Tag: research > Queen's School of Computing

Excellence in Computing: 3 Best Paper and Best Student Paper Awards from BAM Lab in 2021

Though 2021 wasn’t an easy year for the School of Computing – with the transition to remote learning and working – our students and faculty continued to demonstrate their excellence. The Big Data Analytics and Management (BAM) Lab had three papers that won awards in the past year, a testament to the hard work and perseverance of the researchers.

The first paper was from Tariq Abughofa and Ahmed Harby, who won the 2021 IEEE Big Data Service Conference’s Best Paper Award for their paper “Incremental Community Detection in Distributed Dynamic Graph”. This publication outlines Tariq’s research about a new algorithm for efficiently updating a graph data structure with new incoming streaming data to detect strongly connected community of nodes. The technique is applicable to any connected or linked data such as social media networks, Internet of Things or connected devices, and data storage systems. The research was funded by GnowIt and SOSCIP (Smart Computing for Innovation).

The second paper was written by Jason Lam and Yuhao Chen, who won the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining and Learning in the Legal Domain (MLLD) 2021 best paper award for their work on “Detection of Similar Legal Cases on Personal Injury”. Their paper uses natural language processing and deep learning models to analyze unstructured text data from legal case descriptions, allowing for easier search for similar legal cases, an important aspect of Canada’s case law system. The paper specifically looks at cases involving personal injury and concludes that semantic similarity detection is not enough for legal case data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning are critical in finding case similarity using legal criteria. The research was funded by NSERC, NFRF and was performed in collaboration with Queen’s Law.

The third paper was written by Isaac Hogan, Donghao Qiao, Ruikang Luo, Mojtaba Moattari and Austin Carthy, who won the IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Machine Intelligence (CogMI 2021) best student paper award for their work on “FireWarn: Fire Hazards Detection Using Deep Learning Models”. Their paper posits that video cameras can be effectively used in surveillance systems to detect hazardous situations with the help of deep-learning techniques. The model created by the researchers achieved a 97% testing accuracy in labelling regions of interest in videos that show images of smoke and fire. This work was performed by the group of graduate and undergraduate researchers in collaboration with DRDC (Defense Research and Development Canada) and Royal Military College. These are just a few examples of the amazing work that happens every day here at the School of Computing. Congratulations to the students who won!

Reimagining Interactivity – Queen’s School of Computing’s iStudio Undergoes Renovations

“Unique components and technologies that unleash students’ creativity; exploring new ways of doing things”
Dr. Sara Nabil, director of the iStudio, on the lab’s purpose

The School of Computing has received a much-needed upgrade to one of its labs – the iStudio design lab.

Headed by Dr. Sara Nabil, iStudio is a state-of-the-art digital fabrication studio focusing on interactivity between people and the objects that occupy their spaces. Bridging the gap between material science and computing, the team at iStudio studies technologies in a wide variety of areas – ranging from furniture to architecture. At the core, the team at iStudio looks for new ways of embedding electronics into things, ranging from everyday items to furniture to entire walls. This involves rigorous research – Dr. Nabil and her team have had to invent new fabrication techniques to even attempt their ambitious projects.

The upgrade has added a slew of new, high-tech equipment to allow for advanced manufacturing processes and to explore new ways to integrate technology into physical objects. For example, the lab has two digital sewing machines, a rotating 3D-scanner, and two brand new 3D printers that allows them to print a variety of mediums, including resin and PLA filament (Polylactic Acid, a type of renewable thermoplastic). These printers also function on an axis, allowing them to print from top-bottom, instead of just from bottom-to-top.

Another important process being researched by the lab is the integration of technology into fabrics in what is known as e-textiles to create interactive furnishing and wearables, such as clothing and accessories. For example, the Talking Toque is a winter hat with embedded speakers sewn in between the layers of fabric, designed to allow for music listening without headphones getting in the way of warm ears.

The Talking Toque lets wearers keep their ears warm while listening to music.

Another exciting project focuses on the potential for interactive furniture and decorative objects. This explores how people interact with the things in their homes, and how these objects can physically change in response to these interactions. Morvaz, for example, is a shape-changing vase that shifts based on how it is touched.

The Morvaz reacts to touch, changing shape as a reaction to stimuli.

Objects can also react to other stimuli. TacTiles are a set of colour-changing tiles that go from a light-blue pattern to a dark blue in response to heat, making them able to display the warmth of a space in a uniquely visual way.

TacTiles are temperature-sensitive, shifting colours based on heat.

As with most of the designs from the iStudio, these projects were developed in tandem with outside users, people with problems that need solving or big ideas that they want to see realized. The goal of the lab is to create things for everyone to interact with, making consulting with many different people a crucial part of the development process. Much of the lab’s focus is on developing these technologies, then allowing end users to explore their own implementation solutions. Dr. Nabil sees a future when interactive technology can be provided as flat-pack kits with instructions on how to integrate things like the wearable speakers or the shape-changing furniture into objects already present in homes using simple tools.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to use the newly renovated iStudio to its fullest potential, Dr. Nabil hopes that soon the lab will be back in full swing.