Innovative Projects Realized

Techniques and Instruments of Value Production and Translation inCanadian Wild Food Harvesting

This research focuses on the trade of Canadian wild foods, such as morel mushrooms, wild blueberries

and fiddleheads. The major operational challenge in the sector is connecting remote, rural contexts of

production with global, urban centres of consumption. A distributor’s competitive advantage rests on

constant innovation of the informational, social and pricing techniques that motivate casual labour to

travel long distances and work long days for the harvest, and on the development of field processing

instruments that help determine, add to or preserve the value of the product. A commitment to social

and environmental justice in production and trade is also key: ethical concerns are central to wild

food’s perceived value. Conducting ethnographic research as a participating observing living and

working with the harvesters of wild mushroom and plant products, the intern will develop in-depth

knowledge about the array of techniques and instruments presently used to translate between these

varied interests and contexts.

Plateforme Conseils pour la vie Banque Nationale

Le «?bijuridisme?» est l’une des particularités du Canada. Il s’agit de la coexistence de deux régimes juridiques fondamentalement différents : la common law et le droit civil. Pour des entreprises et des particuliers qui possèdent des biens dans plus d’une province ou encore travaillent dans plus d’une province, ce bijuridisme peut causer des maux de tête. En effet, une même situation vécue au Québec et dans une province de common law n’entraînera pas les mêmes conséquences juridiques et fiscales. Tant les étudiants, les professeurs que l’ensemble des contribuables canadiens doivent jongler avec cette particularité. La présente recherche vise dans un premier temps à faire une revue de littérature sur des thèmes portant sur les cycles de vie des particuliers (vie personnelle et famille, vie au travail, retraite, succession…) et à les documenter pour la mise en place d’une plate-forme pancanadienne bilingue et bijuridique.

Development of an Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm for the GHGSat high resolutionGreenhouse Gas Monitoring Satellite

GHGSat has built the first and only satellite that makes measurements of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at high . spatial resolution (< 50 m). Currently, the GHGSat data processing algorithm only retrieves GHG information from our atmospheric measurement data. However, the atmosphere also contains aerosols that complicate the accurate retrieval GHG concentrations. Developing an appropriate aerosol retrieval algorithm is a complex task that requires a dedicated research effort. If successful, it would significantly improve the accuracy of GHGSat's GHG retrievals and provide GHGSat with a new aerosol data product that could be of interest to industry.

Development of activated carbon from petroleum coke and electrolyte design for electrical double-layer supercapacitors – Part 3

Supercapacitors are electrochemical energy storage devices that promise fast charge-discharge rate, high power density, and long cycle life. However, low energy density, high cost, and safety risk of supercapacitors are yet to be addressed in order to deploy the technology into wholesale grid storage. This research project will design low-cost and high-performance electrode and electrolyte for supercapacitors. We will develop activated carbon from petroleum coke as the main component of electrode material, and design a novel high-voltage and safe electrolyte to improve the energy and power density and safety of supercapacitors. This project will help the industrial partner, Atlas Power Generation Inc., commercialize supercapacitor technology for grid scale applications.

Full-scale testing of a liquid cooling system for electric vehicle inverters

It is critical that on-board power electronic components of electric vehicle inverters operate within optimal temperature ranges. Failure to accomplish this results in overheating, oversizing and degradation of electronic components. Moreover, reduced efficiency and motor drive performance will have significant economical impacts on global automakers. This research will further contribute to developing a new thermal management system incorporating impinging-jet-based technology with liquid cooling, for improved heat transfer capabilities; a current prototype had been tested. This investigation will continue with a full-scale model and improved testing facility. A new method of supplying power, emulating electrical switches, will be implemented with the application of cartridge heaters and heater blocks. The objective is to fabricate the full-scale model and testing platform, conduct a comprehensive full-scale test and evaluate performance of the impinging-jet liquid cooling technology at various driving conditions. Favourable outcomes may lead to commercialization, enabling electric vehicles to operate with improved efficiency.

Controls on the formation and geometry of veins and vein arrays at the Tiriganiaq gold deposit, Meliadine project, Nunavut

The Tiriganiaq gold mine is the property of Agnico Eagle Mines ltd. and it represents the first active mining operation in the Meliadine district, Nunavut. This underground mine is hosted by metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Canadian shield and the geometry of the mineralized zones and related veins differ from the one of most gold deposits hosted by metamorphic rocks. Mining of a complex deposit in such an isolated arctic environment necessitates a good comprehension of ore zone geometry in order to optimise grade control and develop exploration models. The objective of the project is to develop a model for vein formation that explains the finite vein geometry, gold distribution and the overall geological context of the Tiriganiaq deposit, in order to define ore zone geometry at the local scale, but also to predict auriferous vein distribution.

