identifier: Lamotte, Raphaël A. F.  (2014) A Fast Multi-Objective Optimization Approach to Solve the Continuous Network Design Problem with Microscopic Simulation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The capacity of microscopic traffic simulation to estimate the environmental and road safety impacts opens the possibility to address the Network Design Problem from a new multi-objective point of view. Computation time, however, has hindered the use of this tool. The aim of this thesis was to find a continuous optimization method that would require only a very limited number of evaluations, and thus reduce the computation time. For this purpose, the most recent optimization literature was studied and two algorithms were selected: PAL and SMS-EGO. Both these algorithms rely on Gaussian process meta-models, but they are distinct with respect to the assumptions, criteria and methods used. They were then compared on a real-world case-study with NSGA-II, a genetic algorithm considered as state-of-the-art. Within the very limited computational budget allowed, SMS-EGO was found to outperform PAL and NSGA-II in the three configurations studied. However, the computational time required was still too important to allow for large scale optimization. To further accelerate the optimization process, three main adjustments were proposed, based on variable noise modeling, gradient-based optimization and conditional updates of the meta-models. Considering 20 runs for each optimization process, only variable noise modeling exhibited a statistically significant positive impact. The two other modifications also accelerated the optimization process on average, but high variability in the results led to p-values in the order of 0.15. Overall, the proposed optimization methodology represents a useful tool for transportation researchers to solve multi-objective optimization problems of limited scale.


identifier: Tran, Trang Phuong  (2014) Informed Trading around Biotech M&As.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Informed Trading around Biotech M&As

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: We compare the PIN estimates using the Easley, Hvidkjaer, and O’Hara (2002) and Yan and Zhang (2012) estimation methods over the takeover announcement life cycle based on intraday data for 54 U.S. biotech acquirers and 95 U.S. biotech targets between 2005 and 2011. We find that: (1) the Yan and Zhang method is subject to (generally not significantly) less downward bias; (2) the estimates for the Easley et al. method increase significantly as the number of observations used in their estimation increases; and (3) firm characteristics such as book-to-market ratio, financial leverage, firm size, insider holdings, institutional holdings, and research and development expenses are determinants of the PIN estimates. Consistent with the previous literature, the cumulative abnormal returns around announcement dates are more significant for targets than acquirers and are strongly associated with firm size and the book-to-market ratio.


identifier: de Carné de Carnavalet, Xavier  (2014) A Large-Scale Evaluation of High-Impact Password Strength Meters.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Passwords are ubiquitous in our daily digital life. They protect various types of assets ranging from a simple account on an online newspaper website to our health information on government websites. However, due to the inherent value they protect, malicious people have developed insights into cracking them. Users are pushed to choose stronger passwords to comply with password policies, which they may not like much. Another solution is to put in place proactive password-strength meters/checkers to give feedbacks to users while they create new passwords. Millions of users are now exposed to these meters at highly popular web services that use user-chosen passwords for authentication, or more recently in password managers.
Recent studies have found evidence that some meters actually guide users to choose better passwords -which is a rare bit of good news in password research. However, these meters are mostly based on ad-hoc design. At least, as we found, most vendors do not provide any explanation of their design choices, sometimes making them appear as a black-box.  We analyze password meters deployed in selected popular websites and password managers. We document obfuscated open-source meters; infer the algorithm behind the closed-source ones; and measure the strength labels assigned to common passwords from several password dictionaries.
From this empirical analysis with millions of passwords, we shed light on how the server-end of some web service meters functions, provide examples of highly inconsistent strength outcomes for the same password in different meters, along with examples of many weak passwords being labeled as strong or even excellent. These weaknesses and inconsistencies may confuse users in choosing a stronger password, and thus may weaken the purpose of these meters. On the other hand, we believe these findings may help improve existing meters, and possibly make them an effective tool in the long run.


