Innovative Projects Realized

The response of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) growth along topographically-controlled climate gradients in interior British Columbia

Forests of BC are under stress due to changing climates. This introduces uncertainty in the wood properties and resulting wood products that will be derived from these forests. Subalpine fir trees contribute to a significant portion of wood that is manufactured into pulp in Canada, and little is known about how these trees respond to climate pressures. With climate dynamics changing, wood properties of subalpine trees may become unstable resulting in tree dieback and changes to wood quality. A better understanding of subalpine fir resilience to extreme climate events, and of the growth–climate relationship in general, is needed.
The goal of this study is to better understand how growth of subalpine fir in interior BC is related to climate parameters along elevation gradients and between changes in slope aspect, and to identify under what conditions subalpine trees show the highest and lowest levels of resilience. TO BE CONT’D

Développement d’un Abribus Intelligent (AbI) en misant sur l’Internet des objets (IdO) : analyse des options de connectivité

Ce projet de recherche ancré dans la tendance des « villes intelligentes » vise à contribuer au développement d’un Abribus Intelligent (AbI) en misant sur les technologies de l’Internet des Objets (IdO). Il s’agit de transformer un abribus en un environnement connecté qui permette de détecter automatiquement et en temps réel les usagers à proximité en vue d’améliorer l’expérience transport de ces derniers (offre de services à valeur ajoutée). Ce projet se fera au sein du Lab-VI du quartier de l’innovation (QI) en collaboration avec Vidéotron. Ce projet contribuera au développement de l’écosystème d’innovation technologique initié par le QI favorisera l’exploration de domaines de recherche porteurs et d’explorer des modèles d’affaires novateurs en misant sur la téléphonie sans fil.

GIS-based Wildfire Catastrophic Risk Economic Capital Modelling

Models used for Wildfire catastrophe insurance as of today are not considering substantial information, such as geographic information and environmental constraints. The objective of the project is to establish a theoretical framework and an empirical process to enhance Aviva Canada’s current Wildfire Economic Capital (EC) model, to be able to determine the amount of capital needed to be allocated to ensure the company remains solvent, in case of occurrence of risks. The new model will incorporate spatial Geographic Information System (GIS)-based information and other non-spatial information and it will cater for the nature of the heavy-tailed data. It is expected that this approach can be adapted and extended to Aviva Canada’s other natural and man-made Catastrophe risk EC models with similar needs.

An examination of post-compulsory education for migrant children in urban China

Migrant workers are an important source of labor, becoming the engine of rapid development in urban areas in China. Despite the fact they have made a significant contribution to China’s economic prosperity, they and their children have limited access to social welfares in the host cities due to their lack of local urban hukou (household registration). This study aims to investigate migrant children’s access to senior secondary education in urban areas. I will conduct the study in Suzhou which is an economically-developed city on China’s east coast that offers job prospects and therefore appeals to the migrant population. I intend to conduct individual interviews with five migrant children and five teachers working with this group of children in junior high school. This project will make policy recommendations to the municipal and central governments to increase migrant children’s participation in high school in urban areas.

Smart TECHnology for better shared decision making about prenatal testing for pregnant WomEn (TECH4WE)

Whether or not to undergo prenatal screening to assess the risk of certain genetic conditions in the fetus, and if so deciding among available prenatal screening tests, is a difficult decision faced by all pregnant women and their partners. However, few are aware of the implications of the various options. With shared decision making (SDM), patients and doctors share health decisions based on the pros and cons of all the options and on what matters most to the patient, so decisions reflect this knowledge and the preferences of those involved. SDM reduces decision regret and reduces overuse of diagnostic testing. A mobile app could be a cost-effective, and efficient way to help patients make decisions. My research (Rahimi.2017,PMID:28838306) found little evidence of the use of mobile apps to support SDM, and none that support prenatal testing decisions. I plan to: (a)assess the needs and preferences of pregnant women regarding using smartphones for information seeking and decision making; (b)develop an analytical decision making model that incorporates and processes information, preferences and choices (e.g. screening options, decision criteria and weighting of decision criteria); (c)with my technological partner, Greybox Solutions, develop an analytical app and pilot test it. TBC

Évaluation de l’effet d’un éventail de traitements sylvicoles sur la régénération desprincipales essences feuillues dans les érablières en Estrie afin de développer un modèlede prédiction de la régéné

Ce projet de stage s’inscrit dans un projet de recherche plus vaste

ayant pour objectif de compléter, pour les érablières de l’Estrie (Québec), l’étalonnage du

modèle de simulation de la dynamique forestière SORTIE-ND. Ce dernier est un modèle

spatialement explicite qui sera utilisé pour évaluer et comparer l’effet d’un large éventail

de traitements sylvicoles susceptibles d’être utilisés dans un contexte d’aménagement

écosystémique (AÉ) des forêts de feuillus tolérants. Le présent stage a pour objectif de

déterminer comment la densité de la régénération (semis de 1 à 5 ans) des principales

essences feuillues de la région varie selon i) le traitement sylvicole utilisé; ii) le nombre

d’années écoulées depuis la coupe; et en fonction iii) des conditions lumineuses; iv) des

lits de germination; et v) des semenciers présents dans le peuplement résiduel. Ces

résultats permettront d’obtenir i) une meilleure connaissance de l’effet des traitements

sylvicoles utilisés au cours des dernières années sur l’établissement de la régénration dans

les secteurs d’étude; ii) une meilleure…………………

.

