Innovative Projects Realized

Estimation dynamique de l’état des lignes du réseau de transport électrique d’Hydro-Québec par des approches statistiques avancées.

Le conducteur est un élément critique d’une ligne de transport d’électricité. Il est sujet à la corrosion affectant significativement sa durée de vie. Hydro-Quebec surveille avec un vif interet l’etat de corrosion de ses 34 000 km de lignes haute tension et voudrait estimer dynamiquement l’état de cet actif majeur pour optimiser sa valeur d’un point de vue fiabiliste. En premier lieu, le projet consiste à effectuer une revue du phénomène de corrosion des conducteurs, ainsi que des données disponibles sur les essais accélérés de corrosion. Le projet se basera sur des données représentatives des lignes, compilées sur le réseau de transport d’électricité d’Hydro-Québec, et intégrant des données d’inspection, de remplacement, d’échantillons et de mesures non-destructives. Ces informations seront exploitées dans un modèle prédisant les durées de vie résiduelle. Enfin, ces prédictions pourront être ajustées dynamiquement fournissant ainsi une précieuse aide à la décision pour justifier les stratégies de maintenance des lignes.

Narratives of War

Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University has collected over 1000 narratives written by Ukrainian civilians about their experience of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The objective of this research project is to use the narratives to discover commonalities in the language of the writers and to find whether there are linguistic markers of trauma across the narratives. To achieve this goal, we will use computational linguistic methods such as deep learning topic models, word frequency analysis, emotive word analysis, and word valence (positivity and negativity).This research will identify linguistic markers of living through war, and the trauma it causes. We will also analyze diagnostic tests that participants filled out in relation to their narratives. This analysis will assist mental health professionals who help war survivors. The results of this project can also be used for understanding the psychological impact of war on civilians.

Using a bottom-up approach to characterize the PEI agriculture sector within an energy system model of Atlantic Canada

The path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 in Atlantic Canada is both time- and resource-constrained. Energy system models can be used in this context to compare climate change mitigation options and to strategically plan for meeting climate change goals through cost-effective and timely means. Motivated by these circumstances, Net Zero Atlantic is building an open-source energy system model for Atlantic Canada that will serve as a shared tool for answering questions about our region’s transition to net zero emissions. To provide the best utility to regional decision-makers, the Atlantic Canada Energy System (ACES) model must be able to present pathways to net zero emissions that account for emissions across all economic sectors, including the agriculture sector which is responsible for a significant percentage of greenhouse gas emissions within the province of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. At present, provincial agricultural sectors are represented in a course, top-down format. Although this is an improvement from standard energy system modelling practice which omits the agriculture sector entirely, it prevents users of the ACES model from being able to understand how the agriculture sector fits into Atlantic Canada’s transition to net-zero emissions.

New 2-amino-4-arylimidazole derivatives mimic the core structure of some marine alkaloids

The results obtained in this project will lead to new tools for the preparation of molecules of interest, possibly with biological activities. These studies will contribute to the development of new green synthetic methods using environmentally friendly catalysts.
Efficient and practical synthetic methods are in high demand in the industrial and academic sectors. In particular, the pharmaceutical sector is highly interested in new efficient preparations of small organic molecules as high added-value building blocks.
This work aims to synthesize potentially biologically active compounds that mimic metabolites of marine sponges. The project under consideration has an actual pharmacological use. Firstly, the specific synthetic scheme as a general procedure will facilitate the work of both chemists and pharmacologists. Secondly, expected biologically activities of the obtained substances have a wide range of applications. The most important activities of them: antitumor, antibacterial, antihistamine, fungicidal. It is also known about the ability of substituted 2-aminoimidazoles to inhibit human ?-secretase (BACE1), NO-synthase and act as tubulin-binding agent. Thirdly, this research opens new routes for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, which are known to play an important role in pharmacy. The present project is a step towards the discovery of many essential drugs.

Identifying and addressing bottlenecks in the capture and conversion of CO2 to liquid fuels

Climate change continues to exacerbate around the world. Capturing greenhouse gases like CO2 directly from air is becoming more and more important to reduce the magnitude of severe climate change. Efficient conversion of the captured CO2 into liquid fuels such as methanol has the potential to revolutionize green energy technologies and displace fossil fuels. Leveraging the interdisciplinary capabilities at Dr. Khan’s lab at SFU and Dr. Marshall’s lab at University of Canterbury, this project aims to standardize a continuous flow electrochemical system to capture and convert CO2 directly from air.

Repenser le restaurant de demain : vers le développement d’un indice synthétique d’intégration des nouvelles tendances de consommation

Compte tenu du contexte unique actuel auquel le secteur de la restauration fait face, dû à la pandémie de la Covid-19 (modification de l’expérience de consommation, digitalisation des pratiques, inflation, pénurie de main-d’oeuvre) et à l’évolution des modes de consommation (progression de l’alimentation saine, du cuisiné maison, des boîtes de repas « prêts à cuisiner » et de la livraison à domicile), Benny & Co souhaite se doter d’un outil d’analyse de prospective des tendances de consommation afin d’adapter ses établissements.
Ce projet de recherche a pour objectif de développer une mesure fiable du « restaurant de demain » et de favoriser le transfert de connaissances en proposant un outil d’évaluation de la performance de la réponse aux nouvelles tendances sous la forme d’un indice synthétique. Il évalue pour chaque tendance son niveau d’importance (, son taux de pénétration, son niveau d’opinion et son niveau d’utilisation future par rapport à la clientèle.

Vers une meilleure gestion de la sécurité avec la Fondation LOJIQ – Les Offices Jeunesse Internationaux du Québec: Gestion d’identités, classification des actifs informationnels, classification des incidents de sécurité.