identifier: Tajeen, Humaira  (2013) Dataset Development for the Recognition of Construction Equipment from Images.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The construction industry, being one of the largest industrial sectors in Canada, has been continually searching for automated methods that can be adopted to monitor the productivity, consistency, quality and safety of its construction work. The automated recognition of construction operational resources (equipment, workers, materials etc.) has played a significant role in achieving the full automation in monitoring and control of the construction sites. Considering that construction equipment is one of the main operational resources in executing construction tasks, this research work is focused on automated recognition of such equipment from on-site images. In order to achieve this, it is first necessary to evaluate the construction equipment recognition performances of existing object recognition methods. The currently available object recognition datasets that are used to validate the existing recognition methods contain only limited categories of objects, where construction equipment are not included. As a result, it is unclear whether these methods could be used to recognize construction equipment from on-site images, especially considering that construction sites are typically dirty, disorderly, and cluttered. To fill this gap, this research work proposes to create a standardized dataset of construction equipment images that can be used to measure the construction equipment recognition performances of existing object recognition methods. Almost 2,000 images have been collected and compiled to create the dataset, which covers 5 common classes of construction equipment (excavator, loader, tractor, compactor and backhoe loader). Each image has been annotated with information concerning the equipment class, identity, location, orientation, occlusion, and labeling of equipment components (bucket, stick, boom etc.). The effectiveness of the dataset has been tested on two common object recognition methods in computer vision. The recognition tests imply that the recognition methods can be adopted comprehensively for the recognition of construction equipment with the dataset developed in this research. The performances of these two methods are further compared on the basis of the recognition tests conducted in this work. The results show that the construction equipment recognition performance of existing object recognition methods can be evaluated with the dataset in a standard, unbiased, and extensive way.


identifier: Yan, Wenying  (2014) Heuristics for Truck Scheduling at Cross Docking Terminals.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Cross-docking is a logistics management concept that has been gaining global recognition in less-than-truckload logistics industries and retail firms. In cross-docking terminals, shipments are unloaded from inbound trucks at strip doors, consolidated insider cross-docks according to their destinations, and then, loaded into outbound tucks at stack doors. The goal of cross-docking is to reduce inventory and order picking which are the two most costly functions of traditional warehousing management. The sequence in which the inbound and outbound trucks have to be processed at the cross-dock is crucial for improving the efficiency of cross-docking systems. In this thesis we introduce an integer programming formulation and apply four heuristic algorithms: a local search, a simulated annealing, a large neighborhood search and a beam search, to schedule the trucks in a cross-docking terminal so as to minimize the total operational time.


identifier: Della Porta, Sandra  (2014) The Complex Nature of Family Conflict: Power, Effectiveness, and Context.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The process of socialization that occurs through relationship interactions plays a crucial role in children’s development (Parke & Buriel, 2006). Further, it has been argued that interactions that involve more than two individuals (i.e., polyadic interactions) should be considered as a basic interaction unit (Minuchin, 1985; Sameroff, 1983). As such, this set of studies center around family members’ use of power in polyadic family conflict during early childhood. Specifically, three manuscripts focus on (a) family members’ use of power tactics as they vary by individual and relationship contexts, (b) power effectiveness as it is assessed by two means, microscopically (i.e., conflict process) and macroscopically (i.e., win-lose outcome), and (c) conflict context variables, including conflict role, topic, and social domain. These topics were studied using transcripts from previously collected data on naturalistic family interactions in the home setting (Ross, Filyer, Lollis, Perlman, & Martin, 1994). In the present set of studies, the sample consisted of 210 polyadic family conflict sequences from 35/39 families consisting of two siblings, approximately 4- and 6-years of age, and their parents. Behavioural coding was implemented to quantitatively account for power behaviours, power move effectiveness, and conflict context variables (see Appendix). Results are discussed in light of previous research with a particular focus on future research recommendations considering the novelty and complexity of these three studies. When studying polyadic family conflict, these studies provide (a) a strong support for taking the individual and relationship contexts into account, (b) confirmation of variability in
individuals’ ability to effectively influence others, and (c) initial insight into how the conflict context variables come into play during polyadic interactions. Taken together, this program of research allows for a deeper understanding of children’s development through informal family interactions in the home setting.


