Innovative Projects Realized

Development and Integration of a Shaft Current Simulation for Toroidal Field Generation in General Fusion’s LM26 Fusion Machine using COMSOL Multiphysics.

This project aims to advance the development of fusion energy, a technology with the potential to provide nearly limitless, clean power for the future. General Fusion’s approach, known as pulsed fusion, differs from traditional methods by releasing energy in short, intense bursts rather than maintaining a continuous reaction. This method makes the process more controllable and practical for power generation.

The primary challenge addressed in this project is optimizing the magnetic fields needed to stabilize the plasma, the superheated fuel used in fusion. These magnetic fields are crucial for ensuring the plasma remains stable long enough to produce significant energy during each pulse. This research focuses on developing detailed computer simulations to model the magnetic fields generated by electric currents in General Fusion’s LM26 machine. By understanding and improving the efficiency of these magnetic fields, the project aims to enhance the overall design of the fusion machine.

This project represents a significant step toward making fusion energy a viable and sustainable energy source. The insights gained could contribute to the broader effort to develop cleaner energy solutions, benefiting society and the environment for generations to come.

The Application of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Technologies to monitor and support Sustainable Tourism in the Thompson-Okanagan Region Municipalities

Achieving sustainability in the tourism industry requires appropriate tools to make decisions and assessments in an “integrated and well-informed way”. In this context, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools that could vastly contribute to the assessment of sustainability due to their capabilities to integrate and combine information for the dimensions of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, which can be mapped and geographically located. This can help to find relations, patterns, distribution of relationships, and flexibility in using information on sustainability indicators to inform critical actions by tourism stakeholders via GIS-based applications.
GIS is a form of Information Communication Technology (ICT) that has been demonstrated to be a versatile tool for integration in sustainability monitoring and assessment of other research contexts and industries. However, it has been less explored in the tourism industry, due to limited technical know-how and undiscovered benefits of the technology.
The study aims to use Geographic Information Systems to contribute to the territorial visualization of the actual status of sustainability of some businesses in the tourism industry in the municipalities of the Thompson-Okanagan Region. This information will assist stakeholders to be more strategic in addressing challenges in sustainable development at all three levels of sustainability in the tourism

Global Health Governance in South India

Global Health Governance is a hot topic these days but it seldom reaches the dalitbahujans (low caste and tribal peoples, the majority in India). Pairing industry with global health agendas is the wave of the future and can be more fruitful if culturally sensitive. Eight years ago, India embarked on the National Rural Health Mission for improved health governance in the rural areas and to realize the Millennium Development Goals. Today, a new BJP government has industrial development and high-tech health innovations on the agenda through relationships with North American, European, East-Asian biotech industries. In spite of some gains in recent industry-state partnerships, it is very difficult to develop effective Global Health Governance due to lack of cultural sensitivity. This needs to urgently be addressed. My project assess existing key programs and proposes novel approaches through existing forms of mid-level governance institutions such as NRHM and the formidable NGO sector to Global Health Governance in Andhra Pradesh.

L’expérience de la médiation culturelle sur le vieillissement en santé chez les personnes aînées isolées: le cas de Culture aux aînés

Ce projet s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une recherche doctorale. Il se situe dans le contexte du vieillissement en milieu rural estrien et autour du cas paradigmatique Culture aux aînés (CAA) présent dans les municipalités régionales de comté (MRC) du Val-Saint-François et Des Sources. CAA, un dispositif novateur interdisciplinaire encadré par une action de médiation culturelle, vise à favoriser la participation sociale et à réduire l’isolement social des personnes aînées en milieu rural. Notre recherche désire comprendre, dans une perspective du vieillissement en santé (VES), l’expérience de la médiation culturelle vécue chez des personnes aînées participantes à CAA. Nous voulons également appuyer CAA dans les trois volets de son plan de développement 2024-2027 et bonifier, par des recommandations, l’expérience des personnes aînées participantes à des activités de médiation culturelle présentes et futures.

