Projets novateurs réalisés

Understanding the impact of microfinance on women’s wellbeing: A case of Vietnam

The project is based on focus groups discussions to look at the impact of microfinance on women’s wellbeing in rural parts of Vietnam. This approach will support to evaluate the different ways through which economic burden associated to microfinance may affect women’s well-being and what are the initiatives involving financial institutions and advocates of women’s wellbeing that help women to overcome these burden. From this project, WEF hopes that the benefits of microfinance on women’s health will be evaluated and wide spread to other countries where WEF has partnership.

Impact sur le microbiote de fractions d’hydrolysat de semence de hareng et étude de l’écoefficience du procédé de fractionnement

Les procédés électromembranaires sont des technologies vertes de séparation par membranes utilisées dans les industries bioalimentaires pour purifier des molécules d’intérêt. Parmi ces procédés, l’utilisation de l’électrodialyse avec membrane de filtration (ÉDMF) a permis de démontrer, tout récemment, que la séparation d’hydrolysats de harengs permettait la modulation d’activités biologiques. L’objectif général de ce projet est donc d’étudier l’impact sur la flore intestinale de souris d’hydrolysats de semence de hareng et des fractions peptidiques provenant de ces hydrolysats et obtenues après séparation par ÉDMF, et d’en étudier les impacts environnementaux. Ces informations auront pour but non seulement d’augmenter la valeur ajoutée du ou des produits sources mais encore de générer de nouvelles fractions commercialisables.

Création et validation de l’Échelle d’attitude envers l’argent (EAEA)

Bien qu’il ne semble pas y avoir de consensus en ce qui concerne le concept d’attitude envers l’argent, la plupart des chercheurs s’intéressant au sujet considèrent qu’il « s’agit d’un construit psychologique stable qui est caractérisé par les significations que l’individu attribue à l’argent et qui conduit à des types de comportements à son égard » (Urbain, 2000, p.5). Or, relativement peu d’instruments de mesure ont été développés et validés afin de faire une évaluation juste de ce concept. En effet, la plupart de ces échelles n’auraient pas fait l’objet d’études scientifiques rigoureuses ou auraient été testées sur de très petits échantillons. Ainsi, le présent projet vise à pallier ce manque par le développement et la validation d’un questionnaire psychométrique mesurant l’attitude envers l’argent d’adultes francophones. Pour ce faire, l’équipe de recherche suivra une méthode structurée respectant les meilleures pratiques scientifiques et psychométriques.

Sustainable and robust energy systems for Indigenous remote communities in Canada’s Arctic

Threatened by local and global catastrophic effects of climate change, the Indigenous remote communities in Canada’s Arctic are now warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Along with other factors contributing to the rising temperature, this is also due to the continuous burning of fossils fuels for their energy needs. Specifically, diesel generators are the primary source of electricity and heat to over 50 communities in the Northern territories of Canada. It is reliable but it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other airborne pollutants that are harmful for the people and environment. It also elevates the risk of oil spills during fuel transport and storage. In addition, electricity prices in the North are significantly higher than the rest of the country due to the high-priced air shipping cost associated with delivering fuels. As a result, the government is financially burdened in subsidizing the expensive fuel prices. In an effort to reduce diesel dependence, this project will contribute to the energy solutions in the North by partnering with World Wildlife Fund – Canada and looking for alternative energy solutions encompassing energy conservation and management, waste-oil-to-heat technology and increasing renewable energy penetration.

Conception et analyse du cycle de vie d’un pont routier avec platelage en aluminium sur poutres en bois lamellé-collé

Ce projet de recherche vise à optimiser l’utilisation d’aluminium dans la conception de ponts routiers. Des recherches récentes montrent que l’aluminium pourrait présenter de nombreux avantages économiques grâce à son excellente durabilité, le peu d’entretien qu’il nécessite et son recyclage en fin de vie. Ces avantages seront tangibles dans la durée et non pas lors de la phase initiale de construction de ponts. En conséquence, une méthode d’analyse économique qui prendra en considération toutes les étapes du cycle de vie d’une structure (construction, entretien, fin de vie) sera développée pour estimer le coût total réel d’un pont conçu avec de l’aluminium en comparaison avec des ponts en bois et en béton.

Networks and Smart Sensors for Safety-Critical Avionics Applications

High channel count sensor and actuator devices are needed to tackle a growing number of

functions in aircrafts. With traditional avionics technology, connecting these devices results in bulky

wiring bundles. The stringent safety standard of avionic systems requires redundant installation of all

components on board, which further exacerbates the situation. Moreover, in new avionic systems,

communications between devices across different application domains are also needed, which

drastically increases information flow within the aircraft. Wiring bundles and demand for a much higher

communication bandwidth raise serious challenges requiring the development of new avionic data

buses.

This project tackles solutions to build new avionic systems being able to meet stringent

requirement in flight safety-critical operations, such as flight control. The research consists of three

complementary parts: 1) autonomous sensor (smart sensor) and actuator/network interfaces, 2)

safety-critical data buses, and 3) frequency selection for wireless communications on board aircraft.

