Innovative Projects Realized

Use of X-rays as an alternative for fungal and bacterial pathogen control in seeds and stored food

The shortage and quality of food to feed the existing and growing population is an issue of global concern. There is also serious problem with the fungal and bacterial pathogens which result in losses of billions of dollars of annual loss of agricultural products. This project is an attempt to mitigate this with the use of X-ray treatment of seeds and organic products in stead of gamma rays or electron beams of a few MeV energies. This project, when completed, has the prospects to develop field-deployable treatment facilities for use around the globe, including developing countries in the tropical zones to mitigate the food shortage of the hungry world.

Computational study of the effect of gene deletion (synthetic lethal) on cellular growth in pathogenic organisms

Infectious diseases kill millions of people each year. For example, according to World Health Organization’s estimate, 10 million people contracted tuberculosis in 2017 resulting in 1.6 million deaths, which is approximately one death every twenty seconds . Increasingly, the pathogenic organisms, responsible for these diseases, are evolving to be resistant to drugs already in use to tackle them. Due to cost and time involved in developing new drugs, researchers around the world are developing mathematical models to understand the cellular processes of these organisms and use them to rapidly develop new drugs. This research project will use Genome-scale mathematical models for cellular metabolism in a pathogen to identify proteins and genes essential for the survival of a pathogen responsible for a disease. Results from this research are essential to addressing the twin problems of evolution of drug resistance in pathogens and drug side effects, while developing drugs.

Bridging natural and machine intelligence for calculating insurance premiums

The project will undertake a review of the existing and ongoing research in the field of InsurTech. Here, “InsurTech” refers to the marriage of insurance and technology with a goal to transform the insurance industry by using modern technologies to generate efficiencies. It is proposed to develop new technology based solutions for more realistic insurance premium calculations using data analytics based on individual customer behavior patterns. Applications such as activity trackers, in-car mobility devices are already being used by insurance companies to monitor and manage insurance coverage and payment. However, opportunities exist to bring a transformational change and explore options of developing cost effective links with other emerging technologies to minimize the possibilities of frauds, enhancing customer experience and, simplifying internal insurance processes including but not limited to premium determination. With limited existing research done hitherto, this research project aims to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to examine real-life and real-time observations of data to develop premium calculation principles that are better aligned with real life.

Paper based construction materials: Test rig for the production of highly oriented paper

Bench-Scale Methods to Investigate Release of Legionella in Biocorrosive Environments

The purpose of the proposed research project is to develop a bench-scale method to investigate the release of opportunistic pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila, in drinking water distribution systems. Legionella pneumophila can cause serious health effects in humans and causes one of the largest water related diseases. To complete this research, two bench-scale experiments have been designed to simulate a drinking water distribution system. Small flow-through reactors containing copper, lead and cast iron coupons will be used to investigate the affects that different chemical disinfectants and corrosion inhibitors have on the growth and release of Legionella. The expected outcomes of this project are to provide water utilities with recommendations of disinfectants and corrosion inhibitors to use based on their piping materials, and to create opportunity for more research in this field to prevent the release of Legionella into drinking water systems.

ÉLABORATION D’UNE MESURE DE LA COMMUNICATIONRESPONSABLE

Ce projet consiste à entreprendre la recherche nécessaire à l’élaboration d’un instrument de

mesure de la communication responsable, soit l’Indice de communication responsable au

Québec, pour l’entreprise CBleue et pour le Conseil québécois de la communication pour le

développement durable en partenariat avec l’Observatoire de la consommation responsable de

l’Université de Sherbrooke. Cet indice permettra d’évaluer jusqu’à quel point les principaux

acteurs de la communication au Québec sont engagés dans une démarche responsable

avec leurs différentes parties prenantes tout au long du processus de communication. L’idée

générale est de faire de l’Indice de communication responsable au Québec un outil de

sensibilisation à la cause responsable étant donné pour l’instant la faible implication de ce

milieu dans le phénomène grandissant de la consommation responsable et les fortes

critiques et méfiances auxquelles il fait face. Il viendra répondre aux besoins de valeur

ajoutée dans les formations de CBleue et appuyer les travaux du Conseil québécois de la communication pour le développement durable, auquel………………………………………………………………

Phenology of woody plants

Artificial Immune Systems for Autonomous Systems

Object Tracking with Artificial Neural Networks

Genomic and epigenetic research of depression and schizophrenia.

Depression is estimated to be the second most disabling condition by 2020. More than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression making it the leading cause of disability worldwide. Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population, and is one of the leading causes of health burden in the world. The two mental disorders are influenced by heredity and environment. Genes can be regulated through the activity of several noncoding RNA transcripts that act as fine-tuners and on-off switches of gene expression patterns. Among the noncoding RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been the most extensively studied. And human brain development is orchestrated by complex transcriptional programs, which are guided and reinforced by epigenetic modifications to DNA and histone proteins. DNA methylation is the most extensively studied epigenetic modification, having a key role in many important genomic regulatory processes. We aim to identify potential new molecular targets for antidepressant treatment and investigate epigenetic regulation of the earl-life environment.

Freeze Drying of Food Products

Internal Models of Homotopy Type Theory

Homotopy Type Theory is a formal system that conjecturally can be used as a foundation for Mathematics. It has at least two advantages over other existing foundations of Mathematics. It has a flexible language in which the notion of space is as primitive as the notion of set, thus making it easier to work with space-like structures. It is also easy to encode in a computer, so that the computer can automatically check that the proofs written in this language are correct. One of the key steps in showing that this language can indeed be used as a foundation for Mathematics, is to show that it is expressible enough to describe itself. For this a model of the language has to be constructed using the language itself, this is known as an internal model. This project aims to construct such an internal model.