Projets novateurs réalisés

Stabilizing VSV and AdV Vaccines

Vaccines are inherently unstable and are stored in the refrigerator or frozen. This project aims to design a vaccine technology, using a viral vector, that would be much more stable and able to be stored at room temperature. This advantage would reduce the cost of transport and storage, especially in the case of stockpiling for potential outbreaks. A more stable vaccine could also be used in a room temperature application, such as a vaccine patch or a dissolving strip for oral dosing.

Comparing total tract lipid digestibility and fatty acid profiles of high-fat byproducts used in western Canadian beef finishing diets through a three-step in vitro method

Growing beef for consumption requires a high-energy diet. Fat is 2.25 times more energy dense than carbohydrates. To increase the energy in the diet, feedlot nutritionists will add high-fat ingredients to the diet. In western Canada, these sources were traditionally tallow, corn oil, or yellow grease, but byproducts from the ethanol and oilseed industries offer attractive, safe, and lower-cost alternatives to these traditional sources. The feeding value of these alternatives comes from not only high-fat content, but also how well the fat is digested. This project investigates fat digestibility of three byproducts commonly used in western Canadian beef diets (whole corn germ, cold-pressed canola cake, and whole-fat, off-grade crushed canola seed) and compares them to a traditional source, yellow grease. With this information, nutritionists can better understand the value of these high-fat byproducts when adding them to beef diets.

Developing a high throughput in vitro method for testing pro-regenerative molecules

Multiple sclerosis is highly prevalent in Alberta and is characterized by loss of myelin (brain white matter) and myelin-producing cells, oligodendrocytes. This leads to neurodegeneration and symptoms like blurred vision, impaired cognition, loss of mobility and/or paralysis. Currently there are no treatments aimed to replace lost oligodendrocytes and myelin. This can be achieved by stimulating resident (existing) brain stem cells to regenerate oligodendrocytes, which could in turn replace lost myelin. The primary objective of this proposed project is to develop a robust high-throughput in vitro method for oligodendrocyte regeneration from brain stem cells. Such an approach is pre-requisite for efficient drug screening and subsequent commercialization of “hits” as novel pro-regenerative drugs. In turn, this will support the development of new and desperately needed remyelinating treatments for people with multiple sclerosis, yielding economic benefits and contributing to overall health outcomes.

Durability Analysis of Larger Photovoltaic Modules with Solar Tracker Systems towards Enhanced Share of Solar and Renewable Energy

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is currently the second-largest renewable energy after hydropower, producing 3.6% of the world’s electricity in 2016. To achieve caron neutrality, higher share of solar and renewable energy is required, and enhancement of durability of solar PV modules of larger size with tracker systems is the key. This research employs laboratory testing and numerical simulation to carry out durability analysis and the outcome will benefit Canada in facilitating carbon neutrality and renewable energies.

Business interns working within cross-functional teams to develop and commercialize AI-powered solutions in the Public Services sector (1)

AltaML builds artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions to business problems. We work with organisations, bringing together their data and domain expertise with our AI expertise, to develop AI solutions that are deployed in their operations. We also commercialize AI-enabled products business via industry-specific ventures, yielding scalability from our investment in the first solution.

Competition for tech talent is fierce, and our talent strategy includes a talent accelerator program, designed to rapidly equip highly qualified individuals with hands-on work experience in applied AI while providing partners with continuous and cost-effective development of AI solutions. AltaML’s AI Lab for Government, also known as GovLab, is a talent accelerator for public service professionals, post-secondary students and recent graduates. GovLab.ai’s mission is to set a global example of how to transform the public sector through applied AI, and is designed to encourage the growth of technical and business AI skill sets that are in high demand across Alberta and around the world.

The project comprises internships in a variety of technical and business roles within our organization. Within the organization, roles include associate machine learning developer, business development associate, communications associate and accounting associate. Together, these associates contribute to the innovation, growth, and development of not only AltaML and our projects, but also the tech industry as a whole. By continuously learning and improving our current processes through research, testing, and strategic planning, we aim to continue being a leader in the tech industry in North America and continue to drive the innovation of our processes, projects, and services.

As AltaML continues its growth, it will be crucial for us to continuously look to innovate and improve our internal processes, to be able to support this scalability moving forward. Our Finance team has recently implemented new tools and technologies (Stampli, NetSuite, ADP Workforce, etc) that aim to help streamline and improve our accounting and finance processes. For the upcoming term(s), the team will look to further understand and utilize these tools to completely transform our processes. The main focuses of this upcoming project/terms will be refining our cash forecasting model in NetSuite, researching and supporting the integration between NetSuite and our bank to receive automatic bank feeds, preparing consolidation templates for future usage, and developing accounting processes and policies for our newly established Venture Fund group within AltaML. By streamlining and improving our internal processes, we will be better suited to take on additional, more complex projects/work in the future, ultimately supporting the ongoing growth of the company as it transitions further into the scale up phase of the business lifecycle.

Assessing complex trade-offs across coastal adaptation alternatives: incorporating urban context, climate uncertainty and stakeholders.

