Innovative Projects Realized

Designing an Effective Education Program and Regulations to Reduce Conflicts with Bears in Suburban Areas

Conflicts between humans and black bears in urban settings challenge the wellbeing of both human communities and black bear populations. As human urban communities develop and expand into areas with bears present, conflicts between humans and bears may also increase. It is important to utilize available tools such as education and regulatory bylaws to reduce the number of black bear conflicts and resultant number of black bears killed in response. This internship will be completed in partnership with the North Shore Black Bear Society to examine factors influencing human behavior relating to the management of anthropogenic food sources on the North Shore of Vancouver such as: attitudes and perspectives towards black bears and their management, associated risk perception and fear of black bears, knowledge of bear safety, and acceptability and effectiveness of current educational programs and regulatory policies intended to change human behavior in the management of conflict. Understanding and identifying underlying causes of conflict will allow for improved education programs tailored to address the knowledge gaps and unique beliefs and values of target communities as well as extend the current reach and influence of education and community outreach on the North Shore. “TO BE CONT’D”

Improving the calculation of reserved deck space

The partner uses a simple formula to estimate the percent of deck space committed on upcoming sailings. The goal of this project is to determine whether the accuracy of this calculation can be improved. The objectives of this project include understanding the data used in the “% full” calculation, conducting a literature review to determine how other ferry operators perform similar calculations, and performing a root cause analysis to understand cancellation behavior. Through this project, the partner organization expects to gain insights into how vessel deck space is utilized. The project will involve applying data and advanced business analytics approaches to analyze utilization of vessel capacity.

Communication in the presence of indefinite causal structure

A telephone call consists of two communicating channels: Person A talking to Person B, and Person B talking to Person A. The two channels need to function in turn for the two to understand each other, and it usually results in confusion when they talk simultaneously. In this latter case, we say that there is a mixture in the communicating directions. Because the communicating directions indicate directions of causal influence, the mixture can be regarded in a more general context as an indefinite causal structure. Indefinite causal structure can arise generically due to the lack of knowledge (e.g., the people on the telephone give wrong estimations about when the other person would talk) or due to quantum effects. Recently, the tools to incorporate indefinite causal structure into communication theory became available. In the project, we study communication in the presence of indefinite causal structure. TO BE CONT’D

Three dimensional simulation of high speed stable triple-layer method of heavy oil transportation

Lubricated pipeline flows were originally proposed 50 years ago. In this method a low viscous fluid like water is used to lubricate the heavy oil flow as it has a very high viscosity. Because of density difference between these two fluids, the interface is unstable. As a result, we proposed adding another layer which is yield stress fluid and can act like a solid when applied stress is smaller than yield stress. This idea is called visco-plastic lubrication method (VPL) and this idea can stabilize the flow. In addition, we purposefully position a shaped solid yield stress fluid to balance the density difference. In this project, we want to simulate the problem and yield stress fluid sculpting three dimensionally. First of all, we study how we can shape the yield stress fluid with control on flow rates. TO BE CONT’D

Quantifying the Computation Power and Transaction Latency of Pool Mining in Cryptocurrency Networks

In this project, using such mainstream cryptocurrencies as BitCoin and Ethereum as representatives, the intern will analyze the transaction collection strategies of their mining pools, and then collect transactions and the corresponding blocks data to build a large dataset, from which the computing power of different mining pools and their proportions will be analyzed, together with the transaction latencies of pool mining. We will also identify potential enhancement through the analysis and measurement, particularly on energy and delay optimization. Coinchain is a BC-based startup company focusing on advanced cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, and their application in industrial and commercial scenarios. It delivers global enterprise-level blockchain solutions to leading companies worldwide, and provides one-stop customized services such as product and information platforms, as well as smart contracts and trading platforms. The interns will work closely with the Coinchain engineers and the outcome will help the industrial partner build a more effective cryptocurrency/token for its blockchain-based solutions.

Talent Mobility for Innovation & Growth: Case of Shanghai

States worldwide compete in an intensifying race for talent, mainly for professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This project investigates how government and industry actors at the level of technology clusters (Shanghai) are able to use existing regulatory frameworks to attract and retain global STEM talent. Although China has relied on ethnic returnees since 1978, several recent initiatives have demonstrated the growing importance of global talent for China, and an increasing dependence on these individuals for the future. This project will provide much needed research insights into the recruitment and retention of global STEM talent in the case of Shanghai, a main center of innovation and a hub of foreign activity, to enhance existing mechanisms to assess and define this process.
During a three month research stay, the applicant will be based at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). TO BE CONT’D

Evaluation of MICROXCAM 384-HS imaging spectroscopy for applications in the pharmaceutical sector

The partner organization in this project has recently developed a new imaging technology that is a potentially suitable platform for the development of miniaturized imaging spectrometer instruments that can provide rapid qualitative analysis of diverse types of samples without use of any chemicals. These instruments have numerous potential practical applications in the agricultural, food, clinical, and pharmaceutical sectors, among others. The aim of this project is to investigate the analytical performance of this technology for selected applications in pharmaceutical sector. This research will be conducted by an intern who will have a unique opportunity to work with the opto-mechanical design team at the partner organization and gain experience with this emerging technology. The results of the project will provide the partner organization with a basis for identifying directions for the further development of its technology.

