Innovative Projects Realized

Structure of near-zero carbon footprint sustainable community

The goal of this project is to propose a design of near-zero carbon footprint sustainable community within the designated area. Design constrains will include the available land, target number of housing units, target commercial space, and target emissions of CO2 and effluent water. We will consider as part of the solution: (i) energy efficient buildings, (ii) photovoltaic energy generation, (iii) district heating and cooling, (iv) community design that promotes walking and bicycling in order to minimize GHG emissions associated with daily activities. We will concentrate on the design of sidewalks & not-for-cars pathways to accommodate the expected mix of active and passive transportation. This will lower the GHG emissions in the community.

Active Search In the Wild

Having robots be able to conduct visual searching of objects in their environment is an important step towards building intelligent robotic assistants. Automatic object searching is a useful tool for social, service, and search and rescue robots; such robots would be required to reason about likely locations of an object specified by a user. However, much of the existing work in the area of automated visual search assumes the target object to be in the detection dataset category, even though the dataset has a limited category of annotations. To mitigate this problem, we propose a project which aims to search for a query object that is known seen in the dataset. We will first propose an object detection model to detect an unknown object that is not in the detection dataset, and calculate its similarity to a user-queried word. Next, we aim to apply this detection model to generalize an object searching problem, where the query object can be any word. Finally, we will conduct experiments using this system to determine system functionality on real robot through human studies.

Exploration of the effect of game elements on motivation based on emotion assessment algorithm

Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) continue to be one of the most common lost-time injuries in Canada and South Korea, comprising over a third of all work-related lost-time injuries. Given the continued prevalence of WMSDs despite efforts to decrease their occurrence, a new approach to WMSDs intervention is required. This research project is to validate the developed gamification with its fun, creative and innovative approach, to improve workers’ on-the-job safety behavior by reducing the risk factors of WMSDs in the workplace. To achieve this goal, the proposed research has two distinct but related tasks: (1) to determine the effects of individual game elements on motivation by measuring several psychophysiological responses, (2) to explore the relationship between user types and/or personality traits and individual game elements in order to develop an effective customized gamification.

La sécurité non traditionnelle, le nouveau chantier pour l’Union européenne en Indo-Pacifique

Notre projet de recherche essaie d’étudier les moyens dont l’Union européenne pourrait employer pour renforcer son influence en Indo-Pacifique. Compte tenu des défis auxquels l’UE fait face aujourd’hui : les crises successives depuis 2008, les limites budégtaires et institutionnelles, la sensibilité des sujets politiques et sécuritaires — l’Union européenne n’a pas autant de leviers que les grandes puissances dans la région. Alors que pour devenir un vrai acteur international, l’Union européenne doit savoir profiter de son statut spécial en tant qu’institution régionale et maximiser ses gains stratégiques dans la région. Nos propositions sont les suivantes : C’est dans le secteur de la sécurité non traditionnelle que l’UE a plus de marges de manoeuvres à déployer et elle doit savoir coopérer avec les institutions régionales, notamment l’ASEAN, adopter une approche compréhensive et rester à l’écoute des demandes et suggestions régionales pour exercer une influence réelle et peu contesté dans la région. Les investissements de l’UE pour renforcer son influence en Indo-Pacifique consiste plus généralement à contribuer à favoriser une gouvernance régionale et la connexion régionale et à long terme, construire une gouvernance mondiale où l’UE joue un rôle indispensable.

Initial exploration of alternative propulsion for business jets

Demand for environment-friendly business jets is expected to increase due to the growing number of corporations enacting environmental initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint. Yet, few realistic studies have been conducted on alternative propulsion for business jets and major R&D investments around the world are not driven by rational decision, but rather by the current technology hype around electric aircraft. This project aims to identify promising alternative propulsion technologies to reduce the environmental impact of business jets while maintaining the target aircraft performance. This work will inform the stakeholders on the most promising technologies and serve as the starting point for project EAP (CRIAQ/NSERC) which involves Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and Calogy Solutions as industrial partners as well as Université de Sherbrooke, Concordia, and Polytechnique Montréal as academic partners.

Structure-Activity Relationships of Hafnium Dioxide Nanoparticles for Cancer Radiotherapy and Imaging

Nanoparticles made from hafnium dioxide (hafnia; HfO2) have emerged as a potential enhancer of cancer radiation therapy. Such nanoparticles allow for reduced doses of radiation to be used on tumors, sparing healthy tissue from side effects without reducing its anti-cancer effects. However, despite their potential, it is not yet known how different nanoparticle properties, such as size and shape, effect their efficacy or risk of side effects. This project thus aims to gain an understanding of the relationship between nanoparticle properties and their biological effects. Several different types of HfO2 nanoparticles will be created, examined, and carefully compared regarding their toxicity and performance under medical X-Rays. Such information will be crucial to the development, regulation, and clinical trials/applications of future nanomedicines.