Development of a helmet grading system based on linear and rotational acceleration

Helmets are currently tested and certified based on appropriate standards using a pass/fail criteria. All helmets that are available in the market have passed this standard testing. Unfortunately, the pass/fail threshold is well above known head injury threshold. Other than by comparing the price, consumers do not have a quantitative way to determine whether one helmet is better than another. In this project, a user-friendly helmet grading system will be developed for different types of helmet. The grading system takes into account different aspects of impact such as peak and duration of measured acceleration pulse. Shield-X Technology Inc. has been looking for such comprehensive helmet grading system to evaluate their products. The grading system will also help Shield-X with its product development and communications with the third party companies in regards to how well its technologies enhance helmet performanc

An Evaluation of the Reliability of Forensic Case Formulation in the Risk Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as spousal assault and domestic violence, is the most common form of violence experienced by women worldwide. Fortunately, IPV risk assessment tools, training, and practices have improved immensely over the last 20 years. One of the areas that can still be improved is training those using violence risk assessments for evaluations to better understand the root causes of violence at the individual level. The process of determining root causes of violence is an advanced skill now considered necessary for the comprehensive assessment of violence risk and determining risk management strategies. This study will develop and test a training program to improve aspects of risk assessment training and increase the utility of the training process. Improving the training around the root causes of violence within risk assessment is one of the last frontiers to improving risk assessment practices and training and ultimately reducing the incidence of IPV.

Probabilistic Image Generation from Layout

Despite significant recent progress on generative models, controlled generation of images depicting multiple and complex object
layouts is still a difficult problem. Among the core challenges are the diversity of appearance a given object may possess and, as
a result, exponential set of images consistent with a specified layout. In this project, we propose to address these challenges by a
probabilistic generative model, which can generate a set of realistic images by giving the coarse spatial layout (bounding boxes +
object categories). To further increase the controllability of the image generation, attributes or textual description of each object in
the layout may also be provided. A probabilistic generative model will be designed to better model the uncertainty the target
image. It will compose distributions based on given information and decodes samples from these distributions into realistic
images. The expected outcomes include the source code of the proposed model, one research paper to be published at a top-tier
international conference or journal, and one patent of the proposed algorithm.

Design and Exploration of a General Purpose Stochastic Computing Processor

The rise of Internet of Things (IoT) with millions of edge devices created per year drives the need for computing platforms that have lower power, better fault tolerance and greater computing flexibility. With more and more novel applications and algorithms being rapidly deployed, the traditional approach of using custom hardware to achieve a low power budget will not scale. This project explores the design of an ultra low power, fault tolerant stochastic computing general purpose processor that satisfies the key metrics that IoT edge devices care about while being able to support the rapid shift in applications. Not only will the realization of a stochastic general purpose processor be able to maintain a low power envelope and be resilient through bit-flip errors, stochastic computing’s ability to provide progressive precision (i.e. compute results that start as a rough approximation and become more accurate over time) is often a desirable property for many of the applications in this space (e.g. machine learning).

Day and night location planning for general practitioners

Primary care plays a vital role in the health care system. Challenges in accessing primary care is a growing area of concern globally, with demonstrated negative patient and health system outcomes. Patient and physician preferences for both location and daytime/afterhours access differ. Determining the location of primary care practices that meet the needs of both patients and physicians is a complex optimization problem with multiple criteria.

The specific objectives of the project are to develop a framework to measure and evaluate how well primary care practices cover a population. This will be considered from the physician and patient perspectives and differentiated by daytime versus afterhours needs. Using this framework, we will develop an Operations Research model to recommend an optimal practice network.

The proposed research builds upon collaborations between Dalhousie University and KIT. This project will support applied case studies based on German and Nova Scotia primary care networks.

Optimal spatial movement strategies in foraging among free-ranging Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)

Choices allow us to navigate through physical space, to literally or figuratively problem-solve, to achieve goals. While this behavioural phenomenon is common across time and space for our human species, many other species make movement choices as well. The objective of my research is to assess how individual and social factors influence route choice decisions in foraging within a group of free-ranging Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Specifically, I will explore how factors such as life-stage, sex, physical disability, and/or competition impact individual decision-making in a foraging experiment. This study promises to positively contribute to the gap in knowledge surrounding motivations underlying optimal route strategies adopted by Japanese macaques, as well as, providing insight into individual variation and compensatory behaviours adopted in foraging strategies.