Innovative Projects Realized

Tracking the parasympathetic nervous system, emotions, and wellbeing in daily life.

Wearable body sensors are groundbreaking in that they allow for continuous and unobtrusive physiological measurements. The promise is that someday soon, smartphones will monitor our bodily state and thus prevent all kinds of wellbeing implications: acute physiological issues like stroke or heart attack; less acute but still serious illness, such as chronic illnesses caused by destructive behavioural patterns; and everyday psychological experiences such as stress and bad mood. But this is not yet a plug and play matter; simply attaching a heart rate sensor does not fulfill this dream. Physiological data is complex and the scientific validation of continuous real-life physiological measurements is still scarce. There’s a lot to be learned about how different physiological markers can be used to inform us about underlying physiological and psychological processes. The present study is a first step in a program aimed at exploring whether readings from a wearable sensor can be used to improve physical wellbeing by way of improving emotional regulation.

Integrating Constraint Programming Scheduling into an AI Planner

OPTIC is a state of the art piece of research software designed to allow computers to autonomously plan complex tasks, such as construction projects, rail timetables and other planning and scheduling tasks. Currently, OPTIC handles the scheduling process using a technique known as Mixed Integer Programming (MIP). In this project, the aim will be to integrate a new, alternative mechanism for performing the scheduling process, known as Constraint Programming (CP). With the help of expertise at the University of Toronto, this new approach will significantly improve on OPTIC’s ability to schedule certain types of problems, by hybridising the scheduling approach between MIP and CP techniques.

Data-driven modeling of the impact of Asphalt surfaces on the UHI phenomenon

the physics-based modeling of the impact of road pavement characteristics on UHI can be complex and inaccurate. On the other hand, advances in data science and machine learning along with the ever-increasing computational power offer data-driven modeling opportunities that are relatively easy to setup. In recent years, with the rise of the Internet of things (IoT) and embedded sensors, a large amount of road pavement construction data can be generated and collected. This represents an opportunity to develop accurate data-driven models relating various design/construction/operation parameters referring to asphalt construction and maintenance with UHI.
The general objective of this research is to enhance an understanding of the data capturing, analysis and processing techniques currently conducted at the Concordia University, in particular by the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering. With this in mind, by participating in this programme I seek to answer the following questions, as part of my PhD researcher project:

(1) Based on previous research projects conducted by the researchers Nassim Masoudifar and Amir Sharif, what are the best approaches to treat real-time streams of data? And,
(2) What is the best statistical approach to extract suitable features to represent the climatic characteristics of urban areas.

Terahertz imaging of a vortex beam generated from a printed vortex phase plate

Printable electronics is a new advanced manufacturing technology, which allows a low-cost and simple fabrication of optical devices. The production consists of three main steps: choosing the materials, printing, and sintering. At first, a metallic ink and a substrate must be chosen. The second step is a printing which could be realized even with a common printer from our home or office. In the last step, the sintering should be applied to make a conductive structure from a printed trace. We use an ink-jet printer to create an optical device in the form of a vortex phase plate (VPP). It is able to generate a vortex beam, such a tornado. This beam has a lot of potential applications for many fields, such as biomedical, optical tweezers for manipulation of particles, a high-resolution microscopy, and telecommunications. We designed and printed a set of VPPs and changed the conductivities by varying the parameters of the sintering. To analyze the strength of the vortex beam as a function of the printed ink conductivity, we have used a terahertz spectroscopy. This is a powerful well-known non-contact, non-destructive and highresolved technique to characterize the properties of materials. To be cont’d.

An Examination of Early Childhood Educators’ (ECEs) Knowledge, Self-Efficacy and Risk Tolerance for Outdoor Play Among Young Children in Childcare

Playing outdoors in exciting, risky activities has been shown to positively impact the health of children. However, children are often restricted from engaging in this type of play due to safety concerns. Educating adults who care for children about the importance of outdoor risky play is an important step to help improve children’s opportunities for outdoor play in childcare. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the success of a workshop, developed and delivered by the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, at improving early childhood educators’ knowledge of outdoor play, their confidence to promote outdoor play among children, and their everyday tolerance for risk in childcare. Any improvements noted after participating in the training will demonstrate success. The results will be used to inform future training for YMCA childcare staff to ensure that educators are knowledgeable and confident to support the implementation of outdoor risky play within their programs.

ADAJ- Pratiques juridiques controversées

La présente demande concerne le chantier de recherche sur les « Les pratiques juridiques controversées » :
Une partie des coûts de la justice est attribuable à des pratiques situées aux limites de la déontologie professionnelle : rapport collusoire entre praticiens, multiplication des dépenses douteuses, honoraires abusifs, exploitation de l’ignorance des justiciables, engagement dans des procédures qui auraient pu être évitées par un recours judiciaire à la Conférence de règlement amiable, introduction de procédures dans le cadre de dossiers dont les fondements en droit sont clairement faibles, etc. Des problèmes équivalents traversent sans doute la profession notariale.
Une étude sur les principales causes de dénonciation au Syndic du Barreau et de la Chambre des Notaires et sur leur issue, de même qu’une enquête menée auprès des praticiens permettra de compléter cet inventaire et conduira à une redéfinition des formations offertes en matière de déontologie professionnelle, particulièrement à la lueur du projet en cours de réforme du Code de déontologie des avocats.

Le chantier de recherche sur la « Les pratiques juridiques controversées » fait partie d’un grand projet de recherche en partenariat sur l’Accès au droit et à la justice (ADAJ) supporté par le Conseil de recherche en science humaines..TBC

Genomic and epigenetic research of childhood trauma.

