Innovative Projects Realized

Investigation of Lithium Mineralization, Distribution Trends, and Remobilization in the Tanco Pegmatite, Manitoba

The Government of Canada considers lithium as a critical element because it is a major component of rechargable batteries in, for example, electric vehicles, but it is also used in lubricants, ceramics, and glasses. The Tanco mine in Manitoba supplies approximately 5% of the world’s lithium, but little is known about the distribution of lithium in the ore body and what geological events led to that distribution. The intern will study this using data and samples supplied by the partner organization, by doing geological mapping and modelling, and by using advanced analytical methods. The benefit to the partner organization will be a much better understanding of their ore body and more efficient mining and ore processing. The results will also benefit future lithium mining in Canada.

Image Theme Recognition and Feature Analysis with Multi-model learning

Grouping images into different themes is a non-trivial step in the photobook curation. In this work, we aim to propose a novel image theme recognition method, and find unique attributes related with theme in given images.

Energy Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis for selected industrial and commercial Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) Customers

The objective of this proposal is to do energy assessment and cost-benefits analyses among selected industrial and commercial Enbridge Gas Distribution (EGD) customers, engaging Ryerson faculty and students. EGD operates defamed side management (DSM) programs to encourage its industrial customers to adopt energy saving equipment and strategies to reduce the natural gas consumption. As a part of DSM program, EGD is partnering with Ryerson University to undertake the energy assessments for small and medium size industrial customers. These customers are in range of 300,000 to 1.5 million cubic meter natural gas consumption per year. The energy assessment will be at, no cost, to the customers to help alleviate their technical and financial barriers and help the next generation energy engineers possessing a unique mixture of engineering and energy management expertise. The students will be provided training in energy assessment and energy management procedures both from faculty and EGD staff. The potential energy related systems that will be investigated include steam generation systems, process & heat recovery applications and space heating and ventilation. The duration of the program will be approximately 18 months. The expected launch date will be September 2013 or as soon as the project is approved.

Geochemical analysis of Onondaga Chert and implications for studies of pre-contact mobility and settlement patterns in southern Ontario, Canada

The Archaic Period (8,000 BC to 1,000 BC) is the longest occupation of the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario, but the least understood and studied. Approximately 1,000 previously unknown archaeological and extraction sites have been identified in this region, mainly in Haldimand and Norfolk Counties. The proposed research project will use a combination of analytical techniques and quantitative methods to analyze chert stone tools and geologic samples to identify a chemical signature to trace the tools to an original bedrock source. The signature will also be used to trace the mobility patterns of Archaic hunter-gatherers as they moved away from these chert sources.

Machine Learning for Non-Destructive Testing

IRISNDT deploys customized workflow productivity enhancement apps that are used by technicians in the field when performing Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and mechanical work. This project will leverage expertise in AI at the University of Alberta to develop and deploy a suite of Data Science and Analytics tools to complement IRISNDT existing capabilities. The project will develop value-added capability that will contribute to IRISNDT maintaining its competitive edge and reputation as a leader in its field. The technology developed in this project can be exported to the other countries IRISNDT operates in, as well as to other end markets, keeping with Canada’s reputation as a worldwide leader in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. Finally, this project will contribute to the training of highly qualified personnel in an area of expertise that is in extremely high demand.

Gamified Learning about Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies are changing the way we conduct business and how we pay for products and services. Investors are increasingly looking to adopt cryptocurrencies in their practices. However, cryptocurrency trading can be perilous, as many risks are present, ranging from technical and legal risks to market risks. Understanding the concepts around cryptocurrency, like their mining and trading, is critical. Hence, in this project, our goal is to facilitate investors’ learning about cryptocurrency through gamification. We will utilize a unique approach where the learning activities will be integrated into our partner organization’s state-of-the art cryptocurrency trading platform. Our objectives in this project are to understand investors’ attitudes and needs regarding learning and cryptocurrency, to design and incorporate gamified learning as part of the trading platform, and to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification in teaching about cryptocurrency.