Each of these main subjects must have an appropriate architecture to facilitate reliable

interconnection and interoperation.

Modeling of Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion in a Novel Toroidal Fluidized Bed

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology provides a promising avenue to reduce carbon emissions. CCS works by capturing and storing carbon dioxide preventing it from contributing to climate change. Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion (PCLC) is a promising next generation CCS technology that use a metal catalyst to react hydrocarbon fuels in an efficient way allowing for cheap and simple capture of carbon. PCLC has been shown at small scales to capture upwards of 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. This project will use computer modelling to help understand key parameters that influence the performance of PCLC. The modelling will focus on a unique reactor design to allow for better control of solids movement. A medium sized PCLC system will be built based on this work to provide a demonstration of this technology at increased scale. The results of this demonstration plant will provide confidence in PCLC for CCS in industrial applications.

A community-based ethnography on multiculturalism in practice in a Canadian context

The objective of this proposed research is to examine how multiculturalism is experienced and practised in community by women from different cultural backgrounds. Drawing on everyday life stories created by the study participants, we aim to obtain empirical knowledge about impacting factors that positively influence immigrant integration and resettlement experience. Such knowledge will contribute to the construction of effective multicultural communities. We will use an ethnographic approach to conducting research, including narrative life writing collection, interviewing, and ethnographic observation. The multiple sources of data will provide a firsthand account of the impact of growing diverse populations and of possible causes for social integration and/or exclusion. The findings of this study will contribute to making an important connection with on-the-ground realities experienced by community members and providing evidence for decision makers regarding effective resettlement and social integration services.

Comment vaincre l’isolement social des aînés en milieu rural et favoriser l’accessibilité aux ressources par le biais d’un projet d’impact collectif? Recherche-action, accompagnement et évaluation du déploiement du projet Culture aux aînés

Dans le contexte du vieillissement marqué de la population, exacerbé en milieu rural, la recherche proposée documentera, en partenariat avec le projet Culture aux aînés, les effets d’une réponse alternative pour contrer le sentiment de solitude, l’isolement et l’exclusion sociale des aînés au moyen des arts et de la culture. La recherche analysera les interventions directes de Cultures aux aînés, projet multisectoriel permettant aux aînés des MRC des Sources et du Val-Saint-François au Québec ainsi que des aînés anglophones de ces communautés, de se mettre en lien et d’activer des forces et des intérêts de manière ouverte et inclusive. L’utilisation d’un moyen atypique d’intervention, soit l’art et la médiation culturelle, en fait un projet d’une grande pertinence à suivre. Le financement offert par le Gouvernement du Canada au projet (Programme Nouveau Horizons pour les aînés) démontre la crédibilité des promoteurs et l’importance du sujet. Une recherche-action soutenant l’accompagnement et l’évaluation de l’impact collectif est alors très pertinente.

Exploration of Novel Fuels for Gas Turbine Applications

The internship for each student will be under the supervision of Gilles Bourque PhD, the

Combustion Research and Technology Team Leader. Mr Bourque has been working for the

past 12 years at RR Canada of which 10 in the Combustion department. The student will be

an integral part of his team and as such will also interact with key members of the team on a

daily basis. A usual week would start with a team meeting where members give: 1) a verbal

update of their progress, 2) when a significant chunk of work has been completed a short

presentation summarising the achievements, and 3) the planned work for the week is revised

and agreed with all members. This work environment is highly appreciated by the

undergraduate and graduate students as we welcome an increasing number of students

choosing RR Canada for their internship. Since 2005 we have taken onboard more than 150

students from Canadian universities.

Linking Forests and Cities: Wood Fuel Logistics and Carbon Performance

This study aims to produce a feasibility report on establishing a district energy system in Toronto, Ontario. The district energy system will be powered by wood chips sourced by a local, privately held forest and transported by rail to the proposed combined heat and power facility. Areas that will be examined in this study include transportation costs and logistics as well as carbon emissions throughout the supply chain. We hope that the outcome of this study will help create a path to revitalize Ontario’s forest industry.

Development of an Enhanced Ground Control Station Equipped with an Advanced Stand-Alone Virtual Reality Headset

The main purpose of this project is to develop an enhanced portable ground Control Station (GCS) equipped with an Advanced Stand-Alone Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display (ASVR-HMD). In the beginning, a Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) stand-alone Virtual Reality (VR) headset would be connected to the flight simulation tool. The VR HMD will be used to visualize basic flight simulation. Then, an onboard camera would be integrated to the aircraft provided by the partner organization. The VR HMD developed earlier will be used by pilots to accomplish actual flight testing of the proposed aircraft via real time video input enabling First-Person View (FPV) operation. Finally, the overall integration, improvement, expansion and testing will be accomplished. Herein, the main focus will be towards combining the view from actual flight test to simulated flight test by providing the necessary symbology and data for the pilot to better understand the aircraft performance and operations for validation.