identifier: Buskard, John  (1999) The potential for development of information and communication technologies within the least developed countries.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The study is an examination of the potential for the least developed countries of the world to develop information and communication technologies (ICTs) in aid of their social and economic development. It is felt that without the new technologies of information and communication these poorest countries will experience an ever widening of the development gaps that presently separate them from the more developed nations. This study focuses on four necessary criteria, or ingredients for the development of ICTs: the ability to fund ICTs, the presence of telecommunications infrastructures, the level of electrical generating capacity, and the capacity to provide trained scientists and technicians to develop, utilize and maintain ICTs. Individual measures for each of these criteria are developed, and these are used in combination to measure the relative ICT development potential within each of the 172 countries included in this study. The examination of any heterogeneity within the least developed countries with regards to this potential is an important part of this research. The specific implications of the findings for the 45 least developed countries which are included in this study we also discussed, as well as possible measures to increase ICT development potential therein. Finally, suggestions are made as to the need for further research in this area.


identifier: Crozier, Steve  (1999) An investigation into the correlation between ethnolinguistic vitality and well-being.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: This study examines the possible correlation between the sociolinguistic concept of ethnolinguistic vitality and the notion of well-being. French, English, mixed Aboriginal, and Chinese university students in Montreal participated in this research. One issue explored is whether the groups perceived their ethnolinguistic vitality and their well-being differently from those of other groups Also, a new concept, norm-referenced ethnolinguistic vitality, is introduced to explore the subjects' perceptions of the fair and just treatment of their ethnolinguistic groups. Furthermore, two components within ethnolinguistic vitality, one having to do with language and the other with group recognition, are isolated and investigated as to their correlation with well-being.  It was found that each group did perceive its ethnolinguistic vitality different from of the other groups in the study. Also, all measurements of ethnolinguistic vitality and its major components positively correlated with measurements of well-being, and many of these correlations were found to be statistically significant


identifier: Rogers, Randal Arthur  (1999) Man and his world : an Indian, a secretary and a queer child : Expo 67 and the nation in Canada.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Read today as a "bright and shining" moment, or as the "last good year" in Pierre Berton's estimation, a period that has since slid into the current crises of nationhood, Expo 67 is seen to mark a "turning point" in the complexion of the nation. This representation of history became entrenched as we passed through the thirtieth anniversary of Expo 67 and as monumental national events threatened to divide Canada permanently, producing a yearning for a simpler and better epoch when Canada was seen to be united. Man and His World attempts to rethink the unity 1967 is now seen to possess and challenges this nostalgic refiguration as well as theoretical concepts that regard the nation as a singular entity. Although Expo 67 was produced to unite Canada, fissures were present within the discourses on the nation as they were on the Expo 67 site itself. This thesis, which emphasizes the fragment, multiplicity and the surface, interrogates three sites at Expo 67 which show us that "'adding to' need not 'add up,' but may disturb the calculation" of nationhood (Bhabha, 1994:155): the Indians of Canada Pavilion, the Man in the Home Pavilion and the Quebec Pavilion. Each of these sites produced a challenge to the definition of the nation being performed in 1967, although not without problems. Man and His World investigates the possibilities and the limits of these challenges, while employing a methodology based on multiplicity, an attribute "thinking the nation" necessitates.


identifier: Lel, Ugur  (1999) Political risk in Quebec, firm valuation, and business relocation announcements.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A significant number of companies have relocated their facilities outside Quebec in response to the political uncertainty in the Province. This political instability, which emanates from the separation demand supported by the French separatist party (Parti Quebecois), has a rather long history and provides a unique research opportunity to assess the magnitude and direction of political risk on asset valuation.  This paper explores the effects of the announcements of business relocation decisions by examining stock market's reaction to such announcements. In particular, we study the difference in the market's response to the relocations from Quebec (Montreal) and from the rest of Canada. Further, we shed light on the effects of the information conveyed by the relocation announcements on stock prices.  Previous research has reported some evidence from the U.S. on the effects of the announcements of relocations. Benefiting from the event study methodology, we find statistically significant and positive reaction to such announcements. More importantly, we find statistically significantly different abnormal returns in favor of Quebec (Montreal) relocations. That is, firms relocating from Quebec (Montreal) experience statistically significantly higher stock prices relative to these which relocate from other provinces. We attribute this difference to the existence of political risk in Quebec. The results concerning the effects of the information content of such announcements are generally consistent with the existing studies


identifier: Verma, Tina  (1999) Re-imagining multiculturalism : how newness enters the world.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis addresses the possibility of affecting change in official multiculturalism in Canada. It starts from the premise that the current policy and discourse of multiculturalism need to be re-evaluated in our evolving multi-racial and multi-ethnic landscape. Masala , the 1992 Canadian feature-fiction film, is used as an example of how cultural representations reflect a different type of engagement with multiculturalism. It is a hybrid film--a concept that helps articulate this alternative perspective. Cultural critics also contribute to the broader discourse of multiculturalism by translating films like Masala for the general public. An overview of this criticism reveals how Masala 's hybridity is interpreted, and if this body of discourse might serve to liberate new meanings of multiculturalism.


identifier: Bornau, Ruth  (1999) Cross cultural communication in selected adult ESL classrooms in Vancouver : a study of the cross-cultural situations ESL students and teachers rate as most difficult.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study is an examination of what cross-cultural situations students and teachers find most difficult in adult English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cross-cultural situations include any encounter (verbal or non-verbal) with a person from a different culture. Seventy-six advanced to upper-advanced ESL students and 20 teachers from Vancouver adult ESL schools filled out questionnaires detailing situations of cross-cultural communication. The participants rated their level of comfort and understanding on Likert scales and made written comments for each situation in the spaces provided. Nineteen students and 10 teachers were also interviewed orally and asked to elaborate on their questionnaire responses. The results from the Likert scale data and the most frequent and salient oral and written comments suggested that students had the most difficulty with language/pronunciation, classroom discussion, talking to the teacher, students and teachers acting superior, knowing when students or teachers are being impolite, accepting criticism from students, dress and hygiene, teaching style, and personal space in the classroom. Teachers rated students acting superior, cross-cultural conflicts (in general), disagreement with students, managing the interaction of loud and quiet cultures, language/pronunciation, and student unresponsiveness, adjustment, expectations, emotions, and free time as most difficult in the classroom. The findings suggest problem areas for researchers, curriculum developers, and teachers to focus on in order to improve cross-cultural communication in Vancouver adult ESL classrooms.


identifier: Li, Junping  (1999) A survey on Microsoft component-based programming technologies.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Component-based programming is the trend in the software industry. Software components are reusable software units in executable form that can be plugged into other components from other vendors with relatively little effort. The components present a set of functionality through interfaces.  This report will discuss the Microsoft-based programming technologies such as DLL, COM/DCOM, OLE Automation and ActiveX Controls. The motivation for establishing each of these techniques, the fundamental architecture, and the implementation examples for creating software objects using these techniques will be discussed


identifier: Wang, Hong  (2000) Online banking : a case study for dynamic database-driven client/server system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the arrival of the age of the Internet, the financial service community is provided with tremendous opportunities and challenges. Today's providers must consider the Internet and on-line services besides their traditional non-online services. In this report, the analysis, design and implementation details of an on-line banking application have been described. Many state-of-the-art technologies were used to build the dynamic database-driven client/server system. These techniques include scripting languages, cascading style sheets, dynamic HTML, active server pages, active data objects, active server framework, design-time controls, ODBC and others. The implementation requires the creation of web site, web pages and links to the database. The database-driven web application was coded using VBScript, JavaScript, Oracle and Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0. The system functions well and can perform most of day-to-day banking activities.


identifier: Vangalursrinivasan, Vagula Bhaskaran  (1999) Graphical user interface for TROMLAB environment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Real-time reactive systems are characterized by their continuous interaction with their environment through stimulus-response behaviour. The safety-critical nature of their domain and their inherent complexity advocate the use of formal methods in the software development process. An effective user interface for real-time reactive systems development environment would hide the complexity of the formalism in the design, and promote ease of use.  This thesis addresses the design and implementation of a Graphical User Interface ( GUI ) which provides precise interaction points for the user-centered tasks of TROMLAB , a rigorous real-time reactive systems development environment being built in the Department of Computer Science, Concordia University.  The scope of this thesis is two-fold. We first reengineer the initial TROMLAB design, which is a prerequisite to GUI development. Reengineering was necessary due to the need for a flexible design with abilities to absorb changing requirements with minimal changes to the design, and usability of the entire TROMLAB environment. We then build an integrated GUI to interact with TROMLAB environment.


