Innovative Projects Realized

Optimizing heuristics for spin-glass problems for diverse solutions

Optimization problems, such as finding the shortest or fastest path to a destination are ubiquitous in industry. Hower, for some industrial applications it may be desirable to have a set of few diverse, yet nearly optimal solutions. The goal of this project is to create new optimization problem solvers that focus on both quality and diversity of the solutions proposed. These solvers will subsequently be used to assess the performance of the D-Wave quantum annealer processor.

The Working Body: Activity Patterns and their Implications for Labour Organization During the Shang Dynasty, China

My project will be examining the differences of activity patterns between the Middle and Late Shang dynasty. I will accomplish this by examining the degrees of expression on bones that are caused through the movement of activity. I will be using four collections from the Bronze Age cities of Huanbei (Middle Shang dynasty, ca. 1350-1250 B.C.) and Yinxu (Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1200-1046 B.C.), located in the modern day city of Anyang, China. Each collection represents a neighbourhood within the city that had an associated specialized workshop, i.e. bronze, pottery, bone workshop. The expectation is that the individual’s bones will modify and reflect the labour intensity and/or specialization of activities they engage in. These modifications can reveal patterns of activity based on division of labour via age, sex and neighbourhood, and whether these patterns change over time. This project aims to understand the organization of activities among the non-royal population to better comprehend their daily lives.

Climate change and emerging transboundary fish stocks in North America

Climate change is shifting the distribution of fish stocks towards areas with cooler environment, generally in higher latitude or deeper water. Such shifts threaten to increase the amount of conflict over resources as stocks move freely in ocean waters crossing human-made management boundaries. Anticipating these shifts can help identify appropriate mechanisms of joint-management and contribute to the sustainability of fisheries under climate change. Therefore, I pretend to use mathematical models to project changes in fish distribution and explore the possible rise of new transboundary stocks. More specifically, I will determine the number of stocks that would become transboundary under climate change; when will these changes occur; and in what order of magnitude. Results for this research will support countries in anticipating changes in fish catch as well as the appearance of new stocks. Identifying shifting species and the mechanisms by which countries can be more effectively in joint-managing transboundary stocks can improve sustainability and prevent conflict between nations over fishing resources.

Benzodiazepine and Opioids Use in Alberta

Opioids have received much attention in the media, public and government because of the risks associated with them, including fatalities. Concurrent use of BZRAs (benzodiazepines used for treating anxiety and insomnia) and opioids is of particular concern because this is a recognized risk factor for fatal opioid overdoses. Despite this warning, concurrent use is still occurring. An outcome study using Alberta data on concurrent use has not been published in the literature. The outcomes will be used by the partner organization, OKAKI, to further enhance knowledge and tools supporting prescription drug monitoring, and to inform the professional regulatory activities of its customers, including the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta and Alberta’s Triplicate Prescription Program, to improve safe prescribing in Alberta.

Cathode Design for All-Solid-State Lithium-Tellurium Batteries

Battery technologies are urgently needed for emerging high-tech applications, such as medical implants, wireless sensors, wireless devices. These new devices have very limited space and require high reliability, and therefore demand the batteries could provide high energy per volume and high safety. Current Li-ion batteries cannot meet this demand due to its relatively low energy per volume and safety risks (leakage, fire, and explosion). To address these challenges, Prof. Jian Liu’s group at The University of British Columbia and Fenix Advanced Materials, a clean technology company specializing in the manufacturing of ultra-high purity metals, team up to develop all-solid-state lithium-tellurium (Li-Te) batteries. This new-generation Li-Te battery is expected to possess volumetric energy density about 2-3 times folds of current Li-ion batteries, and intrinsic high safety, and will have a positive economic, environmental, and social impact in BC and Canada.

Investigating How to Secure Wireless Devices for Playing Games in Retail Environments

This research proposal is about investigating and evaluating different technologies in order to ensure

the security of a wireless device such as a tablet that is used to play games in retail and/or casino type

of environments. In this context security not only includes legitimate users to use the devices and play

the games but also includes the issue of ensuring that the device can only operate within a specifiable

zone/region.

Housing Integration of Mexican SAWP Workers in the Ontario Economy

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) brings thousands of Mexican workers into Ontario every year, lodging them in rural communities which otherwise experience little immigration and have comparatively low rates of diversity. While most employers house SAWP workers in on-farm accommodations, some instead use off-site apartment buildings or provide lodgings with local families. My research will involve interviewing Mexican workers, grouped according to the type of housing they were provided, with the aim of understanding how this affects their economic and social interactions during their stay as well as their overall experience with the program. Workers will be interviewed about interactions with host communities, relationships with employers, access to services and commodities, transportation to and from work sites, and the likelihood of their returning to work another season.

