This project will assess how boat noise affects parental care and mating vocalizations in plainfin midshipman fish, which are highly sensitive to sound and spend months caring for their eggs in coastal areas prone to high boat traffic. Using two field experiments, we will test whether these fish alter their vocalizations or parental behaviours in […]

The goal of the proposed project is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 (e.g., person injured in a car accident). We hypothesize that, due to high occupancy caused by COVID-19 and the resulting strain in health care delivery, patients […]

Western Canada is facing an opioid related health epidemic. Canadians are dying and experiencing mental health problems characterised by chronic drug and alcohol use. The overdose, misuse, and abuse of drugs/opioids leading to deaths is happening in the backdrop of significant medical, social, psychological, and economic causes. Income inequality and ill-balanced labour forced participation are […]

After about a decade’s wait, persistent memory (such as Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory) has recently become commercially available in 2019. These devices fundamentally change the way database systems are built: they are both byte-addressable like normal DRAM memory and persistent like flash memory and disks. They also exhibit memory-like properties and performance (albeit slower), […]

This project aims to find a solution between high magnitude debris flows and their impacts on society through the design of low-cost mitigation measures, in order to build sustainable cities that can coexist with natural phenomena. The towns of Huinganco and Andacollo in northernmost Patagonia, Argentina, were affected recently by debris flows. Given the consequences, […]

Many industrial hydroponic growers supplement their greenhouses with additional CO2 to improve crop yields. Elevated levels of CO2 can increase rates of photosynthesis and dry-matter accumulation. Greenhouse operators, therefore, often inject extra CO2 (up to 700-1500 ppm) into the aerial environment to improve their crop yields. However, enhancing CO2 levels in commercial greenhouses can incur […]

This project work with stakeholders, residents, family members, and care staff, in two long-term care homes to analyze the use of virtual reality to improve mood, support quality of life and increase social engagement in residents with and without dementia. Rendever is a virtual reality system that has been designed for these purposes and is […]

Research continues to suggest that there is a strong association between literacy and health. Health literacy requires writing and reading skills, as well as general health knowledge. Unfortunately, printed patient education materials are often written at higher reading levels with technical and/or dense texts that are not easily understood by people with low literacy levels. […]

In 2012, wind energy in Canada grew by nearly 20% and wind is expected to supply 20% of Canada’s electricity by 2025. Accurate measurement of the wind resource is essential for future wind energy development but current wind resource assessment practices do not adequately measure atmospheric turbulence or stability. These variables affect average windn speeds, […]

This project studies network capacity and throughput for newly emerging MSGN infrastructure including mesh planning strategies and how the number of hops and end-devices affects the overall throughput. The work includes developing the analytical framework, and confirmation through simulation and physical experiment, of proof-of-concepts in the smart utility lab IPv6 RF mesh test bed. During […]

Currently in Canada, 8 out of 10 Canadians have ongoing musculoskeletal pain preventing from doing regular day to day activity, and looking for solutions for their pain. The proposed research is aimed to create a conversational chatbot that can engage in empathetic conversation to examine the effect of empathic conversation in engagement and pain management […]

The project aims to compare and analyse the response of BC and Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is scheduled to be conducted into 5 main areas: the situation of the healthcare system before the pandemic, the policies set in place during the pandemic, the outcomes of such policies and interventions, the unintended consequences […]