Innovative Projects Realized

Robotic gantry for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is a method of 3D printing using arc welding to build up shapes out of weld metal. The project aims to build an in-expensive gantry for mounting welding equipment to carry out WAAM and a control system with AI integration for the robot to which can learn about the complex interplay between welding variables and the final dimensional & materials properties of the printed parts.

Refining and Launching a Digital Commons for the Canadian Humanities and Social Sciences to Facilitate Community-based Open Scholarship

The proposed project focuses on the research, analysis, and engagement of the Canadian Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Commons: an open, digital platform for research collaboration and sharing. This collaboration builds on Iter Canada’s investment in related work since 2008, extends previous Mitacs-funded work, and is undertaken by a multi-career level team. When complete, the Canadian HSS Commons will serve communities such as those represented by Iter Canada and groups beyond, as it empowers individual researchers to develop, exchange, and share open access publications, drafts, preprints, datasets, and teaching materials through a national-scale, bilingual (French and English) platform, which combines many features of institutional repositories and social networking sites.

Improving Medication Safety and Prescribing for Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) through the Development, Validation, Implementation and Evaluation of an Electronic Drug Dosing and Decision Support Kidney (eDose CKD) Tool for Nova Scotia Primary Care Pharmacists

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) occurs in 1 out of 10 Canadians. The kidneys are responsible for the removal of many drugs. These drugs may require adjustment to avoid buildup. Individuals with CKD tend to be older and take many medications due to chronic conditions. Considering these factors, the risk of unwanted drug effects or harm are high. A primary care review revealed nearly 20% of high-risk medications should have been dose-adjusted. Community pharmacists are in an ideal position to mitigate harm. Recent interviews of pharmacists identified the need to develop an electronic drug dosing and decision support kidney (eDoseCKD) tool for community pharmacy practice for commonly prescribed high-risk medications to reduce the risk of adverse drug events. This research will encompass tool development, validation, implementation, and evaluation in community pharmacy sites. This work may be scalable to other NSH sites or clinics affiliated with the partner to optimize medication safety.

Web3D Ecosystems: Advancing ICT with a Decentralized Metaverse Platform

The research aims to create a new development platform for building apps that connect easily on decentralized networks with security agreements for digital transactions. This will help protect users’ privacy, handle more users at once, and make it easier for developers to create decentralized apps. Additionally, the project will develop a system that uses artificial intelligence to create virtual worlds and characters, which will help Canadian businesses create innovative and immersive digital experiences. This research could lead to better privacy, increased capacity, and simpler development processes for Canadian businesses looking to explore digital worlds, ultimately making these spaces more secure and user-friendly.

Nanostructured metal oxide hydrogen sensors for enhanced performance

With the rapid growth in green hydrogen production and utilization, there is a need for cost-effective, high-performance hydrogen sensors. For example, green hydrogen is being produced at the gigawatt scale for a range of applications and industries. In particular, use of hydrogen in transportation (fuel cells) and for blending in natural gas for heating has prompted the need for higher performance sensors to guarantee safety. The US DOE has published aggressive metrics in terms of detection limits and response speed that have yet to be attained. This project will develop new nanotechnology enabled sensors to that will achieve these metrics to be met with low-cost production and widespread deployment.

Validation of a novel ionizable lipid library

Tiny particles made of fat are an established system for delivering genetic materials into cells to perform gene therapy. The project is focused on optimizing the fat structure and composition to improve genetic material delivery and target to different parts of the body. We will engineer a library of fat particles made with different combinations of fats. We will study their gene delivery efficiency in small animals. Results from this research will help us develop a better delivery system for genetic materials for improved gene therapy for many diseases.

Artificial-Intelligence-Supported In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Prediction, Prevention, and Management

In-hospital cardiac arrest is one of the most challenging and overlooked health issues worldwide. Even with care teams dedicated to rapid response when an arrest occurs, only about 1 in 5 patients survive. Since a person’s chance of survival goes down with every minute they are not treated after the arrest, we need to find ways to act before this downward spiral. As many of these cardiac arrests are preventable, if we could figure out which ones we should be able to prevent and how, we could improve patient survival much more than by treating them only after arrests occur.

