Innovative Projects Realized

AWE Technology Development Project – The Virtual History of Fort York

Divani’s AWE Augmented Reality product is expected to assist Fort York to create a more engaging experience for the attraction’s 100,000 annual visitors. By combining the historical value of Fort York with the immersive experience of AR, the organization will be able to increase revenue to assist with its financial goals. Divani Films is expected to benefit from a successful rollout by generating new revenue streams from the licensing of AWE technology and/or forming additional partnerships within the tourism industry as well as other industries (gaming, sports, etc.).

The research and analysis conducted by the intern will draw on business methods and approaches that are commonly practiced in user experience (UX) and visitor experience (VX) stages of product innovation, notably focus groups, interviews, and observation. Insights will also be used to provide usability enhancements to the AR product.

Étude sur l’influence d’une vis hélicoïdale dans un épaissiseur de boue rouge à fond conique

Ce projet a pour but d’augmenter la durée de vie utile des épaississeurs présents dans les diverses usines de RIO TINTO ALCAN. Ces épaississeurs, d’une dimension comparable à celle d’un édifice de 6 étages, possèdent un râteau interne qui permet de compacter et de transporter radialement la boue jusqu’au puits de décharge. Avec le temps, la boue se solidifie et se colle sur la paroi du râteau; une fois la couche de boue suffisament épaisse, ceci provoque un phémonène de tourbillon dans l’épaisseur, le rendant inopérant. Une fois ce phémonène non reversible en place, il faut retirer le contenu de l’épaississeur et enlever cette couche de boue du râteau. Ceci représente un arrêt de production et une perte financière. L’ajout de la technologie des vis hélicoïdales permettra d’allonger la durée de vie de l’épaississeur et permettra de limiter la perte financière associée à son nettoyage.

Investigating the impact of alternative performance environment in the development of Hover, a new chamber opera – II

Hover is a new chamber opera by UBC DMA candidate Benton Roark and UBC MFA alumnus Lindsay Cuff that explores different types of seemingly impossible travails that human bodies go through and their ways of coping. The importance of water is made evident by the action that is set in, on top of, and around an indoor pool. Water is used both as a symbol – in transitions of time, space, and consciousness – and as a substance with dramatic meaning – in a swimming lesson, water torture, and an incredible circus act involving a water tank. Locating this “stage” so particularly thus aims to intensify audience experience through a unique acoustic environment and a strong emphasis on physicality. Tapestry is dedicated to the development of new works that aim to surprise, thrill, and move audiences through innovative productions, contemporary themes, and a general re-examining of the operatic genre…

Investigating Machine Learning Techniques in Performance Improvement for the Next Generation Wireless Networks

The new generation 5G wireless networks will have a huge impact on the society due to the high bandwidth and capacities they provide. The traffic volume is expected to grow significantly and new varieties of applications, e.g., Internet of Things and vehicular networking, are anticipated. As a result, effective management of the new networks will become much more complicated and challenging. Machine learning techniques have made unprecedented progress in recent years, as they are highly efficient for data-driven applications. The proposed project is to investigate machine learning techniques and apply them to 5G networks to effectively facilitate network management.

Customer Intelligence Data Mining for Financial Institutions

For banks and financial institutions data is one of the most important assets, providing the key to true differentiation and competitive advantage. Insight Business Intelligence solutions, offered by Banking Software Company Temenos, turn figures into meaningful information for business decision making. However the existing business rules based models could be improved by using novel statistical techniques to capture the stochastic dependence in the data. In order to allow financial institutions obtaining much more valuable information we aim to implement data-mining approaches and to develop advanced statistical models for this kind of data. The focus of our project is on the Customer Intelligence module, which incorporates the information about bank clients, accounts they have, products and services they use. This detailed data set will be employed to analyze the behavior of the customers, e.g. to identify those who are likely to buy a new particular product…

Attacking Transaction Relay in Cryptocurrencies based on Dandelion++

Blockchains are a new technology that are finding applications across several domains. Participant privacy in a blockchain is a major concern for this technology, and this project focuses on studying privacy attacks and defenses in several kinds of publicly deployed blockchains. Specifically, the project will focus on how a participant’s location in the network can be determined and how a participant’s transaction can be uncovered in the context of blockchain networks that provide privacy guarantees.

