Innovative Projects Realized

Surveillance en temps réel des infrastructures avec capteurs quantiques et IoT pour un transport durable

Ce projet combine les capteurs quantiques et l’Internet des objets (IoT) pour améliorer la surveillance des infrastructures de transport, telles que les ponts et les routes. Face au vieillissement des infrastructures et aux défis climatiques, les capteurs quantiques offrent une précision exceptionnelle pour détecter des phénomènes invisibles comme la corrosion et les variations de température. Intégrés dans un réseau IoT, ces capteurs permettent de collecter des données en temps réel et d’analyser l’état des structures, facilitant ainsi une détection précoce des défaillances potentielles et une gestion proactive de la maintenance.

Le projet repose sur des recherches antérieures ayant démontré la supériorité des capteurs quantiques par rapport aux technologies classiques. Grâce à ces capteurs, il sera possible de prolonger la durée de vie des infrastructures, de réduire les coûts de maintenance et d’améliorer la sécurité publique en évitant des défaillances catastrophiques. Ce système innovant pourrait positionner le Canada en tant que leader mondial dans l’utilisation des technologies de pointe pour la gestion des infrastructures critiques, tout en ouvrant des perspectives de collaborations internationales. L’impact global de ce projet contribuera à une gestion plus durable et efficace des réseaux de transport.

Surveillance en temps réel des infrastructures avec capteurs quantiques et IoT pour un transport durable

Ce projet révolutionnaire intègre les capteurs quantiques et l’Internet des objets (IoT) pour optimiser la surveillance des infrastructures de transport, notamment les ponts et les routes. Dans un contexte de vieillissement des infrastructures et de pressions climatiques croissantes, les capteurs quantiques se distinguent par leur capacité à détecter des phénomènes invisibles aux technologies classiques, comme la corrosion interne, les microfissures ou les variations subtiles de température. Connectés à un réseau IoT, ces capteurs collectent des données en temps réel, permettant une analyse approfondie de l’état des structures et une maintenance proactive ciblée.

En s’appuyant sur des recherches prouvant la supériorité des capteurs quantiques, ce projet vise à prolonger la durée de vie des infrastructures, réduire les coûts de maintenance et améliorer la sécurité publique en évitant les défaillances soudaines. Cette technologie offre également des opportunités d’innovation, comme la gestion adaptative du trafic ou la priorisation des investissements en fonction de données objectives.

Ce système novateur place le Canada à l’avant-garde de la gestion des infrastructures critiques, renforçant sa position sur la scène internationale. En combinant modélisation théorique, prototypes et tests sur site, le projet établit un nouveau standard pour une gestion durable et efficace des réseaux de transport.

Nitrous oxide emissions monitoring and remediation approaches during wastewater treatment using partial denitrification anammox process

Wastewater treatment plants contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through the release of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), which are produced during various treatment processes. During biological nutrient removal in wastewater treatment, processes such as activated sludge can generate N2O (a potent greenhouse gas) during total nitrogen removal. Further energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants, including electricity for aeration and pumping, also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The use of fossil fuels for energy generation further intensifies these emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants underscore the importance of adopting energy-efficient technologies, optimizing treatment processes, and implementing remedial strategies. The proposed project will evaluate greenhouse gas emissions in a BioCord biofilm technology using an advanced total nitrogen removal process called partial denitrification anammox (PdNA) and demonstrate remediation approaches under different conditions in the biological nutrient removal process. The pilot project will demonstrate the contribution of BioCord to climate change mitigation by lowering emission generation through the metabolic activities of the microorganisms within the biofilm, as well as energy and carbon footprint minimization. By reducing emissions and promoting sustainable practices, wastewater treatment plants can contribute to Ontario’s efforts to mitigate climate change and achieve environmental sustainability.

