BCIT Citations Collection
Collection of published works from BCIT researchers, faculty, and instructors.
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- Real-time co-simulated platform for novel Volt-VAR Optimization of smart distribution network using AMI data
- Accepted in IEEE International Conference on Smart Energy Grid Engineering, May 2015. This paper presents a real-time co-simulated platform for novel voltage and reactive power optimization (VVO) of distribution grids through a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) in presence of a reliable communication platform. The proposed VVO engine is able to capture quasi real-time data from local Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and optimizes the distribution network for each quasi real-time stage (every 5 minutes) based on system main characteristics (i.e. active/reactive power of nodes). At each time stage, the VVO engine tries to minimize losses in the distribution network as well as to improve the voltage profile of the system. In order to test robustness, performance and the applicability of proposed Volt-VAR Optimization engine, a 33 node distribution network has been modeled and studied in a real-time Co-simulated environment by real-time simulator (RTDS) and a real communication platform with DNP.3 protocol. The preliminary results prove well-performance of proposed AMI-based VVO engine and show that the engine enables system to achieve higher level of loss/operating cost reduction through a sophisticated optimization engine compare with conventional approaches., Conference paper, Published.
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- Real-time co-simulation platform for Smart Grid Volt-VAR Optimization using IEC 61850
- This paper presents an implementation of an IEC 61850-based real-time co-simulation platform for verification of the performance of a volt-VAR optimization (VVO) engine for smart distribution networks. The proposed VVO engine is able to minimize grid loss, volt-VAR control asset operational costs, and conservation voltage reduction operational costs through its comprehensive objective functions, weighted by fuzzification using advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data. The optimization engine receives the AMI data stream through measurement aggregators. Moreover, it sends control commands to volt-VAR control components modeled in real-time digital simulator (RTDS) through DNP.3 protocol. To check the performance and the precision of proposed VVO, a fault scenario is imposed upon the system. IEC 61850 GOOSE messages are generated and sent to change the status of specified breakers, while the VVO engine receives system reconfiguration commands via IEC61850 Manufacturing Message Specification (MMS) protocol. The results of the study on 33-node feeder showed adequate performance of proposed VVO in grid operating scenarios., Article, Published.
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- Real-time communication platform for Smart Grid adaptive Volt-VAR Optimization of distribution networks
- Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on Smart Energy Grid Engineering (SEGE), Aug. 2015, Oshawa, ON, Canada. This paper investigates a real-time communication platform for a Smart Grid adaptive Volt-VAR Optimization (VVO) engine. Novel VVO techniques receive inputs from Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) to dynamically optimize distribution networks. As communication platform design and characteristics affect Smart Grid-based VVO performance in terms of control accuracy and response time, VVO ICT studies is essential for grid planners and/or power utilities. Hence, this paper primarily introduces a real-time co-simulated environment comprised of Smart Grid adaptive VVO engine, RTDS model and system communication platform using DNP3 protocol. This platform is built to test and asses the influence of different components included in Smart Grid monitoring and control system; namely the sensors, measurement units, communication infrastructure on the operation and control of VVO. Moreover, this paper uses a real-time platform to check the robustness of the monitoring and control applications for communication network considerations such as delays and packet loss. Next, this paper investigates how such a platform could look into communication issues while taking system requirements into consideration. A 33-node distribution feeder is employed to check system performance through communication parameters such as throughput and response time., Conference paper, Published.
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- Real-time control of a video game with a direct brain-computer interface
- Mason and Birch have developed a direct brain–computer interface for intermittent control of devices such as environmental control systems and neuroprotheses. This EEG-based brain switch, named the LF-ASD, has been used in several off-line studies, but little is known about its usability with real-world devices and computer applications. In this study, able-bodied individuals and people with high-level spinal injury used the LF-ASD brain switch to control a video game in real time. Both subject groups demonstrated switch activations varying from 30% to 78% and false-positive rates in the range of 0.5% to 2.2% over three 1-hour test sessions. These levels correspond to switch classification accuracies greater than 94% for all subjects. The results suggest that subjects with spinal cord injuries can operate the brain switch to the same ability as able-bodied subjects in a real-time control environment. These results support the findings of previous studies., Peer-reviewed article, Published.