Test package for digital microfluidic electrochemiluminescence assays

Portable medical tests that could be used in the clinic or at the patient’s home significantly reduce the time it takes to get a diagnostic result. To make them portable, miniaturized fluid handling systems are used to control and automate the test procedure. By combining these tests with sensitive detection strategies, we can use small volumes of samples, such as a finger prick of blood. Verv Tec of Sudbury Ontario is developing the next generation of portable medical testing systems and require assistance in developing and optimizing diagnostic tests. The intern will develop microfluidic tools and instrumentation as well as optimized diagnostic tests that Verv Tec can use in future development. These tools will allow Verv Tec to asses different manufacturing strategies for producing test cartridges used by their portable testing device.

Marketing and Strategy Internship

Windsure Adventure Watersports has been teaching windsurfing, stand up paddle boarding, and skim boarding to groups and individuals for over 40 years in Vancouver. Covid-19 has presented Windsure with both challenges and opportunities. The biggest challenge that Windsure faced was when they had to close down their business for nearly two months. This closure disrupted group sessions with schools, as well as individual customer’s ability to rent stand up paddle boards, skim boards, and windsurfing gear. However, when Windsure was allowed to re-open their business, they were flooded with people who wanted to join their camps, take lessons, and/or rent their gear. There is an opportunity to retain the new customers who saw Windsure’s services as a fun and safe activity during the restrictions of Covid-19, as well as to re-affirm to the existing customers who could not access Windsure’s services for two months that Windsure is there for them. Though, in order to seize this opportunity and combat their challenges, Windsure will need employees who are designated to work as marketers and they have never had formal marketing staff before. This is where the Marketing and Strategy internship will come into play. The intern will develop a market analysis report identifying Windsure’s position within the competitive landscape as well as who their customers are. With this knowledge, the intern will then develop marketing initiatives that will target their customers and help build a community with them in order to seize the above stated opportunity.

Validation of the Babbly language development app – Year two

This study will validate the accuracy of a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered application, which has been developed to track communication and cognition during the babbling stages of development in the first year of life. Once validated, this app will be an asset to both parents and clinicians. It will be used by parents and will be suitable for informing speech-language pathologists and other clinicians about potential developmental communication/cognitive delays during this period. Parents will upload videos of their infants’ communicative interactions and the app will flag children who show signs of an atypical trajectory in their development. Red flags will facilitate both the early assessment of very young children, and appropriate therapies to be put into place. The validation process will include two stages: (1) teaching the AI to identify typical communication behaviors in infancy; (2) testing whether the AI performs accurately with both typically developing infants and those at-risk for atypical development. These will entail, first, manually coding videos for communication behavior (a time-consuming process), then assessing whether or not the AI can accurately categorize these infant behaviors (a time efficient process). Ultimately, this app will enable the earliest identification of language delays in Canadian children.

Validation of the Babbly language development app

This study will validate the accuracy of a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered application, which has been developed to track communication and cognition during the babbling stages of development in the first year of life. Once validated, this app will be an asset to both parents and clinicians. It will be used by parents and will be suitable for informing speech-language pathologists and other clinicians about potential developmental communication/cognitive delays during this period. Parents will upload videos of their infants’ communicative interactions and the app will flag children who show signs of an atypical trajectory in their development. Red flags will facilitate both the early assessment of very young children, and appropriate therapies to be put into place. The validation process will include two stages: (1) teaching the AI to identify typical communication behaviors in infancy; (2) testing whether the AI performs accurately with both typically developing infants and those at-risk for atypical development. These will entail, first, manually coding videos for communication behavior (a time-consuming process), then assessing whether or not the AI can accurately categorize these infant behaviors (a time efficient process). Ultimately, this app will enable the earliest identification of language delays in Canadian children.

Summit Nanotech – Finance Intern

We are pivoting business activities because of the uncertainty covid has caused regarding international travel. Therefore we are changing the location of the pilot and so new economics and probabilities must be performed for the new project. The internship will assist our company is making sure that we have strong economics and financial forecast for our business development in the future both in Canada and internationally. The internship work will help us devise a go to market strategy based on strong economics and research.

CANADIAN ORGANIC Spice & Herb Co. Inc. Export Plan

The aim of this project is to help prepare the partner organization to export its products. This goal is to be achieved through the completion of the company export business plan, developing an export strategy, applying for applicable grants and other programs available for exporting, and preparing documents/meeting requirements of international markets. The intern will research potential markets, analyze the findings and construct a export strategy for the organization. These findings will be presented to the partner organization.