Innovative Projects Realized

Generation of Application-Level Traffic Markings from Smartphones

Mobile Network Carriers are experiencing unprecedented data traffic loads which are straining their

existing infrastructure. They are thus interested in exploring research areas which focus on reducing

this traffic load. The malicious traffic generated by malware on smartphones is of particular interest.

My research focuses on the generation of a software system that marks traffic from smartphones to

indicate the specific phone application which has generated the data flow. Network carriers will then

be able to give good bandwidth allocation to only known and trusted applications while unknown

applications, including malware, will not be given the bandwidth allocation they would require to

cause significant congestion. As part of the University of Victoria’s Entrepreneurial Engineering

Masters Program, I will work closely with experts from Wesley Clover and the Alacrity Foundation

with the intention of creating a commercial entity upon completion of the project.

Potentiel d’atténuation des émissions de gaz à effet de serre des forêts québécoises

Les forêts jouent un rôle essentiel dans l’atténuation des changements climatiques, grâce à la séquestration du carbone sur les sites forestiers et dans les produits du bois, et à la substitution de produits causant de fortes émissions de carbone. Le projet vise à identifier des solutions pour optimiser le potentiel des forêts québécoises pour l’atténuation des changements climatiques, en utilisant la Forêt Montmorency, localisée en zone boréale, comme banc d’essai avant de généraliser à l’ensemble du territoire forestier québécois. En plus d’augmenter les connaissances sur la dynamique de écosystèmes forestiers québécois et les effets de l’action sylvicole sur les stocks et les flux de carbone, ces informations serviront à à développer des processus d’attribution et de monitoring de crédits de carbone de la compagnie Écotierra pour des projets de conservation et d’aménagement forestiers.

The use of inertial measurement units to quantify sport-specific movement patterns in elite sprint kayak athletes

Canoe kayak athletes use difficult body movements to move their boats at fast speeds. It has been hard to measure body movements that are needed to win paddling races in the past. Wearable devices are now able to measure athlete’s body movements when they are paddling. The goal of this research is to learn new ways to give athletes information about their movements so they can be better at their sport. The intern will learn how to use the wearable devices to help the athlete’s become faster paddlers. The intern will also work with a group of partners that will help grow the intern’s sport science abilities. Canoe Kayak Canada and Own The Podium are using this research to help athletes win medals for Canada at future Olympics and Paralympics.

Cisgenic AG704.10 potato cultivar with enhanced late blight resistance and mineral bioavailability

Potato crop suffers from several devastating diseases. Genetic resistance is the best way to manage these diseases but potato is sexually quite incompatible. A novel technology called genome editing offers genetic improvement, similar to conventional breeding, where the susceptible genes in a cultivar are cut and replaced with disease resistance genes from another cultivar, with no change to rest of the genome. These resistance genes come from another potato cultivar, thus called cisgenics (Genetically Engineered Crop = GEC), unlike transgenics where the resistance gene can come from bacteria or other organisms (Genetically modified crop = GMC). In addition, the bioavailability of minerals will be improved by silencing an antinutrient phytate which also binds minerals. The genome editing proposed here will be conducted in consultation with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The protocols have been, some being, standardized for developing cisgenic Russet Burbank, our model cultivar, will be followed to develop cisgenic AG704.10 cultivar. Student-intern gets state-of-the-art technology training and industry work experience. The company gets a lead in producing a potato cultivar resistant to devastating potato diseases, especially in South American countries. TO BE CONT’D

Genomic methods for herbal supplement quality assurance

It is critical for consumers to be assured that Natural Health supplements being purchased commercially are of high quality and contain the ingredients as listed on labels. For regulatory agencies to make such assurances, it is important that third-party product testing be carried out to identify the presence of the appropriate botanicals and their active ingredients. This project will begin to address the need for standardized authenticated reference materials from which appropriate quality control tests can be developed. In collaboration with ISURA, Canada’s only independent natural health supplement and food product verification and certification organization, an intern will work to develop authenticated, open-source, botanical reference materials, in response to the needs of industry and government. This project is an essential element in order for Canadian natural health product suppliers to appropriately serve growers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, and will provide critical information to Canadian regulatory agencies.

Evaluation Capacity Network: Aligning Evaluative Thinking and Practice among Early Childhood Stakeholders

This project aims to provide much needed evidence to service providers and program managers working in the field of early childhood development (ECD). Early childhood programs are required to provide evidence of tangible outcomes to validate the impacts of their programs. Organizations, though, do not always have the knowledge, resources, or capacity to support such processes and the intent of gathering such evidence is interpreted differently depending on the individual sector. This case study will document how two different sectors partner to support and assess the impact of a supportive housing program for teen families. The program is supported by an emerging partnership between an early childhood program and a housing society. This project will identify the resources and capacities needed for these organizations to effectively gather evidence of their program and services impacts.

