Innovative Projects Realized

Detection of corroded tringles in Michelin tires

The research project entails finding a method to detect corroded steel wires used in the manufacturing of tires at Michelin in Bridgewater. This would be achieved using methods that are proven safe for humans and the environment. Also, the detection equipment will be integrated in the existing Michelin facilities in Bridgwater, NS, Canada.

Influence de la composition du sirop d’érable sur la cristallisation de ses sucres

Le sirop d’érable canadien est reconnu pour sa grande qualité. Depuis 2015, il est classé en quatre catégories selon sa couleur, au lieu de cinq auparavant. Il est consommé tel quel ou peut être transformé en produits, comme le beurre ou la tire d’érable. Ces produits requièrent un contrôle de la cristallisation du sucre dans le sirop. Ce projet vise à comprendre l’impact de la composition du sirop sur sa couleur et sur la fabrication des produits de l’érable. Les résultats permettront de prédire le type de produit à fabriquer en fonction du profil du sirop. Les retombées aideront de diversité l’offre canadienne de l’érable.

The virtual fitting of clothing to a custom avatar

The proposed research involves the development of software capable of fitting a piece of clothing to an avatar based upon customer measurements. The development would include the creation of avatar geometry from photographic information and the computer simulation of fabric based on physics. The project would also include interfacing with clothing merchants through the partner organization in order to obtain sample clothing data (material type and dimensions). For this project, the focus would be developing the software for t-shirts. Anticipated future projects would extend the software to other clothing articles and the graphical rendering of the simulated fit onto the avatar. The partner organization would benefit from obtaining software marketable to both the individual consumer and retail vendors for internet shopping. The software would reduce the occurrence on product returns which improves customer experience and reduces costs for the vendor.

Approximate Online Bilevel Optimization for Learning Data Augmentation

In this project we aim to automatically learn an augmenter network by using an approximate online bilevel optimization procedure. We plan to learn a augmenter network that generates a distribution of transformations that minimizes the loss on a validation set. By unfolding the gradients of the training loss, we will optimize the loss on validation with respect to the data augmentation parameters. In this way we can provide a general solution for an efficient and automatic data augmentation that is learned jointly with the training of the model. We expect that the proposed joint training to produce a classification performance comparable with standard data augmentation techniques, without the need of an expensive external validation loop on the hyper-parameters.

Understanding the impact of microfinance on women’s wellbeing: A case of Vietnam

The project is based on focus groups discussions to look at the impact of microfinance on women’s wellbeing in rural parts of Vietnam. This approach will support to evaluate the different ways through which economic burden associated to microfinance may affect women’s well-being and what are the initiatives involving financial institutions and advocates of women’s wellbeing that help women to overcome these burden. From this project, WEF hopes that the benefits of microfinance on women’s health will be evaluated and wide spread to other countries where WEF has partnership.

Impact sur le microbiote de fractions d’hydrolysat de semence de hareng et étude de l’écoefficience du procédé de fractionnement

Les procédés électromembranaires sont des technologies vertes de séparation par membranes utilisées dans les industries bioalimentaires pour purifier des molécules d’intérêt. Parmi ces procédés, l’utilisation de l’électrodialyse avec membrane de filtration (ÉDMF) a permis de démontrer, tout récemment, que la séparation d’hydrolysats de harengs permettait la modulation d’activités biologiques. L’objectif général de ce projet est donc d’étudier l’impact sur la flore intestinale de souris d’hydrolysats de semence de hareng et des fractions peptidiques provenant de ces hydrolysats et obtenues après séparation par ÉDMF, et d’en étudier les impacts environnementaux. Ces informations auront pour but non seulement d’augmenter la valeur ajoutée du ou des produits sources mais encore de générer de nouvelles fractions commercialisables.

Création et validation de l’Échelle d’attitude envers l’argent (EAEA)

Bien qu’il ne semble pas y avoir de consensus en ce qui concerne le concept d’attitude envers l’argent, la plupart des chercheurs s’intéressant au sujet considèrent qu’il « s’agit d’un construit psychologique stable qui est caractérisé par les significations que l’individu attribue à l’argent et qui conduit à des types de comportements à son égard » (Urbain, 2000, p.5). Or, relativement peu d’instruments de mesure ont été développés et validés afin de faire une évaluation juste de ce concept. En effet, la plupart de ces échelles n’auraient pas fait l’objet d’études scientifiques rigoureuses ou auraient été testées sur de très petits échantillons. Ainsi, le présent projet vise à pallier ce manque par le développement et la validation d’un questionnaire psychométrique mesurant l’attitude envers l’argent d’adultes francophones. Pour ce faire, l’équipe de recherche suivra une méthode structurée respectant les meilleures pratiques scientifiques et psychométriques.