A Framework to Assess the Seismic Resilience of Hospital Infrastructure in Metro Vancouver

Healthcare infrastructure plays a key role in the recovery of communities in a post-disaster scenario. In seismically active regions, such as western Canada, an understanding of the seismic performance of hospitals is essential to inform emergency management and effectively mitigate earthquake risk. This research project aims to develop new methodological approaches to integrate seismic risk assessments into the decision-making process of healthcare facilities management.

Energy Harvesting

The intern will research and develop an Energy Harvesting Device (EHD) prototype. This

device will be used to power a Cargo Security Device (CSD) as well as charge the battery for

the CSD. The reason for the battery is that the proposed EHD will not produce energy at all

times but the CSD needs to continually be powered. The CSD is a unique tracking device

used on large marine containers. The power requirements for the CSD are low but the device

must function for several years with little to no human interaction. The objective of the EHD is

to convert energy created by vibrations and shocks during the travel of the containers as well

as the energy created by varying temperatures during the day into electrical energy to power

the CSD. The device will be concealed and will allow the CSD developed by TekTrap to run

continuously for many years, possibly allowing it to function indefinitely.

Design et synthèse d’acides aminés biosourcés pour la préparation de nouveaux triterpènes fonctionnalisés et de peptides conjugués

Les végétaux demeurent de nos jours une source incontournable de molécules bioactives pour le développement d’agents thérapeutiques novateurs. Par contre, l’étude et l’utilisation des molécules d’origine végétale sont souvent limitées par leur manque de solubilité dans l’eau et leur faible biodisponibilité. Pour surmonter ces limitations, l’ajout de groupements polaires sur les molécules appelé dérivatisation est une approche attrayante pour améliorer les propriétés physico-chimiques et pharmacologiques des produits naturels. Dans ce projet, nous nous intéressons particulièrement à une famille de molécules présente dans l’écorce du bouleau à papier et appelée lupanes. Malgré leur énorme potentiel, la forte hydrophobicité et faible solubilité dans l’eau des lupanes limitent leur étude et utilisation. L’objectif du projet est donc de dérivatiser une famille de lupanes bioactifs avec des acides aminés pour améliorer leurs propriétés physico-chimiques ainsi que permettre leur utilisation dans différents tests d’activité biologique et intégration dans de petites protéines.

Localization, Monitoring, and Motion Coordination of Autonomous Indoor Service Robots

The proposed project will tackle the following inter-related research topics regarding localization, monitoring, and motion coordination of autonomous indoor service robots: (1) adaptive coverage-planning of arbitrary and uncertain non-convex indoor regions, (2) accurate and robust indoor localization of service robots using vision-based technologies, (3) deep learning based depth estimation and high-precision path-tracking control of service robots, (4) intelligent detection of certain robot system and environmental states. The tools to be used in devising solutions for these problems include geometric and graph theoretical optimal path planning algorithms, various sensor data fusion techniques, model-predictive optimal control, artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches including reinforcement learning. The goal is to produce solutions to the four general problem topics above and to apply these solutions to provide reliable autonomous motion of Avidbots robots cleaning semi-structured non-convex indoor areas, with precise on-line monitoring, maximal area and quality of the cleaning, guaranteed collision avoidance, without requiring frequent calibration and fine-tuning.

Mechanical characterization of Protein Interactions

During thhis project I will investigate the interactions responsible for maintaining functional protein networks in the basement membrane, a specialized tissue surrounding epithelial cells. By utilizing the recently developed centrifuge force microscope of the hosting research group I will investigate the strength and lifetime of the forces between head domains of the important protein in the basement membrane, collagen type IV. Such forces have not been measured so far and doing so could give insight into how these cellular support and filtration barriers achieve their biological function under pressure. The centrifuge force microscope is a single molecule manipulation tool that offers the advantage of investigating multiple individual interactions parallel, meaning instead of measuring only a handful of interactions per day compared to traditional manipulation tools thousands of interactions can be measured per day.

Intelligence artificielle appliquée pour l’analyse, l’optimisation et l’innovation (cohorte 2)

Ce projet vise à développer et approfondir les connaissances et techniques nécessaires à la mise en oeuvre des algorithmes d’intelligence artificielle sur des données issues du monde réel. En partenariat avec de multiples acteurs industriels de la grande région de Québec, la Faculté de Science et Génie de l’université Laval, au travers de ses étudiants à la maîtrise professionnelle en informatique – Intelligence artificielle, offre son expertise en recherche et développement pour encadrer la recherche et le développement nécessaire au déploiement d’algorithmes issus de l’intelligence artificielle aux nombreuses problématiques rencontrés par lesdits partenaires de ce projet. Par l’analyse automatique de flux vidéos, de texte, de données 3D, ou géoréférencées, et jusqu’à la la production de prédictions et de décisions pertinentes au domaine des partenaires, les étudiants participants à ce projet favoriseront l’innovation et la compétitivité de nos partenaires industriels.