Model-Based Detection of Emergent Behavior in Distributed Systems usingan ontology-based approach

Lack of central control makes the design of distributed software systems a challenging task because of possible

unwanted behavior at runtime, commonly known as emergent behavior. In fact many faults are introduced into

the system at this stage of the software development life cycle. Therefore discovering and removing design

validation of distributed software systems prior to the implementation phase is greatly desirable as it results in

huge savings in time and cost. Developing methodologies to detect emergent behavior prior to the

implementation stage of the system can lead to huge savings in time and cost. However manual review of

requirements and design documents for real-life systems is inefficient and error prone; thus automation of

analysis methodologies is considered greatly beneficial. This paper proposes the utilization of an ontologybased

approach to analyze system requirements expressed by a set of message sequence charts (MSC). This

methodology involves building a domain-specific ontology of the system, and examines the requirements based

on this ontology.

Genome sequencing and analysis of the Echinacea genome to unravel new natural products

Echinacea purpurea is a popular herbal medicine with a global market of ?$1 billion but there is tremendous variability yet limited distinction between the products on the market. Amway Canada is a leader in the production and distribution of Echinacea products, and now aims to leverage the company`s unique Echinacea resources by sequencing the plant`s genetic code and identifying new and improved traits related to both agriculture and natural health products. The proposed project builds on an ongoing Echinacea breeding collaboration between members of the Department of Biology (Cory Harris) by adding new expertise in genome acquisition and analysis (Nicolas Corradi). Through comparisons of the Echinacea genome with plant relatives, Amway Canada will identify putative new genes and biochemical pathways to guide development of new products with improved medicinal properties for Canadian consumers.

Instituting Composite Knowledge About Living Architectural Systems

This project seeks to accumulate information on several focused research initiatives, either recently completed or currently being conducted by partners of the Living Architectural Systems (LAS) group, and provide analysis of these with respects to their potential contribution to a paradigm of “living systems” in architecture. This project is embedded in the need to transcend the communication/methodological barriers seen in traditional interdisciplinary collaborations. A collection of research with accompanying synthesis, as is proposed, has the substantial prospect of laying the groundwork towards equipping a new generation of architectural designers with the skills they need to work with complex, far-from equilibrium systems. Seifert Architect Inc. stands to benefit from this internship by directly applying the techniques being developed by the LAS to their evolving projects, such as lightweight scaffolds, composite component assemblies, and the integration of dynamic systems and sustainability analysis. TO BE CONT’D

Using advanced analytics to develop a multimodal signature of concussion and post-concussive syndrome

Concussions are extremely common in deployment and in military and civilian activities (i.e. sports). Persisting symptoms that make up “post-concussive syndrome” (PCS) including headaches, balance difficulties, depression and anxiety can occur in 10-15% of cases. The diagnosis of concussion and PCS is currently based on a patient’s report of their symptoms and a physical exam. Research, including our own, has explored the value of specific tests including those that use eye movements, neuropsychological tests and MRI. Although useful in the research setting, we do not understand the value of these tests when used together and need to know what aspects of those tests are most valuable in developing future tools that distinguish those who are injured from those who are not. TO BE CONT’D

Municipal Biological Nutrient Removal Bioreactor Upgrade Using Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors (MABR): Pilot Scale Investigation

Nitrogen and phosphorus are sources of eutrophication (e.g., “blue-green algae bloom”) in rivers and lakes. The bloom of blue-green algae can significantly affect aquatic lives and human activities because of the toxins that they produce. Therefore, it is crucial to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations in municipal wastewater discharges. Conventional treatment techniques using activated sludge (AS) based biological nutrient removal (BNR) process often experiences system deficiency at low temperature (winter) and under increased hydraulic loads (e.g., snow melting events). In this study, pilot-scale membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABR) will be tested to for their efficiency in the BNR process. Comparing to the conventional AS setup, the MABR configuration is more robust to system shocking and more energy efficient. The success of this project is expected to provide technical support for the future full-scale implementation of the MABR-BNR process at EPCOR’s GoldBar Wastewater Treatment Plant.