Innovative Projects Realized

Training of sensorimotor skills in stuttering children

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental speech motor disorder characterized by dysfluencies. There is no consensus yet on the underlying causes of this disorder, but one hypothesis suggests that people who stutter have impaired rhythmic and timing abilities. Stuttering symptoms can be reduced for example when speaking to a metronome or reading aloud with other people. This reduction in stuttering may be explained by an external rhythmization of speech which may result in improved speech fluency, and compensate for impaired internal timing mechanisms. Recent research shows that people who stutter have deficits in integrating auditory and motor information during speech production. They also show alterations of auditory-motor integration in non-verbal tasks, such as manual sensorimotor synchronization (SMS; for example tapping with the index finger to the rhythm of music or tones). However, studies regarding non-verbal SMS tasks in adults who stutter and their fluent peers reveal inconsistent findings and only a few results have been obtained with children who stutter so far. The first aim of the present project is to determine whether or not children who stutter from the ages of eight to twelve show impaired sensorimotor synchronisation abilities.

Knowledge extraction and organization to support question-answering

The project aims at developing a question answering system for the National Bank of Canada, which can be used to answer the questions by users in the domain of banking and financial services, as well as human resources. The NBC currently uses a generic QA system from which some limitations have been observed, namely the limited coverage of domain-specific entities and concepts and low accuracy of the question answering. The project will develop and test approaches to solve these problems, by collecting more concepts in the domain and organizing them into a knowledge graph. The question answering system will then leverage the domain-specific knowledge graph.

Wije’winen – Envisioning the New Mi’kmaw Friendship Centre through Participatory City and Principles of Reconciliation

The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (MNFC) in Kjipuktuk / Halifax, Nova Scotia is building a new centre and is designing the space to provide programming and services that will substantiate reconciliation for urban Indigenous communities. In order to engage the diverse populations residing in the North End neighbourhoods of Kjipuktuk / Halifax, the MNFC is undertaking ground breaking community engagement activities utilizing the Participartory City platform to ensure the new centre is mafde by everyone for everyone. This research will document this approach in order to analyse and evaluate its efficacy for driving systemic change, building relationships grounded in reconciliation principles and leading to sustainable Indigenous governance in urban settings.

Indigenous Front Line Workers: Mapping Future Directions in the Resolution Health Support Workers and Non-Insured Health Benefits Navigator Programs in Atlantic Canada

The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have transformed healing, health and wellbeing services for Indigenous peoples who attended residential and their descendants. Working with the frontline health workers who provide the Resolution Health Support Program and the Non-Insured Health Benefits Navigator Program, this research maps the successes and challenges in providing cultural relevant healing services to address intergenerational trauma and documents the impacts of the programs for residential school survivors and their families in Atlantic Canada. This evidence will direct future policy and program developments.

“Peuple du ciel” de J. M. G. Le Clézio: une traduction commentée

Il s’agit d’une traduction commentée du conte “Peuple du ciel”, de Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, publié en 1978 dans le livre Mondo et autres histoires. Le conte pour enfants, encore sans traduction en portugais, a une atmosphère onirique et évoque la liberté de contact avec la nature et les phénomènes mythologiques. Le texte en prose poétique a suscité l’étude de plusieurs aspects stylistiques liés au rythme créé par la ponctuation, les rimes, les allitérations, la synesthésie, etc. L’objectif de cette recherche est donc d’effectuer une traduction à la lumière d’une lecture critique du texte littéraire et de produire un commentaire critique qui démontre certaines stratégies adoptées au cours du processus de traduction du texte en portugais, bien que faire des rapports avec la théorie de la traduction littéraire. Les observations sur littérature de Antonio Candido nous a guidé aux analyses littéraires, ainsi que la méthode critique de traduction de Antoine Berman. Les réflexions sur la traduction littéraire d’œuvres, telles que Traduire le poème d’Álvaro Faleiros, Poétique de la traduction d’Henri Meschonnic et Transcriação de Haroldo de Campos seront utilisés d’appui aux commentaires de la traduction.

Consolidation and transformation of administrative data from the Early Years Services Information System into research dataset

Ontario Early Years Centres (OEYCs) offer programming for young children (0 to 6) and their families. In Hamilton, there are five different OEYCs. The City of Hamilton helps the OEYCs with their planning and with assessing how their programs are helping families. This is complicated, because each OEYC keeps its own data. This project will develop a way to produce a single citywide set of OEYC data, on demand, out of the separate databases. This will improve the quality of the data available to support planning and local decision-making. It will also develop a way to produce a version of the data that is completely anonymous (“de-identified”), but that can be linked to other community data sources. Only by being able to follow children over time can we assess whether investments in early childhood programs are making a difference.

Évaluation de la faisabilité technique et de la viabilité économique de la création d’une activité de préfabrication de coffrage dans le secteur du génie civil.

