Projets novateurs réalisés

Developmental Planning of A Rural Area in China under Conflicting Objectives and Interval Uncertainties

Population growth and economic development exert significant threats on ecological and environmental systems of rural areas in China. Integrated socio-economic and eco-environmental management is desired for addressing these threats, but is challenged by the conflict of multiple developmental objectives and the intervalness of uncertain system characteristics. Therefore, this project aims to provide scientific support for long-term sustainable development of a representative Chinese rural area through developing an advanced approach (i.e., interval multi-objective rural sustainable programming). The aim will be achieved through three interrelated tasks: (1) system identification, (2) system optimization, and (3) scenario analyses. In addition to methodological advancement, academic achievements, and other outcomes, this project will help identify the optimal economic and environmental management measures and enable sustainable development of rural areas in China (or developing countries).

Technological [in]accessibility: Digital Literacy in STEM Education in the Philippines

This research arises from the need to find out how Canada’s expertise could improve science education in rural areas in the Philippines and in turn, how this collaboration could generate understandings that would also advance Canada’s public science education system. It is based on the deliberate use of technology and local knowledge frameworks. It will use a case study method by conceptualizing select science teachers’ situations to create a detailed understanding of their experiences. I will gather data to summarize these experiences through interviews, video recordings, and reflections during video creation and teaching. I will manage the over-all training with proper coordination with select school principals. The training will gather select science teachers as participants to initially share their teaching experiences including issues regarding inaccessibility and inequity of resources. The experiences shared by the science teachers will be incorporated with the video creation training. Teachers are expected to make 5-7 minute science videos. The whole training will last for three months. The outcome of this research will provide an alternative approach to improve the learning and teaching in 5,000 rural high schools in the Philippines that do not have science labs […]

Caractérisation d’huiles essentielles issues de la nordicité

Les huiles essentielles sont remplies de produits naturels qui peuvent avoir des utilités variées. Malgré tout, les recherches portant sur la composition moléculaire d’huiles essentielles demeure limitées. Les plantes du nord sont exposées à des stress environnementaux particuliers, qui enrichissent et rendent leur composition moléculaire intéressante. Elles peuvent renfermer des produits naturels inédits, retrouvés nulle part ailleurs. Dans le cadre de ce projet de maîtrise, trois plantes collectées dans le nord seront étudiées pour connaitre la composition de leurs huiles essentielles. Les huiles essentielles seront donc extraites puis analysées afin de connaitre toutes les molécules qu’elles renferment. Ces études visent donc à étendre les connaissances sur les huiles essentielles en plus de valoriser la biodiversité du nord. Le potentiel des huiles essentielles va de leur emploi dans les domaines cosméceutique, comme fragrance, alimentaire, comme arôme ou agent de conservation naturel, pharmaceutique, les huiles essentielles contenant des produits bioactifs, ou encore scientifique, avec la possibilité de renfermer des molécules inédites.

Extended panel methods for computation of flows around solid objects for computer graphics applications

The proposed research aims to develop methods for efficiently computing visually realistic turbulent flows around solid objects for graphical applications in the film and video game industries. These methods would extend traditional techniques employed in aerodynamics to

compute flows around airfoils. The extended method would address general solid objects in cases where the traditional techniques fail. The extension would be based on modifications of the solid’s shape to enable the application of the traditional methods leading to results

suitable for visual simulation in the computer graphics industry. The partner organization benefits from this work through the development of novel technology that can be incorporated into commercial software aimed at the computer graphics industry. This would give the

partner organization a commercial advantage over its competitors and strengthen its position in the market of software products for visual effects production.

pH-sensitive behavior of Switchable liposomes by monitoring the phase separation on giant vesicles

Nanomaterials have revolutionized biomedical and pharmaceutical technology in the past decades. Several nanomedicines have reached the clinics but the overall clinical translation is still low. Precise delivery of the pharmaceutical agent at the right time and space remains a challenge. Responsive materials can overcome this limitation by modulation of their behavior according to internal (e.g., pH) or external triggers (e.g. light). We have recently developed pH-sensitive switchable liposomes which specifically release bioactive compounds within the cell upon acidification. The endosomal escape of nucleic acids and hydrophilic compounds was significantly improved as compared to commercial agents, accompanied with a lower toxicity. In this project, we want to investigate the pH-sensitive behavior of such switchable liposomes to mechanistically understand the governing factors behind the pH-sensitive liposomes destabilization. The outcome of this research could positively contribute to the pharmaceutical field by clarifying the intracellular drug delivery mechanism of pH-sensitive liposomes.

Feature-based and unified surface geometry processing for product modeling

With the combination of reverse engineering, shape modeling and feature-based design, there could be a huge opportunity in industry to achieve highly efficient and rapid design of products, such as car and aircraft bodies as well as the derived modules and parts. Modern CAD technology has enabled sophisticated surface modeling tools and application which are well adopted in industrial product development. However, the surface models created in industry and those created from scanned points are fundamentally different. To support industrial design practice where clay models are used as a way to reflect industrial and artistic design elements, scanned surfaces have to be incorporated (typically by importing point clouds) into CAD design model as the initial input and further propagated into downstream models of products, modules and parts. This proposed research is aiming to apply surface feature modeling approach with explicit context constraints in a specific product field and enable feature-based modeling embedded with advanced geometry processing methods, which will realize rapid complex geometry’s creation, modification and manipulation in product modeling processes and also extend computer graphics techniques to be adopted to practical engineering cycles.

