MONTRÉAL, Oct. 2, 2024 /CNW/ – Quebecor Media Inc. announces that, through its Quebecor Out-of-Home division, it has closed the transaction to acquire the Canada-wide out-of-home advertising business of NEO-OOH and integrated it into Québecor Affichage Neo inc. Quebecor Out-of-Home will now be able to offer its advertising partners more than 17,000 advertising faces across Canada.

“With the addition of NEO, Quebecor Out-of-Home is fully positioned to become a major player in Canada’s OOH marketplace,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor. “We are excited to have a unified OOH platform with new reach and power to complement Quebecor’s comprehensive multiplatform advertising offering. This will enable us to step up our development and expand our advertising footprint across Canada.”

NEO’s operations team will join the team of Michel Drouin, General Manager of Quebecor Out-of-Home. The NEO sales team will join the Quebecor Expertise Media sales force, under the direction of Patrick Jutras, Chief Advertising Officer of Quebecor and TVA Group.

NEO’s out-of-home networks include more than 3,000 advertising faces at over 600 sites in 250 communities across nine Canadian provinces. They include NEO Shopping (shopping malls), NEO Fitness (gyms), NEO On The Go (gas stations and convenience stores) and NEO Mobile (smartphones, tablets and computers).

Quebecor Out-of-Home, a division of Quebecor Media, a Canadian leader in telecommunications, entertainment, news media and culture, has been managing and operating out-of-home advertising networks since 2012. It now has the largest inventory of street furniture in Québec with over 14,000 advertising faces, including an extensive network of standard and digital transit shelters, as well as advertising faces on taxi screens, taxi domes and buses. With its unrivalled market coverage and advertising faces strategically located where consumers are, Quebecor Out-of-Home is the logical choice for reaching urban dwellers with creative advertising campaigns.

Together, Quebecor Out-of-Home and NEO now have more than 17,000 advertising faces across Canada.

SOURCE Québecor Média Inc.

Piera’s intelligent particle sensors with AI identify sources of indoor pollutants including vape, smoke

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 2, 2024 /CNW/ – Piera Systems Inc., today announces its Canāree IX6 Vape Detector with Noise Monitoring has been selected as a Vendor of Record (VOR) by Supply Ontario, for the Province of Ontario’s Initiative to reduce vaping in school buildings and other public spaces. 

Student vaping continues to grow with 13.4% of middle and high school students that vape daily (source: Ontario CAMH OSDUHS 2023 study).  While vaping can be less harmful than smoking, many vapes have much higher nicotine levels leading to lower impulse control, mood disorders, disrupting attention and learning, increasing the risk of future addiction to other drugs.

The Province of Ontario’s “Vape Detectors and Building Safety Initiative” provides funding to install vape detectors with noise monitoring to identify vaping and smoking incidents in seconds, alert school officials with location, time and duration information.  Simultaneously, sound level sensors identify loud, sustained noises indicating activities that require school staff attention. Sensors do not record sound or video ensuring privacy.

Canāree can also integrate to available video security systems, where location and time data can be used to determine if individuals or repeat offenders can be identified.  In addition, signage will indicate vape and smoke free zones so students can know when monitoring is in effect.  Devices are installed in tamper-proof locations and their status monitored continuously.

“Indoor air pollution has a significant impact on human health and productivity and our unique ability to identify vape and smoke accurately and quickly at an affordable cost was a key reason for our selection for this initiative,” said Vin Ratford, CEO of Piera Systems. “We are honoured to be selected as a supplier and applaud the provincial government for allocating funding to reduce indoor vaping, smoking, and the health impacts caused by secondhand smoke.”

Funding is available immediately to Ontario Public Service ministries including all Ontario schools. The deployment process will begin once vendors are selected by individual school districts. Additionally, other non-OPS entities, including public libraries, hospitals, universities, schools, etc. may choose to use the VOR. 

Canāree monitors are currently deployed worldwide in schools, hospitals, hotels, commercial and residential spaces to monitor air quality, classify pollutants, and provide alerts on vaping and smoking activity delivering significant health benefits. 

The Canāree Platform

The Canāree IX6 Vape Detector with Noise Monitoring is based on Piera System’s Canāree IX platform of AI-based intelligent Indoor Environment Monitors (IEM) that detect various gases and particulate aerosols in real-time, capable of identifying sources of pollution as well as providing feedback on mitigation steps to clean the air, reduce health risks, and other environmental factors that affect inhabitants like vape and smoke.

The base Canāree IX model, the IX6, includes as standard, Piera Systems’ own intelligent particle sensor, the IPS7100, volatile organic compounds (VOC), temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and noise sensors. The IX can be customized to include additional sensors such as CO2 (NDIR-based), CO, NO2, SO2, O2, O3, ammonia, and vibration detectors.