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- Recruiting new genes in evolving genetic networks
- Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2007 WCECS 2007, October 24-26, 2007, San Francisco, USA. Gene recruitment or co-option is defined as the placement of a gene under a foreign regulatory system. Such re-arrangement of pre-existing regulatory networks can lead to an increase in genomic complexity. This reorganization is recognized as a major driving force in evolution. We simulated the evolution of gene networks by means of the Genetic Algorithms (GA) technique. We used standard GA methods of (point) mutation and multi-point crossover, as well as our own operators for introducing or withdrawing new genes on the network. The starting point for our computer evolutionary experiments was a minimal 4-gene dynamic model representing the real genetic network controlling segmentation in the fruit fly Drosophila. Model output was fit to experimentally observed gene expression patterns in the early fly embryo. We found that the mutation operator, together with the gene introduction procedure, was sufficient for recruiting new genes into pre-existing networks. Reinforcement of the evolutionary search by crossover operators facilitates this recruitment. Gene recruitment causes outgrowth of an evolving network, resulting in structural and functional redundancy. Such redundancies can affect the robustness and evolvability of networks., Conference paper, Published.
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- Relationship between neurological disorders and heart disease
- There appears to be an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among individuals with spinal cord injury. Quantitative data concerning the risk of heart disease among individuals with other neurological disorders (NDs) are not available. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of heart disease among individuals with NDs and to compare their risk with a control group., Article, Published. Received: September 19, 2014 ; Accepted: January 05, 2015 ; Published online: February 17, 2015 ; Issue release date: March 2015.
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- Report on key points arising from visioning process on prosthetic and orthotic education done at the British Columbia Institute of Technology
- The Prosthetics and Orthotics Department at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver, Canada, has recently completed a visioning process which was done as part of a curriculum review. This report presents and discusses the key points emerging from the process. It is anticipated that the results of the visioning process will provide a basis for a major curriculum revision to the BCIT’s prosthetics and orthotics program. The intent of a curriculum review is to determine whether an educational program’s curriculum is current and relevant with respect to providing students with entry-level skills for the workforce. It involves examining the current scope of practice and competencies of the profession in question and then reflecting back on the curriculum to determine whether these competencies are being taught adequately. Visioning attempts to determine not what entry-level skills graduates require but, instead, what knowledge and skills students need to meet the challenges of the workplace approximately 10 to 15 years into the future., Peer-reviewed article, Published.
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- Retroviral genetic algorithms
- Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Evolutionary Computation Theory and Applications. Classical understandings of biological evolution inspired creation of the entire order of Evolutionary Computation (EC) heuristic optimization techniques. In turn, the development of EC has shown how living organisms use biomolecular implementations of these techniques to solve particular problems in survival and adaptation. An example of such a natural Genetic Algorithm (GA) is the way in which a higher organism's adaptive immune system selects antibodies and competes against its complement, the development of antigen variability by pathogenic organisms. In our approach, we use operators that implement the reproduction and diversification of genetic material in a manner inspired by retroviral reproduction and a genetic-engineering technique known as DNA shuffling. We call this approach Retroviral Genetic Algorithms, or retroGA (Spirov and Holloway, 2010). Here, we extend retroGA to include: (1) the utilization of tags in strings; (2) the capability of the Reproduction-Crossover operator to read these tags and interpret them as instructions; and (3), as a consequence, to use more than one reproductive strategy. We validated the efficacy of the extended retroGA technique with benchmark tests on concatenated trap functions and compared these with Royal Road and Royal Staircase functions., Conference paper, Published.
