Estuarine reliance of juvenile salmonids in the Skeena River

Research on salmon in the Skeena River estuary in 2007 and 2013 quantified the abundance of different species of salmon in different locations of the estuary over time. These results indicate that the region where industrial development is proposed contained the highest abundances of Chinook and sockeye in both years surveyed, and coho in 2007. […]

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Analytical chemistry method development for lignin breakdown products

The partner organization MetaMixis Inc. is attempting to use biocatalytic ways to process lignin, the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, with microbiology methods to transform lignin into fine chemicals in useful quantities within a reasonable time frame. The process and end products need to be fully characterized using analytical tools to ensure the efficiency. […]

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Performance issues for embedded and random problems in adiabatic quantum optimization

Current and near-future D-Wave processors implement optimization using quantum effects on a fixed processor layout. This layout can be modeled as a graph with certain constraints, and the optimization is applied to a specific problem: fixed-topology Ising spin optimization. It is therefore important to study how best to use this hardware to solve combinatorial optimization […]

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Improved prediction models for concrete confined with various composites: experimental and numerical investigation

The proposed research project will investigate the damaged and undamaged concrete columns of different aspect ratio confined with various types of FRP composites under repeated compression loading. From the observed data, the load-deformation hysteresis of the specimens will be correlated to numerical models and a generalized constitutive model will be proposed. Durability study will be […]

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Contextual Momentary Assessments of the Auditory Environment by Wearers of Hearing Aids

We would like to investigate the use of hearing aids in real life environments. Retrospective questionnaires are often subject to memory errors and recall biases. In order to obtain more accurate momentary evaluations of sound and noise, our proposed research involves asking participants to complete real-time evaluations in the laboratory and in their everyday environments. […]

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Capacity Planning and Optimization of WiMAX for Smart Grid, Part 2

Smart grid (SG) aims at modernizing the current power grid which can better manage the electricity through the grid and react to the system faults quicker. To realize this goal, many sensors are attached to different points of the power grid infrastructure. These sensors collect data and can be used for controlling, protecting, and monitoring […]

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Assessing emergency shelter patterns to inform solutions to homelessness

The mandate of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness is to end homelessness in the Capital Region by 2018. Significant progress has been made, 162 units of supportive and 129 units of affordable housing have been built since 2009, yet homelessness remains a significant problem in Victoria, BC (Pauly et al., 2013). There continues […]

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Vision Guided Robotics for Laser/MIG Welding Seam Tracking

Weight reduction has been one of major driving forces of research and innovation in automotive industries. Changing from the conventional Laser overlap welding to edge welding could save 50% of total weight of joint flanges of workpiece. Also, edge welding can significantly improve the welded joint mechanical properties. However, edge welding is challenging since the […]

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Developing an automated tool for SAR parameter optimization

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites provide wide area global perspectives through images of the Earth’s surfaces and its governing processes. Capable of detecting small variations in surface roughness, and unconstrained by lighting and weather conditions, SAR is a robust remote sensing instrument. Designing and operating a SAR is a complex process, as there are numerous […]

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