Innovative Projects Realized

Acceptation des exosquelettes dans le secteur pharmaceutique : expérience d’implantation d’une nouvelle technologie d’assistance physique pour réduire les risques à la santé au travail

Les troubles musculosquelettiques (TMS) sont une préoccupation importante au Québec et diverses avenues de prévention sont mises de l’avant pour en diminuer leurs impacts : formation du personnel, conception d’aménagements et/ou d’équipements adaptés, ajustement des exigences de production, etc. Dernièrement, les exosquelettes semblent susciter l’engouement pour prévenir ces risques dans les milieux de travail. Cependant, il existe peu de données dans la littérature qui documentent leurs effets – bénéfiques ou néfastes – directement en milieu de travail et/ou à long terme sur la santé des travailleurs. Pour l’heure, il nous est difficile de conseiller les préventionnistes sur la manière d’accompagner les organisations désireuses d’implanter les exosquelettes. Une entreprise du secteur pharmaceutique nous a contacté pour explorer cette avenue de prévention. Ce projet a but pour d’accompagner l’entreprise dans une première implantation d’exosquelettes.

Analyse des processus de communication de Show-Canada

Les Industries Show-Canada inc. ont des problèmes de gestion de projets relativement à la communication. Les divers départements, dont l’ingénierie, le dessin et la production, n’ont pas de communication efficace entre eux. Il n’y a donc aucun suivi des différents échéanciers pour les différents projets. Ceci créé des problèmes au niveau des livrables que la compagnie doit rendre aux clients. Ceci créé également des problèmes au niveau de la gestion des ressources humaines. Ce problème est amplifié par l’incertitude et l’instabilité de la demande. Il y a parfois une surcharge de travail, tandis qu’on peut avoir une pénurie d’ouvrage quelques semaines plus tard. Le but du projet sera d’analyser la situation courante et de proposer des recommandations afin d’améliorer la communication au sein de l’entreprise et, par ce même fait, d’augmenter la productivité.

Making Canadian Homeowners Better Protected Financially from Catastrophic Earthquake Risks

Earthquakes pose significant risks to many Canadian homeowners in British Columbia, Quebec, and Eastern Ontario. Many homeowners in these regions have not purchased earthquake insurance for their homes, and recent surveys suggest that most Quebec homeowners are unaware that earthquake loss is not covered in their general insurance plans. If a devastating earthquake were to occur in one of these regions, homeowners would be left vulnerable, unprotected, and very frustrated. A solution to this current problem is a general earthquake insurance pool. Our objectives include the development of state-of-the-art earthquake loss models that quantify the loss experienced by all stakeholders, should an earthquake event occur. The second loss model will quantify the financial loss to homes in worst-case scenario events. The last objective is to come up with a loss pool that is suitable for all stakeholders. The completion of the previous objectives will be crucial in accomplishing this task.

Effect of carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals on the properties of cement and concrete composites

This project proposes the use of carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) – developed and manufactured by Anomera Inc. from Canadian forest – as nano-inclusions to tailor a set of properties in cement and concrete composites towards enhanced performance. Due to its unique properties, CNC can significantly enhance the mechanical performance of cement and concrete composites. The effect of various doses of CNC on the cement hydration, as well as on mechanical properties (e.g., compressive strength, tensile resistance, and flexural capacity) and durability of cement pastes, mortars and concrete will be evaluated in this research. Project results are expected to promote the use of Anomera’s CNC material in construction industry, as well as to promote Canadian forest sector as Canada is considered among the global leaders in the exportation of forest products. Likewise, results will contribute to promoting the development of ecological materials for sustainable construction materials.

Investigation of the light production in liquid Xenon during the first ns

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging modality enabling the detection of many physiological process, such as the uptake of specific molecule by cancer cells. Inside the patient, 511keV gamma produced by positron annihilation is detected and the annihilated point is mapped. Detecting the interaction time of each gamma-ray with a 10ps timing resolution can dramatically improve the image quality or reduce the amount of radioactive material injected in the patient by reducing the imaging time. Liquid Xenon coupled to Photon to Digital Converter for the detection of scintillation photons is promising solution for reaching 10ps timing resolution. However, it is not clear that enough photons are produced in liquid Xenon during the first 100ps to achieve such a performance. In addition to PET application, measuring light production in liquid Xenon during the first 100ps and even the first ns may enable new background rejection capabilities when searching for dark matter interactions and to a lesser extent neutrino-less double beta decays.

In this project, a small detector called the LoLX (Light only Liquid Xenon) detector is used to study the light produced during first ns in liquid Xenon.

