Innovative Projects Realized

Worker Cooperatives, Newcomer Youth and Economic Mobilities

We are interested to explore the value and impact of worker co-ops as a vehicle for migrant youth to build skills and experience, and enable economic mobilities. Solid State has found considerable success working with newcomer youth in Surrey, BC. Through this project, we are interested in understanding how this work might travel from coast to coast. Each community shares some common characteristics, but in most ways are wildly different places. Both Surrey and Sydney are both grappling with and embracing influxes of newcomer youth, and in both places we see tremendous potential for migrant retention and flourishing.

Flow control and efficiency: Improvement of fluid-driven actuators to build soft gloves for rehabilitation

The current project aims at designing a soft-robotic wearable glove which is applicable for rehabilitation of patients with loss of motor function in one or both hands. The wearable glove takes advantage of a set of different fluid-driven actuators. In order to design the actuators, flow control technique and also combine a set of actuators to use in the wearable glove, it is required to precisely analyze the fluid-solid interaction (FSI) between the actuator flexible body and the driving fluid. For this purpose, a computational module will be developed and used to analyze the fluid flow motion and FSI in the fluid-driven actuator and design a set of controllable actuators used in a wearable glove. The functionality of the developed computational module will be validated through comparison of basic benchmark test cases and also laboratory results obtained in the company. Then, it will be used to design and analyze the final product which is going to be a wearable soft robotic rehabilitation glove.

Machine Learning based System Suggested Critiquing for in-car Conversational Recommendation

Car Infotainment and Navigation systems to date have only basic interactivity and functionality, and there is nothing in the car today that will keep drivers aware of their surroundings outside the car when the car is in a fully autonomous driving mode. Therefore, we want to contribute in the development of a new in-car infotainment system that is both interactive, personal, contextual (aware of the car’s location and surrounding services). More specifically, we aim to extend iNAGO’s existing conversational recommendation engine to the one that better understands user intent and proactively suggest the correct choices that navigate her to the point of her interest in an effective and efficient manner.

Export Development Canada – Business Integrity Internship (Summer)

Export Development Canada’s (EDC) Business Integrity team is responsible for ensuring Canadian organizations are operating ethically throughout each step of their business practice. My role as an intern on the Business Integrity team will involve the assessment of financial crime and reputational risks of the transactions and relationships EDC takes part in, in addition to supporting team operations and reporting.

Export Development Canada – Business Integrity Internship (Winter)

Export Development Canada’s (EDC) Business Integrity team is responsible for ensuring Canadian organizations are operating ethically throughout each step of their business practice. My role as an intern on the Business Integrity team will involve the assessment of financial crime and reputational risks of the transactions and relationships EDC takes part in, in addition to supporting team operations and reporting.

Bitcoin Well Web Services – Ghostlab – RES0054117

Ghostlab has a few major projects. These include: (1) their Ghost ATM software, (2) their administration panel, and (3) their Bitcoin Well web services.

(1) Ghost ATM makes cryptocurrency as accessible as cash. It aims to handle all the necessary components needed to complete cryptocurrency exchange so that users receive and simple and convenient experience.

Key Features:
– Identify verification
– Hardware SDK
– Software/hardware driver integration
– Crypto exchange services
– Crypto wallet service/applications

(2) The Ghost Admin Panel simplifies the implementation and management of Bitcoin ATM services. It offers ATM partners, owners/operators, and vendors enhanced solutions to move beyond the traditional ATM services, and enabling them to strategically manage the business of their ATM devices to satisfy consumers with Bitcoin services.

