Innovative Projects Realized

Youth political identity formation in Alberta

This research project studies the process of political identity formation and focuses on Albertans. Adults, influenced by society, media and stereotypes have this sense of “wild west” political culture so they usually describe Albertan as a farmer, cowboy or oil worker. On the contrast, youth build their political identities through their families and school education so they have different image of “typical Albertan”. We are trying to answer two questions:
1)At which point do young people demonstrate the dominant political values and identity markers of the broader community. ?
2) How does political identity vary between different communities throughout Alberta?

Création du premier incubateur hardtech au Québec

Peu de startups, tant au Québec qu’à l’international, réussissent le pari risqué de développer une
entreprise pérenne en IOT, en matériel (hardware) ou en biens de consommation. Les obstacles sont
nombreux: chaîne de financement non adaptée aux réalités de la production locale, une dépendance à la chaîne d’approvisionnement étrangère, qui a prouvé sa limite depuis le début de la pandémie de COVID-19, et peu d’accompagnement disponible dans l’écosystème startup.

Le Garage & Co., propulsé par Continuums, est le premier incubateur en fabrication locale au Québec. Nous accompagnons des entrepreneurs chevronnés, du prototypage à la mise en marché de produits innovants et connectés. En tant qu’incubateur spécialisé en fabrication locale, nous voulons créer un parcours adapté pour entreprises fabricantes et renforcer l’écosystème québécois en innovation manufacturière. Ce parcours serait un premier en son genre au Québec.

Digital Programming Assistant

We are looking at developing a more interactive review/test methods for students rather than just our current true and false questions. We also want to ensure cross compatibility to ensure that the app for the review and testing works on all operating systems on phones when taking our courses online (most of our participants use cell phones for their courses). Recent studies have shown that if participants can have relevant review questions during First Aid, their retention may be better when acting in an emergency.

Ethical and Practical Considerations of doing a Visual and Filmic Sociological Research of Seoul International Ecofilm Festival

This research focuses on Seoul International Ecofilm Festival (SIEFF) and aims at understanding its role and impacts on Korean society since its beginning. By using a mixed methods and research-creation approach, the intern will collect and analyze different types of data including visual ones such as pictures, audio-visual archives, visual/filmic ethnography of the 20th festival, interviews of key people. The intern will also participate in two research groups led by Professor Kim Han Sang (visual and historical sociologist at Ajou University) working on the effects of archives in East Asia and on ethical issues of visual / filmic and cross-cultural research. The expected outcomes of the research are : 1) have a better understanding of the role and impacts of SIEFF on its audience and on Korean society ; 2) contribute audiovisually to the writing of Korean environmental movements through the history of SIEFF and its founder ; 3) have a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of ecocinema to foster changes in society ; 4) contribute to the revision of the International Visual Sociology Association’s code of ethics.

Development and test of an ultrasonic transducer for high temperature environments

The power industry has aging infrastructure operating at high temperatures (up to 600°C) subjecting it to accelerated corrosion that regularly leads to disasters. Periodic inspections are used to assess structures using ultrasound but require operations to be shut down so that workers can operate safely. Continuous monitoring is complex at high temperatures, which has many drawbacks: production shutdowns based on a maintenance schedule are inaccurate and costly, while corrosion progression goes undetected during operations and can lead to accidents. The main goal is therefore to improve the safety of these infrastructures while saving costs related to calendar based inspections. The proposed project aims to test in real conditions and further develop a sensor that can measure the residual thickness and assess the integrity of structures exposed to high temperatures.

Comparaisons des perceptions de parents liées aux soins de développement des nouveau-nés prématurés entre des unités néonatales québécoises et françaises

Les soins de développement (SDD) sont des interventions qui visent à réduire le stress lié à l’hospitalisation à l’unité de soins intensifs néonatals (USIN), à promouvoir le développement neurologique d’un nouveau-né prématuré, ainsi qu’à développer les compétences parentales. Les SDD peuvent comprendre le contacte peau à peau, le contrôle de l’environnement (lumière et bruit), l’évaluation et le soulagement de la douleur, ainsi que les soins centrés sur la famille. Cette étude vise à comparer les perceptions de parents liées à des pratiques de SDD entre des unités néonatales du Québec et de la France et à harmoniser et optimiser ces pratiques au niveau local et à l’international.les résultats de cette étude fourniront des pistes concrètes dans le but de favoriser la présence et l’implication souhaitée des parents dans les soins, dont les SDD, dans les USIN. De ce fait, ce projet permettra un rayonnement des connaissances en SDD du Canada en France.

