Development of the Parasocial Identifier for Social Media

Since the introduction of radio and television, fans have had a connection to those they know in the media. These connections are called “parasocial relationships” and they are one-sided relationships, usually between a fan and a celebrity, that is usually not face-to-face. With the advent of social media, any person, or company, can become a […]

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Pelletization of Forest Wildfire Fuels in Western Canada

Forests in British Columbia have significant areas that need to be managed to limit the danger of fire and disease. Under current management approaches, there are few cost-effective options available to areas that are not already regularly harvested. A holistic analysis of pelletization of these materials could show that the sale of wood pellets, as […]

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The Development of Phonological Awareness in Vietnamese Children

Vietnamese is widely spoken by over 90 million people in Vietnam and around the world. The proposed project will be the first to study phonological awareness (PA) and reading outcomes in Vietnamese-speaking children. Phonological awareness is the ability to explicitly and/or implicitly manipulate small meaningful units of speech. Many studies with English-speaking children have found […]

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Automated Target Classification for Multi-Frequency Echosounders

The oceans cover the majority of our planet’s surface but much of their depths are still a mystery. Improvements in technology have allowed for the development of instruments on underwater platforms and autonomous gliders that are able to survey the world’s oceans. One instrument, called an AZFP (acoustic zooplankton fish profiler), emits high-frequency sonar pulses […]

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The Tabletop Makerspace: A Portable Low-Cost Personal Fabrication Toolkit

This project will be a collaboration between the School of Interactive Arts at Simon Fraser University and Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia. A portable low-cost set of tools will be assembled to support “maker” activities, educational do-it-yourself building project that use electronics and personal fabrication technology. Personal fabrication technology refers to a new generation […]

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Visualizing Unspoken Words

In order to a facilitate a productive dialogue about contemporary Canadian race, ethnicity and religious rights, my research project entails the following three components: 1- an interactive artistic installation; 2- data collection from the target audience in response to the installation using sensor-based software application; 3- public visualisation of such data in the form of […]

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Optimizing Gastric Banding Surgery Outcomes in Obese Patients

The negative effects of obesity on quality of life, daily functioning and overall health are well documented. Specifically, obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Despite this knowledge, the incidence of obesity continues to increase exponentially leading some, generally extreme cases, to seek out laparascopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), as a means to control […]

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When do we support harming another group?

The purpose of this project is to extend my investigation of destructive intergroup behaviour (DIB), defined as collective action taken with the primary intent of harming an outgroup. Specifically, I am interested in identifying the psychological processes through which individual group members come to see DIB as justified, as it is the widespread acceptance and […]

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