Innovative Projects Realized

Modification d’une embouteilleuse automatisée, amélioration de l’utilisation des ressources énergétiques et desrésidus d’une micro-brasserie

Les Brasseurs de la Mauricie est une micro brasserie qui existe depuis près de quatre ans. L’entreprise brasse

présentement sous licence à Laval chez AMB (Au Maître Brasseur). Cette année, l’entreprise procèdera à

l’installation d’une nouvelle brasserie dans le secteur industriel de Trois-Rivières. L’entreprise espère limiter au

maximum les investissements de départ afin de réduire les emprunts et permettre un remboursement plus

rapide de ces derniers. Elle veut aussi faire un choix judicieux lors de l’achat de leurs équipements de façon à

économiser de l’énergie à long terme lors de leur utilisation.

Partie 1 :

Cette partie consiste à apporter les modifications nécessaires à une embouteilleuse à bière usagée Meheen

(ancienne génération) afin de permettre une meilleure purge de CO2 et l’embouteillage des trois formats de

bouteille (341ml-500ml-750ml). Le projet permettrait à l’entreprise d’économiser un minimum de 25000$. De

plus, l’amélioration de la flexibilité de la machine permettrait de sauver temps et argent supplémentaire.

Partie 2 :

Cette partie vise à optimiser…..TOBECONTINUED

Automated Multi-Factor Medium Optimization of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion Using Design of Experiments

This project aims to support ExCellThera’s current clinical trial (ECT-001) to improve blood stem cell transplantation outcomes for patients suffering from a host of blood malignancies. A critical aspect of developing clinical therapies using stem cells involves accurate and robust control of stem cell behavior in controlled laboratory conditions. Cell growth conditions (media) should mimic the native environment of the cell of interest. With the correct media composition, blood stem cells will expand in number and can be directed to produce a functional cell type(s) of interest, such as antibody-producing B-cells or oxygen-carrying erythrocytes. The expansion and production of functional blood cells is a critical step to enhancing existing bone marrow transplants, and for developing new, targeted therapies. We anticipate that an engineered blood stem cell graft can be tuned to meet the clinical needs of specific diseases in a precise manner.

To optimize media composition, we propose developing a high-throughput, automated platform capable of preparing and analyzing large numbers of culture conditions in a programmable manner. This platform will allow us to identify, in an automated and efficient manner, significant positive conditions to expand blood stem cells, or produce specific cell types for therapeutic applications.

Understanding the impact of changes to blood donation deferral screening and criteria for men who have sex with men – Year two

Available evidence suggests that up to 71% of individuals will require blood or blood products at some point in their lives. To meet this demand, Canadian Blood Services estimates that approximately 100,000 new donors are required annually. However, current blood donation guidelines in Canada require a 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men (MSM) due to the elevated incidence of HIV in this population, guidelines many see as discriminatory. Given the the improvement in HIV testing technology in recent years, re-evaluation of these guidelines would optimize donor eligibility. The proposed project will examine attitudes to revised donation guidelines among the general population and blood users, using a bilingual, representative national survey and semi-structured interviews with blood users. This will provide a better understanding of how moving towards gender-blind, behaviour-based screening of potential donors, and the inclusion of sensitive questions in the screening questionnaire, may affect donation rates and therefore the sufficiency of blood and blood products in Canada. This research will allow the partner organization, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, who have been studying the issue for several years, to develop recommendations for Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec regarding screening and deferral criteria.

Understanding the impact of changes to blood donation deferral screening and criteria for men who have sex with men

Available evidence suggests that up to 71% of individuals will require blood or blood products at some point in their lives. To meet this demand, Canadian Blood Services estimates that approximately 100,000 new donors are required annually. However, current blood donation guidelines in Canada require a 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men (MSM) due to the elevated incidence of HIV in this population, guidelines many see as discriminatory. Given the the improvement in HIV testing technology in recent years, re-evaluation of these guidelines would optimize donor eligibility. The proposed project will examine attitudes to revised donation guidelines among the general population and blood users, using a bilingual, representative national survey and semi-structured interviews with blood users. This will provide a better understanding of how moving towards gender-blind, behaviour-based screening of potential donors, and the inclusion of sensitive questions in the screening questionnaire, may affect donation rates and therefore the sufficiency of blood and blood products in Canada. This research will allow the partner organization, the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health, who have been studying the issue for several years, to develop recommendations for Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec regarding screening and deferral criteria.

AccessiBelt – Car Seatbelt for Users with Limited Hand Dexterity

Our hand function can be affected by different diseases and disorders, such as arthritis and neurological injuries. Having limited hand function will immensely affect our life and will make everyday simple tasks challenging. There are about 1 million Canadians who reported struggling with daily activities due to this limitation. One task that is challenging for a person with limited hand function is buckling and unbuckling a car seatbelt. Car seatbelts are life-saving devices and are crucial for the protection of passengers in a car. Creating an accessible device such as AccessiBelt will allow individuals with limited hand function to easily and independently buckle and unbuckle their car seatbelt, and will thus improve their overall quality of life. Rick Hansen Institute aims to improve the life of individuals with spinal cord injuries, and partnering with them will contribute to this mission.

Design, testing and optimization of a new energy exchanger

More than 30% of the energy used in Canada is directed to control the indoor comfort

conditions and to provide an adequate supply of conditioned ventilation air for buildings. For

commercial buildings, 20 to 50% of the energy used may be used to condition outdoor

ventilation supply air to maintain comfort conditions. Using commercially available energy

wheels, heat and moisture exchange between the supply ventilation air and the exhaust air

can reclaim 80% of the waste energy in the exhaust air; however, it may be not cost effective

for retrofitting existing buildings because the supply and exhaust air ducts are not side-byside.

