Innovative Projects Realized

Data Driven Transit Signal Priority Reliability Analysis

This study will analyse Calgary Transit’s bus operations on The City’s road network. Intersections and road segments will be categorized based on Level of Service (LOS) based performance indicators such as bus travel time and schedule adherence. The outcomes of the analysis will indicate whether a particular intersection needs transit signal priority (TSP) to improve its LOS. Intersections will be ranked then from least critical to most critical to aid in identifying intersections vulnerable to severe delay at the network level. The results will be used to present TSP implementation recommendations to the City of Calgary. Various sets of data including real-time bus positioning data, passenger loading data, and the INRIX (a web application that uses crowd source data from vehicles and produces operational analytics) travel time data to accurately evaluate each intersection’s operational performance along a corridor.

Microbiomes associés aux peuplements multi-clonaux de peuplier faux-tremble

Le peuplier faux-tremble (Populus tremuloides) est une des espèces les plus abondantes dans la forêt boréale mixte de l’est du Canada. Cette espèce à la capacité de se reproduire par drageonnement et forme par conséquent des peuplements constitués de tiges appartenant à un nombre limité de génotypes (i.e. d’individus génétiquement distincts). Le peuplier faux-tremble a non seulement un intérêt écologique important, mais aussi un intérêt socio-économique pour les nombreux services écosystémiques rendus et pour lesquels il est valorisé. Ces services écosystémiques du peuplier sont influencés par plusieurs facteurs dont les micro-organismes qui lui sont associés. Par ailleurs, la composition chimique des feuilles de peupliers est variable selon le génotype et sa litière pourrait donc influencer la composition du sous-bois et les communautés microbiennes du sol. L’objectif de ce projet est de déterminer la contribution relative des facteurs d’habitats et du génotype des peupliers dans la composition du sous-bois et des communautés microbiennes.

Exploring appropriate business models for establishment of water quality monitoring service in Newfoundland and Labrador

The private water sources of the remote rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador are under constant threat from multiple contaminations, however, there is no existing affordable and accessible laboratory facility available to monitor those water samples. Previous studies highlighted the serious long-term health and economic implications of the hidden contaminations. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a laboratory and/or network, in order to identify the potential health risks and to take corrective measures. Prior to the establishment of the proposed laboratory, an appropriate development plan is essential to make this initiative sustainable and effective and hence this research. The study intends to explore the appropriate business/financials models for establishing water quality monitoring services in the province. The study will help the partner organization to identify the best practice serving the remote rural communities with innovative solutions in terms of regular water monitoring, appropriate treatment and community engagement.

Improvement and optimization of the reservoir operational rule curve under the historical condition and climate change effects – Case study of Thac Mo Reservoir (Vietnam)

Water resource management has been a challenge facing many regions worldwide, including Vietnam and Canada. Reservoirs are crucial in water management. The project is to further the intern’s PhD research on improving the reservoir operational rule with a case study of Thac Mo Reservoir in southern Vietnam. A model combining a rainfall-runoff framework, reservoir operating architecture, and a modern heuristic optimization technique is developed to effectively achieve the hydropower production and water supply to downstream. The project is expected to improve the model performance, leading to a good applicability that could convince the potential operators and managers. Different independent data, such as separated historical data of Thac Mo reservoir and data from a Canadian reservoir, is intended to be utilized to firmly verify the model and optimize solutions. Other optimization algorithms could be applied and compared. On the other hand, the potential impact of climate change on currently used and optimized operation rules based on new Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) scenarios will be considered, then propose mitigation process.

Preserving the hearing health of music students: From exploring the risks of noise overexposure to prevention strategies

Primary Objective: In this pilot project, in the short term, we propose to explore the risks associated with noise overexposure in music practice, to test innovative prevention strategies and to develop an auditory assessment protocol that responds to the specific or expressed needs of musicians and to test its feasibility (e.g. duration, number of sessions, satisfaction) on a small number of musicians. In the long term, the ultimate goal of the project is to implement a program to promote the hearing health and well-being of musicians and music industry professionals by adopting an ecological approach to health promotion with action on the determinants of health, including prevention, early identification and rehabilitation.Our field of investigation will be the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal, which has close to 600 students majoring in different musical disciplines and styles (classical and jazz performance, composition and sound design). Our hypothesis is that music students have a low level of knowledge of the phenomenon of hearing loss, despite the awareness-raising activities offered to them in the context of acoustics, psychoacoustics and musicians’ body health courses. They would still adopt bad habits, presenting a stigma related to preventive measures.

