Innovative Projects Realized

Accountium III – AI driven cash flow and budget prediction

Creative Emporium provides digital Accounting System Maintenance, minimizing human intervention. The current software does not have an intelligent engine to automate cash flow analysis and budget analysis. This process takes hours for an accountant to do manually and the results are not that accurate due to human errors.
The General objective of this proposal is to incorporate these analysis features into the current platform by building artificial intelligence tools, which will reduce manual work and increase productivity. These easy to use features will help businesses to plan their cash flow and budgets accordingly within minutes, and deliver reports via mobile devices anywhere anytime. The main activities of this project include:
1. Cash flow Analysis – automate cash flow prediction for different time intervals (monthly/quarterly/yearly)
2. Budget Analysis – automate budgets based on historic trends and relevant economic factors.

Coach MO: AI Coach for athletes engagement

MOTTIV Technologies and the University of Alberta team will create an “AI coach” which is a language based chatbot that will communicate to athletes, who use the MOTTIV app, with a defined vocabulary at the back-end effective for a coach-athlete relationship and training. The goal is to make the “Coach MO” chatbot proactive, engaging, motivating and the best 1-on-1 endurance coaches in the world.

Subsystem Optimization of Intelligent Automated Distribution Kiosk

This project is an R&D project intended to solve the problem relating to a piece of machinery, a retail kiosk for distribution of age-restricted beverages, that has overall reliability issues due to a compounding of sub-optimally performing devices and subsystems exacerbated by competing timeouts; and unpredictability of human users.

Nature-based solutions for health and economic-informed microclimate management

The research project promotes urban sustainability and the impact of preserving natural assets on health and the economy. It focuses on climate change adaptation and climate hazard mitigation, including, extreme heat, air quality, flooding, and high wind events. The research proposes a framework to predict and mitigate the impact of climate hazards on public health and wellbeing. The research uses multidisciplinary approaches to integrating data science and urban performance evaluation to predict the benefits of preserving natural assets (i.e., expanding greenery cover, employing cool surfaces, and green roofs) on reducing heatwave intensity, enhancing air quality, and mitigating stormwater runoff and exposure to high winds. It integrates community census and health data with weather measurements to predict public health outcomes including mortality, hospitalizations, ambulatory calls, and emergency department visits. It also quantifies the expected economic benefits of integrating the natural assets in terms of reduced mortality, avoided health system use, and increased worker productivity.

In collaboration with the Friends of Greenbelt Foundation, this research aims to develop a decision-making framework for municipalities and local governments to improve the urban environment and mitigate climate change impacts. The outputs of this research will support better health outcomes, environmental risk management, and building climatic-resilient communities.

Soil Vapour Assessment and Ontario Regulation 153/04 Environmental Site Investigations in Ontario

Based on the evaluation of modelled soil vapour concentrations it is common for soil contaminants of concern (i.e., volatile contaminants) to pose a potential health risk to receptors via the soil-to-indoor air vapour migration pathway. However, it is understood that the approach used to model vapour concentrations in indoor air, though acceptable to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, is highly conservative based on the assumptions related to the maximum soil concentrations and potential for natural attenuation of soil vapours. Consequently, as a result of these predicted risks, risk management plans must often be designed to mitigate the theoretical risk from the vapour intrusion pathway. Such risk management measures are implemented at a considerable cost to site owners/developers. To avoid these potentially unnecessary risk management measures it is now common practice to collect soil vapour samples to measure the concentrations of contaminants of concern in soil vapour, resulting in a more accurate assessment of the risk posed by vapour intrusion. The research that will be completed will help Stantec streamline soil vapour intrusion programs completed in Ontario by understanding the benefits of used measured soil vapour data, from the initial set-up of the program through to the writing of reports.

The Feasibility of Applying Pescatourism in Small-scale Fishery in Japan

Small-scale Fisheries (SSF) communities are vulnerable to several drivers and their viability remains a challenge. To innovatively
alleviate the vulnerabilities and follow sustainable pathways towards viability of SSF, Pescatourism, which is a popular type of fishing tourism in Europe, has been proposed as an alternative. However, literature has shown that Pescatourism’s contributions to local economies and community livelihoods have been mostly limited to the European countries and there are some governance arrangements in place. My study aims to explore the potential role of Pescatourism in addressing the vulnerabilities of SSF communities in Japan and examining governance arrangements to achieve viability. As Pescatourism has not been investigated much in the context of Japan, this proposed work in Shizuoka prefecture of Japan will be novel. Using a case study approach, this research will propose novel ways in which pescatourism can be integrated into exisiting fisheries policy and practice and offer sustainable outcomes for SSF viability

Developing an ecological forecasting tool and digital twin methodology for restoration initiatives

Ecosystem restoration initiatives are considered among the most effective strategies in mitigating the effects of habitat destruction and biodiversity loss from human activities. The ecological restoration company Veritree is currently building an infrastructure of monitoring data streams for their projects to ensure that they are realizing their anticipated benefits. In this research project we will investigate and develop tools to fuse these data streams to deliver a more multi-faceted view of the ecosystem’s health and resilience. A forecasting system will be built and tested to predict the future health of the restored ecosystem and its associated risk to external environmental stressors. The project will provide a well-documented suite of tools for decision-makers to better monitor ecosystem change and to help devise effective strategies for restoration by forecasting potential outcomes.