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Materials Handling Solutions for the KSM Project

Mining operations have significant environmental impacts, making the adoption of innovative, energy-efficient materials handling technologies crucial for achieving both economic viability and environmental sustainability. This Mitacs project focuses on optimizing the materials handling systems at the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) Project in British Columbia to reduce its operating costs and GHG emissions. The project aims to identify and evaluate alternative technologies for materials handling by engaging equipment manufacturers and KSM Project personnel.
Discrete event simulations and an energy system model specifically tailored to the KSM Project will be developed to evaluate these technologies based on key operational parameters. The Mitacs project will provide a comparative analysis of these technologies to recommend the most suitable techno-economic solutions for the KSM Project encompassing capital and operating costs, energy sources, availability, and environmental impacts.
These insights will help enhance the operational efficiency of the mine while minimizing its environmental footprint.

Knowledge Assisted Optimization for Production Scheduling Based on Simulation and Metamodeling

In industries, chemical processes involve different plants running in parallel with different production rates under the strict constraints on available resources. Therefore, events like shutdown of one or more plants, operating plants with different production grades with flexible run length time, different equipment utilization rates of plants are vital to be studied, scheduled, and optimized. CADSIM Plus is a software tool, which simulates different chemical processes in industries and thus ensures an effective production in practice. The software is used by more than 220 companies and organizations all over the world. The objective of this project is to investigate and develop efficient optimization methods that can be integrated with CADSIM Plus for chemical process production scheduling. The task of chemical process production scheduling is a complex operation and cannot be modeled directly by simple mathematical equations. Therefore, optimizing the production scheduling on the basis of CADSIM Plus simulation leads to a challenging optimization problem and requires robust techniques to solve. The proposed intern will apply the integration of artificial intelligence with the state-of-the-art metamodel-based optimization methods to tackle this problem.

Comprendre les freins structurels et psychologiques à la mobilité active en région

Alors que beaucoup d’efforts sont faits pour favoriser la mobilité active dans les grands centres urbains, trop peu d’attention est portée sur les municipalités régionales (5000 à 50 000 habitants) et les défis particuliers qui s’y rapportent. La promotion de la mobilité active demande de bien comprendre les besoins, enjeux et freins propres à chaque contexte. Malheureusement, les territoires ruraux et petites villes n’ont souvent pas accès à des données d’enquête de qualité pour brosser le portrait de la mobilité de leurs résidents et comprendre les attitudes et barrières perçues à l’adoption des modes actifs. L’objectif principal de ce projet est de combler ce manque en développant et en administrant une enquête visant à identifier les barrières psychologiques et structurelles perçues à l’adoption de la mobilité active dans les municipalités régionales de 5000 à 50 000 habitants. Les constats tirés de cette enquête dans plusieurs MRC de Lanaudière permettront de soutenir le développement de stratégies holistiques et multiniveaux (infrastructures et promotions) pour promouvoir la mobilité active dans les municipalités de cette région.

Social finance in rural Atlantic Canada: Innovative strategic planning initiatives for community foundations

The general objective of the research is to identify potential to address research gaps in a cohesive understanding of philanthropy in Atlantic Canada and the role and engagement of foundations within the broader landscape of social finance. The project will also identify innovative approaches for planning within foundations to maximize their contributions to sustainable communities, as well as contribute to an edited volume focused on Atlantic Canadian philanthropy and special issue featuring emerging research in social finance and philanthropy research from across Canada.