As communities seek to advance their climate adaptation plans, deciding what projects to implement and when poses a significant challenge, particularly given the remaining uncertainties related to climate impacts, as well as dealing with limited resources for project implementation within communities. Using the Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy of the City of Surrey, the proposed research brings together elements from existing methods to develop a decision support tool to evaluate different sequences of project implementation across multiple climate scenarios. The results could help communities prioritize projects and identify key moments at which implementing other strategies might be needed. The proposed approach could also be used in other areas of climate adaptation planning, such as in stormwater management or dealing with urban heat waves.

The question of adolescent ideality in education

In the last four years, we have seen world youth revolts in the streets, in the home, and in school. The social response, is almost always accompanied by a tone of disbelief. Adults show disbelief with the adolescent’s desire to be plugged in to a device for an unbelievable number of hours. And paradoxically, when adolescents do show interest in their world and take to the streets, many adults wish they would just stay home. My project asks why these accounts of revolt against the adult community matter to adults entrusted with the care of young people and specifically, looks to consider them as a part of a larger problematic: what is ‘unbelievable’ about adolescence for the adult? To do that, I will work with an international focus with a close look at Turkish and Canadian contexts. I will work with a research team at Ozyegin University, Istanbul on an ongoing project about psychosocial perspectives on youth revolts in Istanbul. I will also work on government responses to the youth protests to see how it relates to the difficulty of adult-adolescent relationship.

The impact of federal funding policies & practices on the communities served by federally funded nonprofits and charities

Charities and nonprofits provide essential programs and services and improve the quality of life in communities. However, anecdotally we know that accessing consistent, non-burdensome funding to support these activities is a major challenge for many organizations. Ultimately, the funding nonprofits are able to access impacts the individuals and communities they serve in a variety of ways. There are major gaps in our knowledge about this issue, so this research project will attempt to fill those gaps using a comparative case study approach to evaluate the impact of federal funding policies and practices on (i) the funded nonprofit organizations, (ii) the communities they serve, and (iii) the ability of the federal government to meet the objectives laid out in the funding programs.

Developing A Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Framework for Enhanced Data Analysis and Insight Generation for Capital Allocation Decision-Making

The proposed project aims to enhance decision-making in capital allocation by integrating different AI techniques into a data processing system. The goal is to develop an intelligence platform that efficiently processes large amounts of financial data, using AI to uncover valuable insights. The program will have different parts that each works on specific tasks, including collecting data, retrieving data, ranking documents, and producing predictions. This approach will enable the customers to make data-driven and informed decisions of capital fund allocation. The expected benefit is an improvement in the organization’s ability to analyze market trends and allocate resources effectively, leading to better financial outcomes and a competitive advantage in the market.

Sheep Industry Resource Assessments for Sustainable & Unique Vegetation Management

Alberta Lamb Producers (ALP) have developed a series of modules on the basics of vegetation management and forage nutrition including unique sheep grazing scenarios. Resources focus on options to use sheep to mitigate and reduce mechanical, fossil fuel and chemical weed control. Successful early adopter producers have utilized sheep for vegetation management and weed control under various scenarios that include grazing of solar farms, urban/city parks, public lands, forests, and powerline cut blocks. Such grazing partnerships have allowed ALP members to source alternative and new feed sources for their livestock as well as increase animal marketing and rural economic opportunities. This project requires an intern to oversee and lead the launch of the curriculum to industry stakeholders. Creation of a focus group, surveys of students, surveys of case study flocks and land/business stakeholders will be evaluated to make improvements to the course materials and dissemination techniques.

Trilingual students in crossfire: Plurilingualism and identities of the teenage foreign language learners at a ChaoXianZu [ethnic Korean] public high school in Northeast China

This study is a pilot project focuses on examining current issues concerning multilingualism and third language learning, as an initiative to rethink Foreign Language (FL) education in the 21st century. Its main goal is to understand the politics of multilingualism, language investment and identities of students in today’s dynamic classrooms. For a comparative purpose, the study looks into the situations of two groups of first year university students who are in a variety of transitions, especially the ones learning English or Japanese as a new foreign language (FL) or their third language (L3), at a main university located in the ethnic Korean Autonomous Prefecture, northeast China. The study should provide significant implications to the educators and program coordinators, for instance, by reporting the key findings of what does multi-/pluri-lingualism mean to the multilingual learners and their teachers, and how they use multiple (linguistic and media) resources in their FL learning/teaching.

Practical applications of AI in sustainability

Perovskite solar cells are a specific type of solar cell that has become popular in recent years due to their low making cost and higher ability to produce electricity from sunlight. My research project aims to train a neural network that can help predict different characteristics of a perovskite solar cell, thus helping to increase the amount of electricity it can produce from sunlight. A neural network is a method in artificial intelligence that teaches computers to process data in a way the human brain functions. By using neural networks, we can produce accurate predictions on various characteristics(power conversion efficiency, fill factor, open-circuit voltage, etc.) of a perovskite solar cell by just entering data and graphs. It largely facilitates our research on improving the perovskite solar cell to produce more electricity. By obtaining an improved perovskite solar cell, we can use more solar energy in our lives instead of non-renewable energies, thus obtaining a greener and more sustainable future.