identifier: Tian, Eddie  (1999) Towards integrated document processing and file browsing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: By using the World Wide Web (WWW), it has become easy to access information which is distributed over the entire Internet. However, due to the immense and rapidly growing supply of information, the Web Site may contain multiple data types in distinct heterogeneous sources, and stored under different formats. It is impossible to rely on the Web browser to access multimedia database on the Internet, and to view a variety of file formats. For many years, people have been seeking a file browser which is able to access multimedia database, and to display multiple files.  In this thesis, the file browsers, which are used to represent various type of files, are reviewed and five type of file formats are presented. The thesis develops a file browser which allows the user to view the contents of a file quickly without having to run the original application that created the file. The file browser provides the user interface for viewing a file, including menu items and toolbar. Demonstrations are also given to show how the different files are displayed in the single software tool. Furthermore, a file import filter for the display of the documents created by the word processor, Ami Pro, is implemented.  To further this study, a prospect of the application of the file browser are proposed and briefly described. The result shows that methodologies discussed in this thesis are both feasible and practical. There is hope that such an exploitation will lead to a more efficient file browser of dealing with the apparent flood of formats of information.


identifier: Smith, Eric  (1999) A concurrent architecture for a travel planning application.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we present a concurrent architecture for a travel planner application. The main idea behind this architecture is the division of the travel planning problem into task and subtask objects that solve distinct aspects of the problem in parallel. These objects collaborate with one another, eliminating non-optimal solutions and producing a coherent solution consisting of partial solutions from the subtasks. Groups of these objects solve different optimization problems within the travel planning problem. The architecture is similar to that of a production system, particularly a blackboard architecture, except that we insist on a distributed control system and use procedural tasks and subtasks rather than declarative knowledge sources. Unlike blackboard systems, the solutions that are created are distributed amongst the objects rather than centralized, so some communication between objects is necessary. We discuss our Java(TM) implementation of the travel planner and some sample results of the system. The travel plans output are sometimes not good approximations of the optimal solution, because a bounded, breadth-first search strategy is used. The system also loses on performance because of additional overhead incurred by object collaboration. On the other hand, our architecture offers potential performance enhancements achievable through concurrency as well as good design principles such as design for change, separation of concerns, and code reuse. We also demonstrate how our architecture could be used to solve other optimization problems. We conclude that our architecture could be used as a basis for a more efficient travel planner implementation.


identifier: Thatipamala, Ramakrishnaiah  (1999) Automatic generation of test cases and anticipated test outcome based on a tabular design specification.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: At the present time, even for safety-critical applications, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to produce a software that is "completely error-free". One of the important issues associated with this realistic situation is how to minimise the number of errors in a given software. Effective testing of software using trusted CASE tools is one possible strategy.  This thesis discusses the development of a prototype CASE tool, called Apollo, that automates some of the "tedious, complex and error-prone" manual activities that are associated with the unit testing of software modules. The input to Apollo is a design specification document where the design is specified using a tabular notation. This specification is sufficiently detailed to enable execution by a machine. The tool generates a set of test cases and the anticipated test outcome for each test case by executing the tabular specification. Tabular specification is considered as a "practical" formal method, since it is a method that software developers can easily learn and apply without much mathematical background.  The tabular design specification is parsed and test cases are generated based on the boundary value analysis. The anticipated test outcome for each test case is generated by executing the parsed design specification. The proposed methodology is applied to a hypothetical case study for unit testing of software related to nuclear industry. This application replaces some of the manual generation of test cases and anticipated test outcome thereby reduces the cost of software testing


identifier: Roberts, Brenda  (1999) Connectionism and the integration of error : applications in naturalized epistemology and minimal rationality.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Traditional epistemology has it that the pursuit of knowledge is predicated on two inter-connected goals: the generation of meaningful truths and the avoidance of error. This is neatly summarized in the conventional definition of knowledge as justified true belief In the following thesis I trace the evolution of an alternative account of knowledge which is predicated not on the avoidance of error but on the capacity to learn from error. I contend that the connectionist model of artificial intelligence provides the necessary framework for an understanding of cognition in which knowledge emerges as a dynamic product of learning. Epistemic content in this alternative is not comprised of fixed representations. Instead, content is encoded within shifting patterns of activation among large numbers of processing units. However, a connectionist approach does not give rise to a new epistemology. Rather, when integrated with Quinean naturalism, it fulfills the project of naturalized epistemology in ways that psychology could not. The convergence of connectionism and naturalized epistemology then embodies the normative principle that we should be fallibilistic about beliefs and realistic about believers.


identifier: Bole, Michael  (1999) Design of an automatic landing system for twin rotor vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the release of Bombardier's new vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTOL UAV), the company's design team were interested in exploring new ideas for automatically landing the craft. Bombardier established guidelines and limitations on performance in order to ensure the safety of the craft and those individuals in its operating region. The cornerstone of the design revolved around navigation via DGPS data.  Three issues were identified as being paramount to the success of the system. First was the need for an algorithm to locate an appropriate intercept point on the intended flight profile after a position error is found after navigation system switchover from waypoint mode, using GPS, to the more precise autoland mode, which uses DGPS. With the establishment of concrete target points, a corroborative effort between two systems was required to command vehicle motion between two arbitrary points in space. The first system, a trajectory generator, provides an ideal locus of points based on a time law, paying careful attention to the craft's acceleration. The second system involved a controller using the ideal points generated by the trajectory generator to drive the craft. An easily obtainable solution for the controller was required given project scope. The evaluation tool for theory development was a simplified version of Bombardier's overall craft dynamics model for the CL-327


identifier: Bongarala, Srinivasa Rao  (2000) Minimization of weighted tardiness in job shops using shifting bottleneck and tabu search procedures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Scheduling to meet set due dates is one of the most critical issues in modern production systems. One measure of schedule effectiveness in the presence of due dates is weighted tardiness since it can capture the cost of contractual penalties and other losses to an organization. This research work concentrates on the problem of minimizing the total weighted tardiness in classical job shops.  Job shop scheduling problems are among the hardest known combinatorial optimization problems. In particular the problem of minimizing tardiness in job shops is strongly NP-hard, which makes finding optimal solutions to it impractical in most realistic situations. We approach this problem using two well known heuristics, namely the shifting bottleneck procedure and tabu search. Both heuristics are known to perform very well for minimizing makespan in job shops. Here we adapt them for the objective of minimizing weighted tardiness and test both under different parameter settings in order to select implementations that give the best results for a given computational effort.  We test our algorithms with problem instances taken from the literature and with randomly generated instances. We present our observations and conclusions regarding the relative performance of these heuristics and their performance in comparison with dispatching rules. In particular, we find that the shifting bottleneck procedure outperforms tabu search for this problem.


identifier: Haque, Md. Zakiul  (1999) A combined experimental and stochastic finite element analysis methodology for the probabilistic fracture behavior of composite laminates.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the thesis, a combined experimental and stochastic finite element analysis methodology that can incorporate the material property variabilities and based on these, predict the stochastic characteristics of the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) and the Strain Energy Release Rate (G) of composite laminates, is developed. Using this methodology, the probabilistic fracture analysis of laminated composites is performed. The material and geometric properties of the laminate are described in terms of homogeneous two-dimensional spatial stochastic fields and random variables that are established based on material property tests. In the finite element formulation, the elasticity matrix for the laminate is obtained based on the laminate theory. This matrix, in contrast to the deterministic finite element analysis, will be a stochastic matrix that has different values at different Gauss point locations within the same element. The fracture behavior of the laminate is quantified through the two parameters, Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) and Energy Release Rate (ERR). A formulation for determining the reliability of composite laminates based on the probabilistic characteristics of stress intensity factor and that of the fracture toughness, is described. Different types of orthotropic laminates are analyzed.


identifier: Penekelapati, Radha  (2000) Scheduling in two-machine robotic cell : an optimal algorithm based on buffering.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Two important trends in developing innovative and efficient approaches for improving plant productivity are cellular manufacturing and robotics. The proliferation of robot technology is an outcome of increasing industrial automation especially in engineering and electronics. Robots offer substantial gains in manufacturing productivity, particularly when integrated into an automated system. Robotic cells involve the use of robots to feed machines in manufacturing cells. The factors affecting the performance of such systems include sequencing robot moves, sequencing parts, buffering, and cell design. This thesis addresses the problem of sequencing robot moves in a two machine manufacturing cell in the presence of a buffer.  We develop cycle time formulae using a state space approach. We adopt analytical methods for determining the optimal cycle time of a two-machine robotic cell with a single buffer producing identical parts. We also evaluate the effectiveness of buffering in reducing the cycle time. We extend our research to the robotic cell producing multiple part types. We consider the production of a quantity known as minimal part set (MPS) for multiple part types, to be compatible with the recent trend toward just-in-time manufacturing. Our objective is to identify optimal robot move sequences for a pre-determined arrangement of parts in a minimal part set. We accomplish our goal by developing a branch-and-bound algorithm. We also provide a comparative analysis for scenarios with and without a buffer to establish the usefulness of a buffer.