Connecter, innover, prospérer: Le rôle des écosystèmes régionaux innovants

En analysant en profondeur les écosystèmes régionaux innovants, l’objectif est d’identifier les leviers et meilleures pratiques qui favorisent la création et le développement d’initiatives mobilisatrices pour l’innovation collaboratives ayant des retombées économiques positives sur les régions ciblées. Cette démarche permettra ensuite de formuler des recommandations visant à optimiser les forces et les faiblesses d’intermédiaires innovants.
À travers le bilan exhaustif de notre étude, comprenant une évaluation détaillée des projets, une cartographie des parties prenantes et une analyse des retours d’expérience, l’organisation pourra mieux appréhender les opportunités et les défis auxquels elle est confrontée. Les recommandations découlant de notre analyse fourniront des orientations précieuses pour renforcer et développer sa mission, qui consiste à connecter, propulser et éduquer les acteurs régionaux de l’innovation et de l’entrepreneuriat. Enfin, notre recherche contribuera au rayonnement de l’organisation en mettant en lumière ses réalisations et en soulignant son rôle crucial dans le soutien à l’innovation et à l’entrepreneuriat régional.

Optimization of fuel supply for the power plant

This power plant project proposes a software system which assists the operator to optimize the fuel supply, storage and usage for the power plant. Interns manage to build a web-based application to monitor, record, display and forecast the state of fuel condition. Interns will use mathematical model implemented in the system to figure out potential factors that could influence the power generating volume and measure the degree of influence. Such a system is expected to offer decision support to the key stakeholders. The optimization will result in better fuel transportation plan, less cost for the power plant and considerable energy-saving. Interns are suppose to provide technical support and an actual system for the partner organization, Clean Energy Consulting Inc. The support is high-efficiency, solid and cost-effective.

Development and testing the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for the on-device streaming voice AI generator

Picovoice has recently released Orca Streaming Text-to-Speech, on-device streaming voice generator – enabling developers to add voice to their applications without sacrificing privacy, accuracy, or user experience. Currently, there is no direct competition, but alternatives. The intern will be responsible for developing and testing business development and go-to-market strategy with vertical-specific value propositions and messaging.

Text-to-Speech is a generative AI product and an emerging market after the introduction of Local Language Models (LLMs). Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology converts written text into spoken words. Behind the scenes, TTS engines process and synthesize speech in chunks to turn them into audio humans can listen to. Processing in chunks requires developers to design and set up their products to feed TTS manageable text segments. Since an LLM generates text in a stream, akin to a person typing out a message while TTS waits for the full text or a segment of text to process before starting the speech synthesis, we encounter a challenge: a delay between the text generation and the spoken output, disrupting the flow of real-time interactions between machines and humans.
Orca Streaming Text-to-Speech, built for the LLM-era, processes streaming text input on-device offering low-latency and privacy.

Modular Front-End Enhancement – Mohammad Mohammadifar

MedMe Health, a leader in pharmacy software solutions, is embarking on an innovative project to enhance its platform’s front-end architecture and optimize key functionalities, particularly the appointment scheduling system. As the healthcare industry faces increasing demands for efficient, scalable, and user-friendly digital solutions, MedMe’s platform must evolve to maintain its competitive edge and continue providing high-quality, patient-centric services.

This project will involve two main objectives over the course of eight months. The first objective is to develop a more modular and scalable front-end architecture. This improvement will make it easier to integrate new features, maintain the software, and support the platform’s growing user base. The second objective involves optimizing the performance of the appointment scheduling system, ensuring that it remains responsive and reliable, even under high user loads. These enhancements will lead to a more streamlined experience for both healthcare providers and patients, facilitating better access to care and improving overall satisfaction. These enhancements are critical for supporting high volumes of interactions and ensuring the platform can handle complex clinical workflows without compromising speed or reliability.

Intern Mohammad Mohammadifar will play a central role in these developments, gaining hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies and software engineering practices under the guidance of senior engineers at MedMe Health. This collaboration not only aligns with MedMe’s mission to transform pharmacies into comprehensive healthcare hubs but also supports broader healthcare accessibility and efficiency goals. By advancing digital healthcare solutions, this project will contribute to better patient outcomes and streamlined pharmacy operations across Canada and beyond.