Analyse de l’architecture logicielle du simulateur avancé d’un robot soudeur et comparaison des différentes solutions de calcul parallèle sur les nuages (Cloud-native) et en périphérie (Edge computing-native)

AGT Robotique est un leader de l’automatisation et de la robotique industrielle spécialisée dans la robotique flexible pour des productions à faible volume / haute diversité et dans le soudage robotisé. Le calcul des mouvements du robot soudeur pour appliquer la procédure de soudage est une étape cruciale qui doit minimiser les trajectoires de la buse de soudage tout en évitant les collisions avec les structures à souder. La détermination des trajectoires peut demander plusieurs heures de calcul pour des architectures complexes ce qui réduit considérablement la capacité de l’entreprise à offrir des produits innovants dans ce marché de niche. L’objectif principal du projet et crucial pour l’évolution de l’entreprise consiste à rechercher et utiliser tous les outils matériels et logiciels disponibles pour réduire le temps de calcul à quelques minutes. AGT espère par ces améliorations avoir un avantage concurrentiel et devancer à l’échelle mondiale ses principaux concurrents.

Housing Justice in a Climate Emergency: Intersecting Tenant Vulnerabilities to Extreme Weather

Climate change has complicated the fight for affordable and secure housing in British Columbia. The 2021 heat dome, for example, was responsible for the deaths of 595 people making it the deadliest weather event in Canadian history. Almost all of these deaths occurred at home or in a hotel and disproportionately impacted marginalized communities, many of them tenants living without proper ventilation or cooling. Such inequality is occurring in a province that is already home to the eviction capital of Canada: Metro Vancouver. In this intersecting housing and climate emergency, marginalized BC tenants exposed to extreme weather face unique vulnerabilities. Housing advocates currently lack the data to push for equitable climate-focused changes to tenant protections. UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice (CCJ) and BC’s Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC) are partnering to build a relationship and a foundation for the co-creation of research-driven tenant advocacy in BC’s intersecting housing and climate emergencies.

Fund development officer

Fundraising is critical to the health of the organization which is in a rural location in NL. We need a new fundraising model and have identified a student with an interest in this area. Especially in the Covid-19 pandemic, TNL now more than ever needs to change and improve the way it approaches fundraising. A new fundraising model will ensure we are able to continue our contribution to the cultural economy of Cow Head, and the greater Gros Morne National Park. Through the implementation of an improved and more efficient fundraising model, we aim to develop a more innovative approach to fundraising in our company.

Estuary resilience and recovery following exclusion of a non-native invader, Canada Geese

We need to understand whether estuarine marsh habitat recovers to the same condition quality as undisturbed areas after exclusion of intensive goose grazing. Recovery through natural processes takes longer than restoration assisted by transplanting, however understanding how much faster assisted restoration enables recovery helps inform cost-effective strategies. Non-profit organizations can benefit from academic support to identify and set up research-guided projects that will better inform restoration strategies and best practices to optimize restoration outcomes. Having academic support to develop research-guided projects ensures that future projects will generate meaningful inferences.

Student Support for Level Up! Employment and Training

Resource Assistance for Youth is an organisation whose goal is to provide youth with complex needs the resources to navigate systemic barriers when facing homelessness or the risk of being homeless. Through the Level-Up Program, the organisation will achieve helping youth gain stable, long term employment who may be overlooked by other employment programs. By giving youth this chance, the goal is to nurture independence so that they are no longer using services and can be self sufficient. As Level-Up is a new program, there is not a streamlined manual for facilitation, nor is there adequate time given to plan curriculum, due to funding constraints. This internship project will address those issues and build a well-rounded program focused on youth employment skills.

PKIaaS – Vivacity Technologies Ltd.

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a collection of hardware, software, procedures, roles, and policies that enables the use of public key encryption schemes within the context of information and communication technology (ICT) systems. In public key encryption schemes, an entity (which can be a person, a machine, or anything in between) generates two mathematically related keys: one private key, which is kept secret at all times, and one public key, which anyone may access. PKIs are responsible for the safekeeping, availability, and authenticity of public keys to enable trust between enrolled PKI stakeholders.

The focus of this project will be to implement and deploy a PKI service to support the widespread adoption of public key encryption systems even in hardware-constrained environments (such as embedded systems and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. This will be done by leveraging elliptic curve encryption algorithms, which provide a high level of security with reduced key sizes, and the use of M2M certificate formats, which provide an average 40% reduction in size when compared to general-purpose certificate standards, such as X.509. Such reductions in key and certificate sizes significantly improve the performance of cybersecurity-related tasks in individual network nodes. Such individual improvements are compounded as the number of interconnected network nodes increases, which promotes dramatic efficiencies in systems with a large number of networked components.