Etude de marché des nouvelles compétitions et des évènements sportifs en milieu urbain pour le Parc Olympique de Montréal

L’objectif de cette étude est de fournir au Parc Olympique des recommandations qui lui permettront d’améliorer son attractivité à travers l’organisation d’évènement sportif porté sur des disciplines émergentes, ayant un fort pouvoir en termes de marketing.
Le projet va utilisé deux méthodes de recherche en marketing, lune étant une étude comparative des nouveaux compétitions et évènements sportifs apparus dans le paysage urbain sur la dernière décennie, l’autre reposant sur un sondage auprès de la population montréalaise et utilisateur du Parc Olympique afin de tenir compte de leur motivation et attentes concernant la participation à des évènements sportifs.

Domely – Projet de stage en IA – Inférence des charactéristique des toitures d’édifices commerciaux à l’aide de la télédétection et de l’intelligence artificielle

Le projet vise l’opérationnalisation d’un modèle d’intelligence artificielle permettant de modéliser la structure des toits au Canada à partir d’imagerie géoréférencée de télédétection par laser (LIDAR). En obtenant ainsi de l’information précise sur chaque bâtiment et la structure des toits et combinant ces informations à de multiples données météorologiques en provenance de sources externes et d’objets connectés, Domely technologies développe une meilleure compréhension de l’impact des risques climatiques sur nos infrastructures canadiennes. Ces modèles numériques permettront à l’entreprise d’améliorer son offre visant principalement les assureurs et les gestionnaires d’immeuble et incluant des solutions analytiques de préventions intelligentes et d’aide à la décision.

Business development strategy for the commercialization of a digital health technology committed to preventing kidney failure

Collogh Cares Inc is a digital health technology and advocacy start up, committed to preventing kidney failure, one family at a time .We are building an end-to-end solution to the problem of kidney disease and the inadequate follow-up of Chronic Kidney Patients. Our solution constitutes of a Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
management “ecosystem” comprising of monitoring devices (licensed hardware), digital health coach and predictive AI. With our solution we will be able to slow down and prevent progression to kidney failure by over 3x and improve the health outcomes for marginalized patients at high risk of developing kidney failure.

With the help of the Intern, we will be able to strategize and build our regulatory requirements for our prototype and have it ready for testing. Intern will assist with building and establishing potential client relationships and securing our first health insurer client.

Open Minds Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation of Open Minds NB will allow us to reach clients in a broader spectrum, using virtual technologies to interact and connect clients with therapists. Therapists increasingly work from home, and connect virtually with clients in their homes. At Open Minds NB, we are aware of the challenges and risks of increasing our virtual interactions, including issues of privacy and safety. We seek an intern to help us enhance and strengthen our virtual tools; our website, our Client Management Tool for scheduling, invoicing and tracking client needs, and our social media outreach, including our blog, weekly newsletter and Facebook and Instragram feeds.

Get In the Loop Digital Transformation with UNB Catalyst

Get in the Loop is engaging a UNB intern to assist with development and enhancement of the business to affect Digital Transformations and improvements in business protocols.

We are seeking – and have found- a professional and personable individual to join our dynamic Business Development team to expand our market and develop our brand awareness across Greater Saint John. The intern will be part of a cohesive, energetic team and will benefit from a flexible work schedule, valuable training, and wide-ranging experience in all aspects of our business with the opportunity for future growth.

Inverse graphics network for 3D building reconstruction using a GAN-based approach

The ability to extract 3D models from 2D images, a process called Inverse Graphics, finds applications in the many applications of Virtual Reality. For the development of urban digital twins, we focus our research on Inverse Graphics of buildings, which would greatly simplify the reconstruction of entire city blocks in a virtual environment. We plan to investigate a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) and Differentiable Renderer based approach. We first plan to train a building image GAN which would allow for the creation of a synthetic self-supervised dataset. This dataset would then be used to train the Differentiable Renderer, which is responsible to 3D reconstruction. We expect the product to generate 3D mesh and texture from 2D images taken from phones or other digital cameras.

Factors that Promote the Effectiveness ofInternships for Internationally QualifiedProfessionals

This project will explore factors that contribute to the benefits of internships for internationally qualified professionals in terms of improving these essential immigrants’ integration into the Canadian labour market. The project involves a partnership between Career Edge (a non-profit organization that arranges paid internships for internationally qualified professionals and Canadian individuals), the University of Western Ontario and York University, and will utilize an online survey and follow-up interviews to achieve its goals. The final products will include a report and presentation to Career Edge describing the research findings and providing recommendations for optimizing the internships that they coordinate. Given the broad relevance of the findings, we will also write the research up for publication in a peer reviewed journal and present the findings at relevant conferences.