and Acti-Sol in reaching environmental goals by identifying operational inefficiencies, areas of improvement, and developing sustainability strategies or environmental labeling.

Object Detection and Terrain Mapping in Industrial Scenes

Computer Vision techniques and algorithms, especially those involving deep neural networks, are now predominant in robotics and autonomous driving. These algorithms have found immense success in urban scenes for autonomous driving, and visualize 3D maps of cities. However, like most deep learning solutions, they do not generalize well over a large varieties of inputs. Thus, while urban scenes are well represented in computer vision research, less common scenes, such as construction sites, mines, quarries, and farms remain largely unexplored. Algorithms in obstacle detection to moving
vehicles in hazardous worksites can prevent accidents which often cause human injury and damage to properties. Additionally, building maps of such worksites can present a whole host of opportunities in worksite surveillance, safety, and autonomous driving in such landscapes. Lastly, industrial worksites tend to be in a constant state of flux, unlike many urban environments. This gives us an opportunity to develop algorithms capable of withstanding such changes, thereby contributing valuable research to the field. This project is bifurcated into two parts, one part that focuses on 3D automated
object detection and avoidance on industrial worksites, and the other part on building a 3D map of the worksite for field inspection purposes.

Autonomous AI price prediction and analysis using data segmentation and similarity matching

The card collection was evaluated at more than $20B in 2021 with an unprecedented growth in the last 36 months. A card value can range from $0.05 up to $6.6M. The old-school hobby market has shifted to an investment vehicle in recent years. To list a card online for sale, there are many steps involved: sorting the card by types, scanning of the front and the back, documenting the information of the card so it gets indexed to be searched by the potential buyers, searching online for the card value and then, the card can be listed online. Knowing that an average collector can have between 25,000 to 1M cards, if this step is not optimized efficiently, there is little chance for a collector to list all his cards online for sale, depriving him of potential revenues. In the last five years, Kronozio has worked on optimizing all those processes. The only one still not optimized yet is the card pricing. It is probably the most complex mechanism to build because 99% of the current techniques are based on web crawlers.

Natural Asset valuation for Municipal ecosystem services

Edmonton’s natural assets (its forests, wetlands, grasslands, rivers and streams) provide core service functions such as water treatment, rainwater management, flood protection, recreation, habitat, and pollination. The presence and health of such natural assets influence the levels of service that can be provided or supported by a Municipality, ultimately influencing the overall well-being and livability of the City. However, without appropriate understanding, recognition and documentation of the services provided by Edmonton’s natural assets, they are at risk of continued degradation and/or loss. Recent work has shown that natural assets are particularly vulnerable when there is no understood or accepted value to the services that natural assets provide as compared to the readily calculable benefits of grey infrastructure development. In order to address this gap in knowledge, in 2021 the City of Edmonton initiated a project to inventory the City’s natural assets as a first step in the sustainable management of its natural assets.

Sustainability Scholar – Health Impact Assessment Guide for Transportation Policy and Investment

The scholar will provide insight to the Transportation Policy and Strategy team on best practices and a path forward for assessing and quantifying health impacts of key transportation policies and investment related to active modes, parking and mode shift from single occupancy vehicles to more sustainable forms of transportation. It will provide insight into a topic of which the city has very little information on and has not dedicated resources too. This will be the starting point for incorporating this topic into our work and ultimately leading to better use of taxpayers dollars. The end result is that this becomes our standard practice and therefore allows a more holistic set of criteria that is used to assess transportation investments that results in a more sustainable transportation network.

Développement du Laboratoire d’innovation numérique

Dans le cadre de son stage au média d’information Le Devoir, le stagiaire intégrera le Laboratoire d’innovation numérique et aura pour mandat de produire deux dossiers journalistiques qui devront tirer profit du potentiel novateur des formats numériques (contenu multimédia, interactif et narratif). Chaque dossier devra se décliner en un reportage écrit de long format sur le Web, un reportage vidéo et une visualisation de données interactive, lesquels seront aussi adaptés aux médias sociaux. Le stagiaire devra par ailleurs produire un rapport d’analyse identifiant les améliorations pouvant fortifier la collaboration entre la salle de rédaction traditionnelle et le Laboratoire numérique. Par ce projet, le stagiaire soutiendra activement le déploiement des orientations du Devoir et du Laboratoire d’innovation : produire un contenu journalistique Web engageant et adapté aux nouvelles formes de consommation de l’information, et ce, afin de renforcer la visibilité du Devoir sur le marché national francophone et d’agrandir son électorat en rejoignant les plus jeunes générations.

