Innovative Projects Realized

Time series loan forecasting model with macroeconomic variables

The research project consists of improving a model that is used for the prediction of new loans granted at a financial institution. The improvements will come from adding macroeconomics variables in the original model which currently does not include these types of variables. The hypothesis is that adding these variables should provide more precise predictions because these variables represent conditions in the economy. Economic conditions should influence loan provided. The partner organization will benefit by benefiting from improved forecasting tool that they can implement recurrently or build upon. Also, they will benefit from a more knowledge about how factors in the Canadian economy affect their business.

Ice Hazard Drift Model Study #4 (IHDM4)

Massive drifting icebergs frequently threaten offshore operations on the Grand Banks because of their massive size, and great mechanical strength. These ice hazards move erratically, which complicates efforts to modify their trajectory or undertake evasive action. This MITACS project aims to further improve security of offshore workers and help protect wildlife and the environment by allowing refined prediction of short-term iceberg drift. The funding partner, ASL Environmental Sciences, will benefit through improved capability to provide world-class services to their clients.

Diversité fonctionnelle des forêts du Québec

Dans le contexte actuel des changements globaux, l’aménagement de nos forêts représente un défi majeur. Face a? cette réalité, nos pratiques visant a? contrôler et prédire l’évolution de nos forêts ne sont plus assez efficaces et nous devons revoir notre façon de les gérer. L’augmentation de la diversité de caractères indicateurs (traits fonctionnels) pour l’aménagement de nos forêts semble la meilleure option pour les immuniser contre les perturbations présentes et a? venir. L’objectif de ce projet est d’acquérir des connaissances sur l’évolution de la diversité des peuplements forestiers au Québec. Ces données pourront par la suite être utilisées par les gestionnaires forestiers pour les plans d’aménagements durables et à long terme des forêts du Québec.

Comprendre, implanter et évaluer les projets de rues conviviales

Le projet vise à recenser et analyser les connaissances mobilisées, les instruments utilisées et les choix stratégiques opérés dans les projets des rues conviviales ou complete street, mise en œuvre par certaines municipalités au Canada et en Amérique du Nord. L’analyse porte sur le cadre règlementaire, législatif et normatif nécessaire à la mise en place de projets de rues conviviales ; sur les processus de priorisation et de sélection d’artères dans la réalisation de rues conviviales ;sur les contenu des projets ; et sur l’évaluation des interventions en question. L’étude donnera lieu à la diffusion d’un guide conseil à destination des professionnels et décideurs municipaux québécois.

Assessment and Design of a Waste Heat Recovery and Energy ConversionSystem for ArcelorMittal Dofasco

The goal of this project is to design a heat recovery system for ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s (AMD)

steel-making plant in order to convert waste heat into power. This will result in lower operating

costs and a lower environmental impact for AMD and represent one more step forward for Hatch

in the area of industrial applications of heat recovery systems. The first intern will identify heat

sources in the process, analyze potential heat recovery systems, integrate a proposed system

with the current process and model the heat transfer equipment The second intern will prepare

a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model of the main equipment and perform structural analysis,

material and equipment selection, and analysis of safety issues and risk management The two

interns will collaborate on equipment selection and investigate the feasibility of the proposed

heat recovery system in terms of its impact on the steel-production process, operating costs and

payback period.

Erosion studies of southern Ontario tills and St. Lawrence Valley marine clays and assessment of an extreme precipitation prediction approach

Quaternary glacial deposition has covered much of southern Ontario with tills and the Saint Lawrence Valley with marine fines. Rivers incised into these materials exhibit particular geomorphologic behavior. Civil engineering works built either in (e.g. dams, bridge piers, etc.), beside (linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, etc.) or across (e.g. bridges, etc.) such rivers must consider the erosion of these cohesive sediments. There is currently very little knowledge about the erosion of these materials. This leads to design challenges and long-term maintenance considerations for hydraulic, geotechnical, transportation and structural engineering projects that can result in increased lifecycle costs and the potential for failure due to unexpected erosion. The proposed research will develop the improved understanding required to assess and predict erosion processes of rivers in glacial tills and marine clays by characterizing the erosion process and determining the threshold and rate of erosion in laboratory experiments.

