Innovative Projects Realized

W?SÁNE? Law and Governance: Marine and Terrestrial Management in the Southern Gulf Islands

The proposed research project will explore the question: How can existing mechanisms (National Marine Conservation Area Reserve (NMCAR), Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA), and Management Agreements with Parks Canada in the Southern Gulf Islands (GINPR)) be used to uphold Indigenous W?SÁNE? laws, governance structures, values, and responsibilities within W?SÁNE? territory? Exploring the benefits, limits, and processes for funding, establishment, and enforcement of these mechanisms will help the W?SÁNE? Leadership Council make informed decisions regarding the feasibility and potential negotiation of these agreements within W?SÁNE? territory. Importantly, the research will also help the W?SÁNE? Leadership Council asses how these processes might help further objectives of environmental stewardship and care within W?SÁNE? territory, as informed by W?SÁNE? laws, values, and worldview.

Investigating multi-task learning in semantic parsing

Current research in semantic parsing suffers from lack of annotated data, which is hard to acquire. In this project, we aim at tackling the problem of converting natural language utterances to SQL language (Text-to-SQL) on complex databases in a low-resource environment. More specifically, we focus on the research of how multi-task learning (MTL) can help in this task. We will first identify the related natural language processing (NLP) tasks that can contribute to improving the performance of semantic parsing. Additionally, we will explore the methods of bridging multiple NLP tasks, and justify by empirical results what are the better methods for knowledge transferring. We want to push the state-of-the-art on the existing benchmarks on semantic parsing, and eventually, we hope this project could result in a successful product. The product will then help RBC reduce the analysts’ workload so that they can provide better services. Furthermore, the potential publications in this domain would also contribute to the overall research leadership that Canada maintains in AI.

Climate volatility and its impact on baseline trends, natural variability, productivity, and disaster potential in the Canadian ecozones

This project is designed to assess both natural variability and the future change of forest productivity and natural disaster risks that are related to climate. These areas are important to study as climatic change is projected to impact northern latitudes more strongly and disasters, such as floods, droughts, and fires, are predicted to increasingly impact human populations and infrastructure. To assess these components, a combination of satellite remote sensing, in-situ and UAV data will be utilized in conjunction with large ensemble modelling.

Analysis of the cryptocurrency market microstructure: role of smart order routing

Over the recent years, cryptocurrencies have attracted tremendous amount of attention from both general public and professional investors as a new asset class. However, trading activities of cryptocurrencies are extremely fragmented and unregulated in most of countries around the world. The proposed research project aims to empirically study the microstructure of cryptocurrency exchanges in order to gain insight on what elements are needed to improve the market. In particular, the proposed research focuses on the potential role of smart order router (SOR). The proposed research project will work with CLTS, a Canadian start-up company working on building a platform to aggregate the fragmented cryptocurrency market for investors. The project focuses on potential improvements in market quality (e.g., depth, costs, liquidity, price discovery) that such an aggregation platform can bring into the current fragmented market. Overall, the proposed project aims to shed light on the role of smart order routing in both the market quality and regulatory perspective.

Development and evaluation of semi-passive biological water treatment processes for water impacted by resource extraction

One of the most vital challenges within the mining and oil sands industries is management of water impacted by resource extraction. Semi-passive biological treatment systems (PTSs) treat water close to the source of contamination and often prevent contamination from occurring in the first place, making them suitable options for management of water impacted by resource extraction. These biological treatment systems require minimal or no chemicals and energy input and minimal ongoing management and care. Therefore, semi-passive biological treatment systems are ideal for closure scenarios. However, current biological piloting-scale testing systems pose a great challenge for full-scale design of semi-passive biological treatment systems as the lack the ability to effectively operate on-site and incorporate multiple treatment steps.

Maven Water and Environment (Maven) is developing a modular biological piloting system technology (WaterMaven system) that can mitigate the existing challenges associated with current PTS piloting strategies and allow for integration of multiple treatment technologies. This research will be involved in the development and beta testing of the WaterMaven technology for treatment of impacted by the mining and oil sands industries.

