Investigating Itineraries of a Himalayan Pilgrimage: Infrastructural impacts on socio-natural experience

As part of my Honours thesis, I will conduct literature review and field research on changing practices of pilgrimage in the Indian Himalayas. Pilgrimage has historically been an important aspect of Indian religions, and has exploded in popularity with increased accessibility due to a growing middle class and improved communication and transportation infrastructures. Because much […]

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Development of SemiosGUARD biopesticide product

Chemical pesticides are often highly toxic and non-discriminatory substances. SemiosBIO is developing new pheromone-based bed bug control product for indoor use as a safe, sustainable and targeted control with negligible toxicity to humans and other organisms. This current project involves an understanding of this technology to determine the best suitable market research technique(s) to incorporate […]

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Microclimate Modelling for Vancouver Neighborhoods

Extensive urbanized land surfaces, anthropogenic heat emissions, and lack of vegetation and tree cover contribute to the formation of distinct urban climates where warmer air and surface temperatures intensify outdoor heat exposure and thermal discomfort for pedestrians. To assess outdoor thermal comfort in urban environments, mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) is a commonly used indicator. The […]

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Mobile Mesh Technology For Improved Connectivity In Canada

Lack of affordable, reliable access to the Internet in remote, rural, and Indigenous communities in Canada and internationally has led to a digital divide affecting billions. Left has developed its RightMesh technology, which lets nearby mobile devices connect without the Internet. Normally data flows from a phone, through Internet Service Providers (Telus, Shaw), to the […]

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Better predictions of employee events

Machine learning can be used to predict employee events around retention, promotion or movement. This project explores how to generate better predictions by exploring correlations and exploiting them through features that increase predictive strength. Furthermore, the project explores how to reliably fine-tune the predictive model to a particular data set in the presence of interdependence […]

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Best Practices for Online Public Consultation in Community Planning: A White Paper

The objective of this proposed project is to update public consultation best practices with a particular emphasis on online engagement in community and regional planning issues. Within the City of Vancouver Development Services Department there are several different areas that involve public consultation in respect of land use planning and decision-making. These include Rezoning and […]

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Making scholarship more practice and policy relevant: Analysis of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies’ peer review process and its implications

This project examines the peer review process of a leading Canadian academic journal focused on international development, with the goal to better understand how research knowledge is made accessible and relevant – or not – for policy makers and practitioners. The intern will analyze systematically the texts of submitted articles, comments provided by the scholars […]

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Context-Aware Advertising Language Modeling with Deep Learning for Internet Ads

Digital advertising is a rapidly growing industry, commonly seen on Facebook and Google. However, most people who start promoting their business with Internet Ads are not professional and experienced marketers. They need help to design and launch ads campaign, especially on writing ads copies. Meanwhile, people have started to embrace AI technologies in the industry […]

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Eastside Works: Information System Support and Evaluation

EMBERS Eastside Works (EW) is a new low barrier employment centre in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. EW helps people in the Downtown Eastside make connections to the world of work, earn income, and improve their livelihoods. The proposed research will work with EW to develop a database and information system that fits their needs, […]

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Analysis and Integration of Real-Time Mobility Data for the Cascadia Corridor

In order to design and operate more efficient urban transport infrastructure networks along the Cascadia Corridor, improved spatial and temporal data is required to understand travel activity patterns. The integration and comparative analysis of new data sources including: electronic transit ticketing (Vancouver Compass Card, Seattle Orca Card), geospatially tagged social media, smartphone travel diaries, and […]

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