identifier: Vazquez-Vega, David  (2000) Directional analysis of an a-train double with damped articulation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Owing to relaxations in weights and dimensional policies on freight vehicles, the population of heavier and longer articulated vehicles, often referred to as Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs), has steadily increased in North America. The directional stability and control limits of most combinations have been adversely affected by the increase in weights and dimensions, which has prompted many concerns related to operational safety of such vehicles. Particularly, A-train doubles, which belong to the classification of LCVs, exhibit larger magnitude oscillations in both lateral and yaw motions under directional maneuvers, which limit their directional dynamic performance at highway speeds. Two concepts in damped articulations are formulated and their potential benefits or limitations in enhancing the dynamic behavior of A-train doubles are investigated in terms of different performance measures, which are evaluated under both open and closed-loop maneuvers. These concepts are based upon articulation dampers introduced between the first semitrailer (unit 2) and the A-dolly (unit 3), referred to as Case I, and between the first and second semitrailer (units 2 and 4), referred to as Case II.


identifier: Lu, Ji  (1999) User interface agents in electronic commerce applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A User Interface Agent (UIA) is a software entity that assists its users in effectively using the user interface software. In electronic commerce applications, the user interface software plays an important role. Users of different kinds and backgrounds will use this software with different expectations. Traditional studies of user interface technology have shown the existence of a "gap" between what the user interface software can actually do and the users' expectations about it. Agent technology, in the form of personalized user interface agents, can help narrow this gap.  In this thesis, the supports that software agents can provide in various stages of consumers' shopping process are introduced. Roles of the user interface agent and contents of the user model are analyzed. Also, this thesis explores the use of a user interface agent to provide personalized service to the user by knowing the user's preferences. The UIA maintains a knowledge base about the user, based on a user model. Such user models can be constructed by taking application dependent and application independent attributes into account. The user model is used to deal with incompleteness and ambiguity that might arise in the user's search query, to help the UIA decide when and what kind of proactive information to present to the user, or to enable the UIA to filter the search response set. The UIA assists the user by "reasoning" effectively based on a set of rules that captures the user's needs, preferences and the way he is interacting with the software system. A prototype for UIA has been implemented on the Java platform for electronic shopping. A set of test cases demonstrates that employment of the user model for the UIA improves the effectiveness of the user interface in electronic commerce applications


identifier: Haidar, Ghayath  (1999) Reasoning system for real time reactive systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Real time reactive systems are complex systems that react with their environment through stimulus response behaviour. TROMLAB development environment is a formal system being developed at Concordia University. It is the basis of the real time reactive system that will be described in this thesis.  One of the main uses of the simulation tool is debugging. The Reasoning System is a very good complement of the simulation tool.  The scope of this thesis is the study of a Reasoning System that can be used along with the simulation tool to help debug the design and verify system properties during the development phase in TROMLAB environment.


identifier: Manasfi, Hassan  (1999) An object-oriented parser generator for LL(1) grammars.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis we investigate the use of Object-Oriented techniques to build both a parser and a parser generator for an LL(1) attributed grammars.  When top-down parsing is being used, a node of the parse tree is expanded into several other nodes. Thinking in terms of objects, an object in the tree constructs other objects. An object, which is an instance of a class, on the tree corresponds to an instance of the corresponding symbol in a program. This means that each symbol in the language corresponds to a class or an instance of a class. So in order to parse a document and construct a parse tree for it, we begin by constructing the root of that tree by creating an object representing the nonterminal start symbol. The constructor of the root would in turn construct the subtrees of the root.  The parsing approach is explained. The design and implementation of key parts of the parser are shown. Also the definition of the language's grammar which contains regular expressions and offer an easy notation to specify semantic actions is documented


identifier: Hamilton, Sheryl N  (1999) Interrogating the cybernetic imaginary, or, Control and communication in the human and the machine.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This cultural history explores the coming into being of an emergent cultural sensibility of the computer age, the cybernetic imaginary. Articulated through four events which take place in public discourse--the thinking machine, the game, the future, and information--the analysis suggests that it is in the immediate postwar period that many of the taken-for-granted tropes, metaphors, and assumptions of current cyberculture are presented, negotiated, and normalized. This analysis is conducted in print mass media texts exploring cybernetics, computing machines and their interaction, in the period of 1944-1959. The material includes popular magazines, mass market non-fiction, fiction, and trade journals.  The thinking machine as a discursive event establishes a fundamental, functional equivalence between humans and computing machines, permitting, indeed requiring, the replacement of human mental labour with machines. The game rewrites the notion of what it means to be intelligent, locating valuable knowledge firmly within a model of rationalism. Science and mathematics becomes privileged as the knowledges through which to take decisions in all forms of social organization. The event of the future marks the future as a knowable domain, and a properly knowable domain, marginalizing both the present and the past as relevant to knowledge. This confirms a teleological understanding of history, notions of technological progress, and the valuation of speed. Finally, information is redefined in this period as the successful transfer of valuable information, rather than about meaning. Communication is thus reduced to a functional, quantitative measurement. Information is offered as a universal measure of knowledge, and information theory becomes a universal methodology.  Yet none of these outcomes is preordained when the computing machine is introduced to the American public after World War II. It is in the process of their negotiation in the public domain that the cybernetic imaginary is produced. The cybernetic imaginary as a set of shared cultural assumptions has significant social power implications for how we understand the computer and our selves to this day--it marks our age as a society of control


identifier: Sinaceur, Fayçal Régis  (1999) Three essays on oligopolistic competition, product differentiation and international trade.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This Thesis presents three essays in the area of strategic trade theory and policy.  The first essay presents an analysis of trade and welfare between countries with asymmetric conditions. A two-period two-country address model of product differentiation is examined in which firms face an initial period of autarky. Trade takes place in the subsequent period and firms fully anticipate switches in trade regimes. Results suggest that historical (domestic) conditions matter a lot on the international market place. Firms that come from countries with a larger market tend to develop longer product lines, which puts that country in a dominant position in international competition. The model is also used to analyse gains/losses from trade in relation to country size.  The second essay investigates the differential effects of specific and ad-valorem tariffs on quality, price and welfare in an oligopolistic industry consisting of foreign and domestic firms. These effects are shown to depend on the location of the home and foreign firms in the quality spectrum. Both tariffs are ranked and conditions for either tariff to be welfare superior are derived.  Finally, the third essay presents an analysis of trade policy with endogenous market structure. A "third market model" is specified. Using a simple framework in which industry structure is derived endogenously as the outcome of product line decisions by firms, we show that governments have an incentive to affect the equilibrium product composition by setting non-zero subsidy rates in order to maximize domestic welfare. Subsidies may be uniform or non-uniform across goods and the optimal policy exhibits strong discontinuities as domestic welfare maximization implies a switch of regimes.


identifier: Erb, Suzanne  (2000) Stress-induced relapse to cocaine seeking in the rat : contributions of central nervous system corticotropin-releasing factor and noradrenaline.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The primary objective of the present thesis was to characterize the role of two neurobiological systems, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and noradrenaline (NE), in stress- and cocaine-induced relapse to cocaine seeking, using an animal model of relapse. Rats were allowed to self-administer cocaine (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) for 3 hours daily for 10-14 days and were then put on an extinction schedule during which lever pressing was no longer reinforced. Tests for reinstatement were given after intermittent electric footshock (10 or 15 min; 0.5-0.8 mA) and after priming injections of saline and cocaine (20 mg/kg, i.p.).  In a first series of experiments, footshock reinstated cocaine seeking in both intact animals and in animals given corticosterone replacement, but not in adrenalectomized animals. Intracerebroventricular injections of the CRF-receptor antagonist, D-Phe CRF 12-41 , blocked footshock-induced reinstatement in both intact animals and animals given corticosterone replacement. Reinstatement by priming injections of cocaine was only minimally attenuated by adrenalectomy and by pretreatment with D-Phe CRF 12-41 . Additionally, systemic injections of the non-peptide CRF-receptor antagonist, CP-154,526, blocked the footshock-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Collectively, these results demonstrate that CRF acting directly in the brain and independent of the hypothalarnic-pituitary-adrenal axis mediates the stress- but not cocaine-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. In an attempt to localize where in the brain CRF acts to initiate the behaviors involved in relapse, injections of D-Phe CRF 12-41 were made into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the amygdala (AMG), two sites that contain CRF receptors and that have been implicated in behavioral and physiological effects of stress. Injections into the BNST, but not the AMG, blocked the footshock-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking and injections of CRF into the BNST, but not the AMG, were sufficient to induce reinstatement. These results suggest that the BNST is an import site of action for CRF in mediating the effects of footshock on relapse.  In a second series of experiments, an important role for NE in stress-induced relapse was demonstrated. Systemic injections of three alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists (clonidine, lofexidine, and gunabenz), which act to block NE cell firing and release, blocked footshock-induced relapse but were without effect on relapse induced by priming injections of cocaine. Together with results of the first series of experiments, these data suggest that an interaction between CRF and NE systems, possibly within the extended AMG, underlies the footshock-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Additionally, the findings argue in favor of a view that different neurobiological systems underlie footshock- and drug-induced relapse to drug seeking and that, therefore, different treatment interventions may be required under different circumstances.


