Innovative Projects Realized

Generating realistic customer purchase baskets using Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN)

This project uses the purchase history data from loyalty member cards at the basket level (i.e., all items bought by a customer during a particular trip) for customers under the loyalty program of a chain drug store to develop a model that can generate a realistic future “customer shopping list” (i.e., customer baskets) using the novel machine learning technique of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN). Specifically, the goal of this project is to use the above data to build a simulator that would predict for a given customer, multiple possible future baskets of items during his/her next four trips (one trip per week) conditioned on the previous weeks’ baskets. This project has significant potential applications to allow retailers to better predict demand and revenue potential at individual customer level including better supply chain and inventory management as well as more personalized promotion planning.

A New High-Speed Warehousing Cable Robot: Prototyping, Evaluation and Commercialization

As consumer preferences shift from shopping at brick and mortar stores to on-line shopping, there is an increased need for warehouses to use automated systems that fill orders quickly and accurately. This research project will design a warehouse robot that is adaptable to different platform systems and shelving configurations, providing a lighter, faster, and more cost-effective warehousing system. Key competitive advantages to our partner, Dematic, include (1) orders filled 30% faster than current systems, (2) the flexibility to adjust the robot for different weight/capacity requirements, (3) a smaller footprint with higher storage density, and (4) lower capital, running and maintenance costs.

Conservation et gestion des habitats de nidification de la sauvagine et d’autres oiseaux aquatiques en lien avec les changements climatiques

La sauvagine et d’autres espèces d’oiseaux aquatiques tels le plongeon huart font partie de notre patrimoine naturel et rendent de nombreux services écologiques, notamment la chasse sportive, la récolte de subsistance par les collectivités nordiques, la production de duvet et le plaisir retiré de l’observation d’oiseaux. En revanche, quelques-unes d’entre elles, comme la grue du Canada, peuvent causer des contre-services écologiques, par exemple des dommages aux productions agricoles. Ironiquement, on sait très peu de choses des effets anticipés des changements climatiques sur ces espèces et des outils d’adaptation pouvant assurer la conservation de leur diversité et la durabilité des services écologiques qu’ils rendent. Ouranos, un consortium sur la climatologie et l’adaptation aux changements climatiques, s’associe à des chercheurs pour prévoir les effets des changements climatiques sur la sauvagine et développer des stratégies d’adaptation efficaces tant au point de vue environnemental que socio-économique

Detection of THC using aptamer technology

The biologically active component of cannabis is known as THC. Detection of this component can be used as an indicator of cannabis use. Current test methods are sensitive enough to accomplish this but they are tedious, time consuming, and require specialized equipment and especially trained personnel to carry out. There is a need for a rapid and simple test for the detection of THC. This project aims at exploring the use of short DNA fragments, called aptamers, for the detection of THC. For the industrial partner, this project may provide technology for the future development of a rapid test for THC with significant commercial value.

Évaluation de la rentabilité de la populiculture

La populiculture, ou culture du peuplier hybride, consiste en la plantation d’arbres à

croissance rapide, combinant des techniques agricoles et forestières. Même si le peuplier

hybride possède un potentiel de croissance inégalé au Québec, les investissements massifs

requis pour la mise en place d’une telle culture sèment un doute quant à la viabilité d’un tel

investissement. Ainsi, le principal frein au développement de la populiculture est l’incertitude

qui persiste au niveau de sa rentabilité. L’évaluation de la rentabilité de différents scénarios

de plantation de peupliers hybrides permettra d’identifier les conditions optimales de mise en

place de la populiculture en plus d’évaluer les différents risques financiers associés à la mise

en place de telles plantations. Nous évaluerons aussi la perception du milieu forestier sur la

rentabilité et le potentiel de développement d’une telle sylviculture à grande échelle au

Québec en consultant une panoplie d’experts sur le sujet.

Modeling and Measuring Insurance Risks Considering IFRS 17 Framework

The objective of the project is to design a model determining capital requirements associated with property and casualty insurance business lines for an insurer that is compliant with the new IFRS 17 framework (international accounting framework). Several subcomponents of the model will be developed such as a dynamic model embedding dependence for the evolution of incurred but not reported (IBNR) claims, a risk measurement component with risk measures and an allocation framework for capital requirements across the various business branches of the insurer.

