Month: October 2010

Dear Friends,

The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC) was held in Montreal, October 23-27, 2010. The largest annual gathering showcasing the best in cardiovascular research, innovation, and care in Canada, CCC attracted close to 4,000 professionals. One study reported at the Congress was highlighted this morning on the U.S. National Public Radio (low resting heart rate, that is, 58 or a little below, is a good thing).

This year, the Queen’s School of Computing, in collaboration with the Department of Medicine, the Kingston General Hospital, and colleagues from Ottawa and Montreal, had a strong representation with no fewer than eight podium presentations:

Complex Subharmonic Structures as a Predictor for ICD Therapy
S Gupta, JC Siu, H Abdollah, AM Baranchuk, CS Simpson, S Akl, DP Redfearn
Kingston, Ontario

Vagal Denervation is Not a Critical Factor For Successful Outcome After Circumferential Pulmonary Vein Isolation
GE Seaborn, JC Siu, AM Baranchuk, H Abdollah, CS Simpson, S Akl, DP Redfearn
Kingston, Ontario

The Right Ventricular Septum Provides The Optimal Pacing Site in A Heart Failure Population
JH Siu, M Moey, MA Maraschiello, GE Seaborn, AM Baranchuk, CS Simpson, H Abdollah, DP Redfearn
Kingston, Ontario

The Post-Pacing Interval After Failed Antitachycardia Pacing May Be A Useful Diagnostic Tool in Differentiating Atrial Fibrillation / Atrial Tachycardia from Ventricular Tachycardia
KA Michael, DP Redfearn, S Fair, R Miranda, H Abdollah, CS Simpson, AM Baranchuk
Kingston, Ontario

Interventional Electrophysiology-Neck and Back Breaking Work!
D Birnie, A Krahn, DP Redfearn, K Ahmad, E Crystal, Y Khaykin, V Chauhan, F Philippon, DV Exner, B Thibault, T Hruczkowski, J Healy
Ottawa, Ontario

Anticoagulation Management Pre and Post Atrial Fibrillation Ablation: A Survey Of Canadian Centres
V Essebag, D Birnie, P Guerra, DP Redfearn, G Becker, J Champagne, J Sapp, L Gula, R Parkash, L Macle, E Crystal, G O’Hara, Y Khaykin, M SSturmer, GD Veenhuyzen, T Hadjis, I Mangat, P Novak, J Roux, V Chauhan, I Greiss, CA Morillo, SK Tung, A Pantano, A Verma
Montreal, Quebec

Right Ventricular Septum is the Optimim Site for Maximal Electrical Separation (MES) In Resynchronization Therapy (CRT)
R Miranda, M Nault, KA Michael, H Abdollah, AM Baranchuk, CS Simpson, DP Redfearn
Kingston, Ontario

Paced Signal Averaged ECG Provides Mechanistic Insights Into Reduced Mortality In CRT Patients Through Late Potential Reduction
JC Siu, JS Cheng, KA Michael, H Abdollah, AM Baranchuk, CS Simpson, DP Redfearn
Kingston, Ontario
Congratulations to our students and colleagues for this impressive show.

Selim

Dear friends,

On behalf of the Queen’s School of Computing I extend warm congratulations to everyone who has been involved in the “Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing”, for a fabulous conference. The event, which took place this past weekend, was superbly organized and run. Its attendance exceeded all expectations, especially for a first-time edition. I would like to thank Wendy Powley, in particular, for her leadership, and the inspiration that she provided to all the volunteers who made this meeting the wonderful success that it was. More details about the proceedings can be found at: http://sites.cs.queensu.ca/wisc/ONCWIC/

I am also delighted to report that the conference is to become an annual event, and that the Queen’s School of Computing will play an important role in its future.

All the best,
Selim

School of Computing Director Selim Akl was one of the speakers at the launch of the Business Plan Competition for Prince Edward County and Lennox and Addington County, held in Goodes Hall on Wednesday October 20, 2010. Said Dr. Akl:”I am delighted that the Queen’s School of Computing has been invited to be a partner in organizing this important competition. The School of Computing is a dynamic and forward-looking organization. As the banner behind me says, the School fosters entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. Indeed, my colleagues and I work with professionals from all disciplines, from physicians to physicists, from engineers to artists, creating and disseminating knowledge, and providing practical solutions to a multitude of problems. Today, all progress in science and technology rests on a firm computing foundation. There is no doubt, therefore, that information technology can play an important role in the economic development of our region.”

