BCIT Citations Collection | BCIT Institutional Repository

BCIT Citations Collection

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Bluetooth for decoy systems
Proceedings of 2017 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS) in Las Vegas, NV, USA, USA, 9-11 Oct. 2017. We present an approach to tracking the behaviour of an attacker on a decoy system, where the decoy communicates with the real system only through low energy bluetooth. The result is a low-cost solution that does not interrupt the live system, while limiting potential damage. The attacker has no way to detect that they are being monitored, while their actions are being logged for further investigation. The system has been physically implemented using Raspberry PI and Arduino boards to replicate practical performance., Conference paper, Published.
Blurring boundaries: emergent technological practices of post-secondary students with mathematics learning disabilities
Not peer reviewed, Conference paper, Not yet published, conference in November 2019.
Building science integrated systems methodological framework
Proceedings from Architectural Engineering Conference 2013, April 3-5, 2013 at State College, Pennsylvania, United States. Building performance is governed by physical processes, which are dynamically coupled in time and space, and whose degrees of interactions are often difficult to measure and appreciate. As a result, suboptimal performance and failures often occur. The goal of high-performance buildings is to optimize major aspects such as energy efficiency, life-cycle costs, and lighting, which are tightly coupled by the underlying physical processes. The premise behind this research project is that building integration/optimization can only be achieved when grounded on a shared understanding and communication of the underlying physical principles governing building performance, which can then enable the transformation of these principles into meaningful performance metrics. This paper proposes a methodology for building systems integration through building science principles. At the core of the methodology, a vocabulary of building science concepts, principles, and metrics enables using existing knowledge to increase understanding and gain insights on the systems involved in a particular design (including degrees of coupling, redundancies, and behaviours), which in turn facilitates the creation of new knowledge that may be needed to integrate new systems and technologies. A set of generic building science rules implemented using systems theory will enable such knowledge creation while preserving systems integrity at all times. The goal of this research is not to create a knowledge-base to replace building science professionals but to leverage an explicit vocabulary to increase understanding, learning, and communication of building performance for improved building integration. Furthermore, it is envisioned that the knowledge-base will serve as a bridge between building simulation, decision analysis, and optimization. This paper presents the initial attempt to organize a wealth of building science knowledge into a structured vocabulary. The power of generality and usability of the methodology will be tested with a case study. The expected benefits of the approach are three-fold: 1) to promote a more systematic approach to optimize building systems, 2) to facilitate the integration of new systems and technologies in buildings, and 3) to improve the education and dissemination of building science knowledge for improved building integration., Peer reviewed, Conference proceeding, Published.
Concept proposal for a detachable exoskeleton-wheelchair to improve mobility and health
Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, June 24-26, 2013 Seattle, Washington USA. Wheelchair use has consequences to quality of life in at least two areas: 1) health issues such as pressure sores and chronic overuse injury; and 2) access problems due to the inaccessible nature of the built and natural environments that are most amenable to upright postures. Even with these concerns, wheelchairs are still the best form of mobility for many people (e.g. they are relatively easy to transfer into and propel). However, wheelchairs are simply not transformative, i.e. they do not allow a person with a disability to attain a level of mobility performance that approaches that of their non-disabled peers, nor do they typically allow for face to face interactions and full participation in the community. Wheelchairs also do not typically support ongoing therapeutic benefits for the user. To address the inadequacy of existing wheelchairs, we are merging two evolving technologies into a coherent new mobility device. The first is dynamic wheeled mobility, which adds significant functionality to conventional wheelchairs through the use of on-the-fly adjustable positioning. The second is powered walking exoskeletons, which enable highly desired standing and walking functions, as well as therapeutic benefits associated with rehabilitation gait training. Unfortunately, exoskeletons have significant usability concerns such as slow speed, limited range, potential to cause skin issues, and difficult transfers. A new concept of docking a detachable exoskeleton to a wheeled frame has been developed to address these issues. The design goal is a single mobility device that not only optimizes daily activities (i.e. wheelchair seating and propulsion with dynamic positioning), but also serves as an easy-to-use rehabilitation tool for therapeutic benefits (i.e. a detachable powered exoskeleton for walking sojourns). This has significant potential benefits for the lives of people with mobility impairments., Conference paper, Published.
A declarative model for reasoning about form security
Proceedings of the International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence in Lisbon, Portugal 2015. We introduce a formal methodology for analysing the security of digital forms, by representing form signing procedures in a declarative action formalism. In practice, digital forms are represented as XML documents and the security of information is guaranteed through the use of digital signatures. However, the security of a form can be compromised in many different ways. For example, an honest agent might be convinced to make a commitment that they do not wish to make or they may be fooled into believing that another agent has committed to something when they have not. In many cases, these attacks do not require an intruder to break any form of encryption or digital signature; instead, the intruder simply needs to manipulate the way signatures are applied and forms are passed between agents. In this paper, we demonstrate that form signing procedures can actually be seen as a variation of the message passing systems used in connection with cryptographic protocols. We start with an exis ting declarative model for reasoning about cryptographic protocols in the Situation Calculus, and we show how it can be extended to identify security issues related to digital signatures, and form signing procedures. We suggest that our results could be used to help users create secure digital forms, using tools such as IBM’s Lotus Forms software., Conference paper, Published.
Design, learn, and play
