Innovative Projects Realized

“Strands of Resistance: Art for the Desaparecidos in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, 1965-1980”

My research traces how Brazilian artists first grappled with their relationship to modernism as they sought to break out of narratives imposed by the West, and later with a contentious history and culture formed under military regimes. I am analyzing the social and historical stakes around the term “los desaparecidos” as many people went missing during the military dictatorship. “The disappeared” function as a framework to exemplify and parallel how indigenous populations have faced physical and territorial displacement, similarly to the historiographical disappearance and physical act of murdering groups of people by the state apparatus. My research is specific to
Brazil, as well as the transnational discourse that simultaneously occurred to escape the ongoing censorship that was occurring. The expected outcome is to gain access to archival research located within Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Conduru – a specialist in Brazilian art history.

Vocal and visual signal divergence in a Neotropical songbird

New species may arise when related animal populations diverge in their plumage and song mating signals and no longer respond to the signals of other populations. In many tropical birds, species limits are unclear because of a lack of studies on plumage, song, morphological, and genetic variation among closely-related populations. Even fewer studies investigate whether birds from different populations respond less to mating signals which differ from their own, which would prevent these populations from interbreeding. One such example is the Rufous-capped Warbler, a tropical songbird species consisting of two groups of subspecies which differ in plumage and song, but hybridize in southern Mexico. My research will resolve taxonomic relationships among Rufous-capped Warbler subspecies by measuring plumage, song, morphological, and genetic differences across the hybrid zone in Mexico, and experimentally testing the responses of three different populations of warblers to examples of plumage and song signals from both subspecies groups.

Applying visual analytics to effect real-time decision making in manufacturing environments

Along with industry partners, including NGrain, Convergent Manufacturing and Boeing, we are proposing to develop state-of-the-art visualization and interactive techniques for exploring sensor and manufacturing component data, in-situ. Through a combination of user research and user-centered design techniques, this project proposes the development of a technical demonstrator of a mobile manufacturing job aid as the foundation for evaluating the usability and effectiveness of novel 2D and 3D visual analytics techniques that could be suitable for use as a decision-support aid in a real-world manufacturing environment with end users who constitute a broad range of roles and skill sets. The expected outcome involves the design of novel interactive visualizations for temporal sensor datasets generated by Convergent for objects manufactured by Boeing.

Real Time Monitoring of Water Content in Reclaimed Mine Waste using Cone Penetration – Time Domain Reflectometry

The research includes the development of a device that will measure the water content in soils. This device will be pushed into the soil and will provide a reading related to the volume of water stored within the soil. The device senses the dielectric properties of the soil, properties that are strongly controlled by the volume of water within the soil. The device is advanced into the soil using a conventional geotechnical engineering investigative test called a cone penetration test. The device will be used to obtain rapid, real-time profiles of stored water volumes within reclaimed mine waste. As a consequence, it can be used to rapidly map out the distribution of water over large areas of the reclaimed landscape – a measurement that is critical in assessing the migration of water into the mine waste and the performance of the closure design.

Faculty Attitudes towards the Internationalized Classroom in Chinese Universities

An “internationalized classroom” is a space wherein many of the tensions, possibilities and change factors inherent in the internationalization process are expressed in relationships between and among host students, international students, and instructors. The proposed research is part of a Canada/China comparative study on faculty attitudes towards the internationalized classroom.
During Li Mao’s research trip in China, she will study the Chinese faculty in Beijing Normal University (BNU). Her work will focus on a number of specially designated first year classes for first-year international students offered BNU. The aim of the study is to learn, from BNU instructors’ perspectives, how international students, domestic students, and instructors are faring together in China’s “internationalized classrooms.” More specifically, the data will explicate: faculty’s understandings of internationalization, the challenges experienced by faculty in the internationalized classroom and the instructional/institutional supports that the faculty require to further the aims of the internationalized classroom.

Mars Methane Analog Mission Simulation

The purpose of this project is to develop the scientific knowledge to search for life on Mars. We expect signs of life on Mars to be hard to find and interpret. This project will determine the operations and science and engineering coordination needed to be performed by a micro rover equipped with scientific equipment. The basis sign of life that we are looking for is the methane gas that can be generated from micro living organisms.

This project will simulate the mission in an-earth environment that best simulates Mars and the findings, hardware development will be a big assist in Canada future participation in a mission on Mars.

