Projets novateurs réalisés

Investigation of a Helical Pile Reinforced Railway Embankment over Soft Soils

To provide an economic solution to Canada’s ageing rail infrastructure, this project will investigate the use of helical piles in reinforcing railway embankments. This research will consist of the in-field monitoring of both test piles and a helical pile reinforced embankment. Prior to the embankment field investigation, test piles will be analyzed to provide a more accurate prediction of strength and failure mode for foundations using helical piles. The embankment will be monitored to compare its response to vibrations and settlement caused by train traffic before and after the installation of the piles. The project is supported by Almita Piling, who specializes in the design, fabrication, and installation of helical piles systems. Almita Piling will benefit from this project through the promotion of the use of helical piles as railway reinforcement.

Can targeting substance misuse risk in university students be an effective strategy for injury prevention?

The proposed research project is a novel addition to a larger funded trial evaluating a substance misuse intervention program for university students, Univenture, that is being carried out at five universities across Canada. The postdoctoral project is experimental in nature and aimed to investigate whether the personality-targeted psychological intervention for substance misuse also results in reduced risk-taking behaviors and physical injury among 1st and 2nd year university undergraduate students. The intervention program targets four personality traits – anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, sensation seeking, and impulsivity – which have been found to be positively associated with both substance use and other risk-taking behavior in emerging adults in prior research. Results of the postdoctoral project could have substantial positive influence on university policies and programming for the prevention of substance-related injury on Canadian campuses. Injury Free Nova Scotia (IFNS) – a non-profit organization based in Nova Scotia – is partnering on the research project with Dalhousie University.

Embedding Project

The Embedding Project is a public-benefit research project that relies on strong social science research methods to bring together a global network of business sustainability change agents and harness their collective knowledge to develop rigorous and practical guidance that benefits everyone. This internship will offer an MBA student the opportunity to gain experience in both practice and research, while learning from leaders in the field. The intern will conduct in-depth field and academic research and develop a series of business case studies and other educational and practitioner-oriented tools on cooperative business models. The partner organization will gain access to detailed content on the many variables that contribute to, or undermine, a successful and sustainable cooperative enterprise. This information will contribute to the organization’s capacity to support new co-op development and growth.

Bond dependent shear behaviour of hollow core plank core plugs

Hollow core planks are used as floor systems in some structures. These planks are precast offsite of the structure and shipped to the building site for installation. They rely on the use of prestressing steel to help span large distances with minimal depth. The planks have several large voids in the interior of the concrete cross-section which results in a lower weight, more efficient structural element. These voids can cause strength problems in some circumstances, but this is mitigated by selectively filling the voids with concrete after casting of the planks. This research project studies the effect of casting the void fill plugs at different times after the construction of the planks on the strength of the system. A series of experimental tests of planks with various void fill scenarios will be tested to failure and the results will be used to provide design guidance and construction best practices.

Development of closed containment and aquaponics technologies for White sturgeon aquaculture

The research will determine best culture practices for grow-out of the white sturgeon with respect to water quality parameters, feeds and feeding strategies, density of animals, and behavior as related to growth performance, health indicators, and stress. The research will also explore and develop an aquaponics component of the culture systems at the VIU laboratory and at the company partner’s site. Aquaponics is the coupling of a plant growing system to a fish growing system, the plants grown in water after its passage through the fish system. The plants utilize nutrients produced by the fish and in so doing purify the water so that it can be re-used by the fish. This research will include engineering to design the systems (including fail safe systems), water quality balancing in both systems, assessment of best plants to use in the system for maximum production, meeting water quality standards and products for sale.

Efficacy of intravenous TCAP-1 administration in reducing the effects of stress on the expression of cocaine-related behaviours.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is a chemical found naturally in the brain that plays a key role in the mammalian stress response. CRF is also known to be involved in anxiety and mood disorders, as well as in various aspects of drug dependence, including long-term relapse to drug use. The teneurin C-terminal associated peptides (TCAP) comprise a chemical system in the brain that may serve to naturally regulate CRF activity. More specifically, TCAP has been found to have inhibitory effects on CRF-induced anxiety and cocaine-related behaviours in animals models and may, thereby, have important therapeutic potential in the treatment of mood and substance abuse disorders. The primary objective of the proposed project is to study the effects of systemic (intravenous) administrations of TCAP-1 on cocaine relapse behavior and other cocaine-related behaviours induced by CRF (i.e. behavioural anxiety and sensitization), using well-validated rodent models.