Développement de produits à base de cellulose

Le but du projet est de soutenir l’entreprise Spiderwort dans le développement de biomatériaux végétaux innovants ayant des application en médecine régénérative, en cosmétologie et dans le domaine alimentaire. Les stagiaires collégiaux, universitaires et diplômés vont se succéder dans les étapes de développement, et chaque stagiaire aura des objectifs spécifiques selon son expertise, la ligne de produits visée (médicale ou alimentaire) et le stade du développement du produit. Les tâches envisagées sont la détermination du potentiel commercial d’aliments « synthétiques » produits en laboratoire et prix, selon le marché, recherche de la compétition dans le domaine d’aliments « synthétiques », recherche de la réglementation au Canada et la recherche de partenaires potentiels.

Land use and mobility planning for climate change and energy transition

The intern will research how land use and transportation planning can support energy transition and climate change goals. They will consider academic research, as well as study the policies used by other major municipalities. Then they will recommend how the City of Edmonton can apply these learnings to the creation of District Plans, which is currently underway. This will help the City of Edmonton advance the objectives of the Energy Transition Strategy and Climate Resilient Edmonton.

Core Business Operations

The Arctic is entering a digital age where web-based media acts as one of the main drivers behind ideologies and action, both in the north and beyond. In order to ensure that Arctic stories are driven by Arctic creators, northern youth are searching for opportunities to enter this journalistic space. To support their mission, the AYN created a publication brand under its global network, The Exchange, to enable a one-stop-shop for young northern voices to tell real-time stories of the massive social, economic, and environmental shifts that are occurring in the Arctic. The project brings together creative youth from different backgrounds and supports them in the exchange of ideas, news, and pertinent Arctic realities at individual, community, and global scales.

County of Lennox and Addington Climate Adaptation Policy

The County of Lennox and Addington has identified environmental sustainability as a priority for all County operations. That is, environmental sustainability should be an over-arching goal in all decision-making and service provision by the County. It is anticipated that this research project can identify key opportunities for the County of Lennox and Addington to become more environmentally sustainable. This project is meant to provide improved public service to residents of Lennox and Addington and to address environmental issues that are important to our community. The end project will be a climate change adaption report including the policy recommendation and departmental action plans. this project will help to address these challenges locally, in Lennox and Addington County by providing staff with policies and processes to reduce GHE in County operations.

How to Start a (Brain Imaging) Revolution: Developing Cubresa’s Technical, Clinical, and Marketing Strategy to Launch the BrainPET Scanner

Cubresa is building the BrainPET, the world’s first commercial brain-dedicated positron emission tomography (PET) insert for a magnetic resonance imager (MRI). The BrainPET will give doctors and scientists a powerful tool to visualize the human brain with near-unparalleled resolution and sensitivity, providing a clear picture of the interconnectedness of structure/function in this complex organ. This is key to understanding the dynamics of neurological disease and in turn, developing effective treatments for conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s and brain cancer to psychiatric illnesses like depression.

?We will engage 3 interns over 4 months to address BrainPET positioning. In performing technological, clinical, competitive, and primary/secondary market analyses, our interns will help Cubresa assess the clinical research medical imaging environment and identify the ideal target client and the BrainPET’s ‘killer apps’ – those applications for which the BrainPET is ideally suited. This is critical for Cubresa to craft the perfect message and launch the BrainPET successfully into a captive market. From an outbound perspective, engaging with user groups through social media channels will help us ensure that Cubresa is sending a clear message about what the BrainPET is, what it can do, and how its introduction will transform the brain imaging landscape.

Advancing a novel therapeutic for the prevention of hypoglycemia in rodent models of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and in phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials for type 1 diabetes

Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar is a phenomenon that results from excess insulin or strenuous exercise in diabetic patients. If untreated, this can quickly lead to dizziness, seizures and even death. In healthy individuals, the body is able to compensate for these fluctuations and restore blood sugars to normal levels by lowering insulin and raising glucagon. In those with diabetes, they are unable to do this and struggle with hypoglycemia. The research studies outlined in this proposal addresses this urgent struggle by utilizing the individual’s own capacity to produce glucagon- a hormone instrumental in increasing blood sugar, thereby elevating blood sugar levels to prevent hypoglycemia. Our proposed research aims to provide a viable solution to hypoglycemia prevention and thus improve existing standard of care options available