Projets novateurs réalisés

FundSustain Inc – Radia Rahman

This project will have the Marketing and Communications intern using their existing, and new skills to develop marketing content and campaigns, as well as communication connections between our partners. This internship will be vital to getting our name into the Charitable market, and provide valuable insight into our growth strategy for 2022.

Enhancing community engagement in marine ecosystem health assessments through environmental DNA

The oceans today are under a variety of stressors including warming, acidification, eutrophication, and deoxygenation. Due to their increasing impacts on marine environments, there is a huge push for new monitoring and environmental assessment techniques to understand and mitigate change. Environmental DNA (eDNA) refers to the tiny pieces of DNA shed by all living things that remain in the surrounding environment. Using specially designed molecular tests, eDNA can be detected and provide important information regarding the health of marine ecosystems. The proposed research aims to enhance community-based monitoring by applying eDNA tests to four distinct marine scenarios that each reveal a different way that eDNA can provide valuable ecosystem information. This partnership provides a novel outreach opportunity to share eDNA monitoring techniques with community members and youth so they can learn about these amazing molecular tools that can inform us on the health of the oceans.

Retaining observational information when transmitting markerless motion capture data

Recent advances in 3D camera technology and associated software is enabling clinical assessments of function to be undertaken in real world clinical settings, rather than in specialized bio-mechanics laboratories. Working in collaboration with Kinetisense Inc, an SME from Medicine Hat Alberta, a patented markerless motion capture technology has been developed to support a wide
range of rehabilitation assessments for patients in rural and remote settings. PROMote is a platform developed at University of Alberta to support more complex clinic-to-clinic assessments incorporating virtual health technologies. Privacy restrictions prohibit storage of identifiable video images of patients in centralized electronic medical records. Although technologies such as facial
blurring are feasible they are not currently acceptable. Another challenge when transferring video images is limited bandwidth, clinician time for file transfers and large file storage requirements. Instead the Kinetisense software generates a spreadsheet of marker locations at 30 frames a second in csv format. Therefore no patient identifiable data is retained. This project will take
typical datasets, remove artifacts through filtering, and reconstruct the movements in the form of a realistic avatar of the patient. A large library of data is already available and consented by patients for analysis.

Étude de faisabilité d’un protocole de supplémentation avec les probiotiques Bio-K+ chez des enfants autistes

Des modifications du contenu en bactéries intestinales (flore intestinale) pourraient contribuer à la sévérité des symptômes des troubles du spectre de l’autisme. Le déséquilibre entre ‘bonnes’ et ‘mauvaises’ bactéries pourrait influencer les symptômes gastrointestinaux et le fonctionnement du cerveau. La prise de probiotiques est une façon pouvant permettre de modifier la flore intestinale. Nous voulons tester les effets des probiotiques Bio-K+ sur les symptômes des enfants autistes. Pour se faire, nous devons d’abord procéder à une étude de faisabilité pour évaluer la capacité des enfants autistes : i) de prendre de manière quotidienne des probiotiques Bio-K+ et ii) de compléter tous les tests que nous avons prévu au protocole. Nous allons recruter 30 enfants avec un autisme léger à modéré qui recevront les probiotique pendant 3 mois. Dix enfants ne présentant pas de troubles du spectre de l’autisme et ne prenant pas de probiotiques seront les contrôles de l’étude. Cette étude nous permettra d’évaluer la faisabilité de notre protocole auprès d’enfants autistes et nous aidera à planifier une étude clinique pour évaluer les impacts de la supplémentation sur les symptômes.

Credit Scores Based on Deposit Account Data

The business partner is interested in finding ways to further automate small business lending and annual renewals. In recent years, with the improvement in efficient computing and data storage and movement, the use of deposit data in lending has become more prevalent in the industry. Within industry risk managers, it is widely accepted that deposit account information has a strong predictive ability for predicting borrower risk level. However, there are no widespread industry tools similar to credit scores making use of deposit data. This project aims to employ machines techniques to develop credit scores based on deposit lending data.

Development of Slow Release Carbon Control Technology (CCT) Fertilizer Using Waste Biomass

The goal of the project is to develop a slow-release fertilizer in a chemical reaction wherein salts are impregnated into the pores of a feedstock material; either biomass or biochar. This will not only allow for prolonged nutrient retention and absorption by plants in the soil, but it will also act to sequester carbon in the soil, thus reducing global greenhouse gases. Additionally, the stability and porosity of the material will help to retain water in the soil helping to mitigate water depletion and desertification. The benefits to the partner company include proving the technique by which the feedstock is impregnated works chemically, and can be scaled to a commercial level at which point, the technology will be distributed worldwide.