identifier: Roth, Robert M  (1999) Executive functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder : a neuropsychological and event-related potential investigation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A number of authors have argued that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with a significant disturbance of executive functions (e.g., response inhibition, mental flexibility). The present investigation employed both neuropsychological tests and event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate this hypothesis.  In experiment one 23 outpatients with OCD and 23 normal control participants (matched for age, gender, education and handedness) completed a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing the domains of executive functions, verbal memory, nonverbal memory, language abilities, visuospatial and motor functioning. Data were evaluated for group differences on raw test scores, composite scores formed by averaging standardized tests scores grouped according to sensitivity to areas of neuropsychological functioning, and effect size. Results have revealed poorer language ability in the context of overall adequate functioning in the OCD group. This finding may have been due in part to subtle disturbances in other cognitive functions as statistical evidence of differential deficit was not observed. Results could not be accounted for by demographic or clinical characteristics of the participants.  In experiment two 16 outpatients with OCD and 18 normal control participants completed a visual go/nogo task while ERPs were recorded. Results failed to support previous observation of nogo P300 topographic differences implicating impaired response inhibition in OCD. In contrast, controls demonstrated shorter posterior N100 latency, suggesting that OCD may be characterized by less efficient recruitment of posterior cortical pathways involved in the encoding of visual stimuli. In addition, the OCD group demonstrated shorter N200 and P300 latencies related to task parameters, consistent with previous investigations. The functional significance of the N200 and P300 findings is unclear but may reflect disturbances in the monitoring of self-generated actions and dysregulation of stimulus evaluation processes, respectively. Finally, unmedicated OCD patients demonstrated larger P300 amplitude to go than nogo stimuli suggesting that this group may have been composed largely of individuals who would show a positive response to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Again, results could not be fully accounted for by demographic or clinical characteristics of the participants. The pattern of findings suggest that OCD may be related to a subtle disturbance of response monitoring. Further investigations addressing the potential influence of symptom subtypes, level of insight and comorbid diagnoses on executive functions in OCD are likely to prove fruitful.


identifier: Leventhal, Paul  (1999) Three essays on the cost components of the bid-ask spread.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays. The first essay focuses on the adverse selection component of the bid-ask spread. A regime switching model applied to the trading process leads to a parsimonious model of the time-series evolution of the bid-ask spread in which market participants use trade data to answer the following question: Is there currently private information in the market for a given stock? If there is a high probability of private information in the market, this leads contemporaneously to a greater revision in beliefs about the true price. Together with compensation for transactions costs, this leads to a greater revision in transaction price. Using TSE 35 trade and quote data for March and May 1996, the pooled cross-section and time series results support this view.  The second essay examines the costs of adverse information and order processing in light of transaction size, type of trader and type of trading method. Specifically, it is found that adverse selection increases with the trade size (consistent with numerous empirical studies relating trade size and the cost components of the bid-ask spread). However, whether the trade was undertaken by the designated market maker, by a principal trader or by an individual belonging to neither of these two categories is also of importance. In addition, we show that trades consummated within the investment dealer's firm have a lower adverse information cost component than trades executed externally. For order processing, it is found that the single most important determinant of cost is whether the transaction is internal or external to the investment dealer firm, with internal trades being more costly.  The third essay examines the robustness of the Huang and Stoll (1997) model estimates to the use of different clustering methods and to a minimum quotation increment reduction (MQIR) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We find that adequate reversal of trade flow is a necessary but not sufficient condition for model performance. We also find that model estimates are quite sensitive to the data clustering method selected. In addition, we show that this model fails to provide adequate cost component estimates of the spread in the post-MQIR period due to a fundamental change in market-maker behavior.


identifier: Nguyen, Dat-Dao  (1999) Forecasting macroeconomic models with artificial neural networks : an empirical investigation into the foundation for an intelligent forecasting system.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigates the foundation of an intelligent system using Artificial Intelligent (AI) technologies to assist decision makers in a specific business problem, namely business forecasting. In time series and macroeconomic modelling, there are many assumptions being imposed on the behavior and functional relationship of the underlying variables. In addition, one may face the complexity in the estimation of these models. This study uses Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and other AI technologies in an effective forecasting system in order to overcome the restrictions of traditional modelling and estimation methods.  An ANN has been shown to be a universal function approximator (Cybenko, 1989; Hornik et al., 1989). It requires no prior assumptions on the behavior and functional form of the related variables but it is still able to capture the underlying dynamic and nonlinear relationships among variables in the problem space, ie. a macroeconomic model in this context. This study integrates the powerful ability of an ANN into an efficient framework incorporating Recurrent Algorithms (Jordan, 1986), Genetic Algorithms (Holland, 1975) in a Mixture-of-experts Architecture (Jacobs et al., 1991) to obtain accurate estimation and forecasts. As such, this study addresses the ability of a versatile intelligent technology to solve a general economic forecasting problem involving temporal and non-temporal variables.  Using the contexts provided in the Klein Model I of the US interwar economy in 1921-1941 and the Klein-Goldberger Model of the US economy in 1929-1952, this study investigates the relative performance of the proposed system and traditional methods in modelling and forecasting a mix of economic variables. It extends these frameworks into the future to forecast with more recent data. The study specifies the conditions that will make the implementation of ANN more successful in estimation and forecasting.  This study provides evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed system. It asserts empirically the ability of the integrated ANN and GA in estimation and forecasting. The findings should contribute positively to the development of theory, methodology, and practice of using AI tools, particularly ANN and GA, to build intelligent forecasting systems.


identifier: Ju, Lin  (1999) Efficiency of biosurfactants applied by means of electrokinetics.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: An evaluation of the efficiency of rhamnolipids (biosurfactants) used in electrokinetic remediation of soil contaminated with phenanthrene was presented. Bench scale tests were conducted using four experimental series in order to determine the feasibility and mechanisms of biosurfactant-enhanced phenanthrene removal from mica soil.  The bench-scale study showed that bacteria ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) could survive to a certain extent when a low voltage DC electric field was applied. In addition, it was found that these bacteria could produce rhamnolipids in the clayey soil under the electric field. Experimental results showed that during the 14-day experimental period, phenanthrene was partially removed. The highest removal was achieved in the cathode area (85% removal). These promising results are an indication that this process can be applied as an in-situ enhancement technique for improving the efficiency of electrokinetic soil remediation. It was proved that bio-micelles, formed due to the introduction of ex-situ produced biosurfactants, could be transported to the electrode areas due to both electroosmotic and electrophoretic phenomena. It also indicated that the electrokinetic introduction of engineering produced biosurfactants into the contaminated clayey soil was feasible.  The mechanisms involved in the formation of bio-micelles, were described in a bench-scale test using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers (FTIR) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Results permitted to describe that the transformation of bio-micelles kinetically changed under the electric field. It was found that spherical, bilayer, and multi-lamellar micelles were formed at different phases of the electrokinetic experiment. The presence of clayey particles and the electric field attenuated and deferred the formation of bio-micelles. Knowledge of the kinetics of bio-micelle formation process are paramount to the accurate application of biosurfactants in electrokinetic remediation of PAH contaminated clayey soil.  The effort to desorb and solubilize phenanthrene, by promoting the formation of bilayer bio-micelles, became successful in bench-scale electrokinetic experiments. In addition, the successful ex-situ production of biosurfactants can be used on an industrial scale for electrokinetic soil remediation. The above-described developments can be applied as a new in-situ remediation technology: bio-electrokinetics.


identifier: Pathy, Kavitha  (1999) Design of a user interface to facilitate searching in a digital library.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The widespread acceptance of digital library will depend, to a large extent, on the ease-of-use and appeal of the user interface. Hence, the development of a versatile and friendly user interface for digital library becomes indispensable and this has been the objective of this thesis. A pilot project on digital library was undertaken jointly by the four universities in Montreal. At Concordia University we undertook the responsibility for developing a User Interface. The sample digital library consists of 9000 photographs of architectural images and associated texts. The user interface design deals with providing a uniform interface for texts and images. It makes use of a simple conceptual model that is well suited for digital libraries, and provides a direct manipulation interface with affordances that are appropriate to a "distributed digital library". The biggest challenge in a distributed digital library will be to balance between recall and precision to a level satisfactory to the user. Most searches on digital library often provide a large number of hits and thus overloading the user with information. To overcome the problem of information overloading, in this thesis, we have investigated collaboration in information retrieval. Collaboration among multiple users stem from reusing and sharing information gathered by one with others. Software agents called user interface agents are expected to assist users in collaboration and filtering. A protocol is proposed for cooperation and inter-operation between multiple user interface agents. The analysis shows that conflicts can arise during collaboration and they can be resolved using negotiation.