A new flow cytometry platform to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapies and vaccines

The development of effective immunotherapies, vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs are the main success stories from the last years in drugs development for cancer, infectious diseases and chronic disorders. We are developing a simple and robust new platform to evaluate the next generation of immunotherapeutics treatments at pre-clinical stage. This platform is called Immune Complex Phagocytic Assessment (ICPA). It aims to test and validate in vitro and in vivo new vaccines, immunotherapies and even immunomodulatory drugs for their capacity to target specific antigens and degrade those in our blood stream by our immune cells. This platform can be applied to amyloid Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, cancer and bacterial infection, etc. This approach could find implications in future immunotherapies, and could be used to develop new assays and biomarkers to monitor the immunological response to candidate therapeutics.

Development of a numerical wave uprush prediction tool for the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River shoreline – Phase 2

Wave uprush and the potential for flooding are natural hazards that must be determined by the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) prior to the approval of a near-shore development. The purpose of calculating wave uprush is to recommend building sites that are outside of the wave uprush area (and floodplain in general) to land owners and municipalities, as well as provide information for flood proofing of existing buildings, roadways, etc. The CRCA has manually calculated wave uprush at 200 sites along the more than 200 km of shoreline in eastern Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Recently, there has been a need to compute wave uprush along an additional 260 km of shoreline. This project will examine the accuracy of existing CRCA wave uprush methodology, by comparing their manual calculations against field observations of wave uprush. The present CRCA methodology will then be extended and enhanced using computer models to predict the wave uprush throughout the entire CRCA jurisdiction. The results will be applied for shoreline management in eastern Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Selective recovery of antimony and arsenic from copper sulphide concentrate

Many copper deposits contain significant amount of arsenic and antimony and being overlooked because of it. These impurities are currently subject to smelters penalty. Development of an efficient technology for removal of these impurities and converting them as sellable products will make a number of deposits economic that are currently not being mined. The current research will assist in identifying the most efficient technology for treating such complex minerals and to meet the rising demand for clear copper concentrates.

Resource Allocation for Cloud-Based Notary Service

Cloud computing has emerged as an important platform for business and companies, providing a cost-effective way to scale business service with users’ demand. The proposed research project aims to take full advantage of cloud computing for legal-service companies in Canada, with a particular focus on cloud resource allocation. Unlike conventional resource-allocation schemes that are either centralized or distributed, the proposed research will develop a new hybrid resource-allocation scheme that enjoys clear advantages over conventional schemes. In particular, a theoretical foundation will be established and practical algorithms will be developed for hybrid resource allocation, based on which a software platform will be designed for cloud-based notary service. This software platform has a potential to revolutionize legal services in Canada.

Élaboration d’une approche de modélisation géoenvironnementale de stériles miniers à l’étape de mise en valeur d’un projet d’exploitation d’une mine à ciel ouvert : application à un gisement Au-Cu de

Les mines à ciel ouvert génèrent de grandes quantités de stériles miniers. Selon leur composition, les stériles peuvent être potentiellement contaminants lorsqu’exposés à l’air et à l’eau. Une bonne connaissance des propriétés des stériles permet donc de mieux planifier leur gestion afin de réduire les risques environnementaux. Le projet consiste à réaliser une modélisation géo-environnementale des stériles miniers à l’étape de mise en valeur d’un gisement Cu-Au. Les données de l’entreprise propriétaire du site et les résultats d’essais de laboratoire réalisés préalablement par le stagiaire serviront à développer un modèle géo-environnemental du gisement. Ce modèle 3-D permettra de définir et de caractériser des unités géo-environnementales selon leurs potentiels de risques environnementaux. L’utilisation du modèle géo-environnemental mènera à une meilleure gestion des stériles et une réduction des risques environnementaux. L’approche développée dans ce projet pourra ensuite être transférée à d’autres sites en développement.

Consumption of Smartphone Application Traffic Markings

Mobile Network Carriers are experiencing data traffic at such high levels that congestion is becoming an increasing problem. High levels of malicious traffic generated from smartphones could potentially bring down the carriers network. As such, mobile carriers are exploring new methods to reduce this congestion. This research focuses on simplifying the problem of identifying which mobile device applications are generating the problematic traffic and integrating this information with the carrier’s existing network-level QoS solutions. This will be done by developing the server-level solution required to consume markings produced at the device level regarding which applications are best shed to mitigate network overloads. As part of the University of Victoria’s Entrepreneurial Engineering Masters Program, I will work closely with experts from Wesley Clover and the Alacrity Foundation with the intention of providing research that at the end of the day can be deployed to address this emerging carrier-level mobile device concern.