identifier: Farquhar, Jamie C.  (2014) Opportunity and the Adaptive Management of Regret Across the Lifespan.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The experience of life regrets can motivate individuals to change their life circumstances or contribute to declines in psychological and physical health. Theory and research suggest that either outcome may depend on the regulatory approach used to manage the experience of regret and the availability of opportunity to undo the negative consequences of the regret. When opportunity is favourable, engaging in undoing the regret is adaptive whereas disengagement maintains unsatisfactory life circumstances. In contrast, when opportunity is low, disengagement is protective whereas engagement leads to impaired health. The current research includes three studies designed to examine the role of opportunity in the regulation of life regrets.
Study 1 examined the associations between regret management, everyday activities, and retirement satisfaction in a sample of recent retirees. Cross-sectional results showed that retirees who perceived favourable opportunities for addressing their life regrets and also reported high levels of engagement to undo their regrets experienced high baseline levels of activity (e.g., volunteering, traveling) and retirement satisfaction. Three-year longitudinal analyses revealed that this pattern was also associated with increases in activity engagement. In contrast, disengagement protected retirees with unfavourable opportunity from three-year declines in retirement satisfaction. These findings suggest that the outcome of regulatory approach depends upon the availability of opportunity.
Study 2 examined younger and older adults assigned to one of three writing activities designed to alter how they addressed their most severe life regrets (engagement, disengagement, or control). Comparisons of three-month change in well-being determined that younger adults, a group that possesses relatively high levels of objective opportunity, experienced larger decreases in wistful emotions and larger increases in closure when assigned to engagement or control in comparison to disengagement, as well as larger decreases in regret intensity when assigned to engagement in comparison to disengagement. In contrast, older adults, a group who possesses relatively lower levels of objective opportunity, experienced larger improvement in sleep quality when assigned to disengagement than the other two conditions. These findings provide evidence that the outcome of adjusting one’s regulatory approach depends on the availability of opportunity.
Study 3 examined the baseline levels of regret engagement of younger and older adults who completed writing activities designed to alter their regulatory approach (engagement or disengagement). Among younger adults, being assigned to engage in, rather than disengage from, undoing their regrets produced larger decreases in regret intensity, hot emotions, and despair emotions and larger increases in closure, but only for younger adults who had low baseline levels of engagement. In contrast, among older adults, being assigned to disengage from, rather than engage in, undoing their regrets produced larger decreases in regret intensity, hot emotions, and despair emotions and larger increases in regret closure and sleep quality, but only for older adults initially disengaged from their regrets. These findings suggest that the adaptiveness of a regulatory approach not only depends on the availability of opportunity, but also the individual’s initial levels of engagement.
Overall, these findings contribute to the understanding of successful regret regulation as well as the management of developmental goals across the lifespan.  The results are discussed in relation to contributions to theory, clinical implications, and areas for future research.


identifier: Kaufman, Jordan  (2014) Transmedia Television: New Engagement Forms and Industry Practices.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The emergence of contemporary transmedia practices in network fictional television in the United States has worked to complicate our understanding of the television medium in the twenty-first century. As networks increasingly expand televisual content across new media technologies and various engagement platforms, this creates a series of organizational and creative changes both within the industry and daily experiences of televisions viewers. While transmedia research to date has tended to focus on defining the terminology and recounting early examples of transmedia experiments, this thesis shifts focus away from larger scale accounts of transmedia criticism to a more nuanced approach. To this end, transmedia television is situated within historical, contextual and methodological frameworks before moving on to a formal textual-based analysis of two case studies. These frameworks establish the research criteria and methodologies used to observe and evaluate the various tactics and strategies adopted in a successful TV website and second screen engagements that are the subject of the case studies. By engaging in a close analysis of these two examples of transmedia platforms, this thesis attempts to develop a fuller understanding of contemporary transmedia engagements in television, and contribute to establishing transmedia as an emerging medium in and of itself.


identifier: Grant, Liane R.  (2014) Outward Translation of Doctrinal Texts: Translation and Commentary on David K. Bernard’s In the Name of Jesus.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The practice of translating into a non-mother tongue (outward translation) is as old as the art of translation itself, but today a strong bias exists against it in many countries. Outside of academia, however, the common assumption is that translators work in both directions, and my research shows that this is in fact the practical reality in many parts of the world. It is clear that the quality of any translation depends on the abilities and strategies of the individual translator, not on the mother tongue or the directionality of the translation.