Examining the effects of psilocybin on sensory perception in active micro-dosers

Psilocybin is a promising pharmaceutical compound that is currently undergoing development for therapeutical use in Canada. Many people who take psilocybin report heightened sensation, improved perception, and better focus after taking a micro-dose (e.g., 10-20% of the full clinical dose). Atlhough micro-dosing has gain popularity in neuro-hacking circles and in some popular literature, very few studies quantified the effects of microdosing on sensory perception. The goal of this study is to explore if people who actively engage in micro-dosing perfrom differently on multisensory and time-related perceptual tasks after taking a microdose. The goal of this research is to understand the dosing protocols in current users and the if the qualitative effects of micro-dosing can be
captured. This research will provide LTG with critical data for their psilocybin supplement development and provide the intern with a rich experience in applied psychological research.

Supporting Short-term Decision Making for Interfacility Medical Transportation

Medical dispatchers are responsible for making decisions about when and how patients are transferred by different hospitals. This can be a very difficult task since patients who are in urgent or emergent conditions require immediate transfers. One of the key pieces of information that dispatchers use in these medical decisions is the time to definitive care, the time between when the request for transportation is received to when the patient is finally handed over at the destination. Generating estimates of time to definitive care is difficult for dispatchers and the estimates are often shorter than actual transfer times. Evidence-based decision support tools can help improve the accuracy and reliability of dispatcher estimates, which can in turn improve medical and resource allocation decisions regarding interfacility medical transfers. The proposed research will examine how such a decision support tool will impact the decision process of dispatchers, and how uncertainty information can help improve usage of the decision support tool. This will help facilitate the design of better decision support tools that will improve patient outcomes during interfacility medical transport.

Development of robust analytical methods for the quantification of trace elements in speciality polymers

The presence of metals impurities in conjugated polymers can have important consequences on their
performances and lifespan. Yet, measuring trace levels of metals in polymeric matrices is challenging both in
terms of sample preparation and detectability. In this project, we aim at assessing diverse approaches to
overcome the challenges associated with the measure of numerous metals in speciality polymers.

Group Field Theory and Black Holes

The project will consist on visiting the Gravitation and Cosmology research group of the university of Sheffield in order to start a collaboration in a specific area of mathematical aspects of gravitation. The research in this area will: provide insights on quantum theories of gravity, in particular Group Field Theory; help to develop general mathematical tools for solving physical problems; and broaden our understanding of the universe. This interchange of ideas will lead to: 1. Enhancing research productivity. 2. Building networks for success internationally 3. Providing opportunity for global talent to work with Canadian institutions. Moreover, the project’s outcome will contribute to providing experiential learning for students, foster a culture of support recognition and result in scientific publications. These points are an important part of the Mitacs and UNB Strategic Plan (as stated in the UNB Toward 2030 document) and by awarding funding to this project we will be supporting innovation and excellence.

Dynamic Proteomic Profiling During Skeletal Muscle Loading and Unloading in Humans

Skeletal muscle plays several different roles in the promotion and maintenance of health and well-being. The loss of muscle mass that occurs with aging, chronic muscle wasting diseases, and physical inactivity puts people at an increased risk of frailty and becoming insulin resistant. Some individuals fail to increase the size of their muscle following (low responders) whereas others show vary large increases in muscle size (high responders) in response to the same resistance training program. People also show differences in the amount of muscle tissue they lose when they have a limb immobilized (i.e., leg casted, or leg brace). However, the molecular mechanisms driving changes in muscle size remain poorly understood. Recent methodological advances might allow us to uncover molecular mechanisms that govern changes in muscle size. Using an innovative methodology, the purpose of my Gloablink research project is to implement a novel methodology designed to discover key regulators of muscle size in humans.

Recours au juge administratif et conséquence du CETA comparaison France — Québec

Dans le cadre de mon travail de séminaire de Staatsexamen (équivalent d’une maîtrise) au sein de l’Université de la Sarre (Allemagne), je souhaite réaliser une étude comparée de droit français, européen et canadien. M’intéressant particulièrement au droit européen ainsi que au droit administratif, je souhaite saisir l’opportunité de l’entrée en vigueur de l’accord économique et commercial global (AECG ou CETA – Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement) entre l’Union européenne et le Canada pour faire un exposé synthétique des apports de l’accord dans ce domaine.

Cette étude doit, rédigée en langue française, s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un cursus bilingue et binational proposé par l’Université de la Sarre en partenariat avec l’Université de Lorraine (France). L’étude doit comporter au moins 40 pages. Suite au séjour au Canada et l’évalution de mon étude, une soutenance orale aura lieu en langue allemande.

Elle pourrait être une aide précieuse alors que le marché de l’emploi, particulièrement au Luxembourg dont la Sarre est voisine, requiert des compétences en droit comparé français, allemand et une connaissance du droit d’un pays tiers.