Groupe Nordik: enjeux et opportunités dans l’adoption du BIM pour la gestion de ses équipements

La gestion d’installation en phase d’exploitation et maintenance reste un véritable challenge pour les propriétaires d’actifs. La perte de données durant le cycle de vie du projet, l’accumulation de sources d’erreurs manuelles, l’inaccessibilité de la bonne information au bon moment font augmenter les coûts prévus à cet effet. Le but de ce projet est de montrer de quelle manière le BIM pourrait apporter une solution à ces problèmes, en mettant en avant les enjeux et les opportunités de son adoption. Le stagiaire apportera donc une analyse extérieure sur leurs processus internes et une liste de recommandations répondant aux besoins de la firme. Face à une entreprise qui dispose de nombreux équipements spécifiques à leur domaine d’activité, une gestion BIM facilitant le stockage, le suivi et la gestion des données serait un avantage concurrentiel considérable sur le marché.

Voyage Route Optimization for Ocean Going Vessels Balancing Cost, Fuel Consumption and CO2 Emissions

True North Marine is a Montreal based consulting company offering services on route selection and analysis to ocean going vessels. Current practice is finding shortest time routes. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) is implementing new regulations as of January 1st 2020, requiring vessels to burn fuel with much lower sulphur content (drop from 3.5% to 0.5%) with anticipated effect that fuel costs for vessel operators will significantly rise. It is expected that new routes balance operational cost, fuel and Greenhouse gases emission cost. Efficient planning in this new environment requires support from advanced analytics tools ranging from descriptive to prescriptive analytics. This project aims developing decision tools to support planning process. Based on forecast weather data, historical weather data, vessel characteristics and data obtained from monitoring past performance of vessels, these tools will allow analyzing many routes in order to determine the optimal speed / fuel consumption setting and best routing alternative. The project will develop new models and methods for voyage planning and train a group of highly qualified personnel (HQP) with multidisciplinary competence including Big data, analytics, optimization, planning under uncertainty, and large scale optimization.

Advancing methods and understanding: Status and drivers of mammal populations in Alberta

Biodiversity loss is a major concern worldwide. Alberta’s has abundant natural resources; however, developing these natural resources can impact species, including mammal species and those valued by the public. Understanding the impacts of disturbance on populations of mammals is necessary in order to inform environmental management. This project will harness existing data through the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute to enhance our understanding of mammal populations, such as moose and black bear, in Alberta, for the benefit of the province’s land-use decision makers and the public in general.

Optimization of rice and other protein based extrusion encapsulation

The proposed project deals with the extrusion encapsulation of bioactive components using rice and corn protein based food matrix. It is well recognized that the performance properties of natural lake pigment encapsulated products are influenced by the structural properties of the matrix protein used for the extrusion encapsulation. The type, mixture and nature of proteins can have a significant effect on the extrusion encapsulated product as well as its functionality. Significant changes in the product properties can be expected due to the difference in the manufacturing steps. Preliminary attempts by the company with enzymatic rice protein in extrusion encapsulation of natural pigments have not been successful. This project explores alternative procedures and optimization concepts to obtain a successful encapsulated product

Architecture and application of an innovative decision support module integrated to a primary care electronic health record

Ce projet vise le développement d’un module de support décisionnel intégré au dossier

électronique patient. En utilisant des méthodologies innovatrices sur l’analyse des données

des patients et sur la représentation des informations aux cliniciens et patients, le projet

cherche à résoudre l’impasse où se trouvent les systèmes informatisés d’aide à la décision

clinique et qui fait que ces systèmes à date ont eu très peu d’impact sur la pratique médicale.

L’hypothèse principale est que l’exploitation d’une matrice de patrons peut accommoder la

variété complexe de l’information diagnostique. Comme innovation centrale nous allons

construire et évaluer un engin intelligent qui fait le lien entre des patrons spécifiques à une

visualisation des connaissances contextuelles et moulée sur les façons de penser des

médecins et des patients; il sera aussi dynamique, de telles sortes que des tests

diagnostiques ou des thérapies peuvent être prescrites directement, ou des connaissances

supplémentaires peuvent être obtenues immédiatement…

Addressing Knowledge Gap in Sustainable Financing and Investment for Climate Conscious Canadian Investors

Sustainable investment is an expending sector of the mainstream financial market, yet there are few studies evaluating the trends, opportunities, impacts and knowledge gaps as they relate to Canadian investors. Understanding the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues related to business operations and investment are critical to understanding trends that are driving this shift towards sustainability in financial markets. The proposed study will identify future opportunities for the partner organization within four industry sectors significant affected or closely intertwined with the issues of climate change (oil and gas, energy generation, building infrastructure and agriculture). The aim is to identify both the likely rewards and potential risks posed to any investor seeking to use their financial resources to both benefit from and positively contribute to successful mitigation strategies and adaptation impacts linked with 10 different investment scenarios.