Innovative Projects Realized

Optimization of Bull Semen Cryopreservation through Iterative and Rational Media Design

Cryopreserved (frozen) semen provides optimal genetics to cattle and especially dairy farmers, facilitating improved breeding programs. The sperm cryopreservation process significantly reduces fertility compared to fresh sperm. Each percent of reduced fertility amounts to a significant financial loss to farmers. Thus there is great pressure on semen providers to improve post thaw fertility, as it is a significant market decider. In order to be successfully cryopreserved, sperm must undergo a number of damaging processes. Many previous researchers have looked at specific processes individually, but we believe that all parts of the cryopreservation process must be considered in an interconnected whole. Therefore, we propose a novel whole-protocol optimization strategy combining novel biophysical research with a novel experimental optimization design. This will result in an improved sperm cryopreservation protocol for SEMEX, and improved understanding of sperm damage so that well designed follow-up studies can be implemented.

Understanding sharp-tailed grouse habitat selection and lek persistence to inform industrial siting and mitigation strategies

The sharp-tailed grouse is the provincial bird of Saskatchewan and a favourite upland game-bird for hunters. Sharp-tailed grouse are considered an indicator of grassland ecosystem health, and there is growing concern that populations are declining in Saskatchewan and elsewhere. Habitat loss, as a result of conversion of grassland habitat for agriculture and energy production, appears to be one of the major factors influencing grouse populations in Canada. To maintain healthy populations of sharp-tailed grouse, while balancing economically important energy production, it is imperative to develop an understanding of sharp-tailed grouse habitat selection and their response to construction of energy infrastructure. In particular, the selection of lek sites, seasonal dancing grounds that form the basis for grouse mating and nesting, is poorly understood. TO BE CONT’D

Embedding Project

The Embedding Project is a public-benefit research project that relies on strong social science research methods to bring together thoughtful sustainability intrapreneurs from across industries and around the world, and harnesses their collective knowledge to develop rigorous and practical guidance that benefits everyone. This internship will offer an MBA student the opportunity to gain experience in both practice and research, while learning from leaders in the field. The Intern will spend approximately 75% of their time implementing employment engagement initiatives at Quadreal, a global real estate management company, and 25% of their time documenting and translating their learned experiences in the form of a tool or resource that can then be made publically available to sustainability practitioners more generally.

Improving Human-centric Facility Management through Machine Learning Analysis and Visualization

Buildings represent up to 40% of primary energy consumption. To optimize that energy cost vs. the comfort of its occupants, Facility Management (FM) relies on data from sensors, and on automation, to increase efficiency. The majority of existing buildings however have limited automation, so it is up to Facility Managers to interpret and act upon the information resulting from the various building sensors. This is often difficult without the appropriate contextual information to guide and support decisions. This project aims at addressing this issue by using Machine Learning methods applied to FM data, and make the results more explicit for human users, by providing better informational context as well as the development and application of new data visualization techniques, and improve Facility Managers’ decision-making.

Open Health Initiative: The Pharmaceutical Pipeline

This is a documentary and web project that will focus on the pharmaceutical industry, specifically new

approaches that may enable better development and delivery of drugs to underserved populations. The

documentary and website will explore the major issues involved in the production of pharmaceuticals,

both in Canada and around the world. Specifically, the project will focus on clinical trials, marketing

strategies and the overall corporate philosophy of the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, it will seek

to clearly explain just why a new drug costs over $800 million to develop and bring to market. The

project will also look at how generics have changed the industry. Specific attention will be paid to

Canada’s role in providing generic drugs to Africa. Interns will assist in all aspects of research and….

Silicon Quantum Dot Trace Explosive Sensor

Development and testing of a trace explosive sensor based on silicon nanomaterials or quantum dots. The project will involve interaction and pilot testing with the RCMP and Transport Canada. The success of the project will enable Applied Quantum Materials to introduce a new product into the security marketplace and form a platform technology for the development of drug and chemical agent detection.

Effects of exotic invasion and terrestrial DOC on aquatic food web quality, and the body condition and Hg bioaccumulation of sportfish

The project will quantify spatial variation in food web quality associated with round goby / dreissenid mussel invasion and terrestrial dissolved organic carbon to understand how it may mediate the nutritional state (fatty acid content), body size, and Hg contaminant load of sportfish. We will work across existing spatial aquatic gradients in historical inorganic Hg sediment contamination, abundance of exotic round gobies and dreissenid mussels, and terrestrial DOC in the Upper St. Lawrence River. The Upper St. Lawrence River system has an economically-important sportfish industry, and we will provide insight into how the interplay of multiple stressors in this anthropogenically-impacted ecosystem plays out for contaminant loads and fitness of sportfish. TO BE CONT’D

Les facteurs influençant les décisions en matière de retraite ou demaintien en emploi des professionnels âgés de 50 ans : une étudedans le secteur de la finance et des assurances au Québec

