Innovative Projects Realized

Total Versus Bioaccessible Soil Sterilants (Bromacil and Tebuthiuron)

Bioaccessibility of soil sterilants is a limitation in management of sterilant-impacted sites. The term ‘bioaccessibility’ means: what is immediately available, plus that which may become available. Studies have been conducted to examine the bioaccessible fraction of various soil sterilants after different aging periods; however, studies have not been conducted in Alberta. Immobilization technologies such as activated carbon have been applied to sterilant impacted sites in Alberta for decades (Drozdowski et al. 2018). Given the uncertainty associated with the bioaccessibility of soil sterilants over time, there is a reluctance from a regulatory perspective to accept immobilization as a long-term solution for managing sterilant impacted surface soils. There is a need to identify methods for quantifying bioaccessible concentrations of sterilants in soil at different aging times from the application of activated carbon to properly manage sterilant impacted sites.

A Toolkit for Analyzing Online Conversations for Solutions Based Policy Development

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2014 Synthesis Report states that “substantial [greenhouse gas] emissions reductions over the next few decades can reduce climate risks in the 21st century and beyond, increase prospects for effective adaptation, reduce the costs and challenges of mitigation in the longer term, and contribute to climate-resilient pathways for sustainable development.” Yet, despite this imperative, energy conversations in Canada have become fragmented and polarized (Kevins & Soroka, 2018; Lefsrud et al., 2015) for renewable (Hoberg, 2019) and non-renewable energy (Hoberg, 2018) alike. This research examines these fragmented narratives by developing (a) several curated data sets for use in text-analysis research, (b) automated methods and tools for multi-faceted document-similarity estimation and document clustering, and (c) thematic mapping and evolution analysis of textual data streams for incumbent energy sources (hydro, oil and gas, coal, nuclear) and nonincumbent energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass) by geography. Our objective is understanding (d) the vocabularies, speakers, interlinking of conversations, and associated topics/themes by geography that can (e) draw these narratives together to support solutions-based policy conversations

Constructing New Statistical Approaches with CRM to Determining Membership Value to Customers: Evidence from CBA Data

The legal profession, like many professions within the global economy, is undergoing significant change with advances in innovation and technologies and as geo-political and economic shifts are underway. As the only association representing the legal profession across the country, but also active in the global economy through various initiatives including international projects supported by partners such as the UN among others, the ability for the CBA to provide a path for the future of the legal profession is paramount for its membership and its role in supporting the justice system and the rule of law.
The availability of “Big Data” enables the use of sophisticated statistical methods – such as machine learning and text mining – that will help the CBA in better understanding the needs of its membership and how such tools can help delivering unique insights in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Medicinal Chemistry Studies on Small Molecule Glucocerebrosidase Inhibitors

The objective of this internship is to create new chemical compounds that can be used to further our research and understanding of a human enzyme known as GBA2 – implicated in several debilitating diseases and signalling pathways in the body. These compounds would not only serve as tools to probe GBA2 for additional information but could also function as potential downstream therapeutics or pre-cursors to future medications to treat GBA2 malfunction. By synthesizing these probes, the intern will not only gain exposure to a branch of medicinal chemistry at the crossroads of organic synthesis and pharmaceutical sciences but will also have the opportunity to work and learn in an industrial science environment. In return, the intern will provide the partner organization with these valuable compounds and potential therapeutics which may serve the greater Canadian community as a resource for continued research, publication, and application.

Data-Centric Approaches for Vertical Agriculture

This project addresses one of the challenges confronting Vertical Agriculture (VA): the acquisition of added-value data, their analysis and their transmission to enable VA to provide a steady production while minimizing its environmental impacts, manage its yield and allow for a better understanding of its inter-related component. As a starting point, strawberry production is looked at with its cluster partner NovaFarming. The approach proposed of identifying the data required from which knowledge can be generated to enhance the overall performance of the VA installation. This includes collecting data to be analyzed and proposing data-centric approaches to act upon in the VA enclosures.

Issues in Northern Governance and Development- Masters Degree Cluster

The research plan has been jointly proposed by the academics of the International Centre for Northern

Governance and Development and Cameco Corporation to meet the needs of industry, [federal/provincial]

government(s), and Northern Saskatchewan residents by researching key issues such as duty to consult, resource

sector competiveness, and Northern development strategies. The research results will assist wealth generation in

Northern Saskatchewan, while the collaboration and education itself will increase local research capacity in

Northern and Aboriginal communities. Students’ research will advance the academic understanding of

governance and development in a Northern context and will foster unprecedented collaboration among industry,

community, government, and researchers to solve real world issues in a timely and pragmatic way.

