Projets novateurs réalisés

Telops : Télédétection de méthane

Telops a développé une solution complète pour l’inspection aéroportée de détection de méthane. Cette solution, basée sur la caméra hyperspectrale infrarouge thermique HCAM (Hyper-Cam Airborne Mini), a un volet important
de traitement des données. Les données acquises lors de vols d’inspection sont sous la forme d’images de radiance spectrale et d’images visibles, le tout géoréférencé. Les traitements numériques pour effectuer la
détection du méthane dans les données sont essentiellement basés sur des principes de spectroscopie. Les calculs produisent des images de scores, dont la valeur du score est proportionnelle à la probabilité de présence
de méthane. Cependant, la méthode prédit parfois un score élevé en l’absence de méthane, et donc de fausses alarmes. Actuellement, une inspection manuelle des résultats est nécessaire pour éliminer les détections qui
semblent être fausses. Dans ce projet, l’objectif est d’explorer diverses approches exploitant des algorithmes d’intelligence artificielle (IA) afin de réduire, et idéalement éliminer, le besoin d’inspection manuelle.

EcoFRP Engineering: Advancing Sustainable Composite Materials with Engineered Polymers

This project will implement a more effective way to recycle composite materials.

Creating accessible solutions to mobility – Impect Solution

Founded in 2022, Impect Solutions’ goal is to provide everyone the ability to age in place, without sacrificing grace and dignity. Impect Solutions creates relationships with consumers in order to provide high-quality and elegant age-in-place solutions to everyone. Consumers are ensured that they can age with care, safety and grace using Impect Solutions products. Impect Solutions is constantly striving to change the game, today, tomorrow and always. Their customers are the centre of our design thinking. Impect Solutions is in continuous pursuit of solutions that are inclusive and respectful to the needs of customers and our planet.

In New Brunswick, 21.9% of the population is aged 65 and over making New Brunswick among the top jurisdictions for the highest proportion of older citizens in Canada . The New Brunswick Health Council completed two surveys and found that “providing care in non-traditional settings, such as home care services (HSS), is indispensable to ensuring the viability of the health care system and to supporting older citizens to age independently at home and in their communities for as long as possible.” The Government of New Brunswick’s “An Aging Strategy for NB” indicated that access and navigation of services and support have been a consistent barrier. There is a need for businesses to better connect with and support their clients in aging in place. As such, this project aims at increasing the outreach, and understanding of our clientele and being more responsive and supportive to our audience.

Development of Herd Navigator as a health management tool for dairy farms

Herd Navigator (HN) is a “precision technology” for dairy cow management based on in-inline milk sampling and advanced data analysis. This system has recently come to market in Canada. The proposed project will combine analysis of data from the HN system and controlled field trials to develop and validate best management practices for health, production and reproduction. This research will benefit the dairy industry as a whole by providing better information that help improve diagnostic, therapeutic and management plans resulting in the well-being of dairy cattle and profit to the dairy producer. Our industry partner (DeLaval-Canada) will benefit from this project by generating evidence-based information that can help in promotion, marketing and user support for the product.

A leading economic industry: Creating a consultant hub for the Cannabis Sector

Rhize is a consulting and fertilizer company that is determined to provide quality products and services to those who would like to advance their growing capabilities. Our aim is to become a one-stop-shop for every grower large and small for any service need. A major challenge in the Atlantic Canadian cannabis market is the lack of educated consultant professionals and services aimed at supporting the legal recreational cannabis market. FIGR Inc completed a consumer study indicating legal recreational cannabis is considered a key driver of regional economic growth1. Deloitte’s report “An Industry Makes Its Mark: The Economic and Social Impact of Canada’s Cannabis Sector” identified that the sector is already making a significant contribution to Canada’s economy. 2 As economic development and growth are a key priority in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada as a whole, this industry makes a sizeable impact. However, the rapid increase of sales and sector contributions is lacking professional consultant-style support and services aimed at sustaining the private industry. This project will create a long-term business strategy, identifying key growth sectors and areas for improvement, resulting in a professional consultant hub that will support Atlantic Canada’s legal recreational cannabis market.

Brewery industry by-products as novel ingredients in the beverage, food and pet food industries

Bioactive peptides obtained from grains can be employed to prevent or treat several diseases such as diabetes, cancer, etc., and potentially contribute to the sensory profile (e.g., texture, mouthfeel) of foods and beverages. Brewery industry has two major by-products, namely Brewer’s spent grain and spent yeast, that are suitable for the production of bioactive peptides. This project will explore bioactive protein hydrolysates from brewery by-products and their techno-functional properties (e.g., water solubility, gelling properties) to be tested in a variety of beverages foods. Accordingly, the project results will add value to the partner organization’s by-products to emerge as novel ingredients for the plant-based foods industry for enhanced health benefits and physical quality.

