Wednesday, September 2, 2020

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• Waterloo becomes one of Canada's first 5G smart campuses
• Q and A with the experts: the science of vaccine hesitancy
• Wednesday's notes

Waterloo becomes one of Canada's first 5G smart campuses

This article originally appeared on Waterloo Stories.

The University of Waterloo has become one of the first 5G smart campuses in Canada as part of a partnership with Rogers Communications that leverages the University’s global leadership in computing, engineering and co-operative education.

The smart campus is part of a plan by Rogers to advance 5G research in the Toronto-Waterloo tech corridor and to become a global leader in 5G technology, which promises to transform businesses, industries and cities. This week, Rogers announced that it has expanded its 5G network to over 50 new Canadian towns and cities including Waterloo and the University of Waterloo campus, which builds on an existing multimillion-dollar partnership agreement with Waterloo.

The launch of 5G across Canada marks the next big step in evolving the way Canadians connect to the world around them. Expected to be the most transformative technology since wireless services were introduced in 1985, 5G will make real-time connectivity a reality, accelerating the transition to a truly digitally connected world.

“I am delighted to celebrate this milestone in our partnership with Rogers Communications and with our campus community,” said Charmaine Dean, Waterloo’s vice-president, research and international. “As home to the first 5G smart campus in central Canada, Waterloo’s extensive research expertise will allow us to support Rogers in this initiative and continue to lead the way to an innovative future for Canada.”

Waterloo’s new smart campus will be a live test bed for advanced research into the design and operation of the network, and the infrastructure necessary to develop and test technologies that 5G will enable. Beyond the technology, it’s also an important step in furthering a culture of innovation, engagement, and collaboration. “Our intention is to be there for the long term and our intention is to transform the experience for all the constituents in the University,” said Neel Dayal, director of innovation and partnerships at Rogers.

Rogers is working with GEDI (Gateway for Enterprises to Discover Innovation), Waterloo’s corporate relations office.

The partnership includes research on:

• 5G smart city infrastructure monitoring and alerting systems
• 5G asset tracking technologies and capabilities
• 5G network design and operations research 
• 5G network slicing
• Multi-access edge computing (MEC) 

"We are collaborating with some of the best and brightest in the country to make 5G a reality, and the University of Waterloo stands out for its engineering and technological expertise,” said Dayal. “We are very excited about the made-in-Canada 5G technology that this partnership will bring."

Dayal said Rogers also plans to engage and hire Waterloo co-op students and new grads. A new recruitment program, which includes a hackathon and a new scholarship, will allow students to explore skills, teams and career paths at Rogers.

Rogers and Waterloo hope that close partnership will spur on development of technologies and solutions beyond 5G, into 6G and beyond.

5G Waterloo researchers include:

• 5G for Internet of Things: George Shaker, adjunct associate professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
• 5G-ELITE: Raouf Boutaba, professor and director, Cheriton School of Computer Science, network architecture and management using AI.
• Architectural Alternatives for Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC): Samer Al-Kiswany, assistant professor and Martin Karsten, associate professor, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
• 5G-Enabled Smart Infrastructure Applications: Sriram Narasimhan, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Alexander Wong, associate professor, Systems Design Engineering and Canada Research Chair in AI and Medical Imaging, and Chul Min Yeum, assistant professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
• Data driven planning and operation of 5G networks: Catherine Rosenberg, professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Canada Research Chair and Cisco Research Chair in 5G Systems

Student spotlight

When Rogers leaders wanted to explore the best way to demonstrate how 5G technology could benefit Canadians, they engaged their students working on a Capstone Design project. The result was a concept for a Holoportation Mystery Box, which would allow baseball fans to have a conversation with players. Although still in concept stage, it gives Canadians a hands-on experience of what 5G can do. Attending an event and interacting with people across the country, virtual tactile shopping, and improving virtual reality headsets and better access during emergencies for first responders are all possibilities with 5G.

“It’s fun seeing the potential of this technology and how different the future may look,” says Sydney Lamorea, an Master of Digital Experience (MDEI) student at Rogers and the Holoportation Mystery Box project leader.

Working with Rogers provided opportunities for the student group to develop a tangible concept, build teamwork skills, and pitch their 5G idea to the marketing team.

Q and A with the experts: the science of vaccine hesitancy

The University of Waterloo has a number of experts available for comment on various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Roderick Slavcev knows better than most how important vaccinations are – he’s currently developing a DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19. 

