Innovative Projects Realized

The role of digitalization and value chain management for competitive advantage in forest industry transformation to the bioeconomy – Year two

The forest industry is going through a transformation worldwide. Competitive limitations faced by companies starting with the newsprint demand decline have required process modernization and portfolio diversification. As a result, the forest biorefinery emerged – facilities for the production of biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials. The forest sector has adopted the biorefinery concept globally because it represents an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, diversify revenue and respond to the demand for sustainable bioproducts. As this concept grows, competitiveness in this highly uncertain market will grow. Bioproducts will replace or substitute petroleum-based commodities and specialty products. Digitalization and integration of supply chain (SC) technologies will be essential to achieve flexible and robust operations, and long-term competitiveness. This will be a challenging task requiring companies to be proactive, create opportunity through an early start, and invest heavily in innovation capacity to succeed. It is unclear however, how well the industry recognises the importance of data integration and SC management (SCM) for long-term competitiveness, and the approaches they plan to use. This project will identify how the forest industry plans to manage this issue, and develop a methodology to systematically mitigate SC risk, while helping biorefineries to emerge strengthened through SCM fundamentals.

The role of digitalization and value chain management for competitive advantage in forest industry transformation to the bioeconomy

The forest industry is going through a transformation worldwide. Competitive limitations faced by companies starting with the newsprint demand decline have required process modernization and portfolio diversification. As a result, the forest biorefinery emerged – facilities for the production of biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials. The forest sector has adopted the biorefinery concept globally because it represents an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, diversify revenue and respond to the demand for sustainable bioproducts. As this concept grows, competitiveness in this highly uncertain market will grow. Bioproducts will replace or substitute petroleum-based commodities and specialty products. Digitalization and integration of supply chain (SC) technologies will be essential to achieve flexible and robust operations, and long-term competitiveness. This will be a challenging task requiring companies to be proactive, create opportunity through an early start, and invest heavily in innovation capacity to succeed. It is unclear however, how well the industry recognises the importance of data integration and SC management (SCM) for long-term competitiveness, and the approaches they plan to use. This project will identify how the forest industry plans to manage this issue, and develop a methodology to systematically mitigate SC risk, while helping biorefineries to emerge strengthened through SCM fundamentals.

Interfacial Engineering of High Energy Density and Safe Solid-State Li Metal Batteries for Electric Vehicle Applications – Year two

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a key player in the growing need for electric vehicles (EVs). State-of-the-art LIBs, using liquid electrolytes, still have significant challenges in their safety, lifespan, and energy density. Accordingly, solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLBs) have recently been attracting increasing research and industrial attention due to their ability to overcome intrinsic disadvantages of flammable liquid electrolytes used in current LIBs. The objective of this proposed research is to engineer the electrode/solid-state electrolyte interface by atomic/molecular layer depositions (ALD/MLD) to achieve the safe and high-performance SSLBs. The project includes two main directions: (1) gradient interface engineering on cathode/sulfide-based SSEs; and (2) design of multi-protective layers for Li metal anode by ALD/MLD. GLABAT SOLID-STATE BATTERY INC. as an industrial partner will support and be involved in this project. The innovative research will help both GLABAT and Canada increase their global competitiveness and create new economic ventures.

Mixed-species forest plantation management in Panama

Traditionally, forest plantation management practices in Central America have revolved around clear-cut management and the use of a single, exotic tree species. While these practices simplify the management and planning of plantations, they often leave much to be desired when considering overall environmental impacts. The goal of this study is to determine how a tropical forest plantation can be transitioned into a multiple-species forest composed of native trees. Information on naturally occurring native species has been collected in a plantation located in Panama and will be used to form the basis of our projections. By analysing tree growth and yield data, modeling possible forest management scenarios, and determining potential monetary returns, this project aims to provide tropical forest landowners with the information they need to make an informed decision regarding more sustainable management options.

Interfacial Engineering of High Energy Density and Safe Solid-State Li Metal Batteries for Electric Vehicle Applications

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a key player in the growing need for electric vehicles (EVs). State-of-the-art LIBs, using liquid electrolytes, still have significant challenges in their safety, lifespan, and energy density. Accordingly, solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLBs) have recently been attracting increasing research and industrial attention due to their ability to overcome intrinsic disadvantages of flammable liquid electrolytes used in current LIBs. The objective of this proposed research is to engineer the electrode/solid-state electrolyte interface by atomic/molecular layer depositions (ALD/MLD) to achieve the safe and high-performance SSLBs. The project includes two main directions: (1) gradient interface engineering on cathode/sulfide-based SSEs; and (2) design of multi-protective layers for Li metal anode by ALD/MLD. GLABAT SOLID-STATE BATTERY INC. as an industrial partner will support and be involved in this project. The innovative research will help both GLABAT and Canada increase their global competitiveness and create new economic ventures.

