Innovative Projects Realized

A Study on The Power of Storytelling to Persuade Suspects to Confession

Police interrogations of suspected offenders plays a pivotal role in criminal investigations and subsequent prosecutions. Unsurprisingly, the way police interrogate suspects has been the subject of much scrutiny as they sometimes lead to false confessions and incarcerations. Surprisingly, however, the effect that various techniques have on eliciting false confessions has not been the subject of much empirical testing. In the current study, the effect of the use of storytelling (e.g., stories of how others have confessed to the interrogator) on confession rate (i.e., admissions of guilt) will be examined. University students (N = 128) will be recruited for a study on problem solving ability, some will be invited to cheat on the task (making them guilty) and some will not (making them innocent). Later, the researcher will accuse all participants of cheating, but will tell the student a story about a previous cheating incident (where admission to the infraction was forgiven) for half of the participants, and will try to get the participant to admit to cheating and sign a written confession. “TO BE CONT’D”

Stage en robotique à l’université national de Colombie à Medellin

Le projet consiste à développer un robot fermier pour un système aéroponique. Le système devra être complètement autonome. Ainsi, il possédera différents capteurs qui devront être intégrés: caméra, capteur d’acidité, capteur de conductivité électrique dans l’eau, capteur d’humidité, etc. Grâce à ces informations, le robot devra se déplacer et effectuer différentes tâches: semence, transplantation, récolte, etc. En résumé, le but est de rendre un lit aéroponique complètement autonome de manière à ce que son propriétaire puisse suivre en temps réel sur une plateforme virtuelle l’état de ses plantes et qu’il n’ait à intervenir dans le processus que pour décider de la sorte de plante à cultiver et d’aller chercher le produit de la récolte.

Le projet comporte deux objectifs principaux. Dans un premier temps, il faudra concevoir, construire et programmer un robot mobile cartésien semi-autonome capable de répondre aux besoins d’une culture aéroponique, en utilisant des algorithmes de contrôle et une vision informatique. Dans un deuxième temps, le projet consiste à concevoir, construire et programmer d’un lit aéroponique ayant la capacité d’adapter le traitement des cultures en fonction des conditions spécifiées par le robot mobile cartésien.

“TO BE CONT’D”

Use and Awareness of Donor Advised Funds Style Structures in Australia

When making charitable contributions, there are several options for Canadians to consider beyond a cash donation to a charity. Well known structures include foundations, endowments, and life insurance policies. Less well known, but of increasing importance is the donor-advised fund (DAF) structure known in Australia as sub-funds. This is an account within a foundation, whereby the donor makes a contribution and immediately receives a receipt for tax purposes. As a separate step, the donor advises the foundation as to how the funds should be disbursed to operating charities. There are no account-specific disbursement requirements.
While DAFs have existed in Canada since 1952, until 2004, DAFs were relatively obscure and little used. Since 2004, Canada’s largest financial services firms have all either established their own or partnered with an existing foundation such that DAFs are now part of wealth management services for high net worth clients. Typically for DAFs affiliated with financial services, the investment advisor continues to manage the assets such that the donor receives the tax benefit without the investment advisor having to sacrifice the asset management fees.
“TO BE CONT’D”

Étude des vulnérabilités sanitaires aux évènements météorologiques extrêmes et élaboration de seuils d’alerte pour le Québec

La relation entre les variables météorologiques et la santé humaine, bien qu’abondamment étudiée, demeure difficile à préciser. Au Québec, les seuils d’alerte initialement développés pour la chaleur et mortalité toutes causes, doivent être adaptés pour d’autres impacts sanitaires spécifiques pouvant être liés à des phénomènes météorologiques comme le froid extrême, le verglas, ou encore les tempêtes. Par contre, avant de développer de nouveaux seuils, les relations entre les variables météorologiques et les maladies doivent d’abord être étudiées. Diverses méthodologies ont été appliquées dans la littérature pour définir ces relations et établir des seuils, mais ces dernières ont certaines lacunes et limitations méthodologiques. Elles doivent de plus être validées pour leur application dans le contexte québécois et canadien. L’objectif de cette étude est de raffiner l’élaboration de seuils météorologiques d’alertes sanitaires pour plusieurs situations d’extrême importance pour l’adaptation aux changements climatiques en santé, pour le Québec et le Canada.

Large Data Manipulation Research to Bolster the Canadian Insurance Industry and the Macro-Economy

Nuera has been acquiring customers and data for the past 3 years and is launching an internal initiative to mine the data to find insurance claims trends. The objective of this initiative will consist of analysis and reporting on our data sets to find trends that lead to claims frequency and severity, in an effort to reduce claims costs, and consumer insurance pricing as a result. We will also be identifying customer behaviors and how those behaviors contribute to insurance purchasing and claims.

Crawler Crane Load Distribution Beneath Timber Mats

The scope of this research is to develop new equations for the load distributions beneath timber mats from a crawler crane, for various types of soil, by using numerical software. This would enable industrials to accurately estimate the behavior of stresses in soils, in order to reduce the costs of ground preparation for cranes by using fewer layers of timber mats, or reducing the amount of remedial ground work that may be needed under current calculation methods.

