Advancing the CANWET watershed model and decision support system by utilizing high performance parallel computing functionality
Watershed modeling is widely used to better understand processes and help inform planning and watershed management decisions. Examples include identifying impacts associated with land use change; investigating outcomes of infrastructure development, predicting effects of climate change. The proposed project will see the evolution of a desktop based watershed modeling and decision support system to a web based tool that will allow greater access by decision makers and stakeholders. By this means we will advance the idea of evaluating cumulative effects in the watershed decision making process rather than the current practice of assessing proposed changes in isolation.
The proposed software evolution will take advantage of high performance computing by porting existing code to a higher performing language and restructuring to operate using parallel or multi-core processing. The result is expected to be a dramatic reduction in simulation run times. Reduced run times will facilitate the use of automatic calibration routines used to conduct model setup, reducing costs. It will also enable rapid response if the simulation were to be re-run by a request through the web-based user interface. The designed web-based tool will be used by decision and policy makers in the watersheds that contribute to Lake Erie to understand the sources of pollution especially phosphorus which is a major contributor to Lake Erie eutrophication problems and develop policies in supporting a wide variety of watershed planning and ultimately help achieve the Federal and Ontario government commitments to reduce 40% phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 2025.
Generative models for autonomous, video-based DJ systems
RaveDJ is all about enabling people to create music with AI. Over the past few years our team has worked tirelessly to make RaveDJ the world’s first fully autonomous DJ system. A system that can seamlessly mix together a set of songs to produce the optimal mix to listen to as well as unique combinations or mashups of two songs into one. RaveDJ is currently producing around 10-50 TB per day of mashups and mixes for people all around the world. RaveDJ is hosted on our website www.rave.dj as well as our app Rave (get.rave.io/download) which has millions of users from around the world. SOSCIP’s platform will enable us to investigate ways of using bleeding edge machine learning techniques to navigate around existing inefficiencies in our existing system, as well as to take a leap beyond its current level of performance with new research advances. SOSCIP’s platform is exceptional for helping us achieve these goals as it can support training of deep neural networks on very large datasets of music videos. This is a requirement for analyzing and generating thousands of high-resolution videos at record speed. The platform that SOSCIP provides is perfect for running the experiments that are required to produce models that can perform these tasks efficiently as well as addressing new and novel problems in using AI for creative applications. The collaboration is between Rave, Prof. Graham Taylor and Prof. Stefan Kramer at University of Guelph.
High-throughput transcriptomic and eQTL analyses of silicon-induced resistance against Fusarium head blight on wheat
Wheat is an essential part of the agriculture and agri-food industry in Ontario with an average annual production of 2.5 Million tons. High yield and quality of wheat is seriously threatened by biotic and abiotic factors, among which Fusarium head blight (FHB, caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum) has historically been most damaging. The mycotoxin produced by this fungus is harmful for human health and livestock feed and productivity. Conventional chemical fungicides are commonly used as an important mean to control FHB; however, they also pose a serious risk to the health of humankind and the environment. One of the most promising non-hazardous, eco-friendly methods to control different plant pathogens is the use of silicon, which induces resistance.
Backed by SOSCIP high-performance computing resources, and using novel bioinformatic approaches, this study aims at conducting high-throughput genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of silicon-induced resistance against FHB, and possibly other important diseases, in wheat. Such study will lead us to:
1. understanding the complex underlying induced defense mechanisms
2. identifying gene modules and regulatory elements that control such mechanisms, and finally and more importantly
3. providing valuable building blocks and framework for future breeding programs which will be focused on the development of novel disease-resistant wheat cultivars in Ontario.