Innovative Projects Realized

Understanding and Reducing Community-Based Personal Support Workers’ Risk of Occupational Injury

Personal Support Workers (PSWs) provide 70-80% of all paid home care. Unfortunately, community-based PSWs experience occupational injuries at more than twice the rate of the general population. This internship centres on three complementary studies to improve our understanding of why these injuries happen and how they might be prevented:
1) An 18-month study of 930 community-based PSWs to build a risk factor model that relates their risk of pain and injury to daily client care activities, working organizational/social environment and personal circumstances.
2) Direct measurements of physical risk factors for back injury as PSWs assist clients with activities that are known to be stressful (e.g. bathing, transferring).
3) Workshops and interviews with stakeholders in the home care sector (workers, schedulers, management, ergonomists, policy makers, etc) to identify promising avenues for developing interventions to reduce injury.
Collectively, these projects will make a substantial contribution to understanding how to prevent PSW injuries.

Finite Element and Probabilistic-Based Analysis of Dents in Pipelines

Pipelines are a common means to transport oil, gas, and other petroleum products used by citizens in everyday life. Permanent inward deformations, called dents, can develop along a pipeline, most of which are not a safety concern. The objective of the project is to develop the processes used to accurately assess the safety of different types of dents. Maintaining pipeline integrity is of utmost importance to protect the environment and the community. The results of this project will allow pipeline companies, such as Enbridge, to improve the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the transportation of important resources.

Tuning in to emotions of non-communicative persons

Many individuals who have severe disabilities or who have suffered traumatic injury are unable to move or speak, and hence, unable to communicate with their family and caregivers. The physiological systems of these individuals are typically functional and can change to reflect the unexpressed mental and emotional states of these otherwise non-communicative persons. In this project, we will design an exhibit which will collect data to generate an emotion classifier using changes in autonomic nervous system signals patterns. In the new “Mes émotions sont à fleur de peau” exhibit, the Montreal Science Center will have the opportunity to present ‘biomusic’ – a novel technology that converts physiological signals into musical output. The data gathered will be mined to generate a user-independent emotion classification system, which in turn will be applied for communication with some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

New Generation of Precast Sandwich Walls Using Ultra-High Performance (UHPC) Concrete and Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Connectors

Precast concrete sandwich panels are commonly used as architectural or structural walls. A typical concrete panel is made of two normal strength concrete wythes and a layer of a rigid insulation sandwiched in between. The purpose of this research is to design and experimentally validate a new generation of precast sandwich panels that are much lighter in weight by using a special ultra-high strength concrete, leading to only 25 mm thick wythes. This will lead to significant savings in shipping, handling and installation costs. Also, a more structurally efficient wall will be developed by introducing a new system that connects the two concrete wythes, enabling them to work together more effectively. For this, noncorrosive basalt and glass fiber ties and studs will be used to connect the wythes together because of their very low thermal conductivity, leading to a more thermally-efficient wall.

Terrain Sensing Mechanisms for High-Speed Navigation of UGVs in Heterogeneous Ground Environments

This project will develop and test mechanisms for high speed navigation and path planning in unknown (or semi known) heterogeneous rough terrains applicable to autonomous ground vehicles. The developments will solve problems in a number of areas including border patrol and infrastructure security.

The intern will work on and implement mechanisms for fast sensor data processing allowing high speed motion. The intern will spend 50% of his/her time performing his/her work at Mechatroniq in Calgary while the other 50% will be spent in the Autonomous Reconfigurable Robotics Robotic Systems (AR2S) research lab at the Univ. of Calgary. The partner organization will be able to demonstrate its capabilities by implementing and testing solutions using their knowhow while implementing a number of R&D formal aspects that will be developed at the AR2S research laboratory.

Évaluation de différentes biomasses pour l’élevage pilote de larves de mouches

Le projet consiste à produire, à partir de résidus organiques, des larves d’insectes pour la transformation en farines riches en protéines et en lipides, destinées à l’alimentation des animaux d’élevage. L’efficacité de la production de larves d’insectes selon différents types d’alimentation (mélanges composés de différentes proportions de résidus d’épicerie et de drèches de microbrasserie) sera comparée. La stagiaire participera à la réalisation, au suivi de la production en serres, à la prise de données, à l’analyse et à l’interprétation des résultats. Sa participation permettra au CDBQ de mener à terme le projet. Par conséquent, la productivité de deux types de mouches sera évaluée, de même que l’efficacité de la chaîne de production et la composition nutritionnelle des larves produites. Ce projet d’élevage pilote de larves de mouches sera documenté et contribuera au développement de l’expertise du Centre de Développement Bioalimentaire du Québec dans ce domaine innovateur.

Scalability of a low-polluting semi-gasifiercookstove and fuel intervention in theTibetan Plateau

Almost half of the world’s population cooks with highly polluting stoves and household air pollution (HAP) is one of the leading environmental risks for global health. Current efforts to reduce HAP have focused on improved cook stove and/or fuel interventions. However, most previous stove interventions failed to achieve reductions in air pollution exposures due to a combination of technological, affordability, and behavioural problems.
Our research will evaluate the scalability of low-polluting stove and processed biomass fuel intervention in the Tibetan Plateau, China. The specific research aims are as follows:
1. Quantify stove adoption, sustained use, and intensity of use
2. Evaluate individual and households factors that impact stove adoption and use
3. Measure the impact of different cooking patterns on household pollution
Improving our understanding of the scalability of stove-fuel interventions is important for policy and planning of scaling up these interventions at a regional-level in China and aboard.