Advancing Reconciliation Through Education, Language, and Theatre

Virginia Robertson is partnering with Shawnigan Lake School to teach Hul’qumi’num classes to secondary students. Recognizing that the student body is primarily settler and international students, the curriculum design will create space and time for students to learn Canadian colonial history, to engage with active Hul’q’umi’num’ language speakers, create their own theatrical vignettes based on Hul’qumi’num linguistic expression, and reflect on their own individual linguistic heritage.

The secondary student participants will document their project experience through personal learning journals, develop individual learner profiles that includes their linguistic origins and environments, noting their attitudes to the current health system, to cultivate awareness of the role that these factors played throughout the program and research process by writing their own stories in their own words.

The benefit to Shawnigan Lake School is the introduction and implementation of the school’s first immersive, Indigenous language programme that addresses the foundational concepts of Indigenous knowledge and first people’s principles of learning. Shawnigan Lake School is launching a Reconciliation Action Plan in October 2024 and the Hul’qumi’num language program is a foundational pillar of this. Shawnigan currently has 18 students who self-identify as Indigenous, and yet may never have had the opportunity to engage with their cultural and socio-linguistic identity.

Ethics Bowl Canada: Bilingual coordinator position

Ethics Bowl Canada (EBC) is a not-for-profit that operates exclusively for the advancement of education. It’s purposes include (a) promoting and developing the teaching of critical thinking to the public in a way that is compatible with the standards of excellence of academia and (b) advancing education by providing a public forum for students and educators to engage in respectful dialogue about ethical issues by organizing adjudicated competitions called Ethics Bowls / Coupes Éthiques, in both official languages. EBC currently works with sixteen universities across the country, and thousands of students from over 175 schools take part in its events annually. A key strategic focus of this year’s operations is to significantly expand the organization of French-language events; at the moment, only two events are taking place, one in Québec, and one in Manitoba. The University of Ottawa is stepping up to play a leadership role in this development by (a) supporting the Regional and Provincial English-language events in Ontario, (b) become the leader for the development of the French-language Coupe Éthique in Ontario, and (c) support EBC’s internship for a bilingual coordinator that will help new volunteer organizers across the country. The internship will not only support the University of Ottawa’s Department of Philosophy in assuming this new leadership role in Ontario, but it will also support the creation of French-language in Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Alberta, and British Columbia, where contacts have already been established with local French-language educators.

Multi-disciplinary Associate Project Manager

The project is composed of several Microsoft Identity Access and Management projects within the Enterprise team at CrucialLogics. The intern will be closely working with the Project Management Office to deliver Microsoft security solutions for a large Enterprise customer.

Intégration de l’intelligence artificielle dans la Ville de Lévis pour améliorer la qualité des services

Ce projet vise à explorer le potentiel des outils l’IA afin d’accompagner la ville de Lévis pour améliorer la qualité de ses services aux citoyens et atteindre l’excellence opérationnelle. Pour ce faire, le projet va suivre la démarche d’excellence opérationnelle DMAIC (Définir, Mesurer, Analyser, Améliorer, Contrôler) en intégrant les outils de l’IA afin de mieux comprendre les processus dans le cas du centre d’appel de la ville de Lévis et d’identifier les pistes qui pourront aider à maximiser sa productivité.

Pragmatic Automated Code Transformation Leveraging Large Language Models

With recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) designed for coding, Artificial Intelligence for Software Engineering (AI4SE) remains pivotal in enhancing both developer productivity and software quality. However, to excel at more specialized SE tasks like code transformation, companies still need to optimize LLMs to their specific context to avoid LLMs’ tendency to “hallucinate”, i.e., make up certain predictions.

The goal of this partnership is to develop advanced LLM-based methods that enable the translation of code across various software frameworks, focusing on detailed method-level and extensive project-aware file-level transformations. Such code transformation enhances the adaptability of complex software systems to changes in both the functional requirements and technological landscape (e.g., moving away from a legacy framework), ensuring that these systems remain efficient, scalable, and up-to-date with the latest industry standards and practices.

