Innovative Projects Realized

Stratégie de marketing numérique responsable pour générer des prospects corporatifs qualifiés

Le projet consiste à définir pour l’OBNL Masse Critique une stratégie de marketing innovante et responsable pour générer des prospects corporatifs qualifiés pour son offre de plateforme collaborative et de contenus dans le domaine du marketing responsable.

Amélioration services publics de la Ville de Trois-Rivières

Projet 1 : Centralisation des droits d’accès aux logiciels
Projet 2 : Système de maintien des droits d’accès aux logiciels
Projet 3 : Automatisation de la création des environnements de tests utilisateurs
Projet 4 : Feu et glace : Amélioration des tableaux de bords interactifs de l’incendie et du déneigement
Projet 5 : Mise en place d’un formulaire en ligne pour la collecte des encombrants

Industriallisation de l’unite de ventilation Hybrid 200

ClairiTech Innovations est impliqué dans la conception, le développement, la fabrication et la vente d’équipements de traitement d’air pour les marchés résidentiels depuis plus de trente années.

Dans le cadre de la conception de la seconde génération de notre système de ventilation double noyaux à récupération de chaleur et d’énergie, la phase finale du développement industriel a débuté par la construction du 2e prototype duquel la nomenclature des composants en sera issue. Pour finaliser les dessins des éléments constitutifs par rapport à leurs caractéristiques dimensionnelles en trois dimensions, nous devons associer à l’équipe projet une compétence complémentaire en ingénierie mécanique. Il s’agira de réaliser sous CAO/DAO la totalité des schémas nécessaires à la fabrication en interne, mais également ceux réalisés en sous-traitance.

Conception d’un logiciel pour un système de commande de portes palières (PDI)

Les portes palières sont des portes automatiques, souvent vitrées, que l’on retrouve en bordure de voie au niveau des quais des stations de métro. Elles permettent de séparer physiquement les quais et la voie de métro, dans le but d’empêcher toute intrusion non désirée. Ces portes sont conçues pour s’ouvrir uniquement lors de l’embarquement et du débarquement des usagers, et sont donc synchronisées avec les protocoles d’ouverture et de fermeture des portes du train. Ce projet va permettre de renforcer la compétitivité du secteur privé industriel canadien en permettant au partenaire de s’attaquer à de nouveaux marchés. En effet, les compagnies de transports en commun qui possède déjà un réseau en place et qui souhaitent implémenter des portes palieres ont besoin d’un PDI pour assurer la synchronisation des portes trains/plateformes

Intensification of cell culture process for pandemic influenza vaccine production

More than half a million people die every year from complications of seasonal influenza, and vaccination stands as the most effective method to prevent and limit outbreaks of the disease. Cell culture processes offer a more flexible and responsive alternative for the current egg-based vaccine production systems. Intensification of cell-based vaccine manufacturing focus on the development of high cell density processes and perfusion-based strategies. Here, a high-innoculum fed-batch (HIFB) process with continuous virus harvest will be applied for pandemic influenza vaccine production in suspension MDCK cells, as to maximize virus production while minimizing media handling. For this, a set of small-scale experiments will be executed to assess the metabolic demands. Two bioreactor runs, using a single-use bioreactor coupled to a scalable single-use hollow-fiber membrane as cell retention device, will be performed to demostrate the scalability of the system.

Adaptive Visualization for Analysis of Customer Behaviour

Companies with a strong online presence are seeking to increase users’ engagement by adding recommendation and prediction algorithms to their websites. These algorithms can for example predict which users’ actions are more likely to happen and which users’ actions are likely more profitable. Companies use such algorithms to tailor the content of their websites based on the users’ behavior. Websites tailored to users’ behavoiur become more profitable and competitive for digital advertisement and e-commerce. Despite the proven effectiveness of these recommendation and prediction algorithms, how to illustrate their benefits and educate the stakeholders still remains a challenge. This is the problem that our industrial partner Youneeq wants to address: How can data visualization be used to convince stakeholders than a recommendation algorithm is having a positive impact on e-commerce metrics? And does the visualization need to change for stakeholders with different roles and backgrounds?

Using Pair Distribution Function Analysis for the Characterization of Rare-Earth Metal-Organic Frameworks

This research project consists in obtaining detailed information about the structure of a particular class of crystalline materials named metal–organic frameworks, comprised of inorganic nodes interconnected by organic linkers. Their highly ordered structure allows the use of routine characterization techniques to earn insights about the organization of atoms and molecules within their framework. However, due to the existence of localized disorder in small (but repetitive) parts of the structure, is not possible to know the structure of the material in detail. To complete this task a state-of-the-art technique called pair distribution function will be used, by applying X-rays on the material, this energy will interact in a specific way with the atoms present in the MOF giving detailed information about the distance between them, allowing to understand how atoms are organized in the disordered space and earn a detailed understanding about the structure of the MOFs. This information will be used to explain the relationship between the structure of the material and its performance for the detoxification of a mustard gas simulant, facilitating the design of more efficient MOFs for this application.