identifier: Pillai, Rajan V. K  (1999) On low power floating point data path architectures.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This work targets development of higher level design methodologies for the implementation of low power floating point units--adders, multipliers and multiply-accumulators. Philosophically, higher level design starts with the characterization of the behavior of the system under consideration. In this work, the design philosophy of floating point adders and multiply accumulators is centered around the significand alignment driven power behavior of these units. Transition activity scaling of these units, taking into account the behavior of exponents, provides a viable high level approach for the design of these units. The exponent behavior based design partition also allows simplification of data paths, so that the speed performance of these units are enhanced. With transition activity scaling, the switching activity of the floating point units is mapped to a limited subset of the hardware real estate, so that the time averaged power consumption of these units is optimal. In order to validate the design methodology, high level power/delay models that reflect the architecture of the functional units are developed. The behavior of the architectures is validated through simulations. Instrumented digital filter programs that emulate the multiply-accumulate segment of DSP systems form the core of our experimental platform.


identifier: Kégl, Balázs  (1999) Principal curves : learning, design, and applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The subjects of this thesis are unsupervised learning in general, and principal curves in particular. Principal curves were originally defined by Hastie [Has84] and Hastie and Stuetzle [HS89] (hereafter HS) to formally capture the notion of a smooth curve passing through the "middle" of a d -dimensional probability distribution or data cloud. Based on the definition, HS also developed an algorithm for constructing principal curves of distributions and data sets.  The field has been very active since Hastie and Stuetzle's groundbreaking work. Numerous alternative definitions and methods for estimating principal curves have been proposed, and principal curves were further analyzed and compared with other unsupervised learning techniques. Several applications in various areas including image analysis, feature extraction, and speech processing demonstrated that principal curves are not only of theoretical interest, but they also have a legitimate place in the family of practical unsupervised learning techniques.  Although the concept of principal curves as considered by HS has several appealing characteristics, complete theoretical analysis of the model seems to be rather hard. This motivated us to redefine principal curves in a manner that allowed us to carry out extensive theoretical analysis while preserving the informal notion of principal curves. Our first contribution to the area is, hence, a new theoretical model that is analyzed by using tools of statistical learning theory. Our main result here is the first known consistency proof of a principal curve estimation scheme.  The theoretical model proved to be too restrictive to be practical. However, it inspired the design of a new practical algorithm to estimate principal curves based on data. The polygonal line algorithm, which compares favorably with previous methods both in terms of performance and computational complexity, is our second contribution to the area of principal curves. To complete the picture, in the last part of the thesis we consider an application of the polygonal line algorithm to hand-written character skeletonization.


identifier: Ramasivan, Ganesh  (2000) Enhanced communication services for many-to-many multicasting using XTP.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: There is a strong application demand for reliable multicast. Widespread use of the Internet makes the economy of multicast transport attractive. The current Internet multicast model offers best-effort many-to-many delivery service but no guarantees. One-to-many and many-to-many services will become more important in the future. Reliable multicast transports add delivery guarantees, not necessarily like those of reliable unicast TCP, to the group-delivery model of multicast. To meet this growing demand for reliable multicast, there is a large number of protocol proposals. Because of the complexity of the technical issues, and the abundance of proposed solutions, we wish to put into place a classification of the various aspects involving reliable multicasting.  XTP, one of the well-known transport protocols, provides a toolkit of mechanisms over which the user may build the protocol he so desires. It has been observed that the multipoint-to-multipoint mechanisms as described in the appendix to the XTP specification are not very efficient. Hence, we also wish to provide a few suggestions on how to improve the existing mechanisms.


identifier: Muthiayen, Darmalingum  (2000) Real-time reactive system development : a formal approach based on UML and PVS.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The notion of real-time reactive behavior encompasses concurrency, communication through sensors and actuators, and relations between input and output over time. Real-time reactive systems are inherently complex, and often used in safety-critical contexts. Application domains include control systems for nuclear reactors, air traffic, railroad crossing, telecommunications, and medical devices. Applying formal methods in the development process is seen as a means for dealing with the complexity, and for quality assurance. One of the goals is to formally verify time-dependent safety properties in the design.  The scope of this thesis encompasses three major components. We develop a visual technique for object-oriented modeling of real-time reactive systems, based on a minimal set of extensions to UML, along with a set of well-formedness rules for the real-time models. We then present a formalization of the Real-Time rules of UML metamodel, and provide formal denotational and operational semantics for RTUML. Finally, we introduce a methodology for mechanized verification of time-dependent properties in the RTUML design of real-time reactive systems, within the PVS verification environment. The formal semantics of RTUML provides a foundation for the verification methodology, and for rigorous analysis and validation techniques. The novelty of the development methodology for real-time systems lies in the mechanized verification approach superimposed on the object-oriented modeling technique.


identifier: Zhou, Jie  (1999) Recognition and verification of unconstrained handwritten numerals.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Despite the success of many recognition systems for handwritten numerals within constrained domains, the problem remains difficult when unconstrained inputs are involved. The gap between the state-of-the-art machine recognition reliability and high practical demand leads to this investigation of verification scheme in pattern recognition.  A pattern verifier is an expert specially trained to reliably confirm or negate a pattern identity from the General Purpose Recognizer (GPR), with the intention to significantly improve the class-specific Precision Rates of the system. The main goal of this thesis is to study the promising and critical role of a verifier in a recognition system. Theoretical aspects of a verifier including its unique task and functionality, inherent requirement, evaluation measurement, design concern and control strategy are discussed throughout the thesis, focusing on the problems of recognizing Unconstrained Isolated Handwritten Numerals (UIHN) and Unconstrained Touching Handwritten Numerals (UTHN). For each problem, an integrated recognition and verification system is designed and evaluated by incorporating together the GPR and the verifier.  The GPR for UIHN is a combination of three conventional neural approaches. In the design of class-specific verifier for UIHN, a new kind of neural network--Quantum Neural Network (QNN)--with better distinguishing ability along decision boundary, is embedded in an efficient way. Novel experiments have been designed for in-depth studies of applying the QNN to both real data and confusing images synthesized by morphing. CENPARMI database and MNIST database are used for evaluation.  UTHN recognition is an important component for automatic document processing in applications such as cheque processing. However, it is a more difficult problem that has attained less attention, reflected by the mediocre performance of current systems and lack of benchmarking databases. Two databases IRIS-Bell'98 and NIST for UTHN are newly built by the researchers at CENPARMI and the author. They are used in this research and are intended to serve as standard databases in this field. A novel graph-based combination of segmentation and recognition schemes is used in GPR for UTHN. Effective domain specific strategies making use of touching type, touching location and structural information are applied in the verifier for UTHN.  The recognition and verification system for UIHN achieved a precision rate of 99.1% on MNIST database while the one for UTHN reached a precision rate of 96.1% on NIST database. The two systems are also evaluated by hypothesis testing. The substantial improvement of system precision rates by verification scheme proves the effectiveness of the proposed systems and justifies the important role of verifiers in the OCR system.