The translation of doctrinal or apologetic texts is a specialized undertaking where accuracy is more important than style, and the original message must be carefully preserved. For this type of translation, consideration should be given to experienced outward translators with comprehensive theological knowledge, as they are more likely to recognize biblical expressions in the source text and correctly interpret difficult passages.

The reluctance of a religious organization to use outward translators, coupled with the necessity of using volunteers due to lack of funding, restricts the amount of apologetic materials it is able to produce in other languages. I chose to do an outward translation into French of In the Name of Jesus by David K. Bernard, a book that represents a core teaching of the United Pentecostal Church International. With this endeavour, I will make an additional doctrinal book available to French UPCI constituents, and hopefully play a role in counteracting the bias against outward translation.


identifier: Wang, Jun  (2014) Corporate Governance, Credit Risk and Bondholder Wealth.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: My dissertation explores the importance of corporate governance from the perspective of bondholders of samples of US financial and industrial firms. It consists of three related essays which collectively cohere to represent my understanding of the topic. The conflicts of interest between creditors and shareholders and between corporate insiders and outside capital providers are addressed to explain the impact of a comprehensive governance mechanisms on bondholder wealth, which is measured either by the default probability implied by the structure credit model or by Credit Default Swap (CDS) spread. I consider both the non-crisis and crisis periods through different essays, which provide the ideal setting to examine the effectiveness of governance on bondholder wealth for different market conditions. Specifically, I explain how important governance provisions affect a manager’s opportunistic behavior, a firm’s investment decision and risk-taking behavior, and information environment, which in turn affect bondholder wealth. Such governance provisions include internal governance mechanism, such as the role played by the board of directors and a firm’s equity ownership structure, and external governance provisions through the market for corporate control and the trading activities of institutional investors. My dissertation serves to advance the governance literature in several dimensions: a) it re-examines the usefulness of shareholder favorable governance provisions from a different angle through the eye of creditors, and tries to explain why some shareholder governance provisions turn out to be ineffective; b) it compares the riskiness of financial and non-financial firms, and how creditors view governance factors differently for two types of firms; c) it emphasizes the role of institutional investors and tests how their investment horizons and ownership levels affect industrial firms’ riskiness, and how such an impact varies across different market conditions. My general results show that governance attributes have a significant impact on a firm’s credit risk, and this impact varies across the type of the firm. Ownership structure and takeover vulnerability are more important for non-financial firms than for financial firms. Board structure and accounting transparency have greater impact on financial firms. When I restrict to a sample of banks and use the credit risk model to estimate default risk, the impact of board structure remains. Given the important governance role of equity ownership structure for non-financial firms and the importance of institutional investors in the U.S. capital markets, I specifically look at institutional monitoring on industrial firms’ credit risk. My results show that institutional investment horizon, ownership structure, trading behavior and market conditions are all important determinants of industrial firms’ credit risk.


identifier: Smith, Gabriel Edward  (2014) Playing Video Games in Japanese: Motivation, Language Learning, and Navigation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This qualitative study explores the phenomenon of people who play Japanese video games but neither read, speak, nor understand Japanese.  The research questions include: What motivates people to play a video game in a language they do not understand?  What do people learn from playing games in a language they do not understand?  How do they navigate the game without being able to understand the language?  In the study, three participants were observed playing the Japanese action role-playing game Tales of Rebirth first released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and then interviewed about their experiences.  Data was summarized and then analyzed using a three-level approach based on grounded theory.  The study showed that the participants played Japanese games due to the lack of comparable games in their native language.  They were motivated by in-game rewards and may have been conditioned to succeed in the games through years of playing video games at home in their native languages.  The participants learned little if any Japanese from playing these games; they could play the game and succeed at it without knowledge of the language.  Participants leveraged prior experience with games to navigate through games in the absence of language because the gameplay was linear.  Participants used trial and error as well as icon and character recognition to navigate the game.  Although participants did not learn Japanese vocabulary, the evidence suggests they learned other skills, such as computer literacy and Japanese character recognition.


