Innovative Projects Realized

DeclanCostello_BounceHealthInnovation

Bounce Health Innovation (Bounce) is a mini-cluster in medical technology that was launched in St. John’s in 2018 that connects frontline healthcare workers with developers, designers, patients, and entrepreneurs. It is operated by Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology and Innovation (NATI) and other industry partners, with a mission to accelerate the growth of the health innovation sector in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). Their vision is to help the province become the testbed for medical technology innovation in North America. They engage with and support medical innovators and entrepreneurs by leveraging resources within a unique health innovation ecosystem. This project will be required to create new campaigns, monitor their progress and contribute towards long-term digital marketing strategies for Bounce. The activities will have an analytic component where the intern will be required to assess which campaigns are successful so that Bounce can make informed decisions on future campaigns. This role will help execute on the organization’s business plan and help build the future of medical technology and health innovation in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sankara – Gobind Singh Kapoor

Marketing Strategy for 2021

Application Framework for Palliative Care Process Management

Performance management collects data to quantify and measure outcomes obtained by organizational processes in order to determine how well they achieve organizational goals. A significant challenge in implementing information systems support for process management of care processes is to understand the relationship between care processes and their performance measures. This research will develop an application model for care process management to capture that relationship and deploy a palliative care information system (PAL-IS) to collect data for performance measures into an OLAP database optimized for reporting. This research project is intended to define a systematic approach to palliative care process management in terms of goals, performance measures, care process states, and data entry forms. It will also demonstrate how to provide integrated information systems support for palliative care process management relevant to all roles within their organization.

Examining the Challenges and Needs of Mental Health Service Users During Post-Discharge Transitions: Applying the Radical Doula Model as an Innovative Framework of Support

The proposed research seeks to identify the needs and challenges faced by mental health service users during post-discharge transitions. The research will be done in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association – Calgary Region (CMHA) which strives to be a leader in reducing the impact of mental illness and addiction in community. Engaging with key stakeholders, the proposed project hopes to identify the strengths and gaps in service delivery when transitioning post-discharge from hospital to the CMHA’s Post Discharge Transition Program (PDTP) group homes and post-discharge from the group homes back into community. The CMHA has identified that currently there is inadequate capacity to support individuals during these critical transitions. The proposed research is thus needed to identify the service needs and challenges during post-discharge transition points, and the completion of this research project will establish the groundwork for future action. Specifically, this project will take an innovative approach by building on existing research around post-discharge transition supports to design a Radical Mental Health Doula (RMHD) framework for those transitioning from in-patient psychiatric treatment to community.

GPHY – FSA UL

GPHY est une startup en énergie intelligente. Initialement, l’équipe convoitait le marché B2B pour l’implantation de ses produits dans les bureaux et les espaces de travail collaboratifs. L’adoption massive du télétravail et le changement de priorité des directeurs TI des entreprises nous forcent à considérer d’autres options pour lancer notre commercialisation. Avec le contexte actuel de la pandémie, plusieurs aspects du modèle d’affaires de la compagnie doivent être retravaillés. Le pivot vers une priorisation de la vente en B2C fait partie des options envisagées.

Le stagiaire aura comme mandat de gérer ce changement de cap, en adressant les efforts de marketing à la vente en B2C. Il devra effectuer des analyses de marché, développer des plans stratégiques de communication et gérer la création de contenu pour nos réseaux sociaux et autres canaux de communication. Il sera donc le responsable du marketing B2C de la compagnie.

Serious Labs Winter 2021 Co-op

Marketing Research Project
Surveying customer preferences and statistical data in order to support customers during their decision making process regarding product designs, prices and promotions.

Sa?nya?ola Project: Being Creative Together-Indigenous Language Revitalization in BC

This Indigenous language revitalization project consists of four sub-projects that together have the potential to significantly support the revitalization of Kwak’wala: the language of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations. Exploring the vital link between Indigenous holistic wellness and language revitalization will be a central theme of the project. The project will rely on active
community engagement, youth capacity development and an action-based, braided approach that will have the potential to provide a model for the reclamation of endangered Indigenous languages in general and may have international implications. The four sub-projects include: development of a multi-year strategic language revitalization plan, exploration of Kwakwaka’wakw pedagogy rooted in land-based settings, exploration of how immersive technologies can support the reclamation and resurgence of Indigenous, pedagogy and worldview encoded in language, and the exploration of how youth leadership and language fluency buidling programs are enahnced by the resurgence and infusion of Kwakwaka’wakw
worldview and pedagogy.