identifier: Mulugu, Mary D  (1999) Obstacles to women's participation in post-colonial education in Tanzania : what is to be done?  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The issue of insufficient schooling for women in Tanzania is major and complex. Its magnitude has largely been disguised by an ideological rhetoric on social equality through which women's differing experiences across geographical, ethnic, class, gender, and religious boundaries are falsely homogenized. This problem requires a critical examination, in which multiple obstacles women face during their schooling process in Tanzania can emerge. Crucial to this kind of analysis is the identification of landmarks, or locations, on which conventional and unconventional institutions discursively construct women's identities and formulate their subjectivity (Smith, in Mohanty et al 1991). Such an identification is important, given the current structure of Tanzania's society in which dominant socio-economic classes, political groups, and men can easily exploit and oppress subordinate groups of people, and deny women any meaningful academic participation and achievement (Kelly & Elliott, 1982; Grabb 1990).  The critical nature of this analysis stems from a recognition of the interrelationships which exists between the notion of "politics of location" and discursive practices in the process of the construction of identities and formation of subjectivity. Questions surrounding the concept of identity in relation to the formation of subjectivity are, therefore, central to the examination of women's access to resources and their right to opportunity, whether socio-economic, cultural or political. In turn, the differing degrees and right to their access indicate the diversity of the problems and magnitude each woman faces during her schooling process.  This analysis borrows from dialectical and critical models developed by such classical sociological theorists as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, and along with ideas from other contemporary perspectives, feminist theorists, colonial and post-colonial discourses. Ideas developed by these scholars to analyze the problem of social inequality provide the critical means to look at and understand this problem. They are, therefore, central to the development of a theoretical design for the examination of obstacles to women's participation in education in Tanzania.  Post-colonial Tanzania has recognized formal education as the main toot for developing various talents and converting them into conventional specialties; but the socio-economic, cultural and political obstacles examined in this research have been perennial obstacles to women's meaningful academic achievement in Tanzania.  This dissertation has been designed to help a critical thinker, and diligent woman penetrate falsely smoothened surfaces of unconventional and conventional institutions, in order to understand what each of them contribute to both enable and minimize women's participation in post-colonial education in Tanzania.  Despite all the challenges that have been directed against the educational system in Tanzania, it is important to understand that efforts by the government to eradicate discriminatory educational policies introduced during colonialism, especially Mwl. Nyerere's contribution to women's liberation in Tanzania, are strongly recognized and saluted. They reflect great minds of our political leaders on crucial issues confronting human development.  This work, while basically meant for women in Tanzania, might be valuable for anyone because it offers a suggested guide for a meaningful struggle towards many types of achievement including education. It is also significant for those whose academic life was prematurely ended because it provides a means for reviving academic desire, energy, and hope for academic success. It can also be used as a guide for policy decision-makers, especially around issues concerning women's liberation because it reveals some of the critical problems preventing women from succeeding academically, and in their lives in general.


identifier: Crisalli, Anthony N  (1999) Nonparametric prediction in survey sampling and its application to the nonresponse problem.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Nonparametric regression provides an important tool towards exploring the relationship between a dependent variable and the independent variable(s) without assuming a functional form between the variables. This thesis incorporates the nonparametric regression methodology in the context of estimation of a finite population mean and/or total. The resulting estimator is called the generalized smoothing (GSE) in contrast to the, model based generalized regression estimator (GRE), developed by Särndal (1972). The theory available for GRE is extended for the GSE. We replace model-based predictors by those based on nonparametric regression.  The first objective is to investigate the merits of GSE over GRE in the simple random samples with respect to different criteria. It is shown that GSE is design-consistent and asymptotically design-unbiased. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to, compare the GSE and the GRE with respect to several criteria, such as the Bias and the Mean Square Error (MSE). The second objective is to extend the above methodology in situations of non-response. In this case a probability response model for the respondents is assumed; the case of each sample unit not responding with equal probability is considered as a particular case. Monte Carlo simulations of the proposed procedures are presented so as to understand the behavior the GSE, and the probability response model.  The linear regression model is ubiquitous in the sample survey literature, an assumption that is untenable in practice. In this dissertation we illustrate that it is feasible to estimate a finite population mean (also in the presence of nonresponse) with a nonparametric regression model. The simulations demonstrate in both the cases of full response and nonresponse, that if the underlying point scatter is linear then the GRE is the best choice. On the other hand if the point scatter is not linear, a situation often met in practice, the GSE seems to outperform the ORE, in terms of the benchmark criteria of MSE and bias.


identifier: Stanley, Kevin A  (1999) The role of handwriting in ESL writing assessment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study explored handwriting bias in ESL writing assessment and the phenomenon of national handwriting styles. It examined the effects of different styles and levels of quality of handwriting on the holistic assessment of intermediate-level ESL writing and how those effects related to the graders' length and depth of experience, as well as their views on writing assessment criteria. The study was also designed to investigate whether the graders could guess the first language (L1) of the writers, using handwriting as a cue.  No bias against "poor" handwriting was found, nor was there a relationship between the graders' length of experience or their views of handwriting as a writing assessment criterion and the holistic grades assigned to writing samples copied in "good" and "poor" handwriting. Explanations offered for the absence of bias in this study include insufficient differences in the degree of legibility between the "good" and "poor" handwriting as well as the graders' familiarity with a range of national handwriting styles.  On the other hand, in the L1 identification, many graders' guesses appeared to have been guided by handwriting cues, rather than textual features. This suggests that if the handwriting corresponds to a national style, this may trigger the application of a set of stereotypes that may in turn influence the graders' responses to their students' writing


identifier: Massue, Francine M  (1999) Effects of engaging in success for all on children's causal attributions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: At-risk children in danger of experiencing failure in reading, face negative life consequences that may be alleviated by the inclusion of an attributional training program that would increase the possibilities of success. The present study investigated the causal attributions of students in a Success for All (SFA) school versus a traditional reading curriculum. A total of 197 children, 89 from the SFA experimental school, and 108 control children participated in this study. Data were collected through the posttest administration of the Causal Beliefs About Reading Questionnaire based on the attribution work by Ames (1978, 1981, 1984) and others. Pretest reading achievement (Woodcock, Durrell) and diagnostic measures (PPVT) from the broader study by Chambers et al. (1996) were used as covariates, since pretest causal data were not available. The correlations indicated some interesting patterns. Of significance, were the negative correlations between ability and task difficulty, and the positive correlations between ability and effort. While the ANCOVA results for the hypotheses were not significant, further ANOVA results employing ratings of children's perceptions of success in reading were significant. In particular, there was a 2-way interaction effect for the type of reading program and perceptions of success in reading on attributions to the difficulty of the task. These findings suggest important motivational and feedback techniques that should be taken into consideration by classroom teachers. The key is for teachers to use research-based teaching techniques in combination with effective attributional practices.


identifier: Holloway, Anne Frances  (1999) To whom the glory.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: To whom the glory

abstract: To Whom the Glory is a two-act play set in the Virginia jail cell of John Brown after his failed raid on the Harpers Ferry armoury in 1859. Brown shared his cell with one of the other raiders, Aaron Stevens. Brown was 59, and Stevens was 28. This play suggests what could have happened in that cell. The theme of the play is that belief in God does not absolve the individual from responsibility for his or her actions, and the central action revolves around the relationship between Stevens, who blames Brown for his current situation, and Brown, who attributes his actions to the will of God.


identifier: Kaslik, Ibi  (1999) Skinny.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Skinny

abstract: This novel explores the relationship between two sisters who grapple with emotional, physical and psychological hunger. Giselle is a twenty-one year-old, anorexic, Pre-Med student. Holly is a fourteen year-old athlete who, while trying to come to terms with her sister's anorexia, is discovering her own sexuality. In both the present and in memory, the sisters share a close yet estranged relationship with their parents, one of whom is dead.


identifier: MacCuish, Maureen  (1999) Browning's Caliban : humanity, liminality and the search for transcendence.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This is a study of Browning's Caliban in terms of liminality and transcendence, taking into account earlier views of Caliban's character as derived from Shakespeare. The first chapter presents a context for considering the poem, provides a brief history of the evolution of the character, and locates the poem historically and thematically within Browning's work. The second chapter focuses on the concept of liminality and its application to Caliban in his situation, treating his monologue as a type of ritual performance. Chapter three concentrates more closely on the language, syntax and peculiar grammatical choices of the poem and what this reveals about the psychology of Caliban and his concept of himself. The fourth chapter centers on the transcendent element in Caliban as we follow his theological argument and imaginative flights, and as we recognize the fundamental angst underlying his search for understanding.


identifier: McLennan, Leanna  (1999) In this dream I don't have to close my eyes : as told by Siamese twins Iris and Lily Hutton.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This long poem centres on the life histories of Iris and Lily Hutton, conjoined twins who work in a circus sideshow. The poem has as its central concerns the effects of representation on subjectivity and the notion of the split subject. Iris and Lily perform their conjoined identities in a circus sideshow, where they are objectified as "freaks" and presented as spectacles. When the twins leave the sideshow stage, cultural constructs of gender and of the normalized body affect the ways in which they experience their subjectivities. This narrative poem explores how this affects their personal relationships. The poem is organized into three sections: "Sideshow" reveals key events in the twins' youth; "Escapology" chronicles Iris' relationship with the escape artist Amazing Abscondini, who ultimately falls in love with Lily; "Epilogue" has as its focus Lily's reaction to the death of Iris as the result of an operation to separate the twins. The poem ends with the symbolic beginning of Lily's emotional openness as she realizes her dream of flying on the trapeze.


