Innovative Projects Realized

Intelligent Non-Person Agent to Play a Game

Creating a non-person character (NPC) to play a game is becoming increasingly important. NPCs can be used in quality assurance to test a game before sending the game for certification. Being able to test a game in a way that mimics a human player would allow the test to be more accurate and would help in discovering design and implementation errors resulting in time and cost savings. Recent research work reported in the literature have focused on skill-based games. Techniques such as Q-learning and reinforcement learning are well-suited to create NPCs for skill-based games where the outcome of a skill-based game depends on the NPC strategy. Such techniques cannot be used to generate an NPC to play a slot game since game outcomes are completely determined by a random number generator. In this project, we need to develop a generative NPC. To achieve this goal, we will first conduct a literature survey in order to select the most suitable techniques for developing the generative NPC. Second, the most promising techniques will be tested, and the results analyzed.

Improvisation and Dramaturgy: an adaptive and embodied approach to theory and research in dance

This important relationship between Mile Zero Dance and the Drama Department at the University of Alberta has been growing over the last ten years through performance and research collaborations between Gerry Morita (MZD) and Lin Snelling (Associate Professor University of Alberta). MZD wishes to address a new series of objectives through inviting Thea Patterson to engage with Mile Zero Dance as a performer, dramaturg, and facilitator for seminars and workshops. These tasks are directly related to Lin Snelling’s research in how interdisciplinary study brings an inclusive edge to performing, problem solving and creative research. These objectives are 1. expansions of engaging discourse through dance writing and performing 2. extended improvisation practice as a viable performance medium 3. deeper knowledge and discussion of current performance forms for all members of the Edmonton arts community. It will culminate in an article written by Snelling titled, Where does a Voice go? Explorations of memory and sound as it shapes the dancing body. This article hopes to expand the conversation from a performing point of view. How does an interdisciplinary collaboration fuel the compositional skills of individual performers?

Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Clearwater Formation in Marten Hills and Nipisi north-central Alberta

The general objective of this research is to understand the geology of the Clearwater Formation in a region of Alberta where new oil and gas reserves have been discovered. The research will include detailed mapping throughout the region to understand where the best oil and gas resources are. This area is especially interesting as enhance production techniques, such as using steam injection or fracking the reservoir are not needed to produce the resources.

Technologies innovantes pour une intelligence urbaine au service des citoyens

Le présent programme de R-D a pour objectif de développer des solutions novatrices – innovations technologiques et sociales – au sein d’un environnement interdisciplinaire (sciences urbaines) et plurisectoriel (université – entreprises – villes). Les projets se réaliseront dans le cadre d’un nouveau programme de maitrise sur mesure en intelligence urbaine chapeauté par la Faculté des études supérieures de l’Université Laval et coordonné par l’Unité Mixte de Recherche en sciences urbaines (UMRsu). Les projets proposés par des chercheurs universitaires, des experts du secteur privé et des représentants de l’administration publique toucheront trois volets de recherche : 1) Transport intelligent et mobilité inclusive; 2) Gouvernance et participation citoyenne; 3) Sécurité urbaine et qualité de vie citoyenne. Un quatrième volet concerne une vision 4.0 de l’éducation et vise à développer une approche pédagogique novatrice et centrée sur l’acquisition des compétences du 21e siècle : la pensée complexe, la résolution de problèmes avec créativité et la capacité d’adaptation.

Traitement du langage et Résumé automatique de documents

Un résumé est un texte qui décrit de façon synthétique la forme, le contenu, et la thèse principale d’un ensemble de document. Une société comme la Fédération des caisses Desjardins reçoit énormément d’informations provenant de ses membres et clients, notamment via les sondages de satisfaction. Grâce à différentes méthodes de traitement automatique du langage nous pouvons extraire quels sont les opinions les plus souvent évoqués dans ces commentaires. Une fois ces informations identifiées nous pouvons mettre en place des algorithmes permettant de créer automatiquement ces résumés. Ceci a pour avantages de permettre aux conseillers de la fédération de connaitre l’opinion de nos membres sur différents produits beaucoup plus rapidement et efficacement.

Improving the Reliability of AI Systems from a Software Engineering Perspective

Artificial Intelligence techniques have been widely applied to solve real-world challenges, from autonomous driving cars, to detecting diseases. With the popularity of 5G wireless network, more and more AI systems are being developed to provide convenient services to everyone. It is important to ensure the reliability and quality of AI systems from every phase in software development cycle, i.e., development, integration, deployment and monitoring. In this collaboration with Ericsson GAIA, we will propose techniques to systematically improve the quality and reliability of AI systems. In particular, we will explore new testing techniques to test AI systems, especially the underlying AI models. Moreover, we will adapt and improve explainable AI models for the purpose of debugging and optimizing AI models. Automated techniques to support the development, debugging, deployment and monitoring of AI systems will enrich the ecosystem of AI systems in the era of 5G.