Using Machine Learning for Ocean Data Analysis through integration of satellite images and ship movement data

This project aims to combine two different sources on merchant ship movement, AIS and satellite images. AIS data is emitted by every merchant ship above a certain size, which allows the ship to be tracked from the coastline. The goal of this project is to use both these sources of data to train an automated system to detect suspicious ship movement, that could indicate illegal behavior (e.g. illegal transfer of cargo), and continue tracking ships via the imagery even when the AIS transmitter is (purposefully) turned off and the ship is no longer emitting its position. This is a novel approach, as typically in the past, although several different ways exist to track merchant ship movement, the data from these systems is rarely used in combination to achieve a more in-depth understanding of shipping traffic, and tends to be analyzed in isolation. The expected outcome of the project is an automated system that can identify specific ships from satellite images and determine discrepancies between the two sources.

Une sécurité Arctique? Reconfiguration des enjeux de sécurité dans une région en mutation

L ’objectif principal de ma recherche est de mesurer comment les mutations du système océan influent sur la structuration de la gouvernance de la sécurité à l’échelle arctique. À ce titre, j’adopte une perspective panarctique et tous les pays qui peuvent prétendre à une souveraineté territoriale sur cet océan doivent être analysés. Ce stage de recherche conduit en Norvège me permettra alors de bénéficier de l’expertise du centre de recherche sur la gouvernance arctique de l’UiT et donc d’avancer de façon significative dans ma recherche. Dans le cadre de cette phase cruciale, plusieurs résultats sont attendus. D’abord, en termes de collecte de données, une cinquantaine d’entretiens sont espérés. Comme le travail de prises de contacts sur place est déjà bien entamé, je suis confiante dans ma capacité à atteindre cet objectif. Puisque ce séjour de recherche s’inscrit à la suite d’un séjour en Finlande en Octobre 2018, j’entends par ailleurs pouvoir répondre à ma problématique de recherche pour le côté européen de l’arctique.

Modelling the effect of bumble bee population dynamics and dispersal on pollination of blueberry crops

This project is part of a larger mathematical modelling research project that has the broad objective of answering the question: Where should wildflowers be planted around blueberry farms to increase bumble bee pollination and provide the best economic result to the growers? To that end, we are creating an online tool in which blueberry growers can create a map of their farm, marking blueberry crop zones and potential wildflower planting areas. The map will then be imported into the Bumble-BEEHAVE model citep{Becher2018}, where the bumble bee movement and population dynamics are simulated for a period of several years, and the number of visits to each flower patch and blueberry field are recorded. The focus of this project is to make the connection between the number of bee visits to a blueberry field and the pollination services received by that field, providing the output an individual grower needs to make wildflower planting decisions for their farm.

Informatics for companion animal surveillance

The objective of this project is to employ computer technologies to describe and detect trends in enteric diseases and antimicrobial resistance. A data extraction program has been developed and installed on the computers at twelve sentinel companion animal practices in and around Calgary. The program automatically extracts, transforms and exports the desired fields to an external data warehouse. Using natural language methodologies the data will automatically be encoded to extract the cases of infectious enteric disease from the files. Descriptive and analytical epidemiology will characterize infectious enteric disease in Calgary pets and to detect patterns and clusters in space and time of enteric disease. To examine the relevance of the information from pets for human health and public health, the patterns of enteric disease seen in pets will be compared to human enteric disease laboratory submissions and evaluated for similarities in space, time, etiologies and antimicrobial resistance patterns.

Production, protection and potential for co-benefit: Evaluating the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands program in southwest Saskatchewan from the perspective of producers

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) and the South of the Divide Conservation Action Program Inc (SODCAP Inc.) received funding from Environment Canada’s Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) initiative. They developed programs to deliver the SARPAL initiative to farmers and ranchers in the Milk River Watershed in southwestern Saskatchewan. I will interview producers engaged in the project to gain an understanding of the experiences they have had with the program over the last four years, and use this research data to evaluate program success, identify challenges and opportunities to improve the program, and inform the development of future programs to achieve multiple goals of supporting species at risk on agricultural land, climate change adaptation and agricultural productivity nationwide. The partner organization SODCAP Inc., as well as the SSGA, will benefit from a timely evaluation of the SARPAL initiative from the perspective of the producers who participated in the program. This research data will inform the next phase of SARPAL.

Analyse de l’erreur du positionnement assisté par la métrologie 3D

Le projet envisagé, a pour cadre l’industrie manufacturière, plus précisément, les activités liées à l’assemblage des composants d’aéronefs et de véhicules de transport. De façon régulière dans ces secteurs, l’assemblage est effectué grâce à des gabarits dédiés à effectuer une seule tâche. Lorsque celle-ci doit être changée ou modifiée, le gabarit doit subir des modifications ou être complètement remplacé ce qui occasionne des retards et des carences de productivité. Le but de ce projet est d’utiliser les capacités métrologiques tridimensionnelles afin de développer de nouvelles méthodes et de nouveaux outils afin d’appuyer ces opérations d’assemblage. Il sera donc possible d’assister les opérateurs en temps réel lors d’opérations de positionnement et d’orientation. Cela permettra par le fait même de maintenir un très grand niveau de contrôle de qualité et de traçabilité au niveau de la chaîne d’assemblage. Ce projet aura pour conséquence d’éliminer une bonne partie des gabarits d’assemblages, de réduire les exigences de calibration après chaque altération ou retouche des gabarits et de résoudre différentes classes de problèmes industriels. Dans cet ordre d’idée, le projet de recherche aura comme objectif principal d’effectuer une étude de répétabilité et reproductibilité afin de déterminer l’erreur engendrée par un tel système de mesure.