Modélisation de la diversité végétale des marécages à l’aide d’inventaires de terrain et de la télédétection

Les milieux humides sont des écosystèmes particulièrement fragiles aux activités anthropiques et qui abritent une importante biodiversité. La mise en place de stratégies régionales de conservation reste limitée par la disponibilité de l’information quand à la répartition des espèces au sein des sites. L’objectif du projet est de développer des modèles prédictifs de la diversité des marécages pour le territoire de la ville de Québec. La composition végétale d’un échantillon de marécages sera caractérisée, puis les espèces seront mises en relation avec des paramètres identifiés par télédétection. Les modèles ainsi obtenus permettront de prédire la diversité dans les marécages non échantillonnées et de produire des cartes de répartition des espèces. Ces données seront utiles pour planifier la conservation des milieux humides de la ville de Québec afin d’optimiser la protection de leur diversité végétale.

Informing the Conservation and Management of Pacific Herring on Canada’s West Coast

The complexity of movement and behaviour in Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) stocks targeted by commercial and indigenous fisheries in BC is poorly understood and often discounted in fisheries management policies, possibly contributing to recent stock declines. We propose to inform spatial management strategies for herring on the central coast of BC with (I) local knowledge from commercial and indigenous fishers, (II) a field survey that will compare coastal areas with differing management strategies and (III) a field experiment that will quantify affects from recently observed shifts in spawning behaviour. We expect our results will reveal recent changes in spawning behaviour and will inform improved management strategies that better reflect fish and fleet spatial dynamics. Understanding local spatial dynamics and their consequences will contribute to a scientifically and locally informed herring management plan for our partner organization, and will advance our understanding of the factors that affect the productivity and resilience of herring populations on Canada’s west coast.

Budget impact analysis of Rapid Endovascular Treatment of Ischemic Stroke

The return on investment for medical imaging, interventional radiology, is not well understood, with limited existing research on the value realised from the funds spent. It is expected that the Hot Stroke Intervention by interventional radiologists will not only add direct value to the health care system but will have far reaching and significant impact on the Canadian economy. According to the Canadian Heart & Stroke, an estimated 62,000 strokes occur in Canada each year – one every nine minutes. More than 400,000 Canadians are living with long-term disability from stroke. In the next two decades, the number of people living with long-term stroke disability will increase by 80 per cent to 726,000. Currently, based on 2014-15 figures, stroke costs the Canadian economy $3.6 billion a year in physician services, hospital costs, lost wages and decreased productivity. Early anecdotal clinical results in hot stroke management are promising with examples of patients whose lives are typically altered forever are now walking of hospital within a couple of days with minimal to no neurological deficit. The potential economic impact at the local, provincial and national level is staggering. TO BE CONT’D

Comprendre et valoriser l’écosystème de la créativité numérique à Montréal : un levier pour le développement local et le rayonnement international de la métropole

Le projet de recherche partenariale vise la réalisation d’une étude de l’écosystème de la créativité numérique montréalaise pour le Printemps numérique. Cette recherche permettra d’identifier les acteurs du milieu des arts, de l’industrie et de la recherche, de comprendre leurs dynamiques organisationnelles, de dégager les enjeux principaux de développement, et de cibler des partenariats. L’étude contribuera à déterminer plusieurs pistes d’actions à entreprendre dans le but de renforcer le positionnement de Montréal comme capitale mondiale de la créativité numérique. Le Printemps numérique est un événement récurrent qui se tient annuellement à Montréal, du 21 mars au 21 juin. Il est veut une vitrine et un lieu de collaboration entre les artistes, les entreprises, la communauté scientifique et le milieu de la formation. Fruit d’un effort collectif, le Printemps numérique favorise l’essor local, national et international des créateurs, des producteurs et des diffuseurs montréalais.

Volunteer Retention and Engagement in the Boys & Girls Clubs and Big Brothers Big Sisters Edmonton (BCGBigs)

Boys & Girls Clubs and Big Brothers Big Sisters (BGCBigs) are non-profit organizations in communities across Canada and the USA, with the largest Canadian chapter in Edmonton, Alberta. These organizations deliver programming to support the physical, emotional, academic and overall wellness of children and youth, including mentorship programs and the provision of safe places for children after and during school. BGCBigs would not be able to deliver programming without a strong volunteer base. The Edmonton chapter has over 3,000 active volunteers, compared to 100 paid staff members. These numbers speak to the need for a large, active and engaged volunteer base. Recently, the withdrawal rate for volunteers has been increasing, largely before volunteers complete the intake and screening process. Anecdotally, volunteers cite lack of time as the reason for discontinuing. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, this project will deliver a more robust understanding of volunteer withdrawal, and will find ways to better engage and maintain volunteers.