Innovative Projects Realized

Lutte antisalissure : développement de techniques non-biocides pour la mariculture

L’aquaculture des bivalves marins est souvent réalisée à l’aide de structures de filet mises en suspension dans la colonne d’eau. Malgré leurs avantages, ces structures représentent un substrat de fixation pour une grande variété d’organismes, appelés biosalissures. Cette fixation peut alors nuire aux bivalves en élevage mais également à la gestion des structures immergées. Des travaux sont donc en cours aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine pour tester divers traitements antisalissures à appliquer sur les filets. Ces traitements doivent être efficaces, durables, peu coûteux et surtout être non toxiques pour les bivalves. Les travaux de ce stage impliquent 1) l’essai plus approfondi des traitements disponibles sur le marché; 2) le suivi chimique de l’innocuité (absence de molécules synthétiques) de la chair des bivalves et 3) l’exploration d’avenues de développement de traitements non-biocides. TO BE CONT’D

Explore the Influencing Factors of Decision-Making in a Distributed Team Project in Cross-Cultural Context in Trojan UV

The proposed research intends to understand how two organizationally-situated teams perceive and process the information that affects collective decision making. Considering that the nature of the decision making process is also inseparable from cultural influences, it is additionally important to understand such habitual aspects. Of further interest is the role of Information and Communication Technologies within team decision-making processes. In order to collect data and understand how individuals within the teams process and perceive these aspects, interviews will be conducted and the intern will take field trips to office locations for the purpose of observation. Results of the project will inform project managers of the decision making processes of the teams, and provide insight that may be applicable for future projects.

Formulation d’une colle auto-collante et respirante pour les membranes d’étanchéité pour les bâtiments

En partenariat avec la Chaire de Recherche Industrielle en Environnement et Biotechnologie (CRIEB) de l’UQTR, Papiers C.C.T a entrepris un programme de recherche sur les colles auto-collant respirantes pour les anciennes membranes d’étanchéité. Ce projet permettra de donner une deuxième vie aux anciennes membranes qui sont sur le point de disparaitre au profit des nouvelles membranes respirantes. L’objectif est de développer de nouvelles colles respirantes pour les membranes d’étanchéité afin d’éviter les phénomènes de condensation interstitielle et d’améliorer l’efficacité énergétique des bâtiments. Le présent stage cadre dans ce programme. Le stagiaire sera appelé à formuler des colles auto-adhésives à eau ou sans solvant. Parallèlement à ces objectifs, le stagiaire étudiera leurs conditions de mise en production.

Visual enhancement in normal and abnormal visual system

Vision loss related to malfunctioning of the brain have always been believed to be unrecoverable in adults. Novel treatments, however, have shown the opposite. Visual stimulation is a computer-based system which devised visual stimuli are presented to participants. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a non-invasive technique to deliver an electric current to the brain. Both treatments have shown promising results on recovering vision in participants with amblyopia (lazy eye) and in the ones who lost it following a stroke. We will study the benefits of combining these two techniques. To understand their effects on the brain, participants will be evaluated through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging pre and posttreatment. We will study 20 participants with amblyopia and 90 participants that had post-stroke vision loss. The results provided by this research may help the development of new tools to enhance not only vision, but quality of life as well.

Trend analysis of the adoption of digital technologies within the aerospace industry

This internship is part of CRIAQ’s structuring project “CRIAQ-1645 Digital Aerospace”, whose goal is to identify converging trends between aerospace and information and communication technologies (ICT). This project will help in program orientation, for inferring R&D needs in the short, medium and long-term, so to develop digital capabilities that will be more and more important for aerospace companies. For CRIAQ, this project will help in the development of its own strategic roadmap for transforming the local aerospace cluster into a world reference within the emerging “digital aerospace” domain. The project comprises the analysis of pertinent documents (publications and patents) for the identification of convergence trends within the so-called “digital aerospace” domain, which will be then validated with experts in these two fields. The specific goal of this internship is the discussion of the trends found in the bibliometric analysis with Quebec scholars engaged in these domains.

Performance analytics and monitoring in ice-hockey

In professional sports, sustained performance largely depends on having the best players healthy and free of injury. Player testing and monitoring has become a key area of development for many professional teams in order to track players’ health and performance. The purpose of this project is to build on the partner organization’s player monitoring program to identify key sport performance indicators and help in the team’s decision-making process. The project will be implementing new performance and musculoskeletal assessments and combine the results with various on-ice metrics to better understand variations in player’s performance and health status. The ultimate goal is to enhance the team’s performance while keeping the players healthy in order to have a long and successful career.