identifier: Moritz, Anja Miriam  (2014) Establishing baseline concentration and δ¹³C signature of methane in shallow ground waters of the St. Lawrence Lowlands, QC, Canada: A tool for determining shale gas contamination.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the increased interest in non-conventional energy sources, major environmental questions are being raised concerning the possible impacts of shale gas exploitation on the quality of ground waters. The extraction of shale gas is done by hydraulic fracturing, which utilizes large volumes of water and fracturing fluids to break the source rocks that entrap gases such as methane, ethane and propane. Because it is uncertain whether these fracturing fluids and gases can contaminate shallow ground waters, it is important to assess the baseline concentration of these gases before hydraulic fracturing activities are initiated to be able to determine the source of future ground water contaminations. In this work, we measured the natural concentrations and sources of hydrocarbons dissolved in ground waters of the St. Lawrence Lowlands, QC, Canada, in 130 ground water samples collected from private (n=81), municipal (n=34) and observation (n=15) wells. Localized pools of high concentrations of methane of mostly bacterial origin (biogenic) were found throughout the study area. Three samples showed high concentrations of methane bearing a δ¹³C signature specific to deep sources (thermogenic) but a gas wetness ratio (C1/(C2+C3)) falling outside the thermogenic gas window. This result suggests mixing with gas from other sources, migration through the bedrock, or partial oxidation of the gas. The results obtained in this study will be used as a reference for future research projects and monitoring activities on the impact of shale gas exploration and exploitation on ground water quality.


identifier: Tung, Yee Chun Sincere  (2014) Supporting Family Caregivers in End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Literature Review of Music Therapy Resources 1990 to 2012.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research involved a systematic literature review of music therapy research studies on the use of music therapy for end-of-life family caregivers published from 1990 to 2012 in peer-reviewed music therapy and non-music therapy journals, master theses, doctoral dissertations, and edited book chapters. A total of 14 music therapy studies were identified, and analyzed using a template with 22 categories that were derived and modified from Aigen’s 2008 templates. Several categories were particularly noteworthy: author, publishing venue, types of presentational form and context, topic and focus of the study; research method and procedures, evaluation standards and procedures, and the description of findings. Important findings included: more than half of the identified journal articles are found in non-music therapy journals, the most frequently-used methods are designed within a qualitative approach; and naturalistic inquiry is the most commonly-used methodology. In assessing these publications, it was found that more attention is needed on such particular areas as selection criteria, choice of evaluation standards and procedures, and the influence of dual relationships. Because of the great needs of end-of-life family caregivers, further research is still needed.


identifier: Wu, Xuan  (2014) Timely vs. Delayed CEO Resignation and Company Performance.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper investigates changes in company performance following timely versus delayed CEO resignations after violations of financial wrongdoings. A resignation is considered timely if it is proactively pushed by the company, and delayed if it is driven by investigations initiated by SEC or other regulatory authorities. To date there are very few studies investigating the resignations of CEOs with financial wrongdoings and none that differentiate between timely versus delayed resignations. Our results show significant negative abnormal returns following announcement of CEO resignations. In addition, compared to timely resignations, the negative stock market reaction is larger and longer lasting for delayed resignations. This suggests that CEO resignations due to financial wrongdoings are not perceived as good news by investors, and the delayed resignations could make investors lose more confidence possibly because of worries about the ineffective corporate governance and supervision mechanism. Using a hand-collected dataset, this paper examines what factors may potentially influence the timeliness of CEO resignations and finds a significant negative correlation between CEO-chairman duality and the timeliness of CEO resignations. Moreover, this paper investigates the time-series patterns and within-firm differences in performance for up to three years around CEO resignations. Our results suggest a significant drop in the market-to-book ratio upon CEO resignations which coincides with findings of our event study.


