Innovative Projects Realized

Design ethical AI systems for nautical crime database

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for as much as 26 million tonnes of fish each year, with a value ranging from $10 to $23 billion USD. Despite its significance, there is a notable lack of comprehensive international databases on nautical crimes, including illegal fishing. This gap presents a significant challenge for effectively monitoring and addressing these activities. Advanced machine learning models and large language models (LLMs) are powerful tools for creating a database. However, their use in this context particularly requires extra attention due to its close relation to legal matters and human rights. Our research aims to construct efficient systems to create a nautical crime database while upholding AI ethics and ensuring transparency throughout the process. Our projects are divided into two themes: (1) exploring efficient models to filter relevant articles from web search results and (2) building a system to accurately extract information from the relevant articles.

AMH, predictive tool of ovarian response to a superovulation treatment in the cow

In dairy cows, future generations are created by embryo transfer techniques, which entail a superovulation treatment followed by fertilization in the field or in the laboratory. Due to enormous pressure exerted by breeders, cows are now superovulated very young, even before puberty and thereafter are superovulated routinely. Despite improvements in this technique, there is still variability in the ovarian response to treatment and loss of ovarian response after the 5th or 6th superovulation treatment. This project aims to predict ovarian response in pre-pubescent and in adult cows that are undergoing repeated superovulation treatments using an endocrine anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) assay. We will determine whether this assay could also predict the loss of ovarian response to treatment. Companies such as Boviteq face these problems every day and would directly benefit from the results of this study.

Senior Smart Health Monitoring System

The population of Canadians aged 85 and older is rapidly increasing, with over 861,000 people in this age group recorded in the 2021 Census, more than double the figure from 2001. The number of seniors aged 85+ continues to rise and could triple by 2046, reaching 2.5 million. Additionally, over 9,500 centenarians now live in Canada, a 16% increase since 2016. The increase in longevity, particularly among those aged 85 and older, often correlates with a rise in chronic conditions and health-related challenges, making continuous health monitoring essential for maintaining quality of life. With the objective of monitoring and improving the health, quality of life, and well-being of seniors, their families and communities, this project proposes a Senior Smart Health Monitoring system. The system has two primary components: a wristband, to be worn by people in need of care, for real-time health data collection and a set of cellphone apps/software for data management and monitoring. Additionally, the product will offer features such as video and audio surveillance, GPS tracking, and emergency SOS calls.

Inductively heated methane pyrolysis

The partner organization intends to decarbonize it’s Canadian lime kilns. One option is to switch to biogenic sources worldwide, although doing so will still result in CO2 emissions. A preferred option is to switch to hydrogen, because it is clean and results in higher kiln efficiency. The technology described in this proposal would advance these efforts by using methane from the existing carbon infrastructure and converting it into hydrogen and solid carbon.

Methane pyrolysis is a CO2-free method of producing hydrogen. Being an endothermic process, energy input is necessary, and emission-free energy is needed to keep the process CO2-free. Using clean electricity is one strategy, however resistive heaters have drawbacks such as high costs and poor heat efficiency. This proposal suggests the use of inductive heaters to heat catalyst to produce clean energy. Additionally, in order to avoid the manage the carbon that deactivates traditional solid catalysts, mechanical carbon removal at moderate temperatures will be employed.

Retrieval augmented answer generation using M-Files Metadata

Multisource Multi Modal RAG framework: The project will focus on developing a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system that can effectively combine and synthesize information from multiple sources within M-Files, utilizing multiple Large Language Models (LLMs) for enhanced accuracy and context. The research will address challenges related to integrating and harmonizing disparate document formats, sources of information and metadata structures, optimizing cross-model communication, evaluation, and ensuring accurate, contextually relevant answer generation while maintaining information integrity and security.

Evaluation of Hydrological Models and GRACE/GRACE-FO in the South Saskatchewan River Basin

Canada, with 20% of the Earth’s freshwater resources, is experiencing changes to its terrestrial water cycle as the impacts of climate change progress. This can lead to complex water storage changes manifesting as flood risks and droughts on various spatiotemporal scales. This project aims to compare a state-of-the-art physics-based hydrological modelling platform, namely HydroGeoSphere, part of the Canada1Water project, with independent products from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its follow-on mission. Specifically, the Alberta portion of the South Saskatchewan River Basin will be evaluated over the two decades of monthly snapshots of Earth’s time variable gravity field, used to derive terrestrial water storage anomalies. The analysis will be carried out using the newly developed Aquanty and spherical harmonic solutions of the Canadian Geodetic Survey of Natural Resources Canada. Calibrating the various terrestrial water storage models using satellite gravimetry data will improve the model output and will help fill the gaps in Canada’s hydrologic data to effectively characterize and manage terrestrial water resources, during times of high-risk flooding and droughts. Results will directly impact government and industry efforts designed to improve community access to freshwater necessary for quality of life in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.

