Innovative Projects Realized

Next-generation database systems on real persistent memory

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), cheaper price than DRAM yet much large capacity than DRAM. These features can bring many benefits that were not possible to achieve, namely being high-performance, low-cost and able to recover instantly. Prior research, however, has largely been simulation-driven and thus had limited applicability in today’s real PM hardware, which is shown by our preliminary study. Coupled with inherent challenges of PM, such as asymmetric read/write performance, different programming models and limited lifetime, devising a suitable database architecture becomes more challenging on real PM devices available today. This project sets out to solve these problems and aims at creating new designs for database systems on persistent memory.

Educational and occupational aspirations of refugees in Switzerland and Canada

The project uses a comparative perspective to understand the role of public policies, mainly asylum and integration policies in shaping refugee educational and occupational aspirations. This is particularly interesting to explore in in the context of two countries with different educational systems. On one hand, Switzerland is a country that relies on its highly developed vocational training system (VET) to integrate youth into the labor force and assure low rates of unemployment. The system is employed by policy makers as an important tool in the implementation of refugee integration policy. On the other hand, Canada is a country with a more traditional educational policy that is based on tertiary education as the main route to integrating the labor market. The expected outcome of this study is that using a developed VET system can be both a blessing and a curse for refugees. A blessing because it provides them with the needed skills to integrate the labor market faster but also a curse because it makes it harder for them to find the needed support to fulfill their academic aspirations.

L’expérience de la prophylaxie pré-exposition (PrEP) chez les HSH

Il s’agira de rendre compte de l’expérience particulière de la communauté gaie à Montréal prennant la PrEP (de manière continue ou intermittente), de comprendre les facteurs interdisciplinaires jouant un rôle dans la démocratisation du traitement prophylactique. Aussi, j’aimerais procéder à une analyse comparative avec la Suisse afin d’offrir une entraide internationale dans cette démocratisation. Les objectifs de cette recherche seront d’étayer mes connaissances et d’étudier l’impact socio-historique de la catégorisation HSH (hommes ayant des rapports sexuels avec des hommes) de mettre en lumière les questions d’accessibilités au traitement (financière et pratiques), de présenter un aperçu de l’évolution des sexualités et de montrer comment le traitement prophylactique devient un dispositif marqueur d’identité/s.

Multi-Service IPv6 Networking for Metering, Distribution Automation and Future Applications: Capacity Evaluation

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 the course of this project, the intern will collaborate with SUL and BC Hydro engineers and staff, as well as industry partners Cisco/Itron. He will also participate in distribution automation yard- and early field-trials

Reliability-based Assessment of Oil and Gas Pipelines Buried across Geohazard Areas

Buried pipelines are inevitably constructed in geohazard areas associated with the possible development of permanent ground displacements, which induces considerably high strains thus leads to failure on pipeline structures. This study aims to establish an accurate and efficient tool for the safety evaluation of pipes bearing ground movements from the perspective of reliability, which purpose to be applied to the pipeline industry in practice. A foremost model for response prediction of pipes under geohazard-induced loads is firstly established based on the finite difference method where the nonlinearities arising from the pipe material, the pipe-soil interaction, and the geometry of the pipe are considered. This developed model is incorporated into the reliability calculation in which a highly efficient scheme is developed based on the computational optimization. The above works are finally industrialized to an Application, which is suitable for the preliminary design and safety prescreening of pipes buried across geohazard zones.

AMD distortion correction using image processing tools

Project Justification
Research and analysis into the reception of visual distortion correction as a tool for image optimization for moderate to severe stage AMD patients with central vision loss allowing them to see better images.
Project Objective and Scope
Research and design a study protocol to either prove or disprove the hypothesis that correcting distortion or metamorphopsia patterns that a patient perceives from an image can enhance vision for patients with central vision loss secondary to moderate AMD, wet AMD and CME.
Phase 1 Project Deliverable
1. Report produced at the end of this project phase will guide the plan for distortion correction development; provide timelines for the expected development; resources requirements based on the improved visual outcome detection and resonance with the target demographic as well as the expected deliverable. The report will also provide an assessment of the feasibility of developing such a tool that will allow for moderate stage AMD patients with central vision loss allowing them to see better images.
2. Recommendations into future research building on the distortion correction; retinal remapping/scotoma correction and distortion monitoring as a diagnostic tool for disease progression.
3. Publishable study results in collaboration with the product team and science research team.