Molecular signatures and predictive biomarkers for phenotyping allergic rhinitis responses

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is in inflammatory disease characterized by nasal symptoms. It affects 20-25% of Canadians and is recognized as the most common allergic disorder worldwide. Patients can experience one of several types of responses to allergen onset hence a key hurdle to developing effective treatment plans is accurate diagnosis. The allergic responses are characterized by an early response, with a subsequent late response in a subgroup of patients. Based on severity of nasal symptoms, patients can be stratified as early responders, protracted early responders or dual responders. Presently there is limited knowledge of the mechanisms underscoring the observed heterogeneity in allergic responses. This project will address this limitation by aiming to differentiate the types of AR using molecular differences in blood. This work will help lead to the development of diagnostic tools hence improving diagnosis and management of AR, furthering the mandates of our partner organization – PROOF Centre for Excellence.

Identification of a constitutive material model for an aircraft engine abradable rub strip material

This research project between the University of Windsor and Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) is focused on a porous composite material used by aircraft engine manufacturers in the design of fancases of turbofan engines. The objective of the project is two-fold and includes 1) experimentally investigating the behavior of the composite material at different loading conditions; and 2) identifying a model that can be used to represent this material in fan blade-off simulations. A major benefit to P&WC from having this material model will be increased accuracy of their full-engine numerical models in predicting the outcomes of fan blade-off events. Potentially, this will enable minimizing the number of physical tests required for new engines certification, thus providing multimillion-dollar cost avoidance and decreasing engine development costs and lead-time, allowing P&WC to be more competitive in the global market and deploy new products much faster.

Parallelization of an Industrial Optimization Application

Acculogic develops state-of-the-art testers for short-batch electronic circuit boards (ECBs). The order

in which the required tests are performed affects the amount of shuttle and probe movements required

between the tests, and this affects the overall efficiency of the test procedure. Unique characteristics of

the problem (e.g. the ability to move one set of probes to the next test location while another set of

probes is performing a test) make the problem too large and too complex to be solved with most

traditional combinatorial optimization and heuristic search techniques (e.g. integer programming and

genetic algorithms). Supporting the integration of both artificial intelligence-based and mathematicalbased

optimization techniques, a unique optimization architecture derived from “Asynchronous

Teams” has been developed. A parallel implementation of the new optimization process promises

significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, and these advances will be quickly

implemented into Acculogic’s product offerings.

Development and optimization of a food based delivery system for cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol

In early 2020, cannabis edibles will be introduced into the Canadian markets. Although these products will offer a safer alternative to smoking or vaping cannabis, they can still pose certain health risks to consumers and must be controlled for dosage and stability over the product’s entire shelf life. This research project centers on developing a method to introduce cannabis into food or beverages in a safe and stable manner. Many methods for suspending cannabis will be rigorously tested before the best technique, or combination of best techniques is chosen. The partner company will benefit from this research by receiving a tailor made formula to use in their cannabis containing food products and will have an opportunity to widen their research and development expertise. Likewise, the Canadian economy will benefit by solidifying Canada’s position as an expert in the field of cannabis research due to early adoption of cannabis legalization.

Internal Communication for Business Organizations

This project will explore the ways that businesses communicate internally, with their employees and other stakeholders. In order to determine what the current best practices are in terms of how to communication to employees, through which platforms or media, or using specific strategies, the intern will conduct a thorough review of academic and ‘grey’ literature (not quite academic and not quite popular, for example, business magazines). The intern will compile a report for the partner organization in order to help with their own internal communication best practices and product development. With the proliferation of communication technologies, and the amount of information available to employers and employees, understanding the best way to communication company goals, strategy, training, and more, to employees sets organizations apart from their competition, both for retaining skilled employees, and to best allow their employees to fulfill company goals in providing their products and services to customers and clients.

A Machine Learning based approach for Portfolio Allocation

The goal of this project is to create new algorithms and state-of-the-art methods for resource allocation in a financial context. This model can be applied to other domains, such as fleet and personnel management, scheduling of computer programs, manufacturing production control or controlling a mobile telecommunication network. Alpine Macro provides market insights, investment strategy and asset allocation recommendations supported by proprietary models, charts and data. This project will enhance Alpine’s repertoire of tools and techniques for supporting investment decisions.

Investigating commercial impact of applied research funding in NB (CONTINUED)

In an atmosphere of dwindling research funding availability, making sure that the limited money is wisely invested is of critical importance. In our study, we propose to investigate how applied research has been funded in NB over the last decade, and how this funding has impacted economic growths. This study will attempt to make a link between applied research and creation of start-ups and spinouts, with the objective to determine what kind of research funding, at what stage in the research continuum, has the greatest economic impact. This will directly benefit the NBIF and other funding agencies by allowing them to target their funding programs and thus maximising the benefit for New Brunswick.