Bike sharing as an equitable urban mobility option for decarbonizing urban transportation and improving health

Bike sharing as an equitable urban mobility option for decarbonizing urban transportation and improving health

Design and prototyping of a low-embodied carbon structure using biochar-based composites

“Design and prototyping of a low-embodied carbon structure using biochar-based composites” studies bio-based composites in construction through biochar: a solid byproduct of thermo-chemically converted biomass. Bio-based composites are typically low in strength. As a corrective, the study will investigate a method to develop structural strength through intelligent planning, execution, and material characterization. This proposes an alternative to conventional design and construction methods that develop strength through bulk, brute force, and high embodied energy feedstocks like cement. Building materials made from bio-based feedstocks, like biochar, require less embodied energy and sequester carbon. Their use in construction reduces the overall global warming potential (GWP) of building materials, facilitates environmental repair, and can reduce climate impacts from environmentally-intensive industry sectors like agriculture, aquaculture, and energy. These methods can also create architecture that is more adaptive and rooted in ‘place’.

Mieux comprendre les besoins et aspirations des citoyenNEs de Montréal-Nord en termes d’accès à l’alimentation

Malgré de nombreuses initiatives collectives, communautaires et institutionnelles, Montréal-Nord reste un désert alimentaire où de nombreuxEUSES résidentEs peinent à avoir un accès régulier à une alimentation saine et de qualité. Cette recherche vise à mieux comprendre d’une côté les principaux obstacles empêchant les citoyenNEs de Montréal-Nord à avoir accès à une alimentation saine et de qualité et de l’autre à capter les besoins et les aspirations de ces mêmes citoyenNEs en ce qui concerne les enjeux alimentaires. Cette recherche-action permettra aussi de mobiliser les résidentEs de Montréal-Nord afin de coconstruire des pistes de solutions aux enjeux alimentaires vécus et d’alimenter ainsi le milieu communautaire de Montréal-Nord dans ses efforts pour remédier à la situation. Certaines de ces pistes de solutions pourront être mises en œuvre dans des projets structurants portés par des citoyenNEs mobiliséEs avec le soutien de Parole d’excluEs.

Design and Optimization of Machine-Type Communication in LTE

Machine-to-machine (M2M) user equipments (UEs), which do not require a direct human interaction for communicating to each other, are predicted to have a large end-user market in the near future with numerous potential applications, such as home automation, patient monitoring, transportation, and smart metering. Currently, machine-type communication (MTC) is in the process of being standardized for long term evolution (LTE) cellular networks in the third generation partnership program (3GPP). The major challenges are to i) reduce the overall cost of the M2M UEs in order to enable a practical implementation of densely-deployed M2M networks, ii) enhance the coverage of uplink and downlink channels, and iii) ensure a high spectral efficiency in the presence of low-rate M2M UEs. The proposed research is based on optimizing LTE protocols in physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers, and will be part of Sierra Wireless’ ongoing activities to develop such low-cost MTC devices.

Implementation of a cloud-native version of Rho – a Health Canada approved software-as-a-medical device (SaMD) that opportunistically screens patients for osteopenia and osteoporosis

16 Bit Inc is a Toronto-based medical imaging AI startup that develops software-as-a-medical device (SaMD) to improve healthcare. They have a product, Rho, which is Health Canada approved for screening patients for osteopenia and osteoporosis using routinely acquired x-rays in patients over the age of 50 years. The goal of this internship is to migrate Rho from an on-premise version to a cloud-native version to increase scalability, flexibility, security, and reliability. The interns will research and implement the best scaling approach, monitoring strategy, and stress test Rho. They will also devise a CI/CD strategy for automating the building, testing and deployment of applications to enable rapid development and deployment.

Eco-responsible parking lots technical monitoring project in Quebec

A significant part of urban areas are used by parking spaces that facilitate single car use while contributing to heat island effects and rainwater management challenges. Traditional parking management strategies have not been able to address the environmental and quality of living aspects in cites. The main purpose of this project is to provide a state-of-the-art review of eco-responsible parking lots and analyze their usage and environmental impact. Several case studies will be analyzed and measurements will be taken to document usage, urban heat island effect and rainwater management impacts. The outcome of this study can be used as a guideline for eco-responsible parking management. A complete examination of proposed solutions using the case studies and a detailed report incorporating the references studied by the intern is expected.