Understanding Disengagement from Early Psychosis Intervention Services – Year two

While the effectiveness of early psychosis interventions (EPI) for young people with first-episode psychosis has been well-established, research suggests that almost one-third of patients disengage from services. Although lack of family involvement and substance use have arisen as consistent factors associated with EPI disengagement, many other factors remain unexplored. Furthermore, few studies have explored patient and family member perspectives on engagement. The proposed study will address this critical gap by investigating factors associated with disengagement from EPI services and eliciting patient- and family-reported facilitators and barriers to engagement. Expected results include the development and implementation of innovative strategies to keep young people engaged in services and an evaluation of these interventions. The CAMH Foundation is committed to supporting cutting-edge research and patient-centered services at CAMH and will benefit from a project that will increase access to CAMH’s EPI services, engage young people in treatment, and improve their potential for recovery. The fellow will lead analysis and knowledge translation efforts, including engaging knowledge users in using the results to develop interventions to improve EPI engagement.

Understanding Disengagement from Early Psychosis Intervention Services

While the effectiveness of early psychosis interventions (EPI) for young people with first-episode psychosis has been well-established, research suggests that almost one-third of patients disengage from services. Although lack of family involvement and substance use have arisen as consistent factors associated with EPI disengagement, many other factors remain unexplored. Furthermore, few studies have explored patient and family member perspectives on engagement. The proposed study will address this critical gap by investigating factors associated with disengagement from EPI services and eliciting patient- and family-reported facilitators and barriers to engagement. Expected results include the development and implementation of innovative strategies to keep young people engaged in services and an evaluation of these interventions. The CAMH Foundation is committed to supporting cutting-edge research and patient-centered services at CAMH and will benefit from a project that will increase access to CAMH’s EPI services, engage young people in treatment, and improve their potential for recovery. The fellow will lead analysis and knowledge translation efforts, including engaging knowledge users in using the results to develop interventions to improve EPI engagement.

The impacts of reducing antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota diversity of commercial broiler chickens

Public health concerns about the impact of antibiotic use on antimicrobial resistance has challenged the current use of antibiotics in broiler chicken. For this reason, the Chair in Poultry Research of the Université de Montréal led a large-scale project in the province of Quebec to study the impacts of antibiotic reduction strategies on broiler chickens’ health when compared to the conventional use of antibiotics in commercial farms. Intestinal content from 1008 broiler chickens was recovered to study the association between the microbiota and chickens’ health. Indeed, there are increasing evidences showing the intestinal microbiota being a complex organization interacting with its host and having a predominant role in health and diseases. The goal of this project is to study the impacts of reducing antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota diversity. It is expected to increase the current knowledge on the microbiota diversity in commercial broiler chicken farms and to have a better understanding of the role of the microbiota in intestinal diseases affecting broiler chickens

Compressed Air Energy Storage in Cased Wells

The project will adapt Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) to a cased well. CAES is a mature and proven energy storage technology, however it traditionally uses large salt caverns. By understanding the deformation of a wellbore due to pressure and hot air injection, one may be able to determine the operating range of the system. Cased wells are easy to deploy and decommission. They may be installed wherever is advantageous. They involve drilling a well and installing a high-grade steel casing into the wellbore. The depth of a single well can be anywhere from 500-1500 meters. By injecting air, one stores energy in the form of compressed air inside the well. When it is time to produce power, the air is sent through an expander which produces electricity.

Does the fetal short-term variability measure RMSSD reflect the fetal inflammatory status and can RMMSD be reliably recorded using a novel ultrasound fetal heart rate monitoring system

A certain number of newborn babies may suffer from infection. Many of such infections go

unnoticed but may have negative effects on child’s health. There is currently no satisfying

means to detect such babies early on. We have learned that using information contained in

fetal heart beats we might better predict if a yet unborn baby has an infection. This would

allow to intervene and prevent problems with baby’s health after birth. We would like to learn

more about how to acquire such information from fetal heart beats. We want to compare a

well established device to record fetal heart beats during labour to a new one that would

allow us to measure fetal heart beats in unborn babies. The partner organization would

benefit by being able to offer the new device for this new indication of monitoring fetal wellbeing,

a win-win situation for the patients and the company.

Study of the Latent Space in NLP: Mathematical Foundation and Application to Disentanglement

Recent progress on word and sentence embeddings has enabled efficient representation and learning of complex high dimensional probability distributions over rich text data. The proposed research aims at addressing some of the fundamental questions in this field: What are the natural mathematical structures on that latent spaces? How to find a meaningful basis? What is the best method of disentanglement for NLP? Through this collaboration, RBC Borealis AI will gain insights and knowledge of some fundamental ideas in machine learning and natural language processing, become familiar with state-of-the-art disentanglement and embedding models, and make improvements to their products such as news filtering, financial asset valuation, automated trading and personalized reward program

Transparency: Qualities and Technologies of Global Gemstone Trading

In the first decade of this century, diamonds and other conflict-laden gemstones spearheaded a global trend toward transparency. Despite the growing pervasiveness of transparency in business strategies, it remains an understudied social practice. Rather than assuming that the category of transparency is itself transparent, this research is an ethnographic investigation of transparency in the diamond sector. Part of a larger research project on transparency in the mineral sector led by my host Dr. Filipe Calvão (Graduate Institute of Development, Geneva) and my supervisor Dr. Lindsay Bell (Western University), my proposed research will have me working alongside mineral appraisers, evaluators and traders in Antwerp Belgium. I will use qualitative research strategies to identify how people in the gemstone industry learn to evaluate and standardize transparent stones, companies, and producing countries. I expect to co-author a peer—reviewed publication on transparency with my supervisor as a final output of the research.