Projets novateurs réalisés

Compréhension des modes d’actions de différents phytogéniques chez les poulets par une approche métabolomique

L’utilisation d’antibiotiques dans l’alimentation animale permet de promouvoir la croissance des animaux et d’accroître l’efficacité alimentaire, d’où leur utilisation à titre de « facteurs de croissance » et pour la prévention de maladie depuis plusieurs décennies. Toutefois, l’utilisation des antibiotiques comme additifs alimentaires entraine une résistance aux antibiotiques. Dans les nombreuses alternatives disponibles, les phytogéniques (PFA – Phytogenic feed additive) s’imposent comme une alternative aux antibiotiques facteurs de croissance d’origine naturelle, grâce à leur activité fonctionnelle (e.g. antimicrobienne, anti-inflammatoire). Dans l’ensemble, il est suggéré que les PFA réduisent la morbidité chez les oiseaux, permettant d’atteindre de meilleures performances. Malgré les effets positifs des PFA sur les performances des poulets, les mécanismes d’action demeurent peu connus. L’objectif du présent stage post-doctoral est de faire des analyses de métabolomiques dans le cadre d’un essai ou des produits phytogéniques à base de curcumine, capsaïsine et carvacrol ont été donné à des poulets en croissance afin d’étudier leurs effets à titre de facteurs de croissances, les mécanismes d’actions associés et l’efficacité de leurs galéniques.

Exploring the Use of Simulation-Based Learning with Community-based Settings to Promote Clinical Practice Competencies in Practitioners

This project seeks to answer the overarching research question, how can the use of simulation-based learning (SBL) within a community-based setting improve access to training and the development of clinical practice competencies in practitioners (e.g. social work/psychology students/professionals). The project will expand access to experiential learning within a community-based setting using multiple modalities within the area of SBL (live, in-person, virtual, and gaming simulations) to increase access to training and upskilling opportunities for both student and professionals. While innovative technologies are critical in promoting experiential learning in the classroom, they became essential in the context of the pandemic. With the exponential rise in child and adult mental health issues, immediate access to community-based mental health services for families has never been more pressing while at the same time resources to provide them have not been increased. This project directly targets a much-needed area for research in the service of increasing the availability of trained staffing resources for not-for-profit agencies.

Modélisation personnalisée de l’articulation thoraco-scapulo-humérale pour l’aide au diagnostic et au traitement

Des douleurs ou pertes de mobilité associées à l’épaule peuvent rapidement se révéler handicapante dans la vie quotidienne. Une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de l’épaule pourrait aboutir à une meilleure prise en charge des patients présentant des symptômes handicapants. La modélisation 3D de l’épaule en prenant en compte la posture du patient en routine clinique peut présenter un intérêt pour le chirurgien, à condition que ce modèle soit compatible avec sa pratique.
Celle-ci peut être obtenue par CT mais au prix d’irradiations pour le patient et uniquement en position allongé, ce qui ne constitue pas une position fonctionnelle pour l’épaule.
Le système EOS permet une reconstruction 3D à partir de stéréoradiographies biplanes prises en positions fonctionnelles. Il s’agit d’une modalité d’imagerie moins irradiante que le CT-scan.
Le but de ce projet est d’étudier comment intégrer ces reconstruction 3D en routine clinique pour aider au diagnostic et à la décision thérapeutique.

Patient-Oriented Research in the BC Learning Health System – supporting caregivers for palliative and end of life patients at home

Introduction: Family caregivers for palliative and end-of-life patients play a critical role in providing care in the home. Nearly 75% of people express a wish to be cared for and die at home. However, for caregivers who support this goal, there is a significant gap in adequate and effective support. Patient-oriented research recognizes the importance of engaging patients and families in the research process. Engaging patients and families can lead to the development of a better caregiving support structure. Older adults may need additional supports for activities of daily living. Our study involves the creation, implementation, and program evaluation of the Support for Caregivers Program. We will develop a robust evaluation strategy to measure success and adjust the program as needed. Methods: The first step will be to co-design a logic model with family caregivers, volunteers and hospice staff at 3 hospices in B.C where the Support for Caregivers Program is being implemented (1 in an urban setting, 1 in a rural/urban and 1 in a rural setting). We will develop this strategy through survey data collection methods, online webinars and focus groups and interviews with hospice staff, volunteers, and program evaluation experts.

Examining the ParticipACTION mobile app to promote physical activity among people who identify as women

Many Canadians currently do not meet government guidelines for weekly physical activity, particularly among people who identify as women. Media health (mHealth) such as fitness apps and tracking devices can help people to be more physically active. One such resource that has been developed for individuals living in Canada is the ParticipACTION mobile app. However, there has been little research that has examined how effective the ParticipACTION app is for increasing physical activity among individuals who identify as women. Therefore, this research project aims to understand whether the mobile app helps to increase physical activity among women who use the app. The research project also aimed to understand women’s views on the app, including likes and dislikes, as well as what can be improved in the app to help them be more physically active and engaged with app content.