http://business.queensu.ca/centres/monieson/business_plan_competition.php
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Canadian med schools modifying admissions process: The medical school admissions landscape in Canada has changed in recently years, largely due to efforts to undertake a more evidence-based approach to selecting students and measures designed to increase the socioeconomic diversity of incoming classes. The push for diversity has spurred UBC’s med school to reach out to students from less affluent backgrounds and from small and rural communities. McGill has dropped the MCAT requirement for Canadian applications because a French-language version is not available. Other med schools have altered other aspects of the traditional admissions approach. McMaster has no requirement for prerequisite courses and looks only at undergraduate marks and scores on the verbal reasoning component of the MCAT. Those applying to uSask have the option to submit their MCAT or prerequisite scores only, or both sets of scores.

http://www.cmaj.ca/earlyreleases/20oct10-the-changing-dynamic-of-medical-school-admissions.dtl

KINGSTON, ON – This week, Queen’s University’s School of Computing will host the Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing. The first in Canada held under the U.S. Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) umbrella, it brings together students, faculty, and professionals from around the province.

At Queen’s, about one in four computing students are women, a number that is higher than the national average but has not increased significantly since 2005. The number of female graduate students in the field is even lower, and as a result there are fewer female mentors for younger students.

“Many young girls don’t have an understanding of what computer science entails, nor how broad the field is, so they don’t consider it as a viable career option,” says Wendy Powley, School of Computing research associate, adjunct lecturer and conference chair.

The women in the School of Computing have worked hard over the years to provide outreach activities to introduce young people to the potential that a career in computer science offers. Among other things, Queen’s has partnered with Mount Allison and Trent Universities on an NSERC-funded project that allows university students to go to local elementary schools to carry out computing-related workshops with young girls.

The number of women in the field has decreased dramatically since the 1980s. While the reasons behind the decline are not clear, the fact that computer science is often associated with math and engineering – both historically thought of as “masculine” fields – means many women may not consider computing to be an option. It has also proven difficult to break the stereotype that all computer scientists are “geeks.”

The conference will provide both undergraduate and graduate students with a chance to present their work and share their ideas and network with others in the field.

Positive mentors who provide support and encouragement are often the reason young women end up in the field. Anna Belkova, now in her fourth year of undergraduate studies at the School of Computing, was inspired by her high school math teacher. “She was a female, and she put so much of herself into her teaching and made everything logical and simple to understand,” says Ms Belkova. “I’ve been in love with it ever since.”

For more information visit the conference website.

http://sites.cs.queensu.ca/wisc/ONCWIC/

School of Computing professors James Cordy and Juergen Dingel, Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Thomas Dean and collaborators at seven other Canadian universities today received a five-year, $10.5 million grant from NSERC as part of the government’s Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) initiative. Led by Profs. Tom Maibaum of McMaster University and Joanne Atlee of the University of Waterloo, the Network on Engineering Complex Software Intensive Systems for Automotive Systems (NECSIS) is backed by an additional $6.1 million from General Motors of Canada and IBM Canada for a total investment of $16.6 million over five years, making it the largest APC grant yet to be awarded.

NECSIS focuses on a new computer software methodology called model-driven engineering (MDE), which promises dramatic improvements in automotive software developer productivity and product quality. MDE reduces the complexity of the designs and documents that developers work with, enabling them to test and verify models of automotive software before the computer code even exists, exposing safety, security and usability issues long before they make it to the product stage.

Profs. Cordy and Dean will work with their industrial colleagues on Model Pattern Engineering, which seeks a better understanding of the common patterns and structures of model use in automotive systems in order to allow for more disciplined synthesis, analysis and deployment of automotive software. Prof. Dingel will collaborate with colleagues at McGill University on Model Transformation, the problem of analyzing and relating automotive software models at the industrial scale, in order to allow for more effective analysis of complex interactions between subsystems that can lead to safety, reliability and usability issues.

For further information

Automotive Partnership Canada:

http://www.apc-pac.ca/

NSERC Industry Partnerships:

http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Partners-Partenaires/Index_eng.asp

School of Computing:

http://www.cs.queensu.ca/

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering:

http://www.ece.queensu.ca/

The first “SOCorial” was held tonight, combining students from 101 and 121 for a social/programming/tutorial session. We held it in Goodwin 254 from 7:30 – 9:30. I didn’t actually count, but we probably had about 30 kids show up for help. On a rainy, miserable night, this seems pretty successful to me.

Thank you very much to Daniel Basilio and Rob Staalduinen for coming out to help.

We have 4 more SOCorials scheduled for this term — we’ll see how they go….so far, it looks like they’ll be useful.

Wendy Powley