Innovative Projects Realized

Revues de techniques non-traditionnelles en analyse de données actuarielles

Historiquement, la science actuarielle a développé des techniques de modélisation appropriées pour la tarification, le provisionnement et la gestion des risques pour ne nommer que quelques domaines. Depuis quelques années, toutefois, de nouvelles techniques potentiellement prometteuses sont disponibles et commencent à émerger dans l’industrie de l’assurance. Portées par l’engouement de certaines communautés scientifiques, l’apprentissage statistique (« statistical learning ») ou plus généralement ce qu’on pourrait appeler la « science des données », pourrait être intéressant pour les compagnies d’assurance. Les techniques et algorithmes proposés dans ce domaine de la statistique pourraient permettre aux actuaires de mieux comprendre leurs bases de données et améliorer la qualité de leurs prévisions, ce qui leur permet ultimement de prendre des décisions d’affaire plus appropriées, notamment en matière de tarification et de gestion des risques.TO BE CONT’D

Insurance Vehicle Damage Claim Price Prediction

The main purpose of the internship is to research and create a product that can be used by insurance companies to streamline their claim processing pipeline. The task is to take images and text provided in an insurance claim and generate a prediction for the cost to repair the damage that is closer to the real cost of repair than can be achieved through human observers. The idea would be to use a sequence of models to analyze the images and text and to generate a real value prediction of the cost of repairs. The main benefits for the partner organization are a viable product for claim price prediction and the increased knowledge of the team in the theoretical and real world application of the cutting edge of research.

Characterization of a senescence response that occurs during cancer therapies in prostate cancer cells

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Canadian men and the third deadliest. If the majority of PCa are well treated using first line treatments like surgery, radiation and/or androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a proportion of cases (10%) progress to metastatic cancer. At cellular level, cancer cells can initiate alternative responses to treatment varying from rapid programmed cell death to a state of growth arrest called senescence. Recent studies suggest that the specific proprieties develop by the senescent cells could be exploited to sensitize the cancer cells to the conventional therapies. We propose in this study to characterize the senescence phenotype induced by the first line therapies in prostate cancer cells and to use additional drugs targeting senescent cells to improve the efficiency of the current therapies.

CO2 Capturing from Exhaust of Diesel Generator by Liquefaction in an HT-CAES System

The project deals with capturing CO2 from the exhaust of Diesel generator in Northern regions of Canada where the vast majority of remote communities rely on diesel generation for the production of electricity. The plant will be relay on Gas Compression and Liquefaction using the extra energy produced by diesel generators. Also in the Northern regions, the weather is colder than -25C in at least 6 months of a year which reduce the cost related to cooling systems.

Étude de l’impact des activités humaines sur les taux d’azote et de carbone dans les sédiments du lac Saint-Charles (Québec)

Le lac Saint-Charles est un réservoir d’eau potable qui est soumis à un vieillissement prématuré qui est causé par l’accroissement de la population sur son bassin versant. Il en résulte une dégradation de la qualité de l’eau et de son intégrité écologique. Nous pensons que les eaux usées générées par les humains sur son bassin versant sont l’une des principales sources de nutriments (azote et phosphore) contribuant à la dégradation du lac. Ainsi, le but de l’étude est de vérifier cette hypothèse en étudiant les changements qui sont survenus dans le lac au cours des 400 dernières années. Pour ce faire, la matière organique contenu dans les sédiments du lac sera caractérisée pour son contenu en carbone et en azote. TO BE CONT’D

Mobile Location Based Insights

Pelmorex (Owner of the brands TheWeatherNetwork and MeteoMedia) operates weather information services accessed by all Canadians on desktop computers, mobile apps and Television. The mobile app is one of the most downloaded and used app in the country in both Apple/Google ecosystem of smart phones/tablets. Continous and accurate location data is collected from the apps in a privacy safe way adhering to Canadian privacy commissioner guidelines and standards such as Pipeda with no PII (personally identifiable information) being collected. The location data of millions of users can be utilized by advanced technologies such as machine learning and AI to produce valuable services for consumers and advertisers to personalize content and advertising based on location history and behaviour. TO BE CONT’D

Weibull modeling of part modification reliability for the use of return on investment (ROI) estimates