identifier: Stenstrom, Eric  (2014) The Effects of Testosterone Indicators on Consumer Risk-Taking.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Although extensive research has examined physiological influences on consumer behavior, how hormones influence risk-taking behavior is not yet well understood. My dissertation focuses on how testosterone might influence consumer risk-taking. In paper one (Stenstrom & Saad, 2011), the literature on testosterone and risk-taking is reviewed. We argue that testosterone has organizational and activational effects on both financial risk-taking and pathological gambling. In paper two (Stenstrom, Saad, Nepomuceno, & Mendenhall, 2011), we focus on the organizational effects of testosterone on risk-taking. Specifically, the association between digit ratio, a proxy of prenatal testosterone exposure, and risk-taking across five domains (recreational, social, financial, health-related, and ethical) is investigated. We find that digit ratio is predictive of risk-taking propensity in recreational, social, and financial (but not health-related or ethical) domains in Caucasian males. In paper three (Stenstrom & Saad, Working Paper), we shift our attention towards activational effects of testosterone on risk-taking. We investigate how exposure to babies, which purportedly elicits testosterone changes, influences risk-taking. In particular, we show that exposure to visual baby stimuli leads to lesser risk-taking among non-parents, while eliciting greater risk-taking among parents. Further, we find that baby sounds (laughs and cries) lead to lesser risk-taking in non-parents. Taken together, the three papers herein suggest that testosterone has both organizational and activational effects on consumer risk-taking, and that future research would benefit from considering hormonal, evolutionary, and social influences on risk-taking.


identifier: Sakr, Samir  (2014) Space-time coded cooperation in Wireless Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Nowadays, the concept of spatial diversity and cooperative networks attract a lot
of interest because they improve the reliability of transmission in wireless networks.
Spatial diversity is achieved when multiple antennas are at the transmitter. With great
growth and demand for high speed high data rate wireless communication, more and
more antennas are required. In order to achieve maximum diversity, these antennas
should be well separated so that the fading on each link is uncorrelated. This condition
makes it difficult to have more than two antennas on a mobile terminal. The relay's
cooperation helps increase the diversity order without extra hardware cost. However, its
main inconvenience is the use of multiple time slots compared to the direct link
transmission.
In this thesis, we develop a cooperation model which is composed of three
terminals: source, relay and destination. The transmitters (source and relay) are composed
of 2 antennas at the transmitter and the receivers (relay and destination) have 4 antennas.
In the first proposed model, transmitters and decoders are composed of an Alamouti
encoder and decoder respectively. In the second model, we also add a turbo encoder at
transmitters and iterative decoding takes place at receivers. In both cases, the
transmission cycle is composed of two time slots and the decode and forward (DF)
protocol is applied. Multiple scenarios are considered by changing the environment of the
transmission, such as line of sight (LOS) or non line of sight (NLOS) or by modifying the
location of the relay between the source and destination. We also simulate an uplink and
a downlink communication. All the scenarios show a coding gain with the turbo coded
space-time cooperation.


identifier: Da Costa, Danna  (2014) A Resource-Oriented Music Therapy Support Group Intervention for Adults Living with Fibromyalgia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Fibromyalgia syndrome is a generalized soft-tissue chronic pain syndrome characterized by tenderness upon palpation of 11 of 18 tender points and generalized pain on both sides of the body for at least 3 months. In Canada, 2-10% of the population has FMS, with diagnoses being higher in women than men. Music therapy research targeting FMS and chronic pain is minimal, while other health professions have seen music as a viable intervention tool (Oneiva-Zafra et al., 2010; Prasanna, 2009; Siedlecki, 2009; Chesky 1997). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to design the initial stages of a resource-oriented music therapy support group intervention for adults living with Fibromyalgia using Fraser and Galinsky’s (2010) intervention research method. Relevant medical, psychology, and music therapy literature pertaining to FMS and chronic pain was analyzed through open, axial and selective coding. Robb, Burns and Carpenter’s (2011) checklist of guidelines for reporting music-based interventions were used as a framework for describing the proposed interventions. The overarching aims of the intervention program are to foster awareness and develop self-management strategies for those living with FMS. Vocal and receptive music therapy techniques were incorporated into the intervention design to support said overarching aims by fostering the development and maintenance of participants’ own resources and strengths. It is hoped that this research will form the basis for the further development of music therapy resources and techniques specifically designed to benefit those living with FMS and/or chronic pain.