Le projet vise à augmenter les connaissances de la communauté scientifique concernant la préfabrication de coffrage hors chantier de construction. Le projet comportera une partie revue de littérature existante, puis portera sur l’étude de cas d’une entreprise de génie civile désireuse de créer une activité de préfabrication de coffrages. L’objectif sera de déterminer les gains liés à cette création d’activité.

Pour parvenir à cet objectif, le porteur de projet va tout d’abord, grâce à la littérature et aux compétences des ressources de l’entreprise, déterminer quels types de coffrages seront fabriqués hors site. Ensuite il conviendra de déterminer quels seront les coûts économisés en main d’oeuvre, en matières premières et les évolutions du nombre d’accidents liés à leur préfabrication. Enfin, il faudra conclure quant à la viabilité du projet de création d’atelier, en se basant sur les points précédents ainsi que sur la modélisation des besoins de préfabrication au cours du temps

Modélisation de la reconnaissance de visages: Une étude combinant MEG et réseaux de neurones artificiels

Ce projet est l’interaction entre les deux champs de recherches, Intelligence Artificielle (IA) et Neurosciences. Cette interaction est également permise par le développement récent de modèles, provenant de l’IA, ayant pour but d’aider la compréhension de certains processus neuronaux. Nous souhaitons contribuer à cette interaction en nous concentrant sur la modélisation des aires visuelles impliquées dans la reconnaissance de visages. Il s’agit d’une tâche complexe (Quiroga, 2017) aujourd’hui très répandue en IA (Lu and Tang, 2014 ; Taigman et al., 2014 ; Schroff et al. 2015) qui prend place dans de nombreux domaines (industries, réseaux sociaux, services de sécurité). Notre objectif ici est de construire un réseau de neurones artificiels capable de réaliser une tâche de reconnaissance de visage pouvant prédire les données biologiques enregistrées, chez l’humain, lors d’une telle tâche.

Livelihood Fisheries and Indigenous Rights in Atlantic Canada: An Examination of Netukulimk Principles in Action

The Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat’s (APC) Fisheries and Integrated Resources Department is responsible for research, analysis, and development of policy altneratives and programs for all aspects of fisheries for their member communities. This research project examines the role of Indigenous principles for resource management in the fisheries operations of Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada. APC will share the findings of this research with FN Leadership, Treaty Tables, Tribal Council, AAROMS, Fisheries Directors, NGOs and Federal/Provinail Departments, as well as their academic partners to advance the implementation of Indigenous treaty rights.

Modeling and experimental studies on a pneumatic propulsion system for vehicular applications

This project aims to develop and analyze a radial pneumatic propulsive system for vehicular applications in a different size ranging from city-driving short-range vehicles to 40-foot municipal transit and school buses. It is intended to bring the potential investors to Canada out of this project to collaborate with regarding academic and partner organizations. Since the transportation sector is one of the prior contributors of Canada’s GHG emissions (24%), any alternative solutions to conventional propulsion technologies carries significant importance to reach the GHG target that Canada promised under Paris agreement. The intern involved in this research project will have a significant opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to the field and get an excellent experience to further develop their abilities. The partner organization will utilize this research to expand the business and have the upper hand over competitors. On top of all, ecological problems due to GHG emissions and possible solutions will be pointed out once again through this research project.

Assessing the mental health impact of Covid-19 on Canadians: a longitudinal study

MHRC is conducting ongoing polling of Canadians to assess the effect of Covid19 on mental health. We require additional support to expand our capacity to analyze the datasets we are creating. Our poll is extensive including a number of markers of mental health along with an array of demographic controls and is rolled out every 6 to 8 weeks. While we will release top-line data, this internship will involve a deeper dive into these dataset to parse out new findings. The candidate will stay informed on the newest research pertaining to effective means of weighting, and understanding how the various demographics we poll respond to mental health questions, and then will advise on suggestions to improve data collection and reporting. The results of this work will help inform policy makers so that they can develop appropriate responses to help mitigate Covid-19 mental health impact.

Development of a probiotic to improve poultry health and performance.

New bacterial culture and sequencing techniques have allowed better characterization of the microbiota. Microbiota profiles containing high diversity are associated with better intestinal health, immune system and protection against pathogens. In nature, each animal species is naturally selected and hosts a very specific and diverse microbiota. However, current animal production systems impose factors that reduce this diversity, such as high-energy foods, high standards of hygiene and the use of antibiotics. In other species, colonization of infants with low diversity microbiota has been shown to have a significant negative impact on the regulation of the immune system, with long-term consequences. We showed that colonization of chicks with a high diversity microbiota from organically raised hens was maintained up to 42 days of life. However, one of the main risks associated with microbiota transplantation is the transmission of pathogenic organisms. For this reason, in this study, we will identify 30 bacterial species related to the improvement of intestinal health and will carry out a selective culture to isolate these organisms. Next, we will expose the newly hatched chicks to this new probiotic and study the impact on performance and on their local and systemic immune system.