Innovative Projects Realized

Développement d’outils pour le pilotage de la production fromagère artisanale du Québec à l’ère de l’industrie 4.0

La recherche proposée vise à améliorer le rendement des PME fromagères québécoises. Des modèles de pilotage et de valorisation des données d’exploitation seront développés pour la prise de décisions basés sur des données probantes en temps réel. Cette recherche permettra de développer un modèle d’exploitation des fromageries, commun et optimisé, qui inclura l’identification de différents indicateurs de performance (KPI) adaptés au secteur industriel fromager. Elle s’appuiera sur une analyse et une définition des éléments nécessaires au développement d’une plateforme de pilotage des exploitations fromagères. Un outil sera développé pour permettre l’échange et le traitement de données, pour le pilotage de la chaîne de valeur (comprenant la chaîne logistique pour les fromageries, les producteurs, et le transport), afin de maximiser la productivité, les profits, identifier l’impact des prises de décisions et en mesurer les impacts financiers

Optimizing meta-parameters for quantum machine learning

Variational quantum circuits allow to do machine learning on near-term quantum hardware. The success of the algorithms strongly depends on the choices made during the model design. These choices can be quantified and are called meta-parameters. Examples are the number and type of quantum gates in the circuit, the number of layers of circuit template, the choice of training data, the optimization algorithm, and the optimization strategy. Francisco will be studying these in the context of the compression and classification of quantum data and will try to propose a best practice. This research fits in a larger project about detecting quantum phase transitions in spin chains. The expected outcomes are twofold: we will advance the knowledge of efficent algorithms in quantum machine learning and we will gain understanding of the quantum phases encoded in the wave function of our test system.

Opportunities for climate change adaptation: comparative research on Indigenous fisher communities in the Canadian Arctic and Eastern Sri Lanka

The aim of the study is to examine the opportunities for adaptation to climate change in rural fisheries communities. Rural Indigenous fisher populations in particular have been identified as being uniquely sensitive to the effects of climate change, reflecting their often-close relationship to the environment and their dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods, culture, and well-being. This applies to both the Indigenous fisher populations of the ‘Inuit’ communities in the Canadian Arctic and the ‘Vedda’ communities in eastern Sri Lanka. Field data were collected from both locations using a series of face-to-face interviews and participant observation to understand how people experience and respond to climate change impacts. TO BE CONT’D

Modelling of Ecosystem Services Provided by Agriculture in Hungary

The aim of this project is to evaluate non-marketed ecosystem services that arise in Hungarian agriculture when producing market outputs by implementing and calibrating the Biome-BGCMuSo 4.0 ecosystem model adapted to the Hungarian setting (AgroMo), and by developing econometric models for evaluating the impact of rural development support schemes in facilitating the provision of environmental public goods and ecosystem services. Following an extensive review of theoretical and methodological literature in 2019, this multiannual project is modelling specific agricultural ecosystem services utilizing the various databases at Research Institute of Agricultural Economics (AKI’s) disposal and evaluating rural development measures relevant to the study. The visiting student will participate in filtering the database of agri-environmental measures and in preparing and running econometric models and scenarios. TO BE CONT’D

Evaluating dining improvements in Schlegel Villages

This project is focused on evaluating dining improvements being implemented by the partner organization, Schlegel Villages (SV). The first study involves one SV where the CHOICE+ Program is currently being piloted. CHOICE+ is a team-based approach to making physical and psychosocial improvement. The team is guided by Champions to make these changes over time; changes include small physical improvements (e.g. music), as well as education and training to support relationship-centred principles for dining. Interviews and questionnaires with residents, families and staff will be completed to determine their perceptions of these improvements. A second study will be conducted to compare the impact of blue and white dishware on resident food intake (the primary outcome). It is hypothesized that the darker colour dishes will provide greater contrast and will thus improve intake. Evaluation is timely for these initiatives as the partner organization and will support its scale and spread across 19 homes.

Noise estimation in real world video signals and its integration into noise reduction

The project is about removing noise from video signals, for example,

those taken by a professional cinema camera. In this project, we propose to develop a

commercially capable noise reduction framework based on one of our patents to noise

reduction. A commercial noise reduction is required to automatically recognize the type of

noise piesent in the input video signal. Then it should adapt the way the noise reduction is

done to this recognized type of noise. Also a noise reducer should work on both gray-scale

and color images and be capable to accept input image from different color spaces (for

example, RGB or YUV). Finally, a commercial noise reducer should be effective on images of

different numerical precision such as 8-bits or 16-bits. Our proposal outline how we plan to

achieve such a commercial noise reducer.