La fondation Les Offices Jeunesse Internationaux du Québec (LOJIQ) explore de nouvelles approches de renforcement de la sécurité informatique et de la lutte contre les cybermenaces. LOJIQ travaille au quotidien avec plusieurs partenaires qui attendent d’elle une meilleure protection de leurs renseignements. Malheureusement les mécanismes actuels de sécurité connaissent des faiblesses relativement à la gestion des identités et des accès, à la classification des actifs informationnels et à la gestion des incidents. La présente demande de recherche vise donc plusieurs objectifs au premier rang desquels l’identification et l’évaluation des solutions existantes de gestion des identités et des accès, de classification des actifs informationnels et de gestion des incidents de sécurité. Il sera par la suite question de proposer une solution de gestion décentralisée des identités et des accès qui garantissent au mieux la protection des données sensibles et proposer une solution de classification automatique des actifs informationnels et des incidents de sécurité qui s’appuie sur l’intelligence artificielle explicable.

Searching for Mushroom Extracts and Fractions with Potential Antidepressant Activity

Mental illnesses, particularly depression, are one of the leading causes of global disease burden. In addition to reducing the quality of life of patients and their relatives, they costs billions of dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, current antidepressant drugs are barely satisfactory and have numerous side-effects. The goal of this project is to discover potential new extracts, fraction or compound(s) with potential antidepressant activity from wild mushrooms native to British Columbia. This is in line with the objective of Translational Life Sciences (TLS) Inc., a biotechnology company based in Vancouver. TLS will have the proprietary rights to any discovered extracts, fraction or compound(s) and is therefore expected to benefit financially in the near future.

Usage de récits mémoriels pour approfondir un dispositif intégratif lecture littéraire et pensée historienne

La lecture d’un témoignage d’un survivant de l’Holocauste humanise la découverte du passé et peut inviter tout lecteur à apprivoiser l’inconnu, lui permettre d’enrichir son bagage interprétatif en lui présentant d’autres perspectives, dont certaines demeurent encore dans l’ombre (ex. enfants, femmes). Or, à l’heure actuelle, peu de balises claires existent afin d’aider les enseignants, en formation comme en exercice, à explorer le potentiel heuristique et éducatif d’un récit mémoriel en contexte secondaire pour œuvrer à la formation de citoyens sensibles et critiques au moyen de la lecture.

En continuité et en cohérence avec la recherche doctorale en design que nous poursuivons, ce projet vise à approfondir un dispositif didactique, nommé travail d’enquête historico-littéraire, destiné à l’enseignement du français et de l’histoire. Ce dispositif a pour but d’atténuer certains défis d’ordre curriculaire, didactique et contextuel rencontrés par les enseignants pour renforcer le caractère significatif et vivant de l’enseignement-apprentissage de la lecture. La mise à disposition du travail d’enquête que nous proposons pourrait d’ailleurs contribuer à conduire les élèves à mieux comprendre le processus génocidaire et ce qu’il sous-tend (ex. manifestations, effets, mesures de prévention) à partir d’un témoignage écrit.

Perception pipeline for automated compound sanding of gypsum plasterboard

Nowadays, many building contractors use modular construction, where various parts of a building are partially or
completely built on an assembly line and then put together on the delivery site. Building interior modules often
involve building and finishing plasterboard walls, including closing joints between panels and hiding fasteners or
defects. To do so, a gypsum-based compound is applied, let to dry, and sanded iteratively to achieve a regular
surface. This produces a considerable amount of fine dust, which can be a nuisance, especially in the closed
space of a manufacturing plant. In this project, we are investigating if various sensors (cameras, LIDAR, …) can
be used to detect and precisely locate the surfaces that need sanding, which is a crucial step in the automation
of the whole task.

In vivo efficacy and safety of novel therapeutic host defense peptides

Biofilms are clusters of bacterial cells that grow together on a surface. Biofilms are often associated with infections (~65%) but they are exceedingly difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics and there are currently no biofilm-specific treatments available on the market. Some common biofilm-associated infections include skin and sinus infections as well as infections associated with implanted medical devices. There is an urgent need to develop alternative therapies that target biofilms and ABT Innovations has developed a series of synthetic peptides with potent antibiofilm activity that they intend to move towards clinical applications. The purpose of this project is to study the potential of these therapeutic peptides to cause local toxicity or inflammation at the site of administration, which is important information that will help inform ABT’s future clinical development. The novel antibiofilm peptide therapeutics will in turn benefit the Canadian community, providing a novel treatment option for biofilm-associated infections.

Remediation of orphaned sites inundated with wood preservatives (pentachlorophenol & creosote), and detailed environmental impact assessment of dichloro-octyl-isothiazolinone (DCOI) on soil core and groundwater

There is a pressing need for studies centered on the impact assessment of emerging wood preservatives and the remediation of orphaned sites. The present proposal describes a dual-purpose research project. The project aims to; (i) apply a modified in situ chemical oxidation technique for the removal of pentachlorophenol (Penta) and creosote compounds in orphaned sites and; (ii) conduct a comprehensive environmental impact assessment of the dichloro-octyl-isothiazolinone (DCOI)-formulated wood preservative on soil cores and groundwater. Penta and creosote can be referred to as legacy pollutants. They used to be the foremost wood preservatives until their restrictions due to the toxicity potential they pose to humans and aquatic organisms. Conversely, DCOI is one of the present-day’s choices approved for use as a wood preservative in the United States. Findings from this project may provide some basis for DCOI’s approval for use in Canada; and this will be advantageous to Stella-Jones Inc.