Acoustic Evaluation of Mine Sidewall Safety

The structural integrity of mine tunnels is critical to worker safety as failures (e.g. rock falls) can cause injury or death. This project aims to determine whether it is feasible to automatically evaluate the safety of side walls in potash mines using the sound produced when the wall is struck by a metal bar. Previous work has indicated that this method is feasible for mine roofs, but it is unclear whether this will work for the mine’s side walls.
This project will collect a number of recordings of impact sounds over a range of locations within a mine and over an extended period of time (in which we can expect some walls to fail if not maintained). We will then measure the difference in recorded sound over time and attempt to correlate these differences to failures. Finally, a machine learning model will be used to try to automatically predict impending failures.

Caractérisation des propriétés thermomécaniques (TM) d’enrobésspéciaux incorporant des matériaux recyclés provenant de lasidérurgie en vue de leur optimisation

Dans la perspective de préserver les ressources naturelles non renouvelables et de contribuer concrètement à un développement durable, l’entreprise Bauval travaille assidument à la valorisation de résidus industriels, les scories d’aciérie, comme source de granulat dans la production d’enrobés spéciaux ultra-performants. Quatre (4) enrobés à chaud spéciaux de hautes technologies incorporant des scories sont actuellement disponibles : la famille des enrobés Hi Tech. Pour optimiser la formulation de ces enrobés du point de vue de leur performance dans la chaussée, le projet vise à caractériser par des essais de laboratoire leurs comportements mécaniques à diverses températures. Dans le cadre de ce projet de recherche, il est proposé d’étudier l’évolution de la fissuration liée à la fatigue à l’échelle de la chaussée par la modélisation de divers scénarios de systèmes de revêtement bitumineux élaborés à partir de la famille des enrobés Hi Tech.

Channel Modeling of Wireless Communication Systems Using Optimized Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Arrays

The major objectives of this research are to derive the ultimate performance limits of a communication system using Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS), trying to reach those ultimate limits through the optimization of elements of the RIS and their configuration, evaluating the performance of physically realizable RIS based systems given practical limitations, and trying to alleviate any discrepancy between the theoretical and practical results through innovative techniques as well as complexity reduction methods allowing to implement larger systems. To summarize. the principal goal is to conduct research on the application of arrays with a massive number of antenna elements to increase the capacity of the next generation of broadband communication networks. The main focus will be on the RIS and optimization of the parameters of the elements of the RIS arrays as well as their configuration.

Enhancing economic outcomes for Albertans through data-driven insights.

The Alberta Chambers of Commerce (ACC) is actively leading the transformative Hire by Referral project, aligning with our commitment to support Alberta’s business community. Representing a network of 100+ local chambers and over 20,000 businesses, our primary focus is to enhance successful hiring and retention practices for diverse job seekers.

Dedicated to supporting Albertans in the labour market, the Hire by Referral project addresses workforce shortages and aims to facilitate the attachment of income-supported Albertans to the labour market. Our strategic initiative empowers businesses, especially SMEs, to overcome workforce shortages and enhances decision-making among labour market stakeholders.

Leveraging cutting-edge software, the project sustains these objectives, facilitating immediate labour market attachment and building long-term capacity in the local chamber network. We emphasize the collection and dissemination of high-quality labour market information (LMI) and participant feedback, ensuring our efforts are informed by real-time data, contributing to project success and broader objectives.

The ACC, through the focused implementation of the Hire by Referral project, serves as a catalyst for positive change in the labour market, creating tangible opportunities for income-supported Albertans to secure meaningful employment.

Intégration de la pensée cycle de vie à l’innovation et Stratégie de d’évolution des emballages par leur recyclabilité et leur contenu PCR (Résine post-consommation)

Premier Tech Producteurs et Consommateurs, un groupe d’affaire de Premier Tech, souhaite débuter l’implantation de pensée cycle de vie dans son processus d’innovation de produits. L’étudiant stagiaire devra collaborer et supporter les équipes de travail dans l’avancé des différentes analyses de cycle de vie par la récolte des données associés et par la participation aux ateliers de travail. Afin d’améliorer ses emballages et leurs écoconception, le stagiaire participera également à la collecte d’informations environnementales sur les emballages des produits et collaborera au développement de stratégie d’évolution des emballages par leur recyclabilité et l’évolution de leur contenu en résine post-consommation.