identifier: Enderer, Furkan  (2014) Integrating Dock-Door Assignment and Vehicle Routing in Cross-Docking.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Cross-docking is a logistic strategy in which products arrive at terminals, are handled and then shipped to the corresponding destinations. Cross-docking consists of unloading products from inbound trucks and loading these products directly into outbound trucks with little or no storage in-between. Cross-docking aims to reduce or eliminate inventory by achieving an efficient synchronization of unloading trucks, material handling and loading trucks. This thesis introduces an integrated dock-door assignment and vehicle routing problem that consists of assigning a set of origin points to inbound doors at the cross-dock, consolidating commodities in-between inbound and outbound doors, and routing vehicles from outbound doors to destination points. The objective is to minimize the sum of the material handling cost at the cross-dock and the transportation cost for routing the commodities to their destinations. Five mixed integer programming formulations are presented and computationally compared. A column generation algorithm based on a set partitioning formulation is developed to obtain lower bounds on the optimal solution value. In addition, a heuristic algorithm is used to obtain upper bounds. Computational experiments are performed to assess the performance of the proposed MIP formulations and solution algorithms on a set of randomly generated instances.


identifier: Eichel, Leonard D  (2012) The Other Shore.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: The Other Shore

abstract: The thesis is a historical novel set in World War II. It tells the story of a German foot soldier, from his drafting into the German Army in 1944, his time at the Eastern Front battling the Russians, his return home for a brief furlough where he consumated his love for his girlfriend, and eventual return to battle until the war wound down in May of 1945, where he surrendered to the Canadian Army.


identifier: Smith, Jessie  (2014) The Construction of Quebec's Green Economy.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The green economy is a new economic paradigm, which has become increasingly popular in light of recent UN publications and the 2012 Rio + 20 summit. But what are the implications of this development? In order to answer this question one must re-think "the economy" as social construction rather than the self-evident object (Mitchell, 2006). While economic experts and the state perform the economy they simultaneously define what is considered "non-economic": a status that makes life precarious for those human and nonhuman factors that are valued in this way (e.g. the environment) (Mitchell, 2010). Since 2008 the Quebec government has been developing their own green economy. The major result of this initiative has been the creation of an organization called "Ecotech Quebec" (otherwise known as Quebec's clean-tech cluster), which is responsible for defining and promoting Quebec's green economy. Through twenty five semi-structured interviews, a document review, and visual analysis this in-depth case study examines the process by which Quebec's green economy is being constructed. More specifically, this research sheds light on the ways in which Quebec politics and economics are performing the green economy; exposes the socio-technical mechanisms that have contributed to this project; and reveals what has been excluded from this representation. This research will therefore contribute to the debate about whether or not the green economy initiative will center on the appropriate transformations necessary to ameliorate the contradiction of capital and ecology, or if it will result in technological fixes and business as usual.


identifier: Matsubara, Hiroko  (2014) A Music Therapy Program Addressing Language Development with Children on the Autism Spectrum.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
A Music Therapy Program Addressing Language Development with Children on the Autism Spectrum
Hiroko Matsubara
Autism Spectrum Disorder is currently recognized as a neurological disorder characterized by impairments in communication, socialization, restricted movements, and language development. The purpose of this study was to design a program that utilized song-based music therapy interventions to address language development as part of a collaboration with a speech-language pathologist for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through the analysis of current music therapy, speech-language pathology, and psychology literature, five malleable mediators were identified as having the potential to affect language development for children with ASD: (a) to develop a safe and trusting relationship with the therapist; (b) to develop imitation skills; (c) to improve turn-taking skills; (d) to develop understanding of words using the augmentative communication tools; and (e) to increase vocalization and/or verbalization. Those malleable mediators were paired with action strategies, which were identified from the literature and from the author’s clinical experience. A weekly goal-oriented music therapy intervention program was developed to address language development with children on the ASD, consisting of approximately 16 weekly 30-minute sessions divided into eight blocks. The child would progress from one block of sessions to the next once the necessary skills had been acquired. This design with target words or phrases incorporated into songs using visual materials can be used in music therapy clinical intervention contexts and can also form the basis for further research.