We asked Professor Slavcev to explain the science of vaccine hesitancy. What happens if we have a vaccine for COVID-19, but people won’t use it?

Will a vaccine be effective if some people choose not to receive it?

In order for the vaccine to be effective, the vast majority of the population must be immunized. Vaccines serve to prevent infection and protect individuals against infection at the population level in order to lead to the eradication of disease. Viruses of course can mutate and evade immune responses, hence leading to yearly epidemics such as we see for influenza, and the requirement for yearly vaccines. Not all individuals can safely take a vaccine, largely depending on the type of vaccine (e.g. live attenuated) and as such may rely on herd immunity to eradicate the virus thereby protecting those that are susceptible from probability of infection. 

What percent of the population must be vaccinated to contain the spread of COVID-19?

According to public health experts at least 70 per cent of the population, perhaps higher, will need to develop immunity to the COVID-19 virus to achieve herd immunity. Herd immunity is the population’s resistance to infection spread due to a vast majority of infections occurring in vaccinated individuals which rapidly clear the infection and prevent spread. What percent of the population is required to be vaccinated to acquire herd immunity varies by disease and can be over 90 per cent in some cases. Herd immunity relates to the ability of immunized and hence, individuals within the community that are immune to the disease, to protect non-immunized individuals within the population, by virtue of blocking the spread of infection to those are susceptible.

Why do some people decide not to be vaccinated?

The value of vaccines is difficult to appreciate in that when they are working effectively, no one notices a change. And yet, these preventative medicines are arguably among the most, if not most, important health technologies within our arsenal, at least on par with antibiotics. 

It is a fact that without them, our quality of life today would be vastly different and our historical path in confronting bacterial and viral diseases such as tuberculosis and smallpox would look very different today. But we don’t have that alternate dimension to offer as proof of value and the prevention of a pandemic is very difficult to appreciate when the devastating effects are not actually witnessed. Moreover, during normal periods of no public health emergency, our therapeutic focus is on precision and personalized medicine – co-creation of value with the patient in their own therapy – which is turned on its head during a pandemic where utilitarian approaches to public health must be adopted and personalized medicine is put on hold. 

Evidence of this confused juxtaposition can be seen by individuals that believe it is their personal right not to wear a mask, or more pertinently, refuse a vaccine despite the weakness this puts in the ‘protective armour’ of the population as a whole. If current polls are accurate in assuming that 16 per cent are ‘anti-vaxxers’ and another 19 per cent do not identify as ‘anti-vaxxers’ but refuse the vaccine for other reasons then it would appear that we will miss the minimal 70 per cent mark and fail to reach the threshold to eradicate COVID-19.

Will a vaccine be safe for children?

Vaccines come in a variety of types and strategies. They can be a subunit protein of the virus, a whole killed virus, or a live attenuated virus that has been ‘crippled’ to limit infection, virus-like particles that lack genetic material, or (as in our case) a nucleic acid vaccine that encodes protective viral components. 

Our youngest and oldest portions of the population are not as immunocompetent as the middle demographic and as such some vaccines are too dangerous to use in these populations. For instance, live attenuated viruses that are capable of replicating (albeit poorly) are not safe in children or a geriatric population while a subunit vaccine may be safe for the vast majority. 

It is important to note that all vaccines have to be approved by a regulatory body (Health Canada in Canada; FDA in USA) that determines the age demographic for which a released vaccine is safe. Safety and segment decisions are based on rigorous testing and data collected during preclinical and clinical trials. Furthermore, children’s vaccines are approved independently of adult versions requiring additional scrutiny.

Roderick Slavcev is an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy whose research interests include genetics, molecular biology, virology and technology transfer. His research projects focus on bacteriophage-based biotechnology and include the use of coliphages to design and construct vectors for the development of novel vaccines, pharmaceuticals and gene delivery systems, and the identification and application of novel phage genomic anti-bacterial genes with potential phage therapy applications.

Wednesday's notes

Plant Operations has announced that Ring Road will be down to one lane, two-way traffic for curb installation at the Village 1/University Club parking lot entrances on Wednesday September 2, reopening at end of day today. A worker will be on site to direct traffic.

Plant Operations has also announced the following elevator maintenance activities:

• Claudette Millar Hall, Wednesday, September 23, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with each elevator down for approximately two hours at separate times throughout the day; and

• Beck Hall in UW Place, Wednesday, September 23, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with each elevator down for approximately two hours at separate times throughout the day.