Industrial application of genomics derived biomarkers of salmon performance

The Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry is becoming a strategic economic sector for Canada. Aquaculture in Canada employs approximately 25,000 people with a total economic impact of over $5B. While farmed salmon is already Canada’s top aquaculture export, salmon aquaculture has significant capacity for growth in this country. Atlantic salmon farmed in sea cages on the Canadian coasts face multiple environmental stressors that can impair their growth performance and immune status. Aquafeeds can be formulated to improve fish resistance to disease (i.e., health-promoting) or healing after adverse environmental conditions (e.g., harmful algal blooms, hypoxia). The main goal of this research is to develop and apply diagnostic molecular tools such as multiplex PCR assays to evaluate these feeds. Through this collaborative research between a Canadian university (MUN) and a world-leading company in the production of aquafeeds [Cargill Animal Nutrition (CAN)], the intern will gain industry-relevant experience while ensuring the right to publish their research to help in building an academic career.

Economics Reference Guide to Music-Use Copyright Tariffs in Canada

There is a growing body of international research demonstrating that the economic contribution

copyright based industries is becoming increasingly important. Specifically, there is a growing

need in the Canadian music and music-use related industry to analyze the copyright process applied

towards different uses of music in Canada. The objective of the proposed “Reference Guide” is to

provide a detailed overview of the evolution of all major music-use related copyright tariffs in

Canada, including the economic rationale and supporting evidence used to set and modify each

tariff over time. The Reference Guide will focus on economic rather than legal matters in the case

of each of the copyright tariffs considered. The Guide will be available in a hard copy as well as

electronic form with key word search capability. It will fill an important information gap and

provide a research tool to copyright professionals.

Wireless Network Testbed for Network Slicing and Data-driven System Parameter Optimization

The goal of this project is to design and develop a wireless network testbed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for Rogers Communications Canada Inc. to support different use cases for the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. We will study the concept of self-organizing network (SON) and design a deep learning-based algorithm for our testbed to determine the optimal network parameters based on network traffic data and key performance indicator (KPI) statistics. We will also design a network traffic forecasting algorithm by capturing the mobility patterns of users. We will employ the proposed forecasting method to equip our testbed with mobility management algorithms for frequent handover operations. We will leverage SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV) to enable our testbed to support network slicing. We will design algorithms for dynamic radio resource allocation within each slice to satisfy the service requirements in each use case.

Wide-baseline Novel Scene Synthesis from a Single Image

Novel view synthesis is the process of generating new images from an unseen perspective, given at least one image of a scene. There may be more than one probable novel view associated with each unseen perspective, an assumption made by existing methods. This simplifying assumption prevents these methods from being applied to more difficult novel views where the set of probable novel views is highly varied. This project proposes to investigate a new approach to generate a wide variety novel views from a single image, and can produce multiple probable outputs. The proposed project will also evaluate the efficacy of the approach with existing approaches on a wide range of camera poses. Major components of this project utilize methods that can be applied to a wider range of domains than computer vision. RBC is a major Canadian bank that can leverage developed methods as part of their products and services.

The role of Peyer’s patches in mycotoxicity

Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites from mold that commonly contaminate cereal and livestock feed crops around the world. The consumption of mycotoxins contributes to substantial economic losses to the livestock industry due to reduced productivity and health. There are over 500 different classes of mycotoxins, many of which have unknown mechanisms of action (MOA). Adding mycotoxin binders to livestock feeds is an important remediation strategy for reducing risk of mycotoxicosis, since they can reduce bioavailability of certain mycotoxins, reducing absorption across the gut epithelium. When testing the toxicity of mycotoxins in different species, and the efficacy of mycotoxin binders for reducing mycotoxin bioavailability, in vitro studies are critical for initial screening. Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of a bovine macrophage cell line (BoMAC) for carrying out such studies; however, BoMACs alone do not morphologically reflect the intestinal barrier where most mycotoxin exposure occurs. It is physiologically more relevant to carry out in vitro exposure studies using intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), or even better, co-cultured IEC + macrophages (IEC+BoMAC).

Impact de la réalité augmentée sur l’expérience de consommation et les intentions d’achat de produits industriels

L’objet de cette recherche est de mieux comprendre l’utilité des expériences virtuelles, ici la réalité augmentée et la visualisation 3D, dans le cadre de la promotion de produits industriels personnalisables. En effet, l’utilisation de ces outils par les entreprises offrent de nombreux avantages, y compris dans le cadre de la personnalisation de masse, tendance essentielle de ces dernières années (Bonetti, Warnaby, & Quinn, 2018; Deloitte, 2019). L’entreprise partenaire propose ainsi aux entreprises des solutions de visualisation 3D et de réalité augmentée qui permettent de mettre en valeur leur produit et de présenter les différentes options de personnalisation possibles. En ce sens, on s’intéresse ici à une meilleure compréhension des facteurs d’adoptions, des freins et de l’impact sur le processus de décision des différents acteurs du centre d’achat associés à l’utilisation des technologies d’expériences virtuelles ainsi qu’à leur impact sur le ROI des entreprises qui mettent en place l’utilisation de telles technologies.