Innovative Projects Realized

Examining contaminants in fish and wildlife along the St. Lawrence River, Canada

Industrial, shipping, and agricultural activity over the last 100+ years have contributed a significant number of contaminants to the St. Lawrence River, causing health and cultural consequences for the local population, especially the local Indigenous community. Contaminants also affect the local ecosystem, and these impacts need to be better understood in the St. Lawrence River. This project aims to understand contaminants in three key species: herring gull, yellow perch, and northern pike. Technical reports on the contaminants in each species will be produced and shared with academics, policymakers, and industry. Additionally, materials for non-scientific audiences will be created and shared so that local community members can better understand the impacts of contaminants on the river. This work will provide essential insights into contaminants in wildlife in the St. Lawrence River and can help inform future decision-making regarding the management and use of the St. Lawrence River.

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On the same page? Black voters in Canada and the United Kingdom: A comparative study with African-Americans

The primary objective of the second article of my thesis is to evaluate if a racial cleavage is perceptible in public opinion in Canada and the United Kingdom. It will assess if this political cleavage is as salient as in the United States in both of these countries with the case of black voters. Also, one sub-objective of this thesis is to evaluate the factors susceptible to increasing the saliency of political division based on race in democracies other than the United States with survey experimentations. My thesis aims to assess whether race has become an important political cleavage in Canada and the United Kingdom by studying the case of black voters. The outcome of the following work will be an article that I will submit at the end of the next autumn semester.

Signalisation Ver-Mac : Localisation automatique de chantiers

Signalisation Ver-Mac est un fabricant d’équipement de signalisation routière pour les chantiers de construction (panneaux à message variable, senseur, etc.). Ver-Mac a plusieurs dizaines de milliers d’équipement en Amérique du nord qui sont connectés et sur lesquels ils collectent des données depuis plus de 10 ans. Ver-Mac a des chantiers intelligents où des données temps réels changent l’affichage sur les panneaux. Les données de Ver- Mac sont structurées par métadonnées et par nomenclature. Des données comme la position GPS, les messages affichés, la route et la direction de celle-ci sont incluses dans beaucoup de données. Ver-Mac a accès à des données en temps réel comme la liste des chantiers connus par les départements de transport (données structurées) et les cartes routières (non structurées). Ce projet de stage vise à évaluer la capacité de l’intelligence artificielle à détecter la présence de chantier de construction automatiquement en se servant des mouvements et conditions d’opérations d’équipements connectés ainsi que d’information géo-référencée. Ceci facilitera grandement les opérations des gestionnaires de chantier pour faire le discernement entre des chantiers planifiés et ceux actifs pour faciliter la mobilité globale.

Effet de l’intégration du temps depuis le dernier feu sur les courbes de productivité et le calcul de la possibilité forestière de l’unité d’aménagement 85-51

La possibilité forestière vise à déterminer la quantité de bois exploitable tout en assurant la pérennité des écosystèmes forestiers et de l’industrie forestière. Néanmoins, la méthode actuellement utilisée pour déterminer l’âge des peuplements sous-estime l’âge réel dans l’établissement des courbes d’évolution du volume à l’échelle des peuplements. Cette erreur augmente en fonction de l’âge et se répercute sur les courbes d’évolution du volume et sur le calcul de la possibilité forestière. Ce projet vise, pour une unité d’aménagement situé en Abitibi, à substituer l’âge moyen par le temps depuis le dernier feu afin de créer de nouvelles courbes de croissances et à déterminer cet effet sur le calcul de la possibilité forestière. Du fait du contexte local, il est difficile de déterminer à l’avance l’impact de l’utilisation du temps depuis le dernier feu sur l’ensemble d’un calcul de possibilité forestière. Néanmoins, cette étude permettra un affinement des courbes d’évolutions du volume et améliorera le calcul de la possibilité forestière.

Development of a portable laser-based system for soil analysis

The goal of our project is to develop a portable, laser-based technique for in-situ analysis of
agricultural soils. This work will implement and enhance a technique known as Laser Induced
Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for in-situ measurements of key soil properties, such as
carbon content. LIBS is a minimally invasive detection technique, capable of rapid multielemental
composition analysis with sub parts-per-million sensitivity. LIBS uses an intense
laser pulse to produce a plasma on a material surface, from which the emitted light can be
analyzed to determine elemental composition. Compared to conventional soil analysis
methods, LIBS requires little sample preparation and provides high-speed, waste-free soil
characterization. The proposed project will begin by optimizing LIBS for soil analysis using a
compact and portable laser system and producing an open-source database and calibration
suite of spectroscopic emission from known soil samples. Artificial intelligence techniques will
be applied to establish algorithms for fast and reliable identification of soil composition. This
knowledge will be further applied to develop and test a portable LIBS device that can be
deployed in the field.