We will use artificial intelligence to create models that predict and inform which patients are at the most risk of cardiac arrest, whether the arrest might be preventable, and what actions have the best chance of preventing the arrest.

With these models, we’ll be able to identify the unique risks and needs of each patient and respond with the evidence-based actions most likely to prevent a cardiac arrest. In addition, the models will help patients and their healthcare providers have better conversations about the goals of their care, and the kinds of choices they want to make.

A Feasibility Study for Nature-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal at Nova Scotia Power’s Hydroelectric Facilities

“THIS IS A GENERIC TEXT PUT IN PLACE AS THERE WAS NO PROJECT OVERVIEW”

Biomechanical indicators of athlete performance, mental readiness, and injury prevention.

In simple terms, this project aims to study how a person’s body movements and mental state affect their physical performance and risk of getting injured. Interns won’t test collect data themselves but will use existing data from videos (motion capture) and surveys. They’ll use computer tools to find patterns and connections between the factors they analyze. The goal is to understand how a labour worker’s strength, mental focus, and movements are linked to avoiding injuries and career longevity. This information can help health & safety officers make smarter training plans and programs to keep workers safe and improve their performance. Steps have and will continue to be taken on behalf of Parados and the University of New Brunswick to keep the study participants information private and safe.

Addition of a software estimation capability to the SimSE educational software game

Estimation of software projects efforts is one of the early management tasks in a software initiative and a particularly challenging one. To train software project managers, simulation tools based on games concepts and technologies have been used successfully. However, available educational simulators do not tackle this first critical task in a software project, that is the estimation of the software project effort. This R&D project will add a
software estimation capability to an educational software used in software project management courses. It will integrate the COSMIC – ISO 19761 standard on software functional size measurement as well as software
estimation models. This project will integrate many concepts and techniques from the project management body of knowledge and the software engineering literature.

Network Facility Location for Eco- and Cost-Efficient Chemical Supply Depots Supporting Municipal and Industrial Water Treatment

USP currently works with storage facilities in a manner akin to a broker network, relying on numerous third-party locations for freight-in and warehousing. USP is considering a strategic revision of its supply chain dynamics, with the intention of optimizing their current supply network in an effort to become more sustainable and cost effective. USP is also considering potentially generating more in-house control over warehousing and distribution processes. In determining the best way to re-imagine their supply chain network, the partner organization is seeking assistance through the MITACS project to optimize their operations and create a more sustainable method of growing their operations. Ideally, given the ‘spread-out’ nature of USP’s customer base, the company will seek to find methods of accounting for uncertainty within their logistics and anticipate the growing complexity of the North American supply chain. Beyond a potential restructuring of its supply chain network, USP manages a growing network of customers. A constant question posed by the organization is how to forecast future demand. With an ever-growing customer base, the equal desire of marketing and logistics to anticipate future-state trends provides challenges as well as significant opportunity for the company.

Effet de la contamination sur les plantes lors de leur utilisation pour la phytofiltration du lithium

L’extraction et le traitement du lithium, qui est utilisé en grande partie pour les batteries de voitures électriques, posent des risques pour l’environnement, car ces activités peuvent avoir comme conséquence l’accumulation de
produits toxiques dangereux et de lithium en tant que tel dans les écosystèmes avoisinants. Le Québec possède des réserves importantes de spodumène, qui est le minerai de lithium le plus abondant au monde, et supporte
activement son extraction afin de stimuler l’économie. Le lithium qui se retrouve dans l’environnement et les eaux est non seulement toxique pour l’homme, ayant des effets délétères sur plusieurs organes, il est aussi toxique
pour les plantes, pouvant causer des dommages oxydatifs et une diminution du taux de croissance. Par conséquent, il est pertinent de se questionner sur les effets potentiels de l’exploitation minière du lithium sur l’environnement et la flore Québécoise en particulier. L’objectif général du projet proposé est d’étudier les effets des activités minières liées à l’extraction du lithium sur les plantes en 1) développant de nouveaux protocoles
d’analyses; 2) élucidant les mécanismes biochimiques de la réponse des plantes au lithium et 3) en caractérisant les conséquences de l’extraction du lithium sur l’environnement avoisinant une mine.