Childhood Trauma (CT) is considered to be an important environmental risk factor for schizophrenia. Exposure to childhood trauma can cause immune system disorders, which affect the early development of the central nervous system and the susceptibility to schizophrenia. However, the mechanism of CT is unclear. Genes can be regulated through the activity of several noncoding RNA transcripts that act as fine-tuners and on-off switches of gene expression patterns. Among the noncoding RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been the most extensively studied. And human brain development is orchestrated by complex transcriptional programs, which are guided and reinforced by epigenetic modifications to DNA and histone proteins. DNA methylation is the most extensively studied epigenetic modification, having a key role in many important genomic regulatory processes. We aim to identify potential new molecular targets for antidepressant treatment and investigate epigenetic regulation of the earl-life environment.

Domaines géométallurgiques dans un gisement aurifère : le cas du dépôt Whale Tail, projet Amaruq, Nunavut – Volet 2

L’étude métallurgique est une étape essentielle de tout projet minier. Cette étape permet de concevoir un procédé afin d’extraire un métal d’intérêt (c.-à-d. l’or dans le cadre de ce projet) des roches. Ce procédé dépend des types de minéraux qui renferment l’or et tient compte des polluants que peuvent contenir ces minéraux. L’étude métallurgique s’appuie cependant sur une quantité limitée d’échantillons, ce qui ne permet pas d’adapter le procédé de récupération de l’or aux diverses parties d’un gisement. Ce projet se propose d’utiliser les abondantes données de forages acquises en amont de l’étude métallurgique afin de modéliser la variabilité minéralogique d’un gisement et d’ainsi définir des domaines géométallurgiques. Cette méthodologie permettra à la compagnie partenaire, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., d’adapter un procédé de récupération respectueux de l’environnement aux diverses parties du gisement Amaruq.

Favoriser le dialogue entre chercheurs et praticiens autour du développement d’une structure alternative de scolarisation (le Lab école Agora) au secteur de l’éducation des adultes

Le projet vise à soutenir l’action du comité de développement pour la création d’une structure alternative de scolarisation : le Lab école Agora. Le Lab école Agora repose sur la collaboration entre un organisme communautaire (l’organisme porteur du projet Déclic ) et un centre d’éducation pour adultes; il a pour mission d’offrir un enseignement adapté et divers services complémentaires (services psychosociaux, alimentaires, logement, défense des droits, etc.) à des jeunes raccrocheurs de 16 ans. Le comité de développement a pour objectif de réunir et de mettre en dialogue des chercheurs (savoirs scientifiques) et des praticiens (savoirs d’expérience) autour de la constitution du Lab école. Cet objectif se décline en deux objectifs spécifiques complémentaires. Le premier est de faciliter la démarche réflexive des acteurs (direction, enseignants, intervenants) à travers l’expérimentation, la recherche et la co-construction des pratiques qui favorisent le raccrochage scolaire de jeunes adultes. Le deuxième objectif spécifique est de renseigner le processus de création du Lab école; le comité de développement devenant une instance de production de savoir sur la création de la structure. L’articulation des deux niveaux se réalisera autour de la production et du partage de connaissances scientifiques, de la formation et du développement professionnel.

Human Body Capture and Prediction from Rehearsed Live Performances

We address the problem of 3D human body motion capture and prediction to be used in the context of a live music concert performances. The difficulty of capturing the motion of a performer in this context comes from the harsh environment in which it takes place that includes strong and varying lighting, smoke generators, and other visual pollution. The intern will develop novel technique for the capture and prediction of the motion of the performer, knowing that the performance has been rehearsed beforehand. The partner organization benefits from the expertise in computer animation research that has been conducted over the years at McGill University. This collaboration is also beneficial for the the intern and the university in that the partner has a great experience developing cutting-edge computer vision algorithms that are used in music concerts all over the world. They also provide all the necessary equipment to conduct this research.

Planning of Renewable Energy for Canada

The project intends to adopt a graphical technique called Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis (CEPA) to develop an energy planning model for Canada in renewable energy utilization. This project is driven by the commitment made by Canada in Copenhagen 2015, which is carbon reduction targets of 17%, 30% and 80% for the years of 2020, 2030 and 2050 respectively from the year 2005. Based on information published on CBC news, it is expected that the emission target for the year 2020 is very unlikely to be achieved, which suggest the needs for a more robust energy planning model for the following years in Canada to avoid further noncompliance in carbon reduction. The CEPA model has been adopted in many countries, including Ireland and China, which are the world leaders for renewable energy. By utilizing process integration and CEPA model, it is expected that the carbon reduction target of Canada in year 2030 and 2050 is achievable through the meticulous energy planning model in this project, developed based on various scenarios of renewable energy available in Canada.

Planification de personnel pour le commerce de détail

L’objectif de ce projet est de proposer des méthodes performantes pour la planification

d’horaires de personnel pour le commerce de détail. En effet, dans ce secteur hautement

concurrentiel où les marges bénéficiaires sont généralement faibles, la gestion efficace de la

force de travail à disposition peut générer des bénéfices notables. Ce problème consiste à

affecter à un ensemble d’employés des quarts de travail sur un horizon de planification est

respectant, par exemple, leurs qualifications, leurs disponibilités ou encore les règles issues

du code du travail et des conventions collectives. Si le projet envisagé est concluant, le

partenaire Omega Optimisation pourrait améliorer ses outils de planification de personnel

pour le commerce de détail, permettant ainsi à ses clients de réaliser d’importantes

économies opérationnelles.