Innovative Projects Realized

GPU Scheduler Modeling for Early Power-Performance Estimation of Mobile Applications

User experience and battery life are key concerns for smartphone makers. Given the growing trend of graphic-rich applications on mobile devices, embedded Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are increasingly being incorporated in smartphone hardware platforms. In this project the intern will develop fast, early and accurate models of embedded GPUs, before the GPU hardware is available. These models will be useful for early optimization of smartphone applications by determining the appropriate application code to execute on the GPU and by using the appropriate policy to schedule jobs on the GPU across multiple applications, while minimizing energy consumption.

Evaluating the Cumulative Effect of Hypothermia and Hypoxia on Substrate Metabolism in Humans at Rest

The ‘Obesity Epidemic’ is a major issue faced by western society today. Physical activity is known to directly correlate with reduced body fat, increased strength, and an improved overall sense of health and wellness. However, a majority of the population, for various reasons, is not physically active. These reasons can vary from the lack of financial or social support to lack of intrinsic motivation to be physically active, and in some cases, being virtually unable to engage in physical activity. Keeping this in mind, the purpose of this study is to artificially alter environmental conditions to elicit a post-metabolic response in humans that leads to lipid oxidation even when at rest. The environmental conditions used for this study are cold (hypothermia) and a reduced concentration of oxygen (hypoxia). The partner organization has a vested interest in this study as its primary goal is to increase awareness towards physical activity at all ages by offering programs that cater to different demographics in society. They hope that the outcome of this study leads to the design and manufacture of portable devices that can simulate hypoxic and hypothermic conditions allowing them to pioneer the use of this novel form of easy, effortless weight-loss.

Identifying Areas of Assessment for Strategic Asset Development Tool

Tulkita's clients are facing challenges related to improving the operational effectiveness of IT. The objective of this research is to identify the specific areas requiring assessment, which will eventually lead to the development of an assessment tool to be used by Tulkita consultants. My research will consist of establishing the needs of Tulkita's clients, identifying the frameworks currently being used by Tulkita consultants, and evaluating existing IT management frameworks in the industry. Based on my findings, a list of problem areas will be created, whereby Tulkita consultants will have a comprehensive document allowing them to undertake a high level assessment of the operational effectiveness of IT functions. The new framework will be customized to cater to Tulkita clients and designed to ensure ease of administration and cost effectiveness.

Development of helmet liner material to protect against concussion

Sports related concussion is becoming a major short- and long-term public health concern. The proposed project is designed to test the capabilities of different helmet liner materials in mitigating impact forces resulting from blows to the head, and determine the utility of such materials in reducing the incidence and effects of such concussive blows in the context of contact sports such as football and hockey.

Strategic Planning for Cumulative Impact Assessment in Metlakatla Territory

The proposed research program is a planning process that will help to enable the Metlakatla Development Corporation to meaningfully participate in regional development. There are 29 major projects proposed in the traditional territory of the Metlakatla First Nation and these projects will have significant costs and benefits. The current project-based cumulative effects assessment as required in environmental assessment legislation is not able to adequately address potentially significant environmental and socioeconomic changes that accumulate from individual projects. Our research team will develop a methodology for project evaluation that incorporates Metlakatla values and goals into the review process, assesses regional cumulative effects of proposed projects in Metlakatla traditional territory and develops strategies to manage adverse impacts and maximize potential benefits. The proposed project will provide the Metlakatla First Nation with a valuable framework to participate in future industrial development in a manner that meets their economic, environmental, cultural, social, and health goals and objectives.

The New Economy: Empowering Business Through Organizational Thinking

Due to consumer demand for social and environmental responsibility, accountability and transparency, businesses are looking to redefine stakeholder value as more than just financial returns. This paradigm shift in business allows for progressive organizational thinking and the adopting of alternative forms of business organization that embed principles of corporate social responsibility. The proposed research will explore alternative business organizations, such as Certified BCorporations and Social Enterprises, to provide a snapshot as to how these models fit in existing businesses and how they will shape a new economy. In addition, the research will aim to identify aspects to consider when accounting for non-financial metrics and what mechanisms businesses need to ensure business continuity while also promoting positive social and environmental impact.