Development of a facial rehabilitation system for people suffering from facial paralysis

The recovery of facial mimics for patients with facial paralysis allows to improve their living conditions and social identity. Functional rehabilitation of facial disorders is also an important clinical step to improve the quality of surgical interventions and drug therapies. However, the recovery and rehabilitation of facial mimics and expressiveness remains a major scientific and clinical challenge. The lack of objective clinical assessment tool and the loss of patient motivation during rehabilitation period are two important drawbacks.
The objective of this project is to use biomechanical modeling and game technology to develop, implement and evaluate a series of facial mimic rehabilitation exercises for facial transplantation patients. It is expected that this project will lead to innovative solution for functional rehabilitation of patients suffering from facial paralysis.

Optimization and evaluation of a portable electromagnetic microfluidic device for immunological detection

The detection of a biological agent has become paramount to anticipate a possible health threat (epidemic or pandemic), an environmental threat or to combat other contextual threats (bioterrorism, chemical and biological weapons). A cost effective, portable, reliable and safe solution is required to allow detection in location where biological equipment is not available (such as in airport, remote areas, etc). Lab-on-chip (L-o-C) devices are being to meet this need. A novel approach for L-o-C is to use magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) for the biological analysis.
In this research project, Suzanne Wong a 3rd year undergraduate student in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Waterloo will be working on microfabrication, simulation of the various fluidics, thermal and electromagnetic components of the lab-on-a-chip and experimental testing of the prototype.
This project will be done in collaboration with Maud Gorbet and Carolyn Ren at the University of Waterloo (UW). MG will be responsible for overseeing the project while CR will provide expertise on microfluidics and portable biotechnology. This research project build on a collaboration initiated as part of BIOMEDInnov, a french-canadian university consortium (UW, Sorbonne U and UTC) aimed to promote international TO BE CON’T

Visualization of complex high dimensional biomechanical data

Sarcopenia is a disease characterized by the decline of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance. To gain a better understanding of this disease and to assess both functional and anatomical effects of sarcopenia, experimental and modeling data have been collected.
The neuromuscular models developed in our team and the studies built on them generate more and more high dimensional data (time series and parameters). We need new ways to visualize them to both analyze the data and better communicate the results. To design an effective and efficient visualization tool, Melissa will conduct a survey of the various ways to visualize complex data and how to implement these methods/tools based on the rich ecosystem of plotting libraries in Python. Based on our research team needs, Melissa will then select and implement the most suited tool. Melissa will also develop a user-friendly interface that allows the access to model parameter visualization and also experimental descriptor visualization (heat maps) from an available library after pre-processing (filtering and segmentation).

Pistes d’améliorations de la logistique du commerce électronique au Québec par l’implantation d’un réseau de casiers intelligents

Le commerce électronique est de plus en plus prisé par les consommateurs québécois, mais une majorité d’entreprises accusent un retard technologique pour répondre adéquatement à cette demande croissante. La multiplication de la livraison de colis à travers le Québec engendre des défis logistiques tant pour les entreprises, les consommateurs que les villes et les entreprises de livraison.
Une des pistes avancées par la littérature actuelle concerne l’implantation d’un réseau de casiers intelligents qui permettraient de réduire la congestion urbaine tout en assurant un système de livraison simple, rapide et efficace pour chacune des parties prenantes, de l’expédition du colis à la livraison.
Si les consommateurs semblent intéressés par cette alternative, il est important de valider si elle peut s’intégrer adéquatement dans la réalité des entreprises de services et comment en favoriser l’implantation.

Machine Learning Approach for Real-time Assessment of Voltage Stability Using Multiple Indicators Derived from Wide Area Synchrophasor Measurements

Voltage instability is one of the major causes of many blackouts such as Canada-United State blackout (2003), Sweden-Denmark blackout (2003), India blackout (2012), and Turkey blackout (2015). If reliable methods are available for online voltage stability assessment, operators can be warned and automated corrective actions can be initiated to prevent voltage collapse. Although, a large number of Voltage Stability Indices (VSIs) are reported in literature, they are not practically applicable for real-time monitoring or not sufficiently reliable under all operating conditions. This research proposal envisages the development of Composite Voltage Stability Indices (CVSIs) combining the strengths of previously proposed Voltage Stability Indices computable from wide area synchrophasor measurements. Advanced machine learning techniques will be applied to derive CVSIs. It is expected that such a CVSI would be more reliable and applicable under wide range of conditions. The machine learning based algorithms for calculating CVSIs would be trained using the data generated through offline simulation and then tested using synchrophasor data generated through real-time simulations performed on RTDS real-time simulator. The proposed research will provide training opportunities for one M.Sc. student, while demonstrating and testing the synchrophasor capabilities of the simulators developed by the partner organization.