Giving Canadians a Boost in Education – BoostEdu

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, children across Canada have suffered in the classroom. A study conducted by Whitley, Beauchamp and Brown (2021) explains the gaps in Canadian students’ education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These impacts include school closures, termination on community-based services, unstable and unreliable wifi, and lack of support while homeschooling. BoostEdu’s goal is to provide students with the tools they need to excel scholastically in a variety of methods. BoostEdu provides this service through tutoring, exam preparation and ESL/FSL studies 100% remote with an educational specialist for each service.
This project will help BoostEdu expand their services nationwide thus closing the gap in students’ education created by COVID-19 across Canada. BoostEdu started offering their tutoring services across New Brunswick, then expanded into all of Atlantic Canada. Recently they’ve decided it’s time to expand this service to all Canadians.

Developing a comprehensive retention strategy for Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Health Services

Building on trends that started pre-covid, the recruitment and retention of employees has challenged most organizations in recent years. Within the Canadian healthcare context, the Government of Canada and Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is prioritizing training and retention of health care workers. Through this project, NL Health Services is seeking a MITACS student to develop a comprehensive retention strategy for NL Health Services. The student intern will play an important role in helping the organization prepare for this critically needed, comprehensive retention strategy.

Market research and advancements in new undercarriage photography technology.

Glo 3D, a Toronto-based technology startup, is pioneering a game-changing undercarriage photography technology to revolutionize vehicle inspections. Inspired by automotive industry demands, their mission extends to diverse sectors such as trucking, heavy machinery, military, and government inspections. Tackling challenges head-on, they’re conducting comprehensive research across industries to tailor their business strategy and pricing models accordingly. Simultaneously, they’re enhancing their core perspective correction algorithm through advanced methodologies. This project envisions a future where undercarriage inspections are streamlined and safety is elevated across various sectors. Glo 3D’s commitment to innovation and cross-industry empowerment propels them toward reshaping inspection norms and establishing their technology as a cornerstone of efficiency and reliability. Collaboration and partnerships are at the core of this transformative journey.

Livestock management app tailored for bison husbandry

AgSights has created several virtual tools to support livestock producers with herd inventory, individual animal tracking and several types of reports. More recently, AgSights noted a lack of similar tools as such to support decision making in the Canadian bison industry, which is also a demand observed by the industry stakeholders. Since Lakeland College (via Dr. Yuri Montanholi) is leading applied research projects in bison husbandry, a collaboration was established to adapt the existing management tools available for the cattle industry to bison farming. This task will involve gathering existing herd inventories from commercial bison producers that will be compiled and entered in a new (bison version) of the management tools developed by AgSights. The customization of the app will also involve its validation in field conditions to ensure its applicability under the bison producers’ lenses. Besides providing a significant contribution to the bison industry, this activity will support the training of a Bachelor degree student who will be assisting to disseminate the generated knowledge/technology to the bison industry stakeholders (via presentations in bison industry functions at provincial and national levels) and to several students at the Lakeland College (via invited presentation as part of livestock courses taught at diploma and bachelor levels). The kind financial support from Mitacs and from AgSights will also be further matched with existing funds at the Lakeland College to enable attendance to industry functions and related activities.

CUFA and social participation in urban peripheries: between market and State

This research project aims to discuss the construction of citizenship in urban peripheries. Specifically, it is interested in understanding how different political projects – such as neoliberal and democratic-participatory – influence the citizenship-building. To achieve this, we will conduct a case study of the Central Única das Favelas (CUFA), an organization created in the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The project intends to contribute to the broader debate on the relationship between the State and society in democratic construction and to the understanding of collective action in urban peripheries. Additionally, the research aims to shed light on a less investigated actor in this literature: organizations whose main interlocutor for their actions is not the State but rather the market. This brings the opportunity to highlight other elements of collective action brought by these actors, which have been scarcely studied by the literature, and who have primarily opted to operate within the business sphere. Thus, the research will shed light on processes that cross national borders and are present in many other countries, especially in Latin America.

3d design for fabrication: real world meets screen world

Newly available technologies for 3D fabrication — notably hobbyist 3D printers — are widening the user base for 3D design software. Autodesk, currently the industry leader in 3D design software, is broadening the scope of their activities, seeking to reach amateur users and to encourage their use of Autodesk software solutions. One of the most difficult aspects of 3D design for fabrication is that the resultant 3D models do not just need to be aesthetically pleasing, they also need to be able to be produced using specific fabrication technologies. Expert designers know this and use their expert knowledge and often idiosyncratic practices to make design decisions that allow objects to be properly made. An example of this would be a designer choosing a specific angle on an object such that the 3D printer can successfully print the object without the use of external supports. Similarly, the objects being produced also need to function appropriately in the real world. Designers thus make decisions that take into consideration the way gravity and other forces come into play. A simple example here would be the way in which a designer makes choices that allow an object with legs to stand up.