identifier: McSweeney, Greg  (1999) The spurn of the screw : Henry James's project of perversion management in three late supernatural tales.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study is a reading of three late supernatural tales by Henry James: "Owen Wingrave" (1892), The Turn of the Screw (1898), and "The Jolly Corner" (1908). The focus is on James's use of gothic conventions and rhetorical devices in an abiding project of perversion management, whereby unacceptable sexuality and sexual impulses are relegated to the register of the ghostly. James's use of preterition, prosopopoeia, and aposiopesis in the creation of a discursively gothic environment is discussed in the context of the Victorian idea of manhood, the precarious role of the governess, and the development of the urban American male of the early twentieth century.  All three texts harbour concerns about male same-sex desire, especially about the imperative to control, segregate, and eradicate it. This erasure is effected in all three texts, though never without tragic results. This study explores the ways in which James uses the conventions of gothic to portray that tragedy


identifier: Harmes, David  (1999) Corporate news : the issue of newspaper ownership revisited.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The rise of the corporate form of organization within the Canadian newspaper industry has raised concerns over the quality and diversity of information available to the public. In doing so, two competing theories have sought to explain the effects of such change on the editorial product being produced. In particular, the critical model has suggested that the economic imperatives of a corporate newspaper are incompatible with the production requirements of a high quality editorial product. Conversely, the corporate model maintains that such newspapers are better positioned to express alternate viewpoints and, as a result of their dominant market position, will place greater emphasis on the quality of its editorial product.  These positions, however, have developed from two fundamentally different conceptions of what constitutes corporate ownership and, as a result, have been unable to effectively engage one another. In an effort to bridge this gap, this paper examines the nature of newspaper ownership in Canada. Through an analysis of the dominant newspaper institutions, it shows that the majority of Canadian newspapers exhibit many of the characteristics of corporate organization. Accordingly, it argues for a renewed debate on the effects of corporate ownership based upon a more accurate understanding of the newspapers involved


identifier: Petrovic, Ljiljana  (1999) Making moral decisions : reason, emotion and luck.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Christine Korsgaard is concerned with what justifies the claims morality makes on us; that is, the normative question. She puts forth a thesis in Sources of Normativity in which she tries to address and solve the normative problem. Her thesis relies on the reflective capacity of our minds which enables us to come up with a self-conception, or identity in which our principles and values are reflected. When we ask ourselves what justifies the claims morality makes, we are able to answer that it is our self conceptions that define and enforce the moral standards that we ourselves have set. I think too much emphasis is put on self-identity. Compelling as Korsgaard's thesis is, I suggest that she fails to examine some significant elements in moral life; namely, emotions (and how they threaten or uphold her thesis) and luck (and the ways in which moral life is vulnerable to it). After examining Korsgaard's thesis, I look at those elements I think are missing from her work. By including the alternative perspectives of Martha Nussbaum and Robert Solomon, I hope to develop and enrich the project Korsgaard starts.


identifier: Bouchard, Anne-Isabelle  (1999) Compréhension des liens entre le regard et les états mentaux de désir et de connaissance chez les jeunes enfants.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: La présente étude a examiné la compréhension des liens entre le regard et les états mentaux de désir et de connaissance chez les enfants âgés de 36, 42 et 48 mois. Trente-trois enfants âgés de 36 mois, 26 enfants âgés de 42 mois et 26 enfants âgés de 48 mois ont participé à deux épreuves. Dans chaque épreuve, l'enfant devait indiquer dans laquelle de deux tasses un objet était caché à partir des indices de désirs et/ou de perception visuelle chez deux individus. Dans l'épreuve 1 les indices de désir étaient ajoutés à ceux sur la perception visuelle, alors que dans l'épreuve 2 ces indices étaient opposés. En général les résultats indiquent que, ordre des épreuves mis à part, dans l'épreuve 1 les enfants inféraient la connaissance à partir des indices de désir et/ou de perception visuelle, alors que dans l'épreuve 2 ils inféraient la connaissance uniquement à l'aide des indices de désir. Toutefois, les enfants âgés de 42 et de 48 mois pour lesquels l'épreuve 2 précédait l'épreuve 1 ont choisi une tasse ou l'autre indépendamment des indices de désir et de perception visuelle aux deux épreuves. Des explications alternatives des résultats sont donc suggérées.


identifier: Zieren, Connie W  (1999) The cognitive functioning of dementia patients : an examination of the hierarchic dementia scale, and the impact of cognitive functioning on caregiver burden and desire to institutionalize.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Dementia is a chronic condition leading to a decline in independent functioning. The objective of the study was to examine dementia patient cognitive functioning by using the Hierarchic Dementia Scale (HDS), and examine the impact of cognitive functioning on caregiver burden and desire to institutionalize the patient. It was hypothesized that the HDS would be a valid and reliable measure of patient cognitive functioning, would differentiate among profiles of patients, and would be predictive of caregiver burden and desire to institutionalize. The study examined 185 pairs of dementia patients and caregivers. Caregivers were given standardized interviews and patients were evaluated both directly and indirectly. Using Pearson Correlation the HDS was found to be related to established measures of dementia, and to have good internal consistency. Cluster analysis followed by MANOVA produced two and three separate clusters. It is evident that different groups of patients do not perform better or worse on certain subsets of HDS subscales, but rather inter-individual variations are understood in the context of illness duration. Direct multiple regression analysis revealed caregiver health and patient behaviour problems as predicative of burden while cognitive functioning was not ( F (17, 167) 12.25, p < .001). Discriminant function analysis highlighted both caregiver and patient characteristics as important in predicting institutionalization caregiver burden and health were key ({ 2 = 40.51, p < .001). This study demonstrates the utility of the HDS in evaluating patient cognitive functioning and in differentiating among separate clusters of patients. Both caregiver and patient functioning are important in understanding burden and desire to institutionalize.


identifier: Gerald, Clearlight  (1999) Strategic responses to the geographical problems of women's fear : a case study of Concordia University's Student Safety Patrol.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how a university community can best respond to women's fear of crime and its restrictive effects such as self imposed limitations on the use of public space. This investigation draws from feminist geographical research on women's fear of crime to evaluate the policy mandate and service provision of the Concordia Student Safety Patrol (CSSP). Some of the issues examined in the case study include the degree to which the CSSP has considered the characteristics and effects of the geography of women's fear, the nature of the messages communicated by the CSSP concerning the geography of fear and danger, and the quality of the links to similar initiatives on and off campus. The study concludes by evaluating the CSSP for its success in providing a liberating and informed alternative to fear, and by offering recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the service in fulfilling its mandate to reduce fear. Conclusions are based on the argument that universities, have both the opportunity and responsibility to emphasize strategies that encourage individuals to understand and overcome their fear and become empowered to freely access the public sphere.


identifier: Lamont, Mark  (1999) Not yet Soko Huru : the local appropriation of 'free market' discourse in the coffee industry of rural Kenya, Meru District (1998).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines social change in Meru District, Kenya following the economic liberalization of the coffee sector. The empirical material presented was collected during fieldwork in Kenya from June to December 1998. The case studies demonstrate how local social actors have appropriated 'free market' discourse (Soko Huru ) as an alibi for the illicit trade of surplus coffee that feeds into Kenya's second economy. The thesis questions whether economic liberalization and structural adjustment programmes are transforming rural social relations in Meru District. Discussions on the relevancy of age, sex, and 'class' as social categories and as analytic constructs are placed in relation to the social changes witnessed in rural Kenya in the late 1990s. The conclusion reached is that while relations based on generation and gerontocracy are renovated under the local appropriation of Soko Huru , those relationships based on gender and patriarchy are reaffirmed. This is demonstrated to be especially acute in relation to the social division of labour, and in relationships between individuals within households. Women, in particular, have been adversely effected by structural adjustment since the economic viability of the rural household is based on women's farm labour, yet they are excluded from participating in the 'free market'. The 'class' dimensions of social change, economic crisis, and structural adjustment are locally subsumed in relations between sexed and aged individuals organized into productive households. Gender and generation, it is argued, are necessary social axes through which to understand social change, and the illusion of social change, in Kenya.


identifier: Paulse, Mark  (1999) Being ill with the disease of schizophrenia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study is an ethnographic exploration of deinstitutionalised schizophrenics in Montreal. The focus of this paper is how schizophrenics and their primary caregivers have come to understand and reinterpret schizophrenia in an era of post-institutionalisation. The emphasis of this paper is on how Quebec's virage ambulatoire has seen the shift in responsibility for the psychiatrically ill from psychiatrists to community care workers and the schizophrenics themselves. In addition to the historical development of institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation this work includes a description of the places schizophrenics have come to rely upon in the wake of closed asylum beds. Other issues to be addressed are; the conflict between objective disease and subjective illness; agency, psychiatric non-compliance and social non-conformity; concepts of wellness and chronic illness; and the utility of a psychiatric diagnosis in augmenting benefits and accessing services. Because of the exploratory nature of the study, conclusions are formulated in terms of further work to be accomplished and different epistemological tools to be developed to better understand the situation.