Sustainable and robust energy systems for Indigenous remote communities in Canada’s Arctic

Threatened by local and global catastrophic effects of climate change, the Indigenous remote communities in Canada’s Arctic are now warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Along with other factors contributing to the rising temperature, this is also due to the continuous burning of fossils fuels for their energy needs. Specifically, diesel generators are the primary source of electricity and heat to over 50 communities in the Northern territories of Canada. It is reliable but it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other airborne pollutants that are harmful for the people and environment. It also elevates the risk of oil spills during fuel transport and storage. In addition, electricity prices in the North are significantly higher than the rest of the country due to the high-priced air shipping cost associated with delivering fuels. As a result, the government is financially burdened in subsidizing the expensive fuel prices. In an effort to reduce diesel dependence, this project will contribute to the energy solutions in the North by partnering with World Wildlife Fund – Canada and looking for alternative energy solutions encompassing energy conservation and management, waste-oil-to-heat technology and increasing renewable energy penetration.

Conception et analyse du cycle de vie d’un pont routier avec platelage en aluminium sur poutres en bois lamellé-collé

Ce projet de recherche vise à optimiser l’utilisation d’aluminium dans la conception de ponts routiers. Des recherches récentes montrent que l’aluminium pourrait présenter de nombreux avantages économiques grâce à son excellente durabilité, le peu d’entretien qu’il nécessite et son recyclage en fin de vie. Ces avantages seront tangibles dans la durée et non pas lors de la phase initiale de construction de ponts. En conséquence, une méthode d’analyse économique qui prendra en considération toutes les étapes du cycle de vie d’une structure (construction, entretien, fin de vie) sera développée pour estimer le coût total réel d’un pont conçu avec de l’aluminium en comparaison avec des ponts en bois et en béton.

Networks and Smart Sensors for Safety-Critical Avionics Applications

High channel count sensor and actuator devices are needed to tackle a growing number of

functions in aircrafts. With traditional avionics technology, connecting these devices results in bulky

wiring bundles. The stringent safety standard of avionic systems requires redundant installation of all

components on board, which further exacerbates the situation. Moreover, in new avionic systems,

communications between devices across different application domains are also needed, which

drastically increases information flow within the aircraft. Wiring bundles and demand for a much higher

communication bandwidth raise serious challenges requiring the development of new avionic data

buses.

This project tackles solutions to build new avionic systems being able to meet stringent

requirement in flight safety-critical operations, such as flight control. The research consists of three

complementary parts: 1) autonomous sensor (smart sensor) and actuator/network interfaces, 2)

safety-critical data buses, and 3) frequency selection for wireless communications on board aircraft.

Each of these main subjects must have an appropriate architecture to facilitate reliable

interconnection and interoperation.

Modeling of Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion in a Novel Toroidal Fluidized Bed

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology provides a promising avenue to reduce carbon emissions. CCS works by capturing and storing carbon dioxide preventing it from contributing to climate change. Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion (PCLC) is a promising next generation CCS technology that use a metal catalyst to react hydrocarbon fuels in an efficient way allowing for cheap and simple capture of carbon. PCLC has been shown at small scales to capture upwards of 90% of carbon dioxide emissions. This project will use computer modelling to help understand key parameters that influence the performance of PCLC. The modelling will focus on a unique reactor design to allow for better control of solids movement. A medium sized PCLC system will be built based on this work to provide a demonstration of this technology at increased scale. The results of this demonstration plant will provide confidence in PCLC for CCS in industrial applications.

A community-based ethnography on multiculturalism in practice in a Canadian context

The objective of this proposed research is to examine how multiculturalism is experienced and practised in community by women from different cultural backgrounds. Drawing on everyday life stories created by the study participants, we aim to obtain empirical knowledge about impacting factors that positively influence immigrant integration and resettlement experience. Such knowledge will contribute to the construction of effective multicultural communities. We will use an ethnographic approach to conducting research, including narrative life writing collection, interviewing, and ethnographic observation. The multiple sources of data will provide a firsthand account of the impact of growing diverse populations and of possible causes for social integration and/or exclusion. The findings of this study will contribute to making an important connection with on-the-ground realities experienced by community members and providing evidence for decision makers regarding effective resettlement and social integration services.