A general population study of Brazilian lottery players who engage in ‘Jogo do Bicho’ (Brazilian Animal Game) and their motivations

Jogo Do Bicho, also known as the Brazilian Animal Game (BAG), is an immensely popular illegal gambling game in Brazil. Indeed, BAG generates over 60% more in revenues than legal lotteries. This is a concern as the revenue from BAG is used to fund criminal activities. Further, draws for BAG occur more frequently than the official state lotteries, which may increase the probability of an individual developing a gambling addiction. Unfortunately, there have only been a few research studies on BAG, which have focused on gamblers in treatment who make up a small portion of gamblers overall. Thus, the proposed research will examine whether BAG is associated with increased risk of gambling addiction among lottery players in the general population. In addition, the research will examine BAG player’s motivations for engaging in BAG over legal lotteries. It is expected that BAG will be associated with an increase in gambling
related harms and that the ease of play and frequent draws will be main factors why gamblers chose BAG over legal lotteries.

A hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) using tactile stimulus and motor imagery

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) allow for persons with severe motor impairment to communicate with the outside world. These systems work by either providing some stimulus (in the form of sound, touch or visual cues) or asking the user to imagine a certain motion. By analyzing the resulting brain activity using superficial electrodes on the scalp, a technique known as electroencephalography (EEG), selections on a computer may be made. Our research will combine motor imagery with tactile (touch) stimulus into one hybrid BCI. This BCI system will include two distinct sources of information and is expected to have a high accuracy as well as information transfer rate. Such a hybridBCI is a cutting-edge system that is expected to advance the field of assistive communication device development. This will move us one step closer to providing those with severe motor impairments the transformational ability to communicate with others.

Examining ecosystem service changes in the Miyun watershed, China through stakeholder-driven visions of the future

The focus of this project is to explore how livelihoods are affected when changes in ecosystem services within the Miyun watershed occur. Rural households depend on ecosystem services that the landscape provides for their livelihoods. If the availability of these resources were to change, a person’s livelihood may become more vulnerable. Determining possible ecosystem service changes will be performed by scenario building stakeholder workshops. The stakeholders involved in the Miyun watershed include environmental management officials, urban residents and rural residents. Data collection will be in the form of stakeholder scenario building workshops. All of the discussion themes and ideas generated about the future of the Miyun watershed will be collected. The scenarios will reflect the ideas of desirable futures from each group of stakeholders. We expect three or four unique scenarios resulting from the stakeholder workshop meetings from which we can determine possible changes in landscape.

Interactive Agent-based eLearning Environment

Mentorina is launching an intelligent learning system that helps teachers observe, measure, and improve each student’s individual performance in the classroom. Teachers can design individualized assignments or exams and through cognitive and metacognitive assessments, they can accurately measure how quickly students are learning the material and can determine each student’s level of comprehension. Through an interactive social media platform, teachers can then help improve a student’s performance on an individual basis. Intern’s activities at Mentorina facilitates the interaction and data collection process, which is an important feature for the company.

Optimizing Numerical Weather Prediction for Clean Energy

Modern weather forecasts are made by computers that solve the complicated equations for air motion, heat, and moisture. Different computer codes, called weather models, use different atmospheric approximations, creating slightly different forecasts. This forecast diversity is good, because the average of all forecasts is often the most accurate, and the spread between forecasts measures uncertainty. Utility companies such as BC Hydro need accurate weather forecasts to manage their hydroelectric reservoirs, anticipate power arriving from wind and run-of-river sources, efficiently maintain their facilities, and optimize energy trading. At BCHydro’s request, we will enhance the forecast model diversity, and will further improve the output from each model using statistics to remove other errors. BC Hydro is keen for us to merge these day-to-week forecasts with seasonal forecasts, and to enhance the shorter-range “nowcasts” with local observations. The benefit is improved safety, reliability and economic productivity of BC Hydro operations.

Optimization of Reserve Crew Open-Time Pairings at Jazz Aviation LP

The crew scheduling problem deals with the assignment of crews, both pilots and flight attendants, to a given flight schedule, which first requires flights to be grouped into sequences known as pairings which begin and end at the same base or city. Crew pairings must comply with extensive collective agreement rules. This project deals specifically with open-time flying for flight attendants. Open-time flying refers to flights and/or pairings of flights that may have been left unassigned for different reasons such as, but not limited to crew sickness, crew fatigue, weather, and aircraft maintenance issues. Currently at Jazz Aviation LP, flights in open time are assigned manually by the Crew Scheduling Department. This project intends to develop a tool that generates feasible airline crew pairings which cover all open flights while satisfying regulations, and optimize the performance measures identified by the company.