Visualization of lipid and protein deposition on contact lenses in a sophisticated in vitro eye-blink model

Contact lens discomfort is one of the primary reasons that cause people to stop wearing them. The discomfort may be due to the buildup of tear film components on the lenses during lens wear. The purpose of this project is to understand where most of the tear film components are depositing on the lens, such as the back or front of the lens. These findings will help researchers and companies develop better and more comfortable contact lens materials in the future.

Paper-Based Weather Resistant Membrane for Building Applications

Currently, petroleum-based water resistance membranes are used in the construction industry in order to create a barrier against water. These make recycling a challenge during building demolition, as well as create a significant carbon footprint of their own. The purpose of this project is to develop a paper-based water barrier to replace the petroleum-based alternatives. In partnership with FPInnovations, two postdoctoral scholars will develop and benchmark the technology, working both at UBC and FPInnovations in Vancouver and Pointe-Claire. One postdoc will focus on the water repellent barrier technology development while the other focuses on forming the paper basesheet with the physical properties necessary to be used as a weather membrane. FPInnovations, whose mission involves the use and valourization of forest products, benefits from this project by opening up a new use for paper – in the building envelope space.

WP 2.1.2: Advanced, Intelligent, Analytics Driven Apps for Software Defined and Functionally Virtualized Networks

Networks are moving towards being adaptive. This means that automation will be used to replace processes which are today highly manual. This project proposes a development of knowledge in the area of algorithms required to enable adaptive networks. The project will train two PhD students to understand optical networks and devise optimization algorithms in the areas of interest. In particular, the algorithms will be devised to be fast and near-optimal to enable their implementation in the network in accordance with operator’s goals of making the network near-optimal and adaptive. We anticipate that the algorithms will be implemented in the network and used to make 5G networks work near-optimality.

Living More with SMART Technology: Exploring the feasibility, usability, sustainability and scalability of SMART solutions to support increased quality of life in Continuing Care.

Older adults value autonomy and independence as key features of healthy aging. SMART technology has enormous potential to foster healthy aging and independence by combining elements of gerontology and rehabilitation with technology to create solutions for disability related to impairment and/or aging. The goal of Living More with SMART Technology (LivMoreSMARTech) is to support technology development and use that is transdisciplinary and ‘fit for purpose’ for improving the independence, functioning, wellbeing and quality of life of older adults in continuing care. Our aims are: 1) to understand the lived experience, needs and desires for well-being among older adults with complex conditions in continuing care; 2) to implement and evaluate off-the-shelf technology solutions, individually customized to maximize well-being, that are supported and sustainable; and 3) to understand how best to incorporate sustainable, person-centred technology solutions into long term care and continuing care settings that result in scalable outcomes including adoption into organizational policies, procedures, programs and care planning.

Oncology Nursing Training: Innovating for Quality of Care in Mumbai, India

Given the complex issues related to the Indian health care systems, the need for excellent nursing training and quality of care, the objectives of the proposed internship are to explore the contribution of simulation training to provide optimal oncology nursing care at the Prince Aly Khan Hospital (PAKH), Mumbai. The research activities will include : 1. A critical review of the literature in order to identify best practices guidelines of simulation nursing oncology training; 2. Individual and focus group interviews with health care (medical and nursing) experts in simulation training, in nursing training and in oncology care. Nursing Competencies Framework developed by the School of Nursing at the Université de Montréal will provide the backdrop for the integration of simulation and care competencies in oncology nursing. PAKH has been committed to carry out general simulation training for quality of nursing care on the one hand and oncology specific training on the other over the past few year. The proposed objectives will be directly anchored within these mandates for optimal oncology and general care.

Assessment of Climate Change-induced Geohazards for Ice-clad Canadian Volcanoes and Mountains

In Canada’s mountains, climate change is leading to the retreat of glaciers, permafrost thawing and accelerated snowmelt. These factors contribute to a significant increase in slope stability hazards and the risk of landslides, placing numerous communities and critical infrastructure at risk. Volcanoes are particularly vulnerable as they are commonly hydrothermally altered and weakened, thereby compounding the effects of climate change and further increasing the associated risk of collapse. Municipal, regional, provincial and federal agencies recognize the critical importance of effectively monitoring unstable slopes on ice-clad volcanoes and mountains in order to more effectively mitigate and respond to these potentially catastrophic hazards. By coupling satellite-based Earth Observation data with ground-based geological and geotechnical information, this project will help TRE Altamira develop a framework for a semi-automatic satellite monitoring service to monitor ice-clad volcanoes and mountains within the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt and ore broadly throughout the Pacific Northwest.