AI-driven approach for the cyber defence of additive manufacturing management system

Additive manufacturing is rapidly employing the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems to facilitate its reliability and relieve human supervision. However, with 5G network and cloud computing intertwining with the physical machines placed locally, the service is vulnerable to prospective cyberattacks. Various researchers have already stressed the urgent need to ensure the users’ and businesses’ web safety. As the old traditional cybersecurity precautions and procedures are gradually out of date, this increasingly disturbing concern in cybersecurity can be assisted by AI to ensure a safely cloud-based manufacturing system. This paper analyzes various threats posed upon cloud-based manufacturing system by using an existing framework as an example and select the best method from several potential models to implement AI to ensure the safe use of this server platform.

Collective dynamics of interacting cells during development

Multicellular organisms begin as a single cell with instructions encoded by the genome. During development this cell multiplies many times generating an enormous number of cells, each with its own specialized role. For example, developed humans are composed of trillions of cells but our organs and limbs have the right form, location, and function with little variability. It remains poorly understood how a process so complex and seemingly delicate can be so robust. Importantly, the assembly rules which guide development also govern how our bodies heal, age, and respond to disease. The goal of this project is to develop a novel predictive model of multicellular assembly by integrating mathematical modelling of gene regulation with data and expertise from leading experimentalists. By advancing our understanding of gene regulation in multicellular development, homeostasis, and disease, the long term goals of this research will enable innovations in drug design and tissue engineering.

Setpoint attacks detection in cyber-physical systems: experimental validation using unmanned vehicles

he objective of this project is to investigate, theoretically and experimentally, the problem of detecting setpoint (reference) cyber-attacks against Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs).

In the first phase of the project, the student (Mattia Cersullo) will develop a novel setpoint attack detection and mitigation scheme based on a supervisory control scheme known as the Command Governor (CG).
In the second phase, the student will build an experimental setup where the proposed strategies will be tested. In particular, the student will create a testbed using a drone (Quanser Qdrone) and an indoor localization system (Vicon Cameras) both available at the host supervisor (Dr. Walter Lucia) laboratory. The testbed will be used to emulate the effect of setpoint attacks on the flying drone, to experimentally validate the propose attack detection/mitigation solution and to contrast it against other state-of-the-art schemes.
Finally, during the final phase, the student, under the guidance of the home supervisor (Dr. Giuseppe Franze’) and host (Dr. Walter Lucia) supervisors will prepare a research manuscript. The writing of the research paper is expected to be started in the last weeks of the student permanence at Concordia University, and it will be completed at the student’s home institution.

ICaRN-II: Investigation of Stress and Subsidence Hazards in Cave Mining for Improved Safety and Geo-Risk Management

The proposed project aims to develop and verify new knowledge, technologies and engineering tools aimed at identifying and mitigating geological hazards encountered on deep cave mining projects. The research will integrate laboratory testing, mine data and advanced computer modelling to better understand the underlying influencing factors. The research will see four interns working closely with industry partner to help ensure worker safety and protect value in deep underground mass mining projects. This project will also contribute to the International Caving Research Network, a Canadian initiative directed at maintaining Canada’s competitiveness in the international mining industry. The research network includes a multi-disciplinary group of representatives from industry and academia covering the fields of geology, cave mining, geomechanics, and mineral processing.

Online Data Imputation by Modified Mixture Density Networks

In the era of big data, software based on artificial intelligence has greatly improved the quality of people’s lives. Although data is not a scarce resource, the data we collected are usually incomplete due to many reasons, i.e. they contain some missing values. Simply deleting these missing data will not only cause great waste, but may also make trained models biased. To address this problem, data imputation algorithms can predict the missing values based on all the observed data, making the data set complete, so that the collected data can be used more efficiently. In the meanwhile, based on the same idea, we can apply this algorithm to data compression. We can estimate how much information is lost during the compression process, and evaluate whether the compressed data retains enough information for further usage.

Wastewater Testing of SARS-Co-V2 in treatment plants in First Nation Communities

SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is found in the stool of the infected individuals and eventually ended up at the wastewater treatment plants. Since COVID-19 pandemic started, researchers all around the world have been investigating SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater to understand fate of SARS-CoV-2 and predict a potential outbreak by monitoring wastewater for the detection and quantitation of SARS-CoV-2. Wastewater treatment plants, especially which don’t have disinfection processes, may not able to remove SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater. When it is not removed, it can reach natural water bodies and people. Our aim is to understand if SARS-CoV-2 is removed in wastewater treatment plants employed for the wastewater treatment of small communities and to gain insights into the potential use of wastewater surveillance of COVID-19 for small communities. Partner organization will have the chance to see if their submerged attached growth reactor (SAGR) system are effective in eliminating SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.

La finance solidaire au service du développement local : Le cas de la revitalisation du vieux Pointe-aux-Trembles

Les actions philanthropiques visant le développement des communautés locales sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Cette recherche s’intéresse aux effets de ces actions philanthropiques sur les communautés locales en étudiant le processus de revitalisation du vieux Pointe-aux-Trembles. Ce secteur peine à se dynamiser depuis plusieurs années et plusieurs locaux de l’artère commerciale principale sont vacants. Le processus de revitalisation est porté par la Société de développement Angus qui vise un développement inclusif et s’effectuant dans le respect la population locale. Par le fait même, une des stratégies employées pour favoriser ce type de développement est l’occupation transitoire des locaux vacants ce qui permet d’avoir une offre commerciale qui vient combler les besoins de la population locale en attente du développement immobilier. Cette recherche aura comme objectif de documenter les interventions et pratiques mises de l’avant dans le processus de revitalisation pour des fins de modélisation.