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- Rho-kinase inhibition enhances axonal plasticity and attenuates cold hyperalgesia after dorsal rhizotomy
- Dorsal rhizotomy results in primary deafferentation of the dorsal horn with concomitant sprouting of spared intraspinal monoaminergic axons. Because descending monoaminergic systems are thought to mitigate nociceptive transmission from the periphery and because dorsal rhizotomy can result in neuropathic pain, we sought to determine whether the rhizotomy-induced sprouting response could be further augmented. Because myelin-derived molecules mask endogenous plasticity of CNS axons and because myelin-inhibitory signaling occurs through the Rho-GTPase pathway, we inhibited Rho-pathway signaling after cervical dorsal rhizotomy in rats. An increase in the density of serotonergic- and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive fibers was seen in the dorsal horn 1 week after septuple rhizotomy, and axon density continued to increase for at least 1 month. One week after septuple rhizotomy, administration of intrathecal Y-27632, an antagonist of Rho-kinase (ROCK), increased the density of both fiber types over vehicle-treated controls. To examine behavioral effects of both cervical rhizotomy and ROCK inhibition, we examined responses to evoked pain: mechanical and thermal allodynia and cold hyperalgesia in the forepaw were examined after single, double, and quadruple rhizotomies of dorsal roots of the brachial plexus. The most notable behavioral outcome was the development of cold hyperalgesia in the affected forepaw after rhizotomies of the C7 and C8 dorsal roots. Application of Y-27632 both attenuated cold hyperalgesia and induced monoaminergic plasticity after C7/8 rhizotomy. Thus, inhibition of Rho-pathway signaling both promoted the sprouting of intact supraspinal monoaminergic fibers and alleviated pain after dorsal rhizotomy., Peer-reviewed article, Published. Received July 6, 2004; revised Oct. 3, 2004; accepted Oct. 18, 2004.
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- Schwann cells generated from neonatal skin-derived precursors or neonatal peripheral nerve improve functional recovery after acute transplantation into the partially injured cervical spinal cord of the rat
- The transplantation of Schwann cells (SCs) holds considerable promise as a therapy for spinal cord injury, but the optimal source of these cells and the best timing for intervention remains debatable. Previously, we demonstrated that delayed transplantation of SCs generated from neonatal mouse skin-derived precursors (SKP-SCs) promoted repair and functional recovery in rats with thoracic contusions. Here, we conducted two experiments using neonatal rat cells and an incomplete cervical injury model to examine the efficacy of acute SKP-SC transplantation versus media control (Experiment 1) and versus nerve-derived SC or dermal fibroblast (Fibro) transplantation (Experiment 2). Despite limited graft survival, by 10 weeks after injury, rats that received SCs from either source showed improved functional recovery compared with media- or fibroblast-treated animals. Compared with media treatment, SKP-SC-transplanted rats showed enhanced rubrospinal tract (RST) sparing/plasticity in the gray matter (GM) rostral to injury, particularly in the absence of immunosuppression. The functional benefits of SC transplantations over fibroblast treatment correlated with the enhanced preservation of host tissue, reduced RST atrophy, and/or increased RST sparing/plasticity in the GM. In summary, our results indicate that: (1) early transplantation of neonatal SCs generated from skin or nerve promotes repair and functional recovery after incomplete cervical crush injury; (2) either of these cell types is preferable to Fibros for these purposes; and (3) age-matched SCs from these two sources do not differ in terms of their reparative effects or functional efficacy after transplantation into the injured cervical spinal cord., Peer-reviewed article, Published.Received March 17, 2014; revised March 18, 2015; accepted March 21, 2015.
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- Searching for early developmental activities leading to computational thinking skills
- Proceedings from the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Drawing on the long debate about whether computer science (CS) and computational thinking skills are innate or learnable, this working group is based on the following hypothesis: The apparent innate ability of some CS learners who succeed in CS courses despite no prior exposure to computing is a manifestation of early childhood experiences and learning outside formal education., Peer reviewed, Conference paper, Published., K-12 education, Computational thinking
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- Seasonal indoor humidity levels of apartment suites in a mild coastal climate
- It is essential to design and operate buildings with good indoor air quality because people spend most of their time indoors, and their productivity, comfort, and health depend on the quality of the indoor air. In addition to other indoor-air-quality parameters, the indoor humidity and temperature need to be controlled and maintained within acceptable ranges. Elevated indoor humidity creates favorable conditions for mold growth and building-envelope damage. To minimize such problems, it is important that designers have insight into the level of indoor humidity that will be expected in a building operating under a set of conditions and weather variation. In this paper, the results of monitoring the indoor temperature and humidity of four apartment suites with different occupancy levels are reported. Along with the indoor-air conditions, the local outdoor temperature and relative humidity were continuously measured for 17 months. The indoor humidities in the suites were correlated with the outdoor air temperature and humidity and compared with the European indoor climate class model. Moreover, the indoor-temperature and relative-humidity ranges in the four suites during the winter, spring, summer, and fall seasons and the temperature and humidity distributions within the suites are reported., Technical papers, Published. Received: September 22, 2014. Accepted: February 03, 2015. Published online: April 21, 2015.