identifier: Gardner, Jane  (1999) Exile, transnational connections, and the construction of identity : Tibetan immigrants in Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the processes through which a small group of Tibetans in Montreal constructs a sense of community identity in exile. I argue that membership in the extended, transnational organization, the Tibet Movement, provides the framework within which these processes take place. The incorporation of non-Tibetans, the role of technology, and the part played by the Tibetan government-in-exile and, in particular, that of the Dalai Lama are significant elements in sustaining community identity. The notion of immigrants retaining links with their home country, let alone their previous countries of settlement, contradicts many of our traditional perceptions of immigration, migration and community. To assist me explain what is happening here, I look at recent theories on transnationalism and diaspora. With its unique history, though, the Tibetan case cannot be encompassed by more recent theoretical models. I therefore draw on existing approaches but find it necessary to move beyond them so as to capture the complexities and dynamics of Tibetan transnational connections.


identifier: Lautard, Elizabeth Anne  (1999) Bank tellers : eight women on the financial front lines.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the working lives of eight female bank tellers in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It considers three questions: (1) how do tellers define, and relate to, their jobs which are subject to considerable change and are of doubtful security? (2) how do the bank tellers cope with the daily demands of the job? (3) how do the bank tellers justify their involvement in their work roles, and to what degree do these justifications result in feelings of satisfaction with their jobs? The thesis considers how the bank tellers handle their occupational roles within a job that is undergoing significant change and possible elimination. A Goffmanesque approach focuses upon the role-playing activities of bank tellers in their interactions with clients. Added to the analysis are the effects of technological innovations on the interviewees' work demands. Among the main findings this study found that several tellers drew a comparison between telling in the past and present. Two distinct views of bank telling also emerged from the sample; bank telling as a profession and bank telling as an insecure, part-time job. Finally, many of the tellers described how bank telling is perceived to be more prestigious than it actually is. The significance of this latter finding arises from the fact that, for those who work as tellers, it is an insecure job characterized by low pay, high targets and on-going training. These findings extend the application of Goffman's approach by pointing out how tellers interpret their performance and thereby deal with role demands that offer little in the way of job satisfaction nor job security.


identifier: Lafosse, Etienne  (1999) Consequences of the choices on the accounting methods and the payment methods for acquirers and targets : a comparative study between NYSE/Amex and NASDAQ for the nineties.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the nineties, the number of mergers has been increasing dramatically due to the emergence of the global economy and the research of the critical size and the optimal strategy. This thesis investigates the choice of accounting method (pooling versus purchasing) and the choice of the method of payment (cash versus stock) for mergers in the 90's. We identify significant differences in market response to mergers when the targets were listed on the NYSE/Amex or on the NASDAQ.  We found that mergers in the two markets tend to behave differently. When targets are listed on the NYSE, the bidder characteristics drive the choice. While, when targets are listed on the NASDAQ, the target characteristics tend to drive the choice. Finally, we found that targets listed on the NASDAQ get higher Abnormal Returns compared to targets listed on the NYSE/Amex.


identifier: Michaelides, Mina  (1999) A close examination of Canadian stock market volatility.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper examines stock market volatility using daily returns from the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Price Index, for the time period of January 1st , 1977 through December 31st , 1997. More specifically, the dates on which volatility shifts occurred during this sample period are identified, using the methodology of Haugen, Talmor & Torous (1991). Furthermore, I investigate the extent to which extraordinary macro-economic events are associated with the identified shifts in volatility. Next, I examine how stock prices react immediately following the volatility shifts. In addition, I examine how future realized returns behave due to these same volatility shifts.  My findings are as follows. First, I find that the majority of Canadian volatility shifts are associated with macro-economic events. Also, I find that an increase in volatility is more likely to be followed by another increase in volatility than a decrease in volatility and vice versa. Second, I find that an increase (decrease) in volatility causes stock prices to drop (rise). Third, I find that both an increase and a decrease in volatility cause future realized returns to rise. This last finding contradicts the theory and demands further research


identifier: Wilson, Nadine  (1999) The interaction between end-users and systems analysts : the effects of end-user/analyst conflict on perceived system success.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigates the interaction between end-users and systems analysts during end-user application development. It further investigates the effect that this interaction has on the success of the system development effort. The interaction between end-users and systems analysts is studied through some of its components namely, participation, involvement, influence, conflict and conflict resolution.  Data was collected from end-users and systems analysts who had recently participated in the development of an end-user application. Factor analysis was then used to identify the underlying factors that contribute to system success in an end-user computing environment. The underlying factors were then examined using regression analysis.  In addition to providing an overall understanding of some of the issues that are considered important to system success within an end-user computing environment, the analysis presented in this research indicates trends that should be examined for further research.


identifier: Siqueira, Ines  (1999) Neural network-based cost estimating.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Neural network-based cost estimating

abstract: This thesis presents a neural network-based cost estimating method, developed for the generation of conceptual cost estimates for low-rise prefabricated structural steel buildings. Detailed cost estimating is current practice for this type of buildings, since cost estimators are often challenged by a wide variety of different parameters.  The developed method employs neural networks (NNs) for modeling individual project parameters associated with the direct cost of a project. It integrates NN cost models with cost adjustments, allowing for evaluation of different project alternatives, in a timely manner. The ability of NNs to capture real life experiences encountered on actual projects (i.e. actual costs), generalize and utilize that knowledge for estimating the cost of new projects makes it a very powerful tool to the application at hand.  Data used in this study (75 building projects) were collected from a large manufacturer of prefabricated structural steel buildings in Canada (Canam Manac) over a 3-month period. The performance of developed cost models was tested against costs incurred by projects not used in training of those models, and costs predicted by regression. Results indicate that the proposed models, when used for projects with parameters within the range for which the models were trained, outperform regression. In addition, the proposed models can account for a number of parameters defining a project, and bearing considerable impact on the project cost. The proposed methodology can easily be adapted to provide decision-support for risk management and to assist in developing productivity models in a wide range of industries.


identifier: Ali, Salem M  (2000) Optimum design of precast bridge systems prestressed with carbon fiber reinforced polymers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The use of advanced composite materials (FRP) is rapidly growing and has exciting applications in bridge construction. These materials are light, have an excellent resistance to corrosion, and high strength. Because of these advantageous properties, structures reinforced with composite materials are lighter and have longer service life than those reinforced with steel.  On the other hand, the composite materials are very expensive as compared to steel. However, the severity of this problem can be minimized by using optimization techniques that achieve optimum design with minimum cost.  In this research, an optimization technique is used to minimize the superstructure cost of two types of bridge systems (slab-on-CPCI girder bridges and Nebraska all-precast bridge systems) reinforced or prestressed (pretensioned) with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP).  The objective of this research is to show that optimization techniques are the most efficient tools in dealing with this kind of tedious design procedure (design of prestressed concrete bridges) that is normally an iterative process based on trial and error. Furthermore, the technique adopted in this investigation can be used for minimizing the cost of structures reinforced with FRP. As a result, these tools can be used in developing design aids that can be used to achieve optimum bridge designs.


identifier: El-Zaroug, Omer Ramadan  (1999) Behavior of FRP reinforced and partially prestressed concrete members under the effects of temperature gradients.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research involves an experimental investigation into the effects of thermal characteristics of different types of FRP on the development of thermal stresses and on the control of thermal cracking in reinforced concrete (RC) and partially prestressed concrete (PPC) beams. A total of eleven RC and PPC beams using FRP rebars were tested. The test program consisted of two series; RC series and PPC series. The eleven beams had the same concrete cross-section dimensions. The RC series consisted of six beams. Three of the beams were reinforced with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods of different amounts. The other three beams were reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) grids known as NEFMAC. Different locations of the grid were used in the three beams.  The PPC series consisted of two pretensioned beams and two post-tensioned beams using Leadline rods, in addition to one beam post-tensioned with prestressing steel strand. The Leadline rods and the steel strand were prestressed with the same force but were located at different eccentricities from the cross-section centroid.


identifier: Li, Qiao  (2000) Effect of surfactants on the sorption and transport of Cu(II) in a sandy soil : batch, column experiments and modeling.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Recently, surfactants have shown some potential for remediation of heavy metal contaminated soil, although research in this area has been limited. Batch and column studies were conducted to investigate the sorption processes and transport behavior of Cu(II) in a sandy soil in the presence of surfactants. SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and Triton X-100 were chosen as representatives of an anionic surfactant and a nonionic surfactant, respectively. Results showed that the anionic surfactant (SDS) significantly decreased the retention of Cu(II) in the sandy soil and was more effective in removal of Cu(III) than the nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) in the both batch and column experiments. Further, both SDS and Triton X-100 appeared more effective in removing Cu(II) under increasing acidic conditions.  Description of the sorption process and transport of heavy metals is necessary for identifying the fate of heavy metals in soils. The batch-generated sorption isotherms were found to be quantitatively higher than those calculated in columns. The sorption processes of Cu(III) in the soil column showed a strong nonequilibrium. Both a first-order kinetic model and a two-region model were not capable of describing the entire experimental breakthrough curve (BIC) in most instances