Simulation of permafrost degradation considering heat adg

Permafrost is currently degrading due to climate changes in northern regions, resulting in several impacts on civilian infrastructure and natural environments. These changes can ultimately lead to a shift in the water cycle from a surface flow regime to a groundwater flow regime following permafrost degradation. In order to anticipate such impacts, it is important to accurately predict permafrost dynamics. Numerical modeling studies of permafrost degradation generally conceptualize heat transfer as occurring exclusively by conduction. However, it has recently been suggested that groundwater flow in permafrost zones can increase thaw rates due to heat advection. The impact of additional groundwater flow in cold environments could have a profound impact on the rate of permafrost degradation. As part of this project, numerical simulations will be performed to quantify the role of groundwater flow on permafrost dynamics. The expected results are a more realistic prediction of permafrost degradation in a context of climate change which will be representative of a large portion of the subarctic territory.

Réduction du volume et de la teneur en contaminants organiques présents dans les biosolides de la ville de Sainte-Julie par voies microbiennes et/ou enzymatiques

La ville de Ste-Julie (Qc) est aux prises avec une production importante de boues dans ses étangs de traitement des eaux usées. Ce faisant, elle doit vidanger annuellement ces derniers, ce qui représente des coûts d’opération importants. Ces vidanges génèrent annuellement environ 600 tonnes sèches de boues. La ville souhaite donc développer une (bio)approche leur permettant de réduire in situ le volume de ces boues afin de réduire ses coûts d’opération.
Les microorganismes et les enzymes ciblées dans le cadre de ce projet ont démontrés leur capacité à hydrolyser et oxyder différents contaminants (ex. produits pharmaceutiques) et biomatériaux s’apparentant aux biosolides municipaux. Ce projet a pour objectif principal de déterminer la capacité souches bactériennes commerciales et d’enzymes à réduire le volume de biosolides de la municipalité de Sainte-Julie municipaux ainsi que la concentration en contaminants organiques qu’ils contiennent et ce, dans des conditions contrôlées de laboratoire. Ce projet sera réalisé en trois phases. La première identifiera les bactéries d’intérêt pour le traitement des biosolides ciblés. La seconde identifiera les conditions idéales de cultures de ces souches maximisant la réduction des volumes des biosolides.

L’automatisation robotisée de processus : une approche par les règles d’affaires

Notre projet recherche porte sur l’automatisation robotisée de processus (ARP). L’approche ARP permet d’automatiser des processus d’affaires à l’aide de robots virtuels se basant sur les règles d’affaires. Son avantage est son faible coût de mise en œuvre et sa flexibilité. Il y a présentement peu d’études réalisées sur cette approche qui gagne en popularité dans le marché de l’automatisation de processus d’affaires. En fait, il n’existe aucune méthode se basant sur les règles d’affaires gouvernant les activités d’un processus qui évalue le potentiel d’un processus à être automatisé avec la technologie ARP. La méthode développée dans le cadre de ce projet procurera un avantage concurrentiel aux compagnies canadiennes en leur offrant une méthode simple et innovante qui les permettra d’implanter efficacement l’approche ARP et ainsi les aidera à réduire les coûts d’opération, augmenter la productivité et améliorer la qualité des services fournis.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) for biological nitrogen fixation and protein content in soybean (Glycine max)

The biologically-fixed N is more efficiently converted into protein than mineral N from fertilizers. As low protein content is currently a topic of great concern in many soybean-growing areas, improvement of BNF efficiency may reach higher protein levels with lower environmental impacts. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown excellent results in the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with phenotypic characteristics. This project aims to perform a GWAS to identify SNP markers that are associated with traits involved in BNF and protein concentrations in soybean grains. To do that, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) will be carried out to build an extensive catalog of SNPs capturing the genetic diversity existing in a panel of 191 soybean lines. Therefore, it is expected to provide information and SNP markers that may be useful to the scientific community involved in soybean breeding programs aiming at increasing protein concentrations in grains.

Walking With Elders: Resistance and Development in Winnipeg’s Inner City 1960-2000

This is the second phase of a oral history project. Interns will assist in coding and analyzing over 100 hours of recorded interviews (transcribed) with more than 30 Indigenous Elder activists. In addition, they will conduct and record additional interviews in areas where knowledge gaps have been determined. They will work with project team to begin produce thematic digital materials for education purposes. The partner organization will benefit from having additional support to complete this research project that has been several years in the making. It will allow the MRA-CCPA to move to the final knowledge mobilization stage which will entail broad distribution and integration into at least one university course.