Low-loss and loss-tolerant photonic quantum computing

Today, quantum computers of any architecture still operate in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) regime, with systems composed of tens to hundreds of noisy qubits that are not protected from errors. To
meaningfully solve challenging problems from industries using quantum computers, we need to make a system that is large enough in scale and robust to errors. The intern will be involved in Xanadu Architecture team’s
efforts in investigating promising approaches for tolerating and lowering noise and errors affecting photonic platforms. The aim is to lower the demands on hardware, shortening the time to build a universal, fault-tolerant
quantum computer.

The Central Role of Spectroscopy in Fighting Back the Opioid Crisis: Pushing the Limits of Detection of Fentanyl Analogues

The overarching goal of this project is to develop optimized instrumentation and methods for the detection of potent drugs such as fentanyl. SCATR Inc. is a company that develops hardware and software innovative solutions for drug checking with the goal to reduce the harm caused by the use of unknown substances. The collaboration between SCATR and the nanophotonics research laboratory led Dr Lagugne will enables news approaches in particular to detect low amounts of very potent drugs contained in multicomponent mixtures. In particular, the detection of fentanyl analogues will be targeted thus improving of capacity to rapidly detect and quantify this very dangerous substance that causes over 7,500 lethal overdoses per year in Canada.

The Environmental, Chemical and Physical Impact on Water Quality with the use of Stormflow Surfacing Permeable Rubber Pavement

Stormflow Surfacing (SS) has developed permeable rubber pavement (SSPRP) from recycled automobile tires. Their product focuses on alleviating sewage system stress during precipitation events. While there are no strict guidelines to the formulation of permeable pavers, SS is interested in proactively establishing baseline values for water quality and subsequently, investigate the effects of environmental factors on characteristics such as stormwater run-off, leaching/remediating/erosion properties of the product. The results of this project will also create references with respect to contaminants of concern (CoC), contaminant mitigation, installation, leachate/contaminant of concern for future permeable paver installation. The information gleaned from this research will establish a foundation that can be used for lifecycle analysis, comparison to other paving techniques, and applicable adjustments when standards for application of these products are created . In addition, this information may be used to bolster marketing of the product. This project has been divided into two (2) phases; Phase One (Pl) will investigate physical and chemical characteristics of the Stormflow Surfacing Permeable Rubber Pavement (SSPRP) by analyzing water quality with respect to leaching of SSPRP material, and the possibility of mitigating environmental contaminants of concern (CoCs). Phase Two (P2) will consider factors such as ultraviolet (UV) light, stress/compression/loading of use will be investigated to determine if the integrity of the SSPRP remains intact or if these physical/ environmental factors compromise its performance. Water quality characteristics such as turbidity and particulate matter will be investigated and the results also compared to the Phase One data.

Algae Photobioreactor Subcomponent Engineering Revision

Symbiotic EnviroTek Inc., developed and patented a proprietary technology for growing micro-algae for producing plant-based protein for human food, animal feed and for treating wastewater. The project includes engineering revision, fabrication and testing to certain subcomponents of technology to improve operational efficiencies and performance.

Clean Air for All: Enhancing Air Quality and Sustainability in Canadian Educational and Commercial Spaces

One Lightwave specializes in providing advanced UVGI air purification systems for classrooms and commercial spaces. The company’s mission is to improve the indoor air quality and health of building inhabitants. Their product line is specially designed to eliminate pollutants such as bacteria, viruses,and allergens that are commonly found in classrooms and commercial spaces. As this is a one-of-a-kind system, a challenge has been to locate key audience sectors at provincial and federal levels.

A study found that 30 out of 37 schools in New Brunswick had peak carbon dioxide readings of about the desirable amount. The testing results were published by GNB here.The Department of Education is planning to overhaul the systems, seven being completed last year. One Lightwave system is specifically designed to tackle these issues. This project will help optimize business processes, promote and create marketing campaigns and increase product distribution and network. Through completing these tasks, One Lightwave will be able to provide much-needed air quality support and interventions for Atlantic Canada.

Kwickadee Android Application

The project will be to build out the Android version of the Kwickadee dating app currently available on iOS. This will encompass a wide variety of feature sets including onboarding, login, profile creation, matching, date location selection, date setup and more to come! This will be a huge benefit to the partner organization as there is an estimated 41% of users in Canada on Android devices. This will allow us to reach an extended user base which is critical to this type of social application to succeed.