Analysis of Waste Heat Boilers using Computational Multiphysics

Waste heat boilers provide an important function in many industries, taking hot process flows and cooling them down while at the same time creating valuable steam which can be used to save power in other parts of the plant. This project will use Computational Multiphysics Simulations (CMS) to model the inner workings of these important boilers. CMS uses a mix of theoretical and experimental equations to model real world fluids, particularly how they move, boil, and spread heat. CMS field has seen major advances and adoption in many industries in the past decades helping to make more fuel efficient cars, aeroplanes, electronics, and now in our case, waste heat boilers. These more efficient systems help reduce both costs for the consumer and the carbon footprint of the goods produced, benefiting our wallets and environment.

Développement d’un outil d’analyse technico-économique des modes de restauration et évaluation de l’impact de la végétation sur le bilan d’eau des digues en stériles miniers du parc à résidus de la mine Canadian Malartica

Les mines à ciel ouvert produisent une importante quantité de rejets accumulés sur le site minier en période d’exploitation. Une fois les activités de la mine terminées, le site doit être restauré de manière à ne plus générer de contamination et à être remis dans un état visuellement acceptable. Afin d’assurer une restauration efficace des aires d’accumulation des rejets miniers, la mine Canadian Malartic teste directement sur son site, depuis quelques années, diverses méthodes de restauration pouvant être utilisées. Le stage réalisé sera une combinaison de 2 sous-projets : développer un outil d’analyse technico-économique des méthodes de restauration considérées et/ou testées par la mine Canadian Malartic et faire le suivi de cellules expérimentales mise en place pour évaluer l’effet de la revégétalisation sur le bilan hydrique d’une des aire d’accumulation de rejets à restaurer. TO BE CONT’D

Development of a continuous fluidized bed biomass torrefaction technology

There have been great interests on the utilization of biomass as a potentially renewable and sustainable energy source for greenhouse gas mitigation. In British Columbia and Quebec, abundantly available biomass residues are potential renewable energy sources if effectively utilized. In BC alone, there are estimated 32 million tonne per year of biomass residues available, but only about two million tonnes are made into pellets each year, with majority of them being exported to Europe due to the lack of effective biofuel conversion and pollution control technologies, preventing the development of a sustainable domestic biofuel market.
This proposed project will support our recent efforts in further developing a novel energy-efficient fluidized bed torrefaction process for the production of water-resistant, high energy density and durable torrefied wood pellets for domestic applications in thermal power plants. TO BE CONT’D

La perception du sens au travail chez les milléniaux

Le projet vise à expliquer comment la perception du sens au travail chez les milléniaux agit comme mécanisme d’influence de leurs attentes envers le travail et sur leurs comportements de retrait ou de fidélisation. Une meilleure connaissance quant à ce mécanisme permettra non seulement d’améliorer les pratiques managériales et organisationnelles existantes, mais aussi de développer de nouvelles pratiques mieux adaptées à cette main-d’oeuvre. Pour réaliser le projet, des entretiens semi-directifs seront menés auprès de milléniaux en emploi chez Promutuel Assurances. L’analyse des données en fonction de la théorie ancrée permettra de générer un modèle explicatif.

Synthesis of diamond and diamond-like films

This project is geared towards the development of a cost-effective method to fabricate thin films of carbon materials, such as diamond. The idea is to use solution-based methods coupled to electrochemistry to produce the films. Avenues for the deposition of the film on surfaces of arbitrary shapes will also be explored. Carbon based thin films, such as diamond-like films and conductive diamond films, have extraordinary mechanical and electrical properties that can be explored in several applications, including batteries, chemical sensors, protective coating in microelectronic industry and others. The company intends to commercialize this potential new technology by generating a new line of products and services.

Yielding Brace System for Concentrically Braced Frame Structures

The goal of this research project is the detailed design and optimization of a series of 10 Yielding

Brace System (YBS) connectors that will eventually be made commercially available as a higher

performance, earthquake resistant building system. The intern will design and optimize each

connector, focusing on both the local behaviour of the device, through non-linear finite element stress

analysis, and the global behaviour of the building system as a whole, through non-linear time history

analysis of a sample building. Upon completion of the project the partner organization will have a

series of connectors that will be ready to begin the regulatory approval process and the researchers

will have an enhanced understanding the system behaviour of a building using the YBS as its primary

lateral force resisting system.