Designing and testing an in-vehicle tutoring system to improve drivers’ understanding of driving automation

A wide range of automated driving features now exist in modern vehicles, providing collision avoidance, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, parking assist, etc. There are considerable concerns that drivers do not have an appropriate understanding of the system functionality, and are therefore either not using the features, or using them in an inappropriate (and potentially unsafe) way. The research project is being conducted at the University of Nottingham in collaboration with a car company and will investigate the potential for an in-vehicle tutoring system that would explain automated driving features before, during, and after use of the vehicle, with the goal of promoting safer use of automated driving technology.

CAN-BIND12: Effects of Probiotics on Symptoms of Depression (EPSD)

This study will look at changes in the heart rate variability and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in individuals receiving gut supplementation for depression. This is to see if the vagus nerve (a major nerve connecting your brain and gut) is affected by this therapeutic, and how that results in changes in your brain. This work will provide insight into the mechanism of action for these supplements and contribute to a great understanding of major depressive disorder and possible avenues for advancement in the realm of gut microbiome targeting MDD treatments. This will be beneficial for the partner organization as they will gain a better understanding of how their therapeutic works, and possible ideas for how they can improve its efficacy in the future.

Towards quantum?encoded optical communications over existing fiber networks

Two fundamental pillars of communications/communications networks are trust and truth; in particular, we must ensure that the message (or data) that a sender wishes to transmit does indeed reach the intended receiver without being altered or eavesdropped by an unwanted party. This project focuses on demonstrating one concept of the quantum internet. The quantum internet is not based on quantum communications per se, but rather considers exploiting quantum principles for encoding and decoding data transmitted over existing fiber networks as a means for obtaining secure transmission. Quantum encoding is thus used as a means of implementing optical steganography for hiding the transmitted data. If successful, the proof?of?principle demonstrations will provide a pathway for developing a quantum internet, which will provide secure data transmission in the telecommunication infrastructures that form the backbone of smart cities, industries, and economies.

Design of a highly integrated ultrasonic piezoelectric controller

While touch screens have become the de facto user interface for cell phones, they do not provide any mechanical feedback to the user, unlike standard keyboards and computer mouse where we can feel the buttons springing back against our fingers. This, however, could be replicated through haptic technology, which can mimic various sensations through smooth surfaces (touch screen or phone case). For example, a haptic device can simulate the sensation of pressing a button. On the other hand, haptic devices must be very compact and low power to be meaningful towards real-world applications such as in a smart phone. Boreas Technologies (Bromont, Canada) is a Canadian startup company that has developed very small and dense controllers for haptic devices with basic behaviours, such as mimicking a button. Their solution uses a low frequency controller (300 Hz) that is four times smaller than the closest competition, and requires ten times less power to run, making it especially compatible with the consumer market.

Separating Syntax and Semantics for Semantic Parsing

Study of language disorders, theoretical linguistics, and neuroscience suggests language competence involves two interacting systems, typically dubbed syntax and semantics. However few state-of-the-art deep-learning approaches for natural language processing explicitly model two different systems of representation. While achieving impressive performance on linguistic tasks, they commonly fail to generalize systematically. For example, unlike humans, learning a new verb like jump in isolation is insufficient for models to combine it with known words (like jump twice or jump and run). We continue the line of investigation recently started by Russin et al, whereby deep learning models are encouraged to learn separate representations for syntactic and semantic aspects of the input. Our goal is to achieve better systematic generalization on the task of semantic parsing, which requires transforming natural language utterances into executable programs. Building better models of semantic parsing is of high practical importance as they enable many important applications, such as e.g. natural language interfaces to databases.

Integrating state-of-the-art sustainable design with heritage conservation through an online information system

Although ambitious climate change laws are encouraging the sustainable retrofits required to meet carbon emissions reductions targets, a lack of understanding of the synergies between sustainability and preservation often results in interventions which adversely impact heritage values or are less effective than they could have been. Interns will work with MTBA Associates, Inc. to gather, analyze, distill information on industry best practices in sustainable rehabilitation and disseminate this via the “Online Sustainable Conservation Assistance Resource” (OSCAR) -an innovative information system to improve the sustainable performance and resilience of heritage buildings in a way which is appropriate for its heritage values, construction and climate. Interns will conduct applied research with MTBA to test the effectiveness of OSCAR on real-world architecture and engineering projects while contributing to the work of the firms. Topics of investigation include repair and sustainability upgrades to concrete building components.