This project is part of a larger research project which investigates the applicability of the peer-to-peer (P2P) computing paradigm in designing large-scale content distribution systems. To develop an efficient content distribution system, it is essential to understand the workload that will be distributed, the behavior of content consumers and the environment in which the system will operate.

D-Wave Systems is currently involved in the research and development of quantum computing technology. Quantum computers allow for not just a fast computer, but potentially, a change in the computational complexity of problems. Graph theory plays a crucial role in the development and understanding of the capabilities and behaviour of the quantum computing hardware being developed, both from an operational and an applications perspective.

Medical image registration is the task of bringing two images into spatial alignment. Automatic and accurate 3D co-registration of nuclear medicine 3D image data with 3D anatomical data is crucial for improving the functional image reconstruction through anatomy-based attenuation correction. Co-registration is also important for the fusion of anatomical data with functional information. Most registration methods involve optimizing an intensity-based similarity metric that is defined by the transformation parameters.

Typically, movement of the patient during any medical imaging scan will result in a degraded final image if this motion is not accounted for. This research project aims to use the video from two cameras, recording from different angles, to estimate the motion of a patient’s head during a PET (positron emission tomography) scan. By using the video from two cameras to track features of the patient’s head, motion in all three dimensions can be estimated.

Aurel Systems Inc. offers a commercial dynamic process simulation program called CADSIM Plus™ (www.aurelsystems.com). At several places in the program sets of nonlinear equations must be solved or nonlinear functions must be minimized (for example, solving pressure flow networks, solving for independent variables given sets of user defined dependent variables, solving for both temperatures on a heat exchanger with condensation or flash).

The Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (www.postcoml.org) project is part of the Census of Marine Life study. Radio-transmitters are surgically implanted into fish (e.g. salmon smolt) and are tracked during their migration by a series of listening lines along the ocean shelf. This project will estimate survival rates as a function of time since release and distance traveled for fish as they migrate past these listening lines.

This internship will undertake an investigation of novel 3D shape descriptors relevant to three musculoskeletal disorders. The first is an investigation of the relationship between the shape of the bicipital groove of the proximal humerus (a groove in the head of the upper arm bone) and the incidence of injury to the long biceps tendon which is retained in the bicipital groove. The second is to characterize the shape of the spinal canal with the objective of correlating this characterization to a clinically-established measurement for spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal.

Everyday, three Canadians are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), which affects the brain and spinal cord, causing lesions and atrophy. MS produces deformation in the central nervous system, causing disability and in extreme cases, death. In the human brain, one of the many structures affected by MS is the corpus collosum. The corpus collosum contains millions of nerve bundles which connect the two brain hemispheres by acting as a bridge for the inter-hemispheric communication. Deformation of the corpus collosum, therefore, causes disruption of nerve impulses along the nerve fibres.

Teck Cominco Ltd. is a diversified mining, smelting and refining group, a world leader in the production of metallurgical coal and zinc and a major producer of copper and gold. The company was interested in investigating the dispersion of particulate matter from its Trail facility into the surrounding area under the influence of diffusion, advection by the wind and settling effects. In particular, the company was interested in estimates of yearly release rates from particular release points which are very difficult and costly to measure directly.

Axonwave Software Inc. of Burnaby, BC, is a leader in the field of unstructured data analysis and processing. The company provides solutions that enhance business intelligence and improve the efficiency of business processes through the ability to analyze and extract information from text-based information sources. In collaboration with Axonwave, the project involves unifying a number of algorithms unified for structure prediction into a single formal framework that will be the basis of a software toolkit.