Key features:
– Configuration policy management
– Promo codes and user rewards
– Dashboard and analytics
– Inventory management
– Security and device tracking
– Fund management and transactions records
– Identity Management

(3) Bitcoin Well offers convenient and secure online and in-person solutions for users to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Their web services help new and intermediate users discover the benefits of using cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin Well offers business owners’ options to incorporate Bitcoin into their business with beautiful browser based applications that enable merchants to accept bitcoin TOBECONT

Small Business Management Intern

This project will be focused on the advancement of DH Fencing in the market.
Primary duties:
Sales, Advertising & Promotion

• Involvement in day to day customer service with an understanding of how it relates to the overall success of the business.
• Improved promotion of DH Fencing on platforms such as Linked In, Google Business, Instagram etc.
• Involvement in the leadership of the DH Fencing Booth at the Home and Garden Show in Lethbridge for the 2021 year
• Involvement/shadowing in the development of quotes and job costing for projects with the Sales Coordinator and the Operations Director.
• Assist/shadow the Project Coordinator with the daily planning required to organize and dispatch the crews. Understanding of the costing implications of such.
• Assist in the development of an inventory management system that works effectively with existing software.
• Research costing related to materials and equipment.

Safety Program – Review and Update

• Review existing policies for accuracy
• Create new policies or programs to complete the safety program
• Prepare educational presentations for new employee on boarding
• Prepare educational presentation for existing employees
• Monitor employee safety forms for completion and adherence with rules and regulation
• Assist in investigation reporting from safety accidents, near misses and violation and determines the root cause.
• Assist in workplace inspections to determine hazards and corrections
• Oversee the completion of corrections

imYEG

The work being done will contribute to the overall ecosystem success and will help the University advance innovation. There is a real opportunity to help expand the reputation of the University and provide tremendous value to the innovators. For Brass Dome Ventures clients/projects: The efforts will help provide efficiencies and improve processes.

Funding breakdown: The internship is valued at $10,000 with $2500.00 contribution from Brass Dome Ventures and $2500.00 contribution from the University of Alberta which is matched by a $5000.00 contribution by MITACS totaling to $10,000.00

Access to Urban First Nations Wellness Services

Using Indigenous methods including storytelling and arts, the research will explore the complexities of the Indigenous population in British Columbia; narrowing the scope to specific programming in an Urban community on Vancouver Island. The research question regards whether First Nations people that live off-reserve have adequate access to health services. This is based on the health inequities for Indigenous people across Canada. By doing this work, Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre can have scholarly material to disseminate in order to raise awareness about the system’s inequities for Indigenous health services as well as have a program impact assessment to share with local partners. Finally, the art-based component can assist with possible revenue for early years’ programs in the future.

Mapping Indigenous Businesses in the Agriculture/Agri-food Sector in Canada

This research project sets out to conduct a comprehensive literature review on Indigenous agriculture in Canada. We collect information about different sources of data that could be put in use to provide insight into Indigenous engagement in the Agriculture/Agri-food sector across the country. We will review the current Statistics Canada’s databases to explore data overlaying options to compile new datasets on Indigenous engagement in the Agriculture/Agri-food sector. Using these data, we will map Indigenous agribusinesses across Canada. The results will inform policy makers of what data is available and what information will need to be collected in the future.

Investigation into methods and materials to simulate neuroanatomical structures for MR Imaging applications

During their tenure at Preoperative Performance Inc. the interns will focus on the research, design, fabrication and testing of a number of novel MRI phantom assemblies to be used as calibration equipment and research tools for diffusion weighted imaging systems. The conclusions drawn from this research will contribute to interventional planning to provide better healthcare to patients suffering from several conditions including brain tumours, TBI, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Prediction of AL Amyloidosis Using Machine Learning

AL amyloidosis is a rare protein disorder that can be often fatal if it is not diagnosed and managed early. This disorder is caused by misfolding of proteins that clump together and form amyloid fibril deposits in major body organs. Diagnosis of AL amyloidosis is often not easy as the signs and symptoms can be mistaken for common diseases. The median survival rate after diagnosis is less than six months when the underlying plasma cell dyscrasia is left untreated in AL amyloidosis patients. Hence, it is paramount to develop novel diagnostic methodologies that are not based on the signs and symptoms of AL amyloidosis, but are based on the underlying molecular mechanisms of amyloidogenic clone, which can provide evidences for predisposition much long before the disease sets its course on the body. We propose to develop a machine learning technique to predict whether a light chain amino acid sequence will form proteins that misfold and produce amyloid fibrils, leading to AL amyloidosis.