Past Project Abstracts
| Remote Detection of Clandestine Graves | Lynne Bell | The positive location of clandestine mass graves is the first step to the organization of a recovery team and the subsequent exhumation and identification of the remains for the purpose of evidence collection for prosecution and for return of individuals to families. The development of a spatial/spectral model for discriminating graves from airborne and satellite hyperspectral imagery is a novel technique development and application that would greatly increase chances for forward detection of clandestine mass graves, monitoring production of mass graves during conflict, and even retrospective assessment. The fundamental question we propose to explore is probabilistic nature of detecting mass graves that are clandestine in nature by means of remote sensing (i.e. spectromentry and image analysis. We propose to investigate the spectral reflectance of known volatile compounds (e.g. toluene, dimethyl disulfide, cadaverine, putrescine, etc.) in soil matrices collected by means of a handheld spectrometer to define unique absorbance features. We will use pattern recognition techniques (using MatLab) to locate the most significant areas of the reflectance spectrum. We will apply those findings to the spectral reflectance of a known test mass grave site that have been collected over a longitudinal study to discriminate which unique features of the known volatile compounds (identified above) are visible in the spectral reflectance of mass graves collected in the field. Finally, we will analyze hyper and multi spectral imagery using a combination of pattern recognition techniques, subpixel analysis and classification techniques to scale up our findings to the image level. |
| Advanced Computation, Collaboration & Visualization Lab (HPC/CV) | Brian Corrie begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting | The HPC@SFU and WestGrid mandates are to provide computational, visualization and collaboration capabilities to scientists at the host university (SFU) and in WestGrid's case at its partner organizations (UBC, TRIUMF, UoA, UoC, UoLethbridge and Banff). Our goal in creating this lab is to provide a space for users from a wide range of disciplines to be able to explore the use of computation, collaboration, visualization technologies in their research projects. The lab will provide access to both technological resources (HPC, collaboration and visualization technologies) as well as expertise in these areas in order to help develop the use of these technologies. Westgrid is deploying a set of large scale and desktop visualization technologies in the lab, including a large screen plasma display with a SmartBoard overlay, a high resolution (9 mega-pixels) display, and a number of desktop auto-stereoscopic displays. These display devices will be driven by high end commodity graphics computers (provided by WestGrid) as well as the WestGrid visualization supercomputer that is located at SFU. This lab complements (but does not duplicate) the capabilities of the IRMACS Presentation Studio. The lab will also be AccessGrid enabled, allowing for rich collaborative interaction from remote sites. The lab space would be used as a collaborative visualization lab, with space for the collaboration and visualization technologies described above as well as work space for research group members. The lab will provide access to the expertise in HPC, collaboration, and visualization that WestGrid and HPC@SFU provide to SFU researchers. The goal for this lab is for it to become a focal point for computation, collaboration and visualization research at SFU. The lab will be linked to other similar research labs across the campus (the GRUVI lab in CS, the CoLab in mathematics, and the interaction lab at SFU Surrey) as well as other related labs across the country (the Mutual Media Lab at NRC in Ottawa, the NRC lab in Moncton, Jon Borwein's D·Drive lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax and the other WestGrid labs at UBC, Banff, UoA, UoC and Lethbridge). The HPC/CV lab will support research projects in a wide range of disciplines including physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, education, and the performing arts. |
| Computational Criminology | Vahid Dabbaghian | Crime is a complex phenomenon in society. It is influenced by many societal factors and constraints. These include, but are not limited to, the social networks of offenders and potential offenders, the awareness spaces of offenders and victims, the design of road networks and other urban infrastructure, prevailing policy decisions, land usage and zoning and technology. These influences impact the spatial and temporal distribution of crime in urban centres. This group is beginning to incorporate these influences using agent-based modelling and cellular automata models to consider the complexity of crime patterns in urban centres. |
| The Criminal Justice System | Vahid Dabbaghian | The criminal justice system is a highly complex queueing network, with multiple feedback loops and dynamical priority disciplines. Therefore, determining system capacity and optimal resource allocation is challenging. How should resources be balanced between the police, crown attorney's office, the judiciary, the parole system and the prison system in order for the system to operate smoothly and free of bottlenecks? To address this, and related questions, three models of the entire criminal justice system have been developed. The first is a discrete event simulation model, the second is a system dynamics model, and the third is a coupled differential equation approach. The Complex Systems Modelling Group is working with the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies (ICURS) and the RCMP on this project. Recently, we began a project to model the court system and corrections system with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (PSSG/AG). |
| Modelling Home and Community Care | Warren Hare | The Home and Community Care (HCC) branch of health care deals with individuals who require long-term non-hospitalized care. As various demographic factors change, the demand for this form of care will also change. The goal of this project is to develop predictive models that can be used to help explore how HCC will be impacted over the next 10 to 20 years. Of particular interest is how HCC system will be impacted by the increase in average age of British Columbia's population. Future work will refine these models and develop new models for other aspects of the health care system. |
| Population Data BC | Michael Hayes | Population Data BC: A platform supporting research on human development and well-being. Fostering insights into human development and well-being by advancing research through data and education. Population Data BC is a multi-university platform supporting population health and health services research. We provide individual-level, longitudinal, cross-sectoral data for approved public interest research projects in a privacy-sensitive, high-security environment. We also offer training opportunities and resources to help promote collaboration among researchers across BC. |
| Cosmological Tests of Fundamental Physics | Levon Pogosian | Future progress in particle physics and cosmology requires a close dialog and exchange of ideas between experts in the two fields. Cosmological observations provide us with the opportunity to test the most fundamental theories of particle interactions at energies much higher than we will ever reproduce on Earth. The Cosmology group at SFU Physics Department has several project exploring different aspects of this interplay between theory and observations. We will host visitors for short and intermediate terms and hold meetings and seminars to discuss specific projects withint this general theme. IRMACS is perfectly suited to our needs. In the near term, we pursue the following projects. 1. Search for Statistical Non-Gaussianity in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Temperature Maps. This work will be in collaboration with Mohammed Said (Tufts University, USA). Part of the motivation for this project is to try to detect line discontinuities in the CMB maps, which would be left by cosmic strings. Cosmic strings can form in the early universe in a variety of scenarios including Brane inflation -- the first consistent realization of Inflation in String Theory. Any detection of primordial non-Gaussianity on cosmological scales would be a major breakthrough in physics and would help us understand the initial state of our universe. 2. Structure Formation in Modified Gravity Models. WIll be conducted with a visitor:Alessandra Silvestri (Syracuse University, USA). The motivation for this project is understanding the root cause of the ongoing acceleration of our universe. This is one of the most urgent unsolved problems in Science today. It would help us solve the cosmological constant problem, namely, to understand how the vaccuum gravitates. Cosmology provides the opportunity to test predictions of different models of cosmic acceleration with measurements of CMB, weak lensing, supernovae, clustering of matter and various derivatives from these. Alessandra previously collaborated with Levon Pegosian on studying cosmic structure formation in teh so-called f(R) models of gravity. The plan is to continue this work to include a larger set of theories and observations. |