Monark Leadership Training Engagement

Many organizations feel unsatisfied with the results of leadership training programs. To tackle this problem, this research project explores new ways to make leader training more engaging and effective. Drawing on theories about human motivation and self-views, the project tests three different intentions to improve leader training. The first study investigates whether focusing on personal enjoyment and fulfillment can make leaders more engaged in their training, and ultimately more effective. The second study examines how emphasizing a person’s identity as a leader affects their training engagement and effectiveness. Lastly, the third study investigates whether caring about others and their well-being can boost training engagement compared to focusing on personal gain. By testing these approaches, this research hopes to find better ways to enhance leader training and make it more effective. The results will be shared through a scientific article and a white paper, reaching both academic researchers and Monark’s clients.

Former des personnes du troisième âge à la gouvernance et au service pastoral dans des Églises en mutations

Au Québec, dans les milieux pastoraux de l’Église catholique, les responsabilités pastorales sont assumées par des clercs et par des personnes bénévoles le plus souvent du 3e âge. On constate que ces dernières ont peu ou n’ont pas bénéficié par le passé d’une formation initiale et continue, leur permettant d’assumer pleinement leurs tâches dans un contexte social et religieux où la foi ne va plus de soi. Les enjeux d’une formation théologique à leur intention sont multiples: originalité de l’apprentissage au 3e et 4e âges, transformations culturelles et religieuses contemporaines, mutations des milieux ecclésiaux, etc. En explorant les perspectives de l’apprentissage pastoral et théologique chez les personnes du 3e âge, cette étude souhaite élaborer de nouveaux cadres pour la formation initiale et continue adaptés aux contextes pluriels actuels.

Les avantages attendus de cette étude pour l’organisme partenaire sont triples. Premièrement, l’identification de nouveaux cadres de formation permettant le renouvellement des pratiques de formation. Deuxièmement, l’acquisition de nouvelles connaissances scientifiques et probantes selon les normes universitaires. Troisièmement, le rayonnement de l’OSBL auprès de ses partenaires.

Investigation of the Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Fluidized Bed Combustor and Fluidized Bed Cooler During the Thermal Sand Reclamation Process to Improve its Performance

Foundries play a crucial role in recycling metals However, they face challenges, especially with sand, which is essential for making molds. During casting, sand gets contaminated from binder materials, making it impossible to reuse and causing environmental issues when disposed of. Sand reclamation, like thermal sand reclamation (TSR), helps by cleaning the sand through burning these contaminants. Using computer simulations, this project aims to study the TSR system designed by Gudgeon Thermfire International Inc. We aim to optimize heat and fluid flow with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Initially, we’ll create a model to study fluid dynamics and then add heat transfer. We’ll analyze factors like gas velocity and fluid height to make the process more efficient. By simulating gas-solid fluidized bed dynamics with ANSYS Fluent software, we aim to enhance foundry sustainability by improving sand reclamation efficiency. This project uses advanced modeling, simulation, and optimization to achieve this goal.

Massive and Novel Electrostrictive Row-Column Ultrasound Arrays and Electronics

Imagine a cell phone camera with only 32×32 (1024 or 1K) pixels. The image quality would be very poor. This is the current regime where 3D ultrasound imaging is at. Going to Mega-Pixel sensors would create a quantum jump
in 2D and 3D image quality. However, doing so is challenging since in ultrasound MHz range signals must be recorded from each element or pixel and many wires or signal channels are needed which is currently technically
infeasible. A 1000×1000 array would require 1 million channels which would cost nearly $1B and is not practical. To address this challenge, CliniSonix has a new aperture encodable row-column array and novel readout schemes
which require only row- and column addressing. Moreover, we have learned how to use such arrays to make images that outperform current technologies. Our approach will lead to arrays approaching Mega-Pixel sensors,
which will lead to unprecedented image clarity, resolution, and field of view. Moreover, our approach enables significant improvements in tracking subtle motions and should lead to ~50x improved bloodflow sensitivity
compared to current ultrasound technology. To achieve these objectives we will require new arrays and new electronics. MITACS interns will develop these new arrays and new electronics.