Quantification of dental wear by Optical Coherence Tomography

Tooth wear is an irreversible loss of the enamel, which over time, leads to the exposure of the dentine and this makes the tooth very sensitive to hot or cold foods. The choice of food of the person suffering from severe tooth becomes very limited and this sometimes threatens the survival of the individual. Our proposed solution (OCT) can be used to detect and monitor wear progression in both tooth and restorative materials by comparing the image of a newly restored tooth with another image taken at a later time (1 yr.) and give the wear rate of the restorative material. This will assist the dentists in giving an Informed opinion to their patients on what could be done to make the restoration last longer or when they will be due for replacement. Presently, there is no device in the dental clinic that is capable of this feat.

Séjour de recherche au Berlin Center for Humanities and Social Change

Le Center for Humanities and Social Change (HSC) de l’Université Humboldt est un centre de recherche dirigé par la professeure
Rahel Jaeggi qui étudie les relations entre les crises du système capitaliste et les défis contemporains de la démocratie. Dans le cadre de la Maîtrise en philosophie et du Diplôme complémentaire en études allemandes dans le contexte européen, je suis invité à effectuer un séjour de recherche dans ce centre. Durant ce séjour, j’étudierai le développement du concept philosophique de « contradiction » dans l’œuvre du penseur allemand Karl Marx et je rédigerai un mémoire de philosophie sur le même sujet.
Effectuer cette recherche au HSC enrichira grandement mon travail, puisque ce concept est utilisé par Karl Marx notamment pour comprendre les crises qui affectent la société capitaliste ainsi que la transition possible vers une société plus équitable et plus démocratique. Plus précisément, ce séjour de recherche qui me donnera accès aux bibliothèques et aux fonds d’archives de l’Université Humboldt ainsi qu’aux colloques de spécialistes en philosophie critique allemande mettra à ma disposition des ressources précieuses pour mener à terme mon projet de recherche.

Expanded Marketing and Publicity for On Cue Performance Hub Productions

The application ensures that a PhD student (Critical Performance and Creative Writing) gains opportunities suited to pursuing a career in publicity within the creative industry. Poised to enter the job market but (due to COVID) lacking the necessary real-world experience to be competitive, by linking with On Cue, this doctoral student will be given valuable opportunities to learn on the job in a dynamic working environment made up of culturally diverse performing artists (dance, music, theatre, and spoken word) who need to market their work in order to earn a living. The publicist will work closely with On Cue’s Steering Committee to set in motion the marketing strategy developed in the context of our Business Plan (developed also by a BSI intern). The intern will be a critical lynch-pin in familiarizing the community with the new organization; generating strong audiences for the first full season of live performance and on demand video releases; and expanding audiences beyond the older, white and financially well-off individuals who dominate audiences at most live performing arts events.

The impact of women-led market networks on the sustainability of global fish

My proposed project intends to investigate the export of dagaa (dried fish) from the African Great Lakes to Canada. My research examines the ecological impacts, the consumption patterns, and sustainability of both ends of the dried fish value chain. This builds on my doctoral research which looked at the sustainability of fisheries-based livelihoods on Lake Tanganyika. Now I wish to expand this to Lake Victoria, the borders of which are shared by Tanzania, Congo, Uganda and Kenya, and to include in the analysis, the economic activities of sub-Saharan African migrants to Canada. The transnational networks of this trade have been built by women. Research into these activities will shed light on the growing importance of this trade in various retail markets in Canada and how these networks shape consumer preferences. Thus, the project will link economic development in Africa, the need for natural resource conservation, and the potential problems of long-term sustainability of the fisheries resources of the African Great Lakes. One element of this project will investigate the potential substitution of Canadian-sourced fish to meet the demands of this market.

Operations & Communications Lead – MVP Development

Lifeguard.org (URL: www.joinlifeguard.org) is a unique ESG venture that represents the first ever effort to provide the infrastructure, collaboration tools, and incentives needed to enable and encourage peer-reviewed science, focused on complex public health and environmental issues, on a massive scale. Our vision is to create a world where multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and subject-matter experts collaborate to conduct peer-reviewed scientific research that finds defective or harmful products and by-products and prevents them from ending up in the hands of consumers, being exposed to workers in occupational settings, and harming the environment.

With impressive investment from the reinsurance industry and support from the scientific community, Lifeguard.org has the opportunity to build a web application for our growing waitlist of users across disciplines, geographies, and expertise. This project will enable the efforts of our technical development team to be augmented with additional operations and communications talent, so that we can accelerate our time to market to release our web application.

Observations of atmospheric stability and threedimensionalturbulence for wind energy developmentapplications

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, wind energy turbine performance, and energy production. The research proposed here will deploy advanced instrumentation (a 3-d sonic anemometer) to provide highresolution measurements of 3-d atmospheric turbulence and stability. These measurements have potential to improve wind speed models and reduce uncertainties in energy production estimates at a proposed wind energy production site in British Columbia.