Proceedings of 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, 2015. Evidence suggests that computer game-based learning (GBL) environments are effective in increasing students’ motivation and supporting learning (de Freitas, 2013; Kiili, Ketamo, Koivisto, & Finn, 2014; Spires, Rowe, Mott, & Lester, 2011). Many intelligent tutoring systems and advanced learning technologies are designed as educational games (Aleven, Beal, & Graesser, 2013; Conati, Jaques, & Muir, 2013; Rodrigo, et al., 2012). This paper presents the lessons learned during the design, implementation and evaluation of an educational game, Heroes of Math Island, for students in grades five through seven. The game was designed and implemented with the purpose of researching (1) affective states that are relevant to learning during gameplay and (2) methods that are better suited for design of engaging educational games. This paper focuses on the second objective., Conference paper, Published., Peer reviewed
Designing an educational game (Heroes of Math Island)
Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In response to the need for more empirical research with respect to emotion and learning, this study provided an empirical investigation of the students’ interaction with an educational game, Heroes of Math Island, specifically designed for this study. The purpose of this study was to explore learners’ emotional states triggered during gameplay with the goal of providing critical information needed for the design of advanced learning technologies (ALTs) and intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs). The study used the design-based research (DBR) paradigm by combining exploration with design, and mixed methodologies including: pretest, intervention (gameplay), posttest, post-questionnaire, and interview. Fifteen students (seven boys and eight girls) from grades six and seven participated in this study. Findings report on heuristics of educational technology design, emotion, and learning., Conference paper, Published., Peer reviewed
Developing safe fall strategies for lower limb exoskeletons
Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) QEII Centre, London, UK, July 17-20, 2017. One of the main challenges in the use of a powered lower limb exoskeleton (LLE) is to ensure that balance is maintained throughout the operation of the device. Since no control strategy has yet been implemented that prevents falls in the case of a loss of balance, head or other serious injuries may occur during independent use of LLEs in the event of a fall. These safety concerns limit LLEs in the community to supervised use only. Using the backward fall as a model, we used optimization techniques to develop safe fall control strategies in order to avoid head impact and mitigate the impact velocity of the hips. From available human biomechanics data, we first developed an optimization methodology to study falls of healthy people. The results showed similar kinematic and dynamic characteristics to findings of previous studies on real-life human falls. Second, we extended the optimization methodology to include characteristics of a hypothetical LLE and to generate optimal joint trajectories and optimal torque profiles for the fall duration. The results revealed that by applying the optimal fall strategy, the severity of a simulated fall was minimized compared to when the device fell with locked joints (i.e., how currently used exoskeletons fall): head impact was avoided and hip impact velocity was reduced by more than 50%., Conference paper, Published.
Development and benchmarking of a new hygrothermal model
Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components: 11 May 2008, Istanbul, Turkey. This paper presents a new hygrothermal model (HAMFit) for simulating the transport of heat, air and moisture across building envelopes. The model is based on partial differential equations solved simultaneously for air velocity, temperature, and moisture distributions for given interior and exterior conditions using finite-element-based commercial software called COMSOL Multiphysics and MatLab. The model is benchmarked using internationally-published numerical model test cases., Conference paper, Published. A version of this document is published in: 11th International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components, Istanbul, Turkey, May 11-14, 2008, pp. 1-8.
Development and evaluation of a compliance-independent pressure transducer for biomedical applications
Proceedings of 17th International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 20-23 Sept. 1995. The measurement of pressure at a device/tissue interface is desirable in many biomedical engineering applications such as tourniquets and mammography in order to optimize the design or performance of the device. Testing of a selection of existing interface transducers has demonstrated that many are dependent on device and tissue compliance. Such a transducer is only useful in an application where it has been calibrated for specific device/tissue compliance combinations. To overcome this limitation the authors have developed an interface pressure transducer whose output signal is not affected by changes in interface compliance. This enables the transducer to quantitatively measure pressure in many applications without the need to calibrate the transducer for varying compliance conditions. The signal from such a transducer could be incorporated into a control system to measure and control the pressure applied by a mammography machine to the breast., Conference paper, Published.
Development and pilot testing of a kneeling ultralight wheelchair design
Proceedings of 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Milan, Italy, Aug 25-29 2015. "Dynamic wheeled mobility" offers "on the fly" seating adjustments for wheelchair users such that various activities performed throughout the day can be matched by an appropriate seat position. While this has benefits for user participation and health, the added weight in existing dynamic wheelchairs may impact the user's ability to transport the frame, e.g. into cars. Other dynamic features to enable more participation avenues are also desirable. This paper outlines the development of a "kneeling" ultralight wheelchair design that offers dynamic wheeled mobility functionality at a weight that is comparable to many existing ultralight wheelchairs. In addition, the wheelchair's kneeling function allows a lowered seat position to facilitate low-to-the-ground tasks such as floor transfers and other activities where sustained low level reaching may be required (e.g. playing with children, changing a tire, etc.). This paper also describes the development and pilot testing of an end user evaluation protocol designed to validate the wheelchair's functionality and performance. Successful realization and commercialization of the technology would offer a novel product choice for people with mobility disabilities, and that may support daily activities, health, improved quality of life, and greater participation in the community., Conference paper, Published.
Development of a micromachined pressure transducer for biomedical device/tissue interfaces
Proceedings of 1996 Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Calgary, Alberta on 26-29 May 1996. In many medical situations, the need for measuring the pressure applied to a tissue quickly and accurately is crucial. Most conventional devices do not measure the actual pressure applied to the tissue because they do not compensate for the tissue or device compliance characteristics and need to be calibrated for each measurement environment. Neuromuscular damage may occur if too much pressure is applied to a tissue for an extended period of time in applications such as tourniquet systems. Incorrect diagnosis may occur if too little pressure is applied in applications such as mammography units. A compliance-independent pressure transducer has other biomedical applications in surgical retraction devices and prosthetic sockets. To eliminate the compliance problem, a pressure transducer was developed using bulk micromachining technology., Conference paper, Published.

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