All Canāree models collect real-time air quality data locally and send that data to Piera’s SenseiAQ cloud for remote monitoring, analysis and alerting. SenseiAQ then displays the data on a dashboard including Air Quality Index (AQI) scores, color-coded to EPA/EEEC standards along with vape/smoke/AQ alerts. APIs are available to support third-party integrations such as video security systems, air quality management systems (AQMS), building management systems (BMS) and IoT device management.

Canāree was selected as a finalist in the AI/Machine Learning category of the 2024 Best of Sensors Awards for “Classifying Pollutants Using Industry’s Most Accurate Low-cost PM Sensor.”  The awards program presented by Sensors Converge and Fierce Electronics honors the best in sensor technologies and the sensor ecosystem, people and companies.

About Piera Systems, Inc.

Piera Systems Inc. (Mississauga, ON) mission is to make air quality measurement as accurate, simple, and pervasive as temperature, enabling a major improvement in the health of all humans. The IPS family of intelligent particulate matter sensors uses a custom, patented particle-counting microchip to determine particulate matter’s size, count, and mass. Then, by utilizing AI/ML techniques, Piera can identify pollution sources such as vape, smoke, cooking, construction dust, and more, either at the edge or in the cloud. Our SenseiAQ air quality monitoring platform monitors and alerts users to poor air quality and pollution events.

Headquartered in Canada, more information on Piera Systems’ air quality solutions can be found at https://www.pierasystems.com

About Supply Ontario

Supply Ontario is a crown operational agency of the Ontario government that leads and manages procurement-related work on behalf of the Ontario government. Its mandate is to strengthen supply chain management and procurement across the public sector, ensuring that Ontario ministries, provincial agencies, and broader public services such as hospitals, school boards, children’s aid societies, and more have access to high-quality, timely, reliable products at the best value.  The Vape Detectors and Building Safety Provisions (Tender 19788) will be used by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Service – Ontario and includes:

Vape Detectors (includes installation and maintenance services and related accessories)Building Safety Provisions of safety lighting, security cameras, motion sensors and signage (includes installation and maintenance services and related accessories as needed)

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SOURCE Piera Systems Inc.

FOLSOM, Calif., Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — HiDO Technologies, a leading medtech company in the development of innovative solutions for dementia care, is proud to announce it has been awarded a prestigious Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant, titled “Preventing Medication Mismanagement in People Living with Dementia through Automated Medication Dispensing with Facial Recognition and Video Observation,” will support the further development and testing of HiDO’s cutting-edge technology to address Aging at Home challenges for people living with dementia.

The award highlights HiDO Technologies’ commitment to improving the lives of individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Medication management is a critical issue for this population, as mismanagement can lead to significant health risks, including hospitalizations and increased caregiver burden. HiDO’s solution integrates automated medication dispensing, advanced facial recognition, and video observation to ensure that medications are taken accurately and on time, providing peace of mind for both patients and their families.

“Our team is thrilled to receive this Phase II grant from the NIA to continue this critical research that we believe will transform the lives for people living with dementia,” said Charles Gellman, CEO of HiDO Technologies. “By leveraging facial recognition and video observation, we are addressing a vital need to ensure safety, improve health outcomes, and reduce caregiver stress. This award will enable us to accelerate our efforts and bring this life-changing technology to those who need it most.”

HiDO Technologies is part of the NIH portfolio of companies committed to bringing innovative healthcare solutions to market. With a strong focus on addressing the unique challenges of dementia, HiDO is dedicated to improving quality of life for patients and caregivers alike.

For more information about HiDO Technologies and its efforts to revolutionize dementia care through advanced technology, please visit www.hidohealth.com or connect via Linkedin Charles Gellman

About HiDO Technologies

HiDO Technologies is a medtech company specializing in developing AI-driven solutions to improve care for people with chronic health conditions, including dementia. The company’s mission is to create technologies that enhance patient safety, support caregivers, and optimize healthcare delivery.

About the National Institute on Aging (NIA)

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) leads the federal government in conducting and supporting research on aging and the health and well-being of older adults. The NIA is committed to understanding the nature of aging and developing interventions to address diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect older individuals.

Grant Information:

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute On Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44AG077737. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Media Contact

Charles Gellman, HiDO Technologies, 1 800-898-3560, charles@hidohealth.com, www.hidohealth.com 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/hido-technologies-awarded-phase-ii-sbir-grant-by-national-institute-on-aging-nia-for-innovative-dementia-care-technology-302265270.html

SOURCE HiDO Technologies