The fate of dissolved metals in lakes containing freshwater mussels

Freshwater mussels are in decline across North America, but due to their filtering capacity, this taxon remains an important part of lake ecosystems. The Cape Breton Regional Municipality Water Utility (CBRMWU) utilizes several lakes as surface water sources, some of which contain populations of freshwater mussels. The CBRMWU is interested in the contribution of freshwater mussels to water quality prior to water treatment. Recent experiments at Cape Breton University found significant differences in concentration of several metal contaminants over time between tanks containing freshwater mussels and those without. Local lakes with mussels were also found to have significant differences in metal concentrations than those without. Building on this research, the current study aims to investigate the fate of these contaminants by using tank and observational studies which will analyze the presence of metals in the water column, mussel tissue, and mussel exuvia. This study will similarly investigate the fate of microplastics, another ubiquitous contaminant. While there has been some research investigating the bio-accumulation of contaminants in freshwater mussel tissue and sediment, little has been done on the effect of freshwater mussels on the water column.

Growing Opportunities: Marketing Outreach and Business Development

Growing Opportunities Farm Community Cooperative is a non-profit community service cooperative. The organization’s objectives are to alleviate poverty, provide nutritious fresh produce to people in need, provide employment for people with barriers and challenges, build community resilience, and mitigate climate change.

Growing Opportunities provides inclusive skills training, work experience and employment for people with barriers to employment including diverse abilities (disabilities) at their Community Farms. We partner with other organizations that offer skills training and work experience for people with challenges and barriers. Growing Opportunities provides nutritious, fresh, local produce to low income individuals and families.

The MiTacs funded marketing and communications and administration intern will be working with the Growing Opportunities management team to:

Develop and implement business marketing strategies to promote Growing Opportunities, the Community Farms Project and special events via conventional media, social media, the website, press releases, videos, images, memes, and blogs.

Contribute to the creation of a summer series of fundraisers, festivals and celebrations at the Cline Agri-Health farm, to bring a wide cross-section of community members from varying backgrounds to the farms so they can see the scope of the work and the programs and enjoy the farm as a community space.

Evaluation of Settlement Workers in School (SWIS)

Newcomers Employment and Education Development Services (N.E.E.D.S.) Inc. is a non-profit, charitable organization. The agency was established in 1999 by immigrant and refugee women for newcomers to Canada. The organization enhances the integration of newcomers into Canadian society by providing employment, mentorship, education, and social recreational programs as a means to support clients in the development of life skills, confidence, and positive social support networks. Settlement Workers in School (SWIS) is an holistic program at N.E.E.D.S. Inc., which includes a range of activities to promote successful settlement and integration of newcomer children and youth in the Winnipeg community. The internship project will enable N.E.E.D.S to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Settlement Workers in School (SWIS) to measure its effectiveness in achieving its proposed outcomes, identify gaps, and recommendations for improving the design, delivery and effectiveness of the program.

Tectonics, deformation, fluid flow and gold metallogeny during Cretaceous inversion of the Selwyn basin

Gold mining is an important industry for the Yukon economy and provides minerals critical to the Canadian economy. However, most of the historically mined deposits have targeted a relatively small portion of Yukon territory related to the formation of a volcanic arc about 100 to 90 million of years ago. This project will characterize a new type of gold mineralization located in the sedimentary rocks of the Selwyn basin of eastern Yukon, near the city of Mayo. It will bring a new understanding of how the gold mineralization formed with respect to the different episodes of mountain building events related to the formation of the Cordillera mountains. Ultimately this strategic knowledge will help facilitate the development of new gold resources in western Canada.

Personal Transportation Vehicle for use in Local Neighborhoods

The main objective of this project is to provide the growing elderly population with a means of transportation, which will allow them to get around the community to perform their daily activities. This project will focus on designing a personal transport vehicle that will be safe, easy to drive, and user friendly. This vehicle will be designed in a manner so that it can provide transportation to anyone in the society. Existence of such a vehicle will decrease the need for public transit improvements, and provide people with a sustainable mean of transportation. This will also decrease the amount of cars on the road, clearing up traffic and pollution.

Récit de la transition et innovation en transfert

Le laboratoire d’innovation en transfert
? assurer l’accès à des ressources ayant un effet levier pour documenter et systématiser des innovations porteuses.
Le projet “Récit de la transition et innovation en transfert” permettra de décupler l’effet du TIESS et ultimement de mieux appuyer la transformation des pratiques des organisations de l’économie sociale et du développement territorial en vue de la transition socioécologique de la société. Il vise à l’articulation d’une trame narrative qui démontre la cohérence des différents projets, outils de transfert et connaissances développés par le TIESS et leur inscription dans une perspective de transition sociale et écologique. Le stagiaire aura pour mission de créer des outils synthétiques et accessibles qui contribuent à ce récit de la transition.
Plus spécifiquement, le projet va:
? créer des outils de transfert réellement innovants;
? accroître la diffusion et le rayonnement des outils créés;
? Participer à la construction de chemins clairs et cohérents pour accéder à l’information ;