Projet de stage en journalisme à CScience Le Lab

Stage en journalisme au sein de notre organisme CScience Le lab. En tant qu’OBNL opérant un média journalistique reconnu par la Fédération professionnel des journalistes du Québec, spécialisé et multiplateforme, et œuvrant pour la réduction de la fracture scientifique et l’information du public quant aux retombées de l’innovation technologique sur la société, nous faisons face à de nombreux défis et obstacles à notre mission : la crise des médias, la montée de la désinformation, le manque de moyens et de ressources pour assurer une couverture de terrain fréquente et étendue sur la scène de l’innovation québécoise, le besoin de recruter malgré tout des talents ayant les compétences et la rigueur journalistique qui s’imposent, et le besoin d’innover sur le plan technologique et multimédia, de sorte à proposer des contenus novateurs et traitant l’information de manière plus engageante. Répondre à ces enjeux requiert d’agrandir l’équipe de journalistes et de mobiliser des talents qui ont déjà une maîtrise des concepts de déontologie et de rigueur journalistique, une formation académique en journalisme, mais qui ont aussi une capacité d’apprentissage et un désir d’évoluer dans l’écosystème de l’innovation, afin de contribuer à vulgariser des sujets scientifiques et technologiques complexes auprès de notre auditoire, en tirant le meilleur du numérique à travers divers reportages et productions journalistiques pour différents supports : magazine électronique, revue interactive et émissions balado. Répondre à ces défis contribue à assurer le canal de diffusion et d’information auprès de notre auditoire, dans l’intérêt du public et de la démocratie, puisque nous estimons que notre média spécialisé et innovant joue un rôle essentiel en matière d’éducation scientifique et numérique.

Life cycle assessment of anaerobic digestion process

Gazifère is focussed on large scale implementation of RNG as fuel as it owns and operates a 1?000 km gas system. It is true that utilization of a waste such as pulp and paper mill sludge is a beneficial approach for the environment as it helps in waste management and related emission to air, water, and soil. In the meantime, the production of RNG is associated with consumption of materials, fuels, energy along with emission to the environment. The various factors such as source of materials, fuels, transportation related emissions, storage related infrastructure, upgradation and utilization of the final product are implicit in the production process. Each stage is accompanied with some impact on the environment. All this need to be considered to estimate the environmental consequences of this bioprocess. Hence, it is essential to know the environmental impacts of the RNG production using pulp and paper mill sludge as substrate. In the large picture, this will help in establishing environmental friendly practices for treatment and management of waste in Canada.

Digital Marketing Implementation

My study in the Master of Management in Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at Queens University has provided me with exposure to various frameworks and theories that can assist organizations in improving their work processes, generating revenue, and acquiring new customers. My goal is to apply these frameworks to assist Canadian organizations. One such organization I have identified is Natliving Inc, an alternative medicine and wellness center in Markham! It faces challenges primarily related to acquiring new customers. The objective is to apply my education, experience and expertise to assist the organization in increasing its revenue.

I have pinpointed several opportunities to achieve this goal. One such opportunity involves leveraging digital marketing techniques, including search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, and landing page optimization. Currently, the organization offers a range of products and services, with additional opportunities for expanding its service offerings. Diversifying its services presents an opportunity for the organization to generate more revenue. This is the value I aim to bring to the organization. Apart from being a digital marketer, I am also a software developer, and I propose developing mobile apps, creating online resources that help the organization reach new customers for its existing services. I will be running business development strategies; this is an aspect I believe will add significant value to the organization. I will be helping the organization streamline processes, creating SOPs and refining its structure to increase organizational effectiveness

Scorched Earth: The impact of increased wildfire activity on soils and associated ecosystems

We will investigate the impacts of wildfires on natural nanoparticles (NPs) in soil and water in two different regions: central Newfoundland, Canada, and the Landes de Gascogne forest, France.
The Landes de Gascogne forest experienced significant wildfires in 2022, particularly impacting two major sites: “La Teste de Buch” and “Landiras.” The Landes region is characterized by its production of “Pin Maritime” and has sandy soil. Fire damage from the 2021 wildfires in Newfoundland are distributed across the three burn areas: Paradise lake, Bay D’Espoir, and Southern Lake. The Newfoundland landscape is a mixture of bogs, barrens, rock outcrops, with shallow, acidic mineral soils. We will gather upper soil samples and soil cores representing the watershed pedology. We will also collect combustion residues from the soil surface, and surface water samples from nearby rivers.
We will use cutting-edge technologies to measure the distribution of trace elements amongst different forms of colloids (AF4-ICPMS), and in individual particles (sp-TOF-ICP-MS) in the sampled soils/sediments and waters to chemically characterize inorganic, organic, and mixed organic-inorganic NPs. To assess impacts on aquatic ecosystem quality, we will also analyze major and trace element compositions using ICP-MS on filtered water samples, as well as dissolved organic carbon concentrations.

Utilisation de la Méthode Kaizen pour améliorer la traçabilité et la conformité des dossiers de production des produits injectables

Ce projet de recherche vise à démontrer comment l’optimisation de l’application des principes de Kaizen peut transformer les pratiques de gestion des dossiers de production, en offrant des bénéfices significatifs en termes de qualité, de conformité et d’efficacité. Commençant par une revue de littérature sur l’application de la méthode kaizen dans différents types d’industries ce qui va m’aider à comprendre les étapes à suivre pour optimiser la méthode et l’appliquer dans une industrie de production des produits pharmaceutiques. En ce qui concerne le plan de financement, la méthode ne coûte pas un budget pour la société, mais elle demande une contribution de personnel pour avoir un système d’amélioration continue qui sert à assurer la qualité de produit fabriqué. C’est une technique japonaise d’amélioration continue de la qualité ou de perfectionnement du processus de fabrication, reposant sur la somme d’aménagements ou d’améliorations de détail que chacun peut proposer de mettre en oeuvre au poste qu’il occupe.

Évaluation du système de fermeture des contenants utilisé pour le réemballage comparativement à ce qui est utilisé par les fabricants afin de comparer l’équivalence de nos systèmes de fermeture avec ceux du fournisseur. Identifier les actions correctives requises pour donner suite à l’étude.

Étudier les systèmes de fermeture des contenants utilisés pour le réemballage afin de les comparer avec ceux des fabricants.