Machine Learning Strategies in the Physical North American Power Markets

Machine learning techniques have been applied to the financial industry for some time. They have allowed large utilities and generators to better forecast their needs, and the prices they will pay, leading to a generally more efficient grid. However, very little research has been done that could benefit power marketers, who do not have a load to serve or a generating facility to manage.
The application of machine learning techniques has yielded great results in the financial industry. Due to their capacity to uncover non-linear relationships between large sets of variables, they seem like the perfect tool to better understand the electric grid and uncover trading strategies based on these discoveries.

Accelerating home energy retrofits – building the case for local improvement charges in Ontario municipalities

In 2012, changes to provincial legislation in Ontario provided municipalities with a new market-based tool to improve the energy and water efficiency of the existing building stock; the ‘local improvement charge’ (LIC) mechanism.
The City of Toronto was the first and remains the only Ontario municipality to use LICs to finance residential energy retrofits, starting in 2014 with the Home Energy Loan Program. Many other municipalities are interested. Indeed, one of the key priorities articulated in each of Vaughan, Newmarket and Markham’s Municipal Energy Plan (MEP) is the development of an energy efficiency retrofit program for residential buildings, supported through implementation of a Local Improvement Charge mechanism. However, a lack of clarity regarding the risks to the municipality in developing an LIC program for energy retrofits, particularly in a two-tier municipal government context, is seen as a barrier to program implementation. This project aims to determine the best approach to implement a coordinated LIC-based residential energy retrofit program in the context of an tiered governance framework such as exists with these York Region municipalities.

Smart Meter IOT: Security vs Privacy in a Heterogeneous IOT environment

Internet of Things (IOT) enabled communication devices have become a ubiquitous commodity in the smart metering solutions world for the purposes of “getting the data off the meter”. Many of these devices have little to no measurable security, aside from the infamous “security through obscurity” which we can no longer rely on, as the average individual has access to off-the-shelf “discovery” tools to infiltrate any such device within physical distance. Further exasperation of the problem lies in the general heterogeneity of the whole system (from smart meter, to communications module, to cloud delivery, to network server and eventually to the centralized head end system). Achieving a novel and strong security protocol throughout the transmission pipeline (and on the end device nodes), as well as maintaining privacy of the users/customers while achieving security and allowing for adequate maintenance within the pipeline are the main objectives of this research project. TO BE CONT’D

Europe’s Differing Perceptions of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The Belt Road Initiative is grand multinational project devised by China to advance globalization and barrier-free trade. Marketed as “The New Silk Road”, this initiative goes against traditionally muted foreign policy of the Communist Party of China and will serve to transform the entire face of Central Asia, Africa, and Europe. The project is unique as it has potential to be the world’s largest platform for regional collaboration, rivaling that of the Marshall Plan during the 1950s except twelve times bigger. Yet despite its huge potential for changing the course of international affairs, very little attention has been given to it within western academic and political fields. As such, this working paper specifically looks into the current economic, regional, and normative perceptions of the Belt and Road Initiative on the future of Europe. It performs a case-by-case analysis of France and Poland’s current political and academic understanding of these initiatives and will compare their interpretations of the perceived costs and benefits in relation to their independent state interests.

Efficient Design and Implementation of Concatenated Error-Correction Coding for High-Throughput Fiber-Optic Links

The project targets design and implementation of error-correction codes for high-throughput fiber-optic communication links. We focus on the error-correction encoding at the transmitter side as well as decoding at the receiver side considering the simplicity of implementation and low power consumption at both transmitter and receiver.

Valorization of surface enhanced pulp fibers into value-added products

Domtar Inc. is investigating potential value-added applications for an advanced fiber they produce, which is referred to as SEPF (surface enhanced pulp fiber). SEPF is a key platform material for the development of new value-added, bio-based products from existing pulp and paper manufacturing sites and their forest based supply chains. The main objective of this work is to use SEPF for the preparation of said value-added products, such as, for example, paper, paperboard, or fiber-reinforced plastics, among others. Ultimately this research will result in economic benefits for the industrial partner through expansion into existing or new markets. The Canadian pulp and paper industry as a whole can benefit from this research through the publication and presentation of the results of this work.