How Grain Discover’s Blockchain Solution Can Enable Flexibility in the Agriculture Supply Chain in the Age of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 crisis has sharply brought into focus concerns around supply chain reliability and resilience. No supply chain is of greater important to our everyday lives than that of the food supply chain, and despite being a key contributed to the Canadian economy and a flagship component of the Canadian brand, still it suffers from difficulties around tracing the provenance of crops and produce and a generalized opacity. Grain Discovery has proposed the use of blockchain technology to assist the tracking and tracing of crops as they move through the supply chain and has been working with key industry participants towards a production grade implementation of this technology. This project will require the skills set of an MBA/business graduate to work with the key stakeholders to define what characterizes a minimal set of properties to be recorded on a blockchain ledger in order to function as a viable traceability system and add value to all participants on the supply chain.

Blue Moose Media Value Proposition Project

Blue Moose Media’s programs and capacity have been greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the company looks to maintain the quality of their workshops and courses in a new, virtual setting, learn to better serve the community’s changing needs, expand to serve more diverse clients, and pivot and grow, they are now looking to learn more about the real value they bring to the community. This project aims to use research done by the intern to provide these answers, and ultimately aid in decision making, and will be an opportunity for the intern to apply skills and take part in an experiential learning opportunity. Likewise, the work of this internship is expected to benefit Blue Moose Media in the following ways:
1. Gain a better understanding of the biggest challenges facing small business capacity to execute their digital marketing;
2. Learn how they can modify our classroom to best fit the Saskatchewan business community’s needs;
3. Provide us with insights into the needs of Small-and-Medium-sized businesses to help us strategically model their curriculum;
4. Gain further knowledge on our target audience segments.
This project is mutually beneficial to the intern and partner organization.

Automatic Real-time Segmentation of SCG Signals

Research has shown that by monitoring the vibration of the heart using a simple sensor mounting on the human chest, the mechanical characteristics of heart can be measured. The purpose of this research is to design and build a remote diagnostic device to be used for heart patients with prior or having symptoms of heart failure diseases. The participant intern role in this project will collaborate with Heart Force Biomedical to design and implement the software that calculates hemodynamics parameters to be used for diagnosis by cardiologists. The outcome of this project is anticipated be extremely beneficial for both academia and the company. By successful completion of this project, multiple publications and patents will help improve the field of cardiac engineering. Furthermore, this device is the first of its kind in capturing the cardiac parameters of heart non-invasively and will be beneficial for biomedical device industry.

Marketing and Business Development Intern

The intern will be working as a Marketing and Business Development intern at a startup called Umbra & Lux Studio. Umbra & Lux manufactures handmade sculptural lighting products using recycled materials and cutting edge environmentally friendly low power LED technologies. Prior to Covid-19, the company depended solely on exhibitions and word of mouth to generate sales. The intern will help create a digital marketing strategy to promote the company, it’s lead designer and various products online. This would include – Optimizing the website for improved user experience, SEO, planning, and executing digital advertising campaigns, content marketing etc.
The digital marketing and sales strategies will enable the development of new distribution channels and build a network of artists who will use Umbra & Lux’s platform technology to showcase their art to Canadian and international markets.

Strategic Business Consultant

This project is a strategic growth plan for Appficiency. The student will evaluate how we can best staff the new projects while considering the training period for new employees. They will also evaluate the scalability of our business model and provide recommendations on how we can introduce new revenue streams into the business. Essentially, the questions we want to answer are “How can we ensure the new employees we hire can start doing delivery work as soon as possible?” and “What revenue streams would give Appficiency significant growth and how do we ensure we can keep up with that growth?”

This will be a significant contribution to our company especially when the lockdown is lifted. We anticipate the demand for ERP Implementations to increase even more after COVID-19 because businesses may have wished they had it during the lockdown but may not have had expendable capital. It is challenging for Appficiency to keep up with the growth and we are unable to focus on the strategic side of the business. Having a student dedicated to a strategic COVID-19 recovery plan will help alleviate the stress of this and help set us up for success in the near future.

Business Strategy Internship – Forever Natural

The project would be to analyse the current online marketplace in the natural health and beauty segment. Define and recommend brand strategy around positioning and points of difference for an online presence. Create an online brand strategy and implementation plan which would include fulfillment recommendations. If time allows, help implement the plan. Urban Spa’s online strategy has been to partner with existing onlines stores. It became apparent during the current covid situation we need to come up with a different direct to consumer online strategy. This could be a significant area of growth for Forever Natural.