When Bombardier comes across reports from their customers regarding frequent part failures, they investigate reasons for the cause of these failures. If many reports are received, all due to similar faults on the same part, design changes are made to the part to make it more reliable. Once the newly designed parts are available for purchase, Bombardier informs their customers of the part and is often required to provide an expected return on their investment/purchase (ROI) of a new part. ROI is expected since the part is more reliable and thus decreases costs due to flight delays, cancellations, and incidents. The study will focus on ways to improve the ROI given to the customers using concepts related to reliability engineering. The better ROI estimates would give operators more confidence in the results and will result in an increase in new part purchases as well as Bombardier revenue.

Automated Integrated Model for Earned Value measure (AIM: EVm)

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a better way of managing project on the weekly or monthly basis. The EVM allows managers to be on top of their project budgets and deadlines. When managers complete projects on time, and within budget, the projects are said to have earned value.
With the increased number of information available concerning projects within a modern organization, the question is about how to develop a better means to calculate the value earned by completing a particular project. This study wants to evaluate how earned value are currently done to propose one that uses all the necessary available information concerning projects that people do at work. At the end of this research project, we want to provide an easy-to-use app that will facilitate managers’ work in organizing their resources when they need to plan and execute a project.

Adjustments on Bombardier spare pricing model for reduced Direct Maintenance Cost

Airlines must continuously strive to reduce operating and maintenance costs [1]. Bombardier has continuous target to meet customer expectations for maintenance cost reduction. Bombardier purchases parts from its OEM suppliers and sell parts to Bombardier customers for maintenance. However, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft (BCA) is concerned about aftermarket cost with OEM supplier in the market. At the same time, Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) parts, which are alternate (non-OEM) replacement parts approved by regulatory authorities such as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are also allowed to be used as replacement of OEM parts [2].
This project will review Bombardier’s spare pricing model and identify pricing adjustments or alternative sourcing opportunities through data analysis. The purpose is to find opportunities which can potentially bring reduced Direct Maintenance Cost for Bombardier customers as well as better revenue for Bombardier. TO BE CONT’D

Enhanced Database Structure to Optimize Analysis of Cost Data

This research project is intended to develop and maintain a database for collection and storing of data for the direct operational maintenance cost of an Aircraft. This research will investigate and develop an improved database structure which will lead to better analysis of the Direct Maintenance Cost or DMC incurred by operators of the aircraft. The analysis of the data in turn is expected to lead to ways in which Direct Maintenance Cost can be reduced. The reduced DMC will benefit Bombardier because it will make its aircraft more economically viable to its customer.

Miscanthus, an emerging bioenergy crop for Canada: overcoming challenges to breeding novel triploid cultivars

The research outlined in this proposal involves two projects that address

challenges in breeding new varieties of the bioenergy crop Miscanthus. The first

project is an extension of work that began under a 2010/11 MITACS Accelerate PhD

Fellowship. This project aims to develop protocol for long-term storage of pollen to

cross varieties that do not flower at the same time. The second project will optimize

protocol for producing chromosome-doubled varieties of M. sacchariflorus.

Chromosome-doubled varieties of M. sacchariflorus can be crossed with M. sinensis

to produce new triploid cultivars. New Energy Farms will acquire protocol for pollen

storage and new chromosome-doubled varieties of M. sacchariflorus. Assisting New

Energy Farms to produce new triploid cultivars will help solidify their position as a

supplier of Miscanthus to the bioenergy market and maximize biomass yield across

Canada.

Tick vectored disease biobank

Lyme disease is one of the many diseases transmitted by ticks. The rate of these diseases is rapidly increasing in Canada. Diagnosing these diseases is difficult but examination of biopsy, necropsy and autopsy tissue can help to understand the full and varied effects of the disease and ultimately reduce misdiagnoses. Biobanks are required for this type of research. Biobanks are a research collection of archived tissue samples, obtained at the request of patients or patient families, with the assistance of patient advocates and the cooperation of their physicians who value research but lack the facilities, infrastructure and molecular tools to conduct this type of research. This project involves establishment of a biobank of tissues from individuals suspected to have a tick-vectored disease and development of the research tools to effectively and definitively query the biobank. TO BE CONT’D