Aeration of hydraulic turbines for increased dissolved oxygen

In warm climates warm temperatures cause thermal stratification in hydropower reservoirs inhibiting mixing and leading to deoxygenation of waters at depth (hypolimnium). Turbines withdrawing water at depth result in low dissolved oxygen (DO) in the downstream flow having a large negative impact on the downstream riverine ecosystem. Legislation in the USA and elsewhere now requires hydropower operators to guarantee meeting minimum DO limits in downstream flows. Andritz Hydro Canada has initiated this project to optimize the elbow deflectors used in draft tube aeration, which is a technological retrofit approach not excessively impacting operation schedules. The main deliverables will be the optimization of the elbow deflectors, through a parametric study of the design parameters involved in maximizing bubble surface area and bubble concentration to result in an increase in dissolved oxygen concentration, and a set of data for validation of Andritz’s Computational Fluid Dynamics model.

Continuation of the study for the recovery of gold from mine tailings using a novel clean technology

AJ Min Inc. is developing a novel technology, not currently patented, to recover gold from tailings material. The technology requires little energy, little to no reagents, and little to no additional water. Past testwork has indicated that this technology can recover significant amounts of gold from some tailings material, and that the recovered gold can be upgraded. This project will build on past testwork to evaluate if the recovered gold can be upgraded sufficiently to be commercially viable. In addition, empirical models will be developed from the testwork to describe the performance and capabilities of the technology.

AI-enabled molecular search database

The project aims to facilitate the research and development of new drugs by applying machine learning and deep learning to further develop an AI-assisted molecular search database. The company has an internal dataset holding more than a billion molecules. Two main challenges are keeping the molecule catalog updated and Searching for the desired molecule or a substructure in this voluminous database. Advanced query response techniques powered by AI, can enable the database to respond to molecule similarity and substructure search queries in the desired time frame. Reducing molecule search queries’ response time can significantly speed up the drug discovery activity of researchers and pharmaceutical companies working in this domain.

Augmentation de données et optimisation de l’espace latent d’un auto-encodeur variationnel (VAE) pour la détection de défauts et le pronostic des alternateurs hydrauliques

L’objectif du projet est d’automatiser la reconnaissance des signaux acoustiques et vibratoires d’une part, et des signaux de décharges partielles d’autres part, et ceci à l’aide d’un modèle d’apprentissage profond. Cette reconnaissance est la première étape du développement d’un modèle de pronostic et de suivi de l’évolution de la dégradation des alternateurs. Ces signaux sont issus de mesures effectuées périodiquement sur les alternateurs durant leur fonctionnement. Le traitement des signaux de décharges partielles ainsi que ceux acoustiques et vibratoires permettent de caractériser l’état de santé des alternateurs, comme les signaux électrocardiogrammes « ECG » pour l’état de santé d’un humain. L’orientation des travaux du projet sera vers des techniques d’apprentissage non supervisées. Le réseau de neurones auto-encodeur variationnel (VAE pour Variational Autoencoder) sera exploité pour son espace latent afin d’analyser et visualiser les caractéristiques extraites des signaux dans un espace latent à deux dimensions

Évaluation de scénarios de gestion intégrée et soutenable de l’eau dans le complexe tourbeux de Lanoraie

Le complexe tourbeux de Lanoraie fait l’objet de conflits d’usage de l’eau depuis plusieurs années et l’évolution récente de la tourbière montre une transformation très marquée de la végétation depuis 70 ans. La hausse des pompages pour l’irrigation des cultures de pommes de terre, combinée à une succession d’étés secs, a exacerbé les conflits d’usage de l’eau. Le but de ce projet est d’obtenir des données nouvelles pour concilier à la fois les prélèvements en eau pour l’irrigation des cultures et le maintien des fonctions hydrologiques et écologiques du complexe tourbeux. Le projet fournira à l’UPA des données nouvelles sur l’eau souterraine et des scénarios alternatifs de gestion de l’eau qui lui permettront de mieux promouvoir les besoins en eau des agriculteurs, tout en faisant la promotion d’une gestion intégrée et soutenable de l’eau dans la région des tourbières de Lanoraie.

360 Concussion Care Learning Health System: A Framework to Establish Large-Scale Comparative Effectiveness Research

This project will establish the framework to extract and transform clinical data into a research dataset to conduct world-leading Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) around concussion. The research and analyses from this dataset will inform patient care for patients with concussion and answer key questions that have healthcare and policy implications for concussion management. The framework and research database will underpin 360 Concussion Care’s research program to evaluate assessment protocols, therapies, interventions, and best practices that will benefit patients, practitioners, and the Canadian healthcare system.

Modelling and analysis of heat pipes under various operating conditions encountered in mold cooling applications.

The proposed project aims to develop simple thermal resistance network models using experimental and CFD data to predict the performance of conventional circular sectioned heat pipes and thermosyphons. Heat pipes are a type of enhanced heat transfer device that uses a continuous cycle of boiling and condensing of a fluid to transfer heat at a very high rate. The industry partner designs and manufactures heat pipes that are used extensively in the cooling of molds for making automotive parts. This project will allow them to better understand the effects of geometrical, working fluid and operating parameters on the thermal performance of heat pipes and improve their design capabilities. These results can provide estimates of expected results to their potential customers.