Investigating the role of exosomes in cancer treatment resistance: a personalised medicine approach to improve patient outcomes

Personalised cancer treatment is an emerging method of treating cancer that acknowledges that no two tumours are the same. This aproach aims to identify targetable proteins and predict a patients response to treatment to optimise treatment outcomes. However, additional biomarkers and drug targets need to be discovered to further improve treatment. Exosomes, are small extracellular vesicles, that are secreted by all body cells including tumour cells. These vesicles contain valuable information, some of which can be used as biomarkers to predict the resistance profile of a patient and predict how a patient will respond to a treatment. MicroRNAs, that are present in exosomes, hold particularly valuable information regarding treatment response. However, the microRNAs that confer resistance have not be fully characterised and more research is needed to identify biomarkers. During this project we aim to characterise the resistance profile of cancer patients by assessing the exosome profile of patients. This may lead to the identification of novel biomarkers that can aid to the enhancement of personalised medicine development.

Migration, Belonging and the Politics of Local Development in Eastern Nigeria

The proposed doctoral research aims to use Igbo Hometown Associations in Nigeria as a context to explore identity-based
associational groups that operate locally but with ties to transnational migration dynamics and their diaspora. Specifically, it will
examine how these ties enable their acting as non-state governance actors that self-organize to provide public goods, despite
weakness of the state. The research will work at the intersection of migration, development studies and conceptual framings of
belonging to ethnographically explore how migrant linkages with their place of origin create alternative spaces of governance and
realization of distributive development in eastern Nigeria. The research engages with the problem of state failure and is framed
around decolonial thinking of statehood in Africa. Its goal is to explore how migration sustains social dynamics that hold African
societies amid protracted weakening of state bureaucracy in post-colonial African states, and how these interactions decenter
Western notional construct of statehood in Nigeria and Africa.

Targeted marketing procedures by data mining operations on Social Networks.

Built on Web 2.0 principles, LimeSpot Solution Inc. will work with intern(s) to research on multiple modules that cover a variety of different aspects of applicability of social network in marketing and e-commerce: user driven, provider driven, device driven, and multiple providers. The research will help the partner organization to improve upon the current offerings and make our products more appealing to businesses and their customers. Intern(s) are expected to perform the following duties: I. Research on social profiles and behavior and Facebook development features: In this phase, the social profiles and users’ behavioral information will be analyzed to extract the attributes that could be useful for targeting commercial products. Additionally, Facebook programming interfaces will be analyzed to extract the methods and technical knowledge needed to access extracted profile information in each application in alignment with its overarching functionalities. II. Platform architecture and design: Combining the deliverables from the first phase with each application’s overarching functionalities, the platform would be architectural base and designed to underlie each application with functional libraries and infrastructure that help rapid software development as well as Facebook programmatic collaboration.

Arthropods as indicators of climate changes in the province of Québec

Climate change is an important driver of environmental modifications and creates important changes in the ecosystem functioning. It is important to be able to follow these changes, but following whole ecosystems is impossible. Thus, it is recommended to follow bioindicators accurately reflecting the environment state. Arthropods (spiders, insects, etc.) are particularly sensitive to climate changes and are expected to react rapidly. Following their reactions (displacement northward, changes in abundances) could be insightful of climate change impacts. We will use the unique data set collected by the “Réseau de suivi de la biodiversité au Québec” in Québec between 2016-2022, to identify arthropod bioindicators of the climate changes. The results of the study will target a scientific journal, and will be presented to the general public on a dedicated webpage. The project will contribute to two objectives of the Insectarium by vulgarizing the results and contributing to a better knowledge of the province fauna.

Rainy Day Solutions: Enhancing Rain Gardens

With over 80% of the Canadian population dwelling in urban centers, design for sustainable urban environments is tantamount to the health and happiness of 21st century Canadians. The City of Victoria (CoV) would like to incorporate green infrastructure into their integrated storm water management plan. Over the past four years, nine rain gardens have been installed in the CoV as pilot projects. Their function as storm water catchment areas and supporting ecological communities needs to be determined. A set of evaluating criterion is required to measure the success of the installed rain gardens. A partnership with a local freshwater ecology restoration team, Aqua-Tex, has been established to determine rain garden success and create installation and management recommendations. A literature review will inform the creation of quantitative metrics. These metrics will be used in a scientific evaluation of the rain gardens. A best management practices report will culminate the project and be used as a guide for further rain garden installation by the CoV, and the private consulting firm, Aqua-Tex.