Facies control on fracture characteristics in the Cardium

Snow Crab productivity and Management Targets under Changing Ocean Conditions

With recent annual landings values over $200 million, snow crab remains a dominant component of Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries and these snow crab stocks have recently been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as an initiative of the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP). MSC certification increases market value and access by the fishery; however, it also prescribes research and management milestones aimed at sustainability that must be met within a five year timeframe in order to maintain MSC certification. This research proposal is aimed at fulfilling some of the MSC research needs of industry partners by providing snow crab biomass and harvest rate estimates, and also forecasting how environmental conditions affect the productivity of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab stocks. By contributing new knowledge in support of the MSC certification process and to aid management decisions, this project will help ensure that the NL snow crab industry maximizes its economic potential for years to come.

Federation of heterogeneous data sources for the linked data back-end in the Gold Fish mobile application

The overall goal is to create the backend of a mobile personal organizer that suggests professional events (conferences, colloquia, workshops, exhibitions) and contacts to establish while attending events, to members. Currently, the target audience are professionals in the biomedical domain. Given the need to feed data and meta-data from heterogeneous sources into the application, the industrial partner chose to implement the backend using semantic data management technologies. The main challenge at this stage is therefore to create the database (triplestore) that federates the chosen sources (social network profiles, event descriptions, domain terminologies, standards, etc.). Tools designed and co-designed by members of the academic team will be used and improved during this stage, in particular, methods for matching schemas and ontologies (domain models) originating in independent sources as well as for recognizing the alternative representations of the same entity (e.g. event) in independently created datasets. Thus, the academic team brings its joint expertise in the semantic technologies and its tools to the project that thoroughly benefits the industrial partner.

Re-engineering business process of an insurance broker group

This project aims to identify and fix the gaps in existing business processes of commercial insurance brokers group. In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes, I plan to redesign the processes to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the service quality by developing workflow management system for the organization. Workflow management system deals with supporting business processes in the organization. The end product includes streamlined business process with integrated workflow management system that will take care of modeling, execution, management and monitoring of workflow. Streamlined business process would make sure the status of a client application is transparent and traceable within the organization that is currently one of the major limitations because of the current business process. Also the deployment of workflow management system in the organization will reduce the manual work at each department of the organization by automating the tasks currently being performed manually.

Operational runoff prediction during rain-on-snow in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia

Rain-on-snow events, where rain falls on pre-existing snow, cause some of the highest peak flows in mountainous coastal regions, such as Southwestern British Columbia. Operational hydrologists have a difficult time predicting runoff during these events because of an incomplete knowledge of the energy fluxes into and within the snowpack over large areas, and because of an incomplete knowledge of which areas of a watershed have snow coverage and which do not. This project will investigate the energy fluxes that govern rain-on-snow melt with a goal of determining a simplified method for predicting runoff. Additionally it will investigate the use of satellite snow cover measurements in a hydrologic model to improve prediction accuracy via a better knowledge of the initial conditions prior to the onset of rain-on-snow.

Build Cross Platform Mobile application supporting various screen resolutions

Diversity among the mobile platforms requires an application developer to develop separate applications for each platform. Reason for this is the unique technological support and features that each platform comes embedded with. To use the features associated with any particular platform, we need to use the underlying SDK supported by that platform. Major market share (more than 98%) is dominated by three mobile platforms Android, Apple iOS, and Windows phone. For any business application it becomes necessary to have support on all major platforms. A simple approach for having support on all platforms is to develop separate applications for them using underlying SDKs. However it requires a lot of efforts to be put in by the company in form of labor and money. Cross platform mobile application development has emerged a best alternative to this problem that makes development and maintenance of any application easier. It enables the use of a single technological platform to develop application for all major mobile platforms rather than using platform specific SDKs. This approach focuses on the commonality among the features of the targeted platforms rather than diversity.