Cette recherche nous permettra de comprendre ce qui motive et encourage les travailleurs âgés du secteur de la finance et des assurances à prolonger leur vie professionnelle. De plus, cette recherche s’inscrit dans la continuité d’une précédente recherche ayant été entreprise auprès d’employeurs du secteur de la finance et des assurances au Québec. Cette dernière a servi à récolter des données auprès de professionnels RH afin de connaître quelles pratiques de rémunération globale favorisant la rétention en emploi des professionnels âgés sont en place dansces organisations. Cette présente recherche permettra donc d’arrimer les deux collectes de données afin d’établir un portrait de ce qui se fait dans les organisations et d’explorer ce que les professionnels âgés du secteur privilégient dans la rémunération globale offerte par leur employeur pour leur rétention en emploi. Les conclusions de cette étude pourront contribuer à la croissance des entreprises du secteur de la finance, mais également à d’autres organisations aux prises avec une problématique de pénurie de talents et de vieillissement de leur maind’oeuvre.

Importance du frêne pour la biodiversité dans les forêts ripariennes sous influence du castor et de l’agrile du frêne

Depuis l’arrivée de l’agrile du frêne en Amérique du Nord, et plus particulièrement suite aux reportages sur les ravages de cet insecte exotique au niveau des arbres dans les villes, nous sommes plus vigileants lorsque les nouvelles traitent des frênes.
Une large proportion des gens connaissent néanmoins peu lesrôles écologiques des frênes, et il est vrai que les scientifiques ont beaucoup moins étudié ces essences que celles qui ont un caractère commercial plus évident.
Si les frênes dans les villes sont nombreux, ils sont aussi très présents dans les forêts feuillues du sud du Québec, et plus particulièrement dans les forêts situées en zone inondable.
Ce projet cherche à mieux comprendre l’importance des frênes dans ces milieux afin de mieux orienter ce qui devrait être entrepris afin de minimiser les impacts de leur disparition suite à l’attaque de l’agrile, car cet insecte fait désormais parti de notre environnement.
Sachant que les frênes sont aussi des essences prisées par le castor, on cherchera notamment à mieux cerner l’importance de ces essences pour cet animal, qui par son activité, soutient une riche diversité. On cherchera également à déterminer si les forêts dominées par les frênes en milieux riverains des cours d’eau abritent un biodiversité particulière.

Hardware Support and Heterogeneous Compilation for P4

Today’s data-center network services cover a broad spectrum that evolve rapidly which means that regularly new services need to be deployed in production networks in a timely manner. Using network programmability, a network programmer can write a precise specification of what the network behaviour should be, and this specification is translated by a compiler and executed on the hardware. The goal of the project is to allow this programmability to include automatically leveraging hardware to improve performance. The results of the project will help improve the partner’s competitiveness in this market.

L’impact des décisions prises pendant la conception architecturale sur le fonctionnement du bâtiment : Le cas de la Maison du développement durable à Montréal

L’impact du cadre bâti sur l’environnement est énorme : environ 40% de la consommation totale d’énergie et 30% des émissions de gaz à effet de serre proviennent de l’industrie de la construction. Alors que l’on essaie de remédier à cette situation en construisant des bâtiments plus performants et durables, il existe souvent un écart entre la performance anticipée de ces bâtiments et leur performance réelle après la construction. Conçue et construite entre 2014-2011, la Maison du développement durable à Montréal est considérée l’un des bâtiments les plus durables au Québec. Pourtant, comment savoir si le bâtiment fonctionne comme il devrait? Ce projet MITACS vise à effectuer une étude approfondie sur les aspects qualitatifs et fonctionnels de ce bâtiment emblématique. Les résultats aideront les professionnels et les entreprises à concentrer leurs efforts et leurs ressources sur les éléments essentiels à la conception des bâtiments performants.

Application of lean construction in small and medium-sized enterprises

Construction SMEs significantly contribute to Canada’s economy. Therefore high productivity within the SMEs is highly beneficial for the development of the country. Building constructions and renovations are everyday occurrences which involve the constant need to improve and readapt business practices to market forces and trends of globalization. Consumers and business owners face problemsduring each project that may result in delayed project delivery or extra cost spending. No one really likes this right? Research indicates that large construction firms have successfully incorporated lean construction elements in their processes. However, the application of lean elements in Construction SMEs is not particularly defined. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to bring relief to construction clients and business owners among SMEs through on-time project delivery and precise budget spending with little or no modifications, by application of lean construction principles which will increase the credibility of construction SMEs (case example Kinetic). This, in turn, would increase customer base through referrals, thus, resulting in long-term sustainability and profitability for the company. This project should serve as an example of the practical application of Lean philosophy within the construction SMEs and encourage several other SMEs in Canada to adopt it successfully.