The Canadian National DNA Databank: The International Context

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is a contributing member of the National DNA Data Bank Committee, which provides an annual report related to the operations regulating the National DNA Data Bank (NDDB). The NDDB holds genetic samples of individuals and is searched during the course of a criminal investigation when genetic evidence is found at the scene of a crime. The Committee is responsible for meeting and discussing issues related to the use of the NDDB by Canadian law enforcement.

The more samples that are held on the NDDB, the more useful the database becomes as an investigatory tool; however, it is important to ensure that collection practices are in line with legal and ethical norms and expectations. It is particularly important to balance the need for a maximum number of samples with the privacy concerns that are implicated in the collection and retention of genetic information…

A Multi-modality Detection And Volumetric Assessment Of Dental Caries.

The aim of this in vitro study is to explore demineralization detection abilities and conduct a volumetric assessment of caries in extracted teeth using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), ultrasound and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM), and x-rays imaging (micro CT). Sound and carious extracted human molars were collected under ethical approval at the Eastman Dental Institute (N>12). Four groups were created using ICDAS score 2 to 4 (incl. control). Following comparative analyses of the ranked ICDAS lesions, we identified unique SAM and OCT scattering markers which could be correlated to tooth histology. Following this, the methods for caries volumetric assessment based on the multi-modality imaging techniques have been examined. The calculated concordance coefficients between estimated volumes show a good correspondence. Finally, volumetric correlation between SAM & OCT scans and ICDAS were reviewed as a potential clinical diagnostic approach.
The optical and ultrasonic methods used in the study proved to be a possible alternative to ionizing radiation techniques used in current clinical settings. The further improvements in the experimental design will eliminate necessity of surface exposers so the OCT and ultrasound could be used as complementary technologies.

Researching Rochberg’s 50 Caprice Variations in New York

Doctoral candidate Yung-Yu Lin is hoping to visit New York to conduct a complete research on George Rochberg’s 50 Caprice Variations for solo violin with Professor Janette Tilley at Lehman College, the City University of New York (CUNY). 50 Caprice Variations draws on a vast array of historical stylistic references from the Baroque to the modern musical periods. Given that the piece is long, difficult to play, and less than 50 years old, a performance guide to assist violinists is a useful contribution to the pedagogical literature. However, there is little literature contributed to the field collaborating with the musicians who had worked with Rochberg during his lifetime. Lewis Kaplan, a renowned violinist who is currently teaching at the Juilliard School in New York, not only edited the work but also gave the first complete performance of it over radio station WBAI in New York in April 1970. Lin hopes to work closely with Prof. “TO BE CONT’D”

Development of electrospun micro/nano fibrous strain sensors with temperature sensing capabilities for wearable textile applications

Piezoresistive strain sensors respond to a mechanically induced deformation with a change in their electrical resistance. Large strain flexible strain sensors have been adopted for numerous applications including rehabilitation, health and sport performance monitoring as well as physiology and kinesiology applications. Although development of these flexible strain sensors has reached a level of maturity, design of a multifunctional strain sensor with temperature sensing capabilities and its integration with wearable textiles and electronics have still remained a challenge. In this project, a flexible strain sensor with high sensitivity and durability will be manufactured to be integrated within Myant’s knitted textiles while maintaining their already existing passive and active sensing features. A temperature sensing aspect will also be included in the device by using polymers with shape memory properties. For this purpose, an electrically conductive polymeric matrix will be fabricated to form a micro/nano fibrous flexible substrate.

Les caractéristiques des emprunteurs et leur influence sur le processus de défaut

Ultimement, suite au développement de modèles micro-économique de gestion intégrée des risques avec l’entreprise, l’objectif visé est d’intégrer à ces modèles les différents biais comportementaux et erreurs cognitives entretenus par les milléniaux au Québec via les résultats provenant de la littérature et les résultats empiriques de mon travail de maîtrise. La finalité est donc l’intégration pratique des modèles développés à la politique de gestion des risques de l’entreprise. Le but est de minimiser l’impact et optimiser la gestion des risques financiers. L’intégration des biais comportementaux est essentielle afin de bien comprendre les différentes décisions des emprunteurs et établir quels sont les comportements qui sont le plus à risque de se traduire par un défaut.

Analyste SEM chez Click & Mortar

Le projet consiste à optimiser les pratiques SEM et SEO de l’agence numérique Click & Mortar. Pour vulgariser les termes, SEM signifie le « Search Engine Marketing » et SEO le « Search Engine Organic ». Le SEM/SEO est le placement publicitaire en ligne sur les moteurs de recherche comme Google. Les placements publicitaires permettent aux entreprises de bénéficier d’un meilleur positionnement de leurs annonces sur les pages Google. La valeur ajoutée d’un meilleur positionnement est la notoriété de la publicité qui va ensuite influencer les utilisateurs interagir avec la marque et augmenter les bénéfices d’un client. L’optimisation des pratiques SEM et SEO de Click & Mortar permettront à l’agence d’offrir un service optimal à leurs clients. Avec un guide de pratique optimisé SEM, Click & Mortar pourront par la suite offrir des meilleurs résultats en termes de marketing électronique aux PME et autres entreprises du Québec.