Heart-lung synchronizations during exercise

Patients diagnosed with heart failure often require the implantation of a pacemaker to improve cardiac function, which in turn, improves exercise tolerance and quality of life. Current pacemaker models work at a fixed time interval for a given heart rate (i.e. 1 second between heart beats at 60 beats per minute). However, the body’s natural […]

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Ethical Awareness of Japanese Computer Science and Software Engineering Graduate Students on Text-to-Image AI-Generated Art

Text-to-image AI models for AI-generated art has recently gained extensive media coverage and has had a significant impact on Japanese art communities and Japanese digital content sites. I am particularly interested in investigating Japanese computer science and software engineering graduate students’ awareness of ethical issues embedded in the technology necessary to create AI-generated art. This […]

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On-the-fly World Models for Quadrupedal Robots

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for quadrupedal robot control has recently become tractable. In under an hour, serviceable control policies can be obtained in simulation. However, transferring reinforcement learning from simulation to the real world is still an arduous task. We propose a novel two-agent setup that leverages the good sides of both model-free and model-based […]

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Control of multi-agent robots: an opinion dynamics approach

The objective of this project is the development of a novel control strategy for multi-agent robots. The objectives are energy saving and efficient robots movements and manoeuvres within clustered environments. To this end, the research intern (with the help of the host and home supervisor) will be in charge of developing a novel distributed control […]

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Combinatorial aspects of persistent homology

Topological data analysis is a tool used to analyze the shape of a given dataset. It allows one to find topological or geometrical features of even large collections of data. Persistent homology is one of the main approaches to topological data analysis in recent times. The strategy is to set some rule to build geometrical […]

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The Relative Importance of Recirculated Seawater on Submarine Groundwater Discharge

While rivers are an important and highly visible pathway for freshwater to reach the ocean, another less noticeable, but also important, pathway is the discharge of groundwater from the sea floor. This phenomenon, known as Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD), is significant to the coastal ocean because it can carry water-based nutrients and pollutants into the […]

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Bright Minds & Bushy Tails: How education impacts animal-related attitudes in Japanese graduate students Japanese graduate students

“Iyashi” (i.e., well-being) can stem from human-animal interactions (HAI), like those developed through companionship, animal-assisted therapies, or animal cafes. Research suggests that prolonged exposure to, or education about, non-human animals may lead to a greater understanding of non-human animal sentience. What could be the impact of a short-term educational program on attitudinal change? This study […]

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The Freeze Tolerance of the Terrestrial Slug, Ambigolimax valentianus

Land-dwelling slugs are routinely exposed to cold or freezing temperature during the winter. Some species of slugs can even survive partial ice formation within their bodies. How they survive low temperatures is largely a mystery as ice formation is damaging, and they lack external protection like shells. This project aims to determine the lower temperature […]

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Photogrammetry and water monitoring for Hyper-K

The next generation neutrino experiments like Hyper-Kamiokande will have statistical power, but the presence of detector systematics will limit the discovery potential of the experiments. The uncertainties due to construction tolerances, support frame shift from PMT buoyancy, and the source deployment system, combined with uncertainties in PMT angular response, and position-dependent water quality, can limit […]

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The effect of annealing on the deformation and impurity segregation mechanisms in electrodeposited nanocrystalline NiCo alloy

Fully dense nanocrystalline alloys have high strength, hardness, and wear resistance due to their extremely fine (nano) crystals. This makes them of significant interest in different industrial applications which require excellent mechanical properties. A new nanocrystalline nickel-cobalt (NiCo) alloy, currently being developed with Integran Technologies Inc, Mississauga, Ontario, has a good combination of strength and […]

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