The purpose of this project is to design, test and optimize a new run-around,

membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) system for buildings that will transfer heat and

moisture between remote supply and exhaust ducts. This novel RAMEE system is expected

to be cost effective in both new and retrofit applications.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing System For 5G Wireless Devices – Year two

Over the air (OTA) test is the standard procedure for wireless devices to verify the transceiver and antennas performance together in specified conditions. Any wireless device such as tablets, phones and laptop must go under OTA testing. Furthermore, regulatory organizations require OTA testing before the wireless device being certified.
Due to the time-consuming procedure of OTA testing, currently manufacturers and vendors limit themselves to a small sample of devices for testing. However, in 5G, the next wireless revolution, that needs 10-20 times more transceiver path than 4G, the OTA testing for sample products is not sufficient and each device has to be tested.
This project focuses on solutions for testing these devices with a proprietary mass production compatible OTA techniques.
DVTest company is extremely interested in the viability of these technologies because it opens up product development opportunities in the growing 5G marketplace and PCB fault detection.

Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing System For 5G Wireless Devices

Over the air (OTA) test is the standard procedure for wireless devices to verify the transceiver and antennas performance together in specified conditions. Any wireless device such as tablets, phones and laptop must go under OTA testing. Furthermore, regulatory organizations require OTA testing before the wireless device being certified.
Due to the time-consuming procedure of OTA testing, currently manufacturers and vendors limit themselves to a small sample of devices for testing. However, in 5G, the next wireless revolution, that needs 10-20 times more transceiver path than 4G, the OTA testing for sample products is not sufficient and each device has to be tested.
This project focuses on solutions for testing these devices with a proprietary mass production compatible OTA techniques.
DVTest company is extremely interested in the viability of these technologies because it opens up product development opportunities in the growing 5G marketplace and PCB fault detection.

Development of a highly accurate machine learning algorithm constrained by well-log data and its application in Lithological classification

The drilling success rate is the most important goal for any oil/gas company. For a start-up company, any failure in drilling will be a disaster. To this end, the Petro-Lin Energy Corp. wishes that through the combination of mature hydrocarbon prediction techniques and new research results such as machine learning, the success rate of hydrocarbon prediction, the theoretical basis for well placement can be provided in Roncott oil-field, which will improve the success rate in drilling. The University of Calgary is one of Canada’s top research institutes, especially in the areas of exploration geophysics, seismic data processing and petroleum engineering. On the other hand, Petro-Lin Energy Corp. will collaborate with researchers from University of Calgary to access the most up-to-date research results and the most advanced technology available in precise well placement, so that the drilling success rate can be improved to reduced drilling cost and environment impact, and it can effectively save the partner’s research cost. In addition, through the two-year project, the intern will receive hands-on industry problem and other training activities.

Effects of a Virtual Reality Exercise Program on Sleep Quality in Assisted Living Residents

Older adults are the largest growing segment of the Canadian population. Almost 40% of men and 59% of women aged 65 to 79 years experience sleep disturbances. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as educational programs and exercise, can improve quality of life of older individuals by enhancing sleep quality. Although strong evidence suggests that virtual reality (VR) programs are effective for improving mood, memory, and cognitive performance, little is known about the effect of VR exercises on sleep quality. This project aims to (i) understand the association between sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and function capacity in assisted living residents and (ii) quantify the effects of a VR exercise program on the treatment of sleep disorders. Sleep quality, quality of life, cognitive performance, and functional capacity will be assessed before and after a VR exercise program through subjective (questionnaires) and objective (wearable devices) instruments. The expected benefits of this project to the partner organization are the increase in quality of life of assisted living residents and the decrease in operational costs associated with sleep medication and staffing. For instance, a previous study has shown that a non-pharmacological intervention was efficient in decreasing by 29% the costs of sedative prescriptions.

How does starch content in starter impact calf gastrointestinal health and development during weaning?

There are gaps in our knowledge concerning calf nutrition when producers feed high amounts of milk to calves along with starter feeds differing in nutrient composition. Mainly, how these calf diets alter lower gut development and health during the pre- and post-weaning periods. This research will utilize pre-weaning calves to assess the effects of diets differing in milk replacer nutrition as well as starch/fiber content in starter on gastrointestinal function and structure as well as overall calf growth. The partner organization will benefit from this research by gaining valuable knowledge on calf nutrition that will be able to be implemented in their own business helping dairy producers.

Amélioration de la gestion des coûts avec le BIM 5D dans une entreprise intégrée verticalement

Ce projet de recherche est effectué chez le Groupe Dallaire en partenariat avec BIMOne, entreprise spécialisée dans le développement du BIM. Depuis quelques années, le Groupe Dallaire a entrepris l’intégration du BIM dans la gestion de ses projets. L’entreprise souhaite réaliser une transformation numérique rapide en interne, ce qui impose de rapidement mener des actions et des innovations. Le but de ce projet de recherche est d’améliorer la gestion des coûts avec le BIM 5D pour une entreprise avec une intégration verticale. Malgré l’existance à l’heure actuelle de nouveaux outils permettant d’améliorer et d’optimiser la gestion des coûts, un des problèmes majeurs commun dans tous les projets de construction reste les dépassements de coûts. Le développement de la modélisation des données du bâtiment (BIM)a permis l’amélioration des extractions de quantités depuis les maquettes, offrant ainsi une simulation efficace des coûts, tout au long du cycle de l’ouvrage.