identifier: Racicot, Simon  (2014) Where there is smoke, there is risk: Social and pharmacological exposure to smoking increase risk for smoking behavior during adolescence.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Social exposure to smoking, or observing smokers, is a robust predictor of adolescent smoking. Recently, an emerging line of research posited that nicotine exposure from secondhand smoke could predict nicotine dependence symptoms and smoking initiation among never-smokers, given that nicotine is a psychoactive substance present in secondhand smoke. The objective of the present research program was to evaluate social exposure to smoking and pharmacological exposure to nicotine from SHS as differential predictors of smoking precursors, such as smoking expectancies, smoking susceptibility, or nicotine dependence symptoms. Adolescent never-smokers constitute an ideal population to study, provided that nicotine exposure from SHS is not confounded by active smoking in that population. This dissertation includes three original quantitative studies.

Using longitudinal data from the NDIT study, Study 1 identified exposure to peer smoking as a significant predictor of nicotine dependence symptoms among never-smokers, which provided convincing evidence that adolescents do not mistakenly endorse such symptoms. Using cross-sectional data from the AdoQuest Study, Study 2 developed the Social Smoking Situations (S3) Scale, an enhanced psychometric instrument measuring the situational contexts in which social exposure to smoking occurs. Compared with existing measures of social exposure (e.g., “who is smoking”), the S3 Scale was a stronger predictor of smoking behavior and smoking expectancies. Finally, Study 3 investigated the differential relations of social and pharmacological exposure to smoking with smoking precursors, using cross-sectional data from the AdoQuest study. This study is the first to demonstrate significant effects of pharmacological exposure to nicotine on smoking expectancies and nicotine dependence symptoms in a sample of adolescent never-smokers.

Overall, this research program provided scientific evidence that exposure to nicotine is a risk factor for smoking among adolescent never-smokers. Its distinctive feature pertains to its emphasis on dismantling the major components of smoke exposure (social vs. pharmacological), and examining their relative consequences on increasing risk for adolescent smoking. It is recommended that future studies use longitudinal data to investigate the unique effects of social and pharmacological exposure on smoking initiation. Finally, current findings could be used to promote complete smoking bans in adolescents’ homes and cars.


identifier: Crowther, Dustin  (2014) Second Language Comprehensibility Revisited: Investigating the Effects of Learner Background.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The current study investigated first language (L1) effects on listener judgment of comprehensibility and accentedness in second language (L2) speech. The participants were 60 university-level adult speakers of English from four L1 backgrounds (Chinese, Romance, Hindi, Farsi), with 15 speakers per group, performing a picture narrative task. Ten native English listeners used continuous sliding scales to evaluate the speakers’ audio recordings for comprehensibility, accentedness, as well as 10 linguistic variables drawn from the domains of pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. While comprehensibility was associated with several linguistic variables (segmentals, prosody, fluency, lexis, grammar), accentedness was primarily linked to pronunciation (segmentals, word stress, intonation). The relative strength of these associations also varied as a function of the speakers’ L1, especially for comprehensibility, with Chinese speakers influenced chiefly by pronunciation variables (specifically segmental errors), Hindi speakers by lexicogrammar variables, Romance speakers by variables spanning both pronunciation and lexicogrammar domains, and Farsi speakers showing no strong association with any linguistic variable. These results overall suggest that speakers’ L1 plays an important role in listener judgments of L2 comprehensibility and that instructors aiming to promote L2 speakers’ communicative success may need to expand their teaching targets beyond segmentals to include prosody-, fluency-, and lexicogrammar-based targets.


identifier: Lipadatova, Olga  (2014) A Phenomenological Study of the Sandplay Therapy Expression of Six Immigrants’ Psychological Adaptation in Quebec.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

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abstract: This dissertation reports the results of a qualitative investigation of the individual psychological experiences of adaptation to a new socio-cultural environment of six adult participants with immigrant backgrounds. The experiences were expressed through Sandplay Therapy sessions in the form of verbal accounts and three-dimensional expressions in the form of sandpictures. The research design was based on the Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Method (DPPM) which helped to uncover what the Sandplay Therapy expressions of immigrants in Quebec reveal about their psychological adaptation to their new environment. The data were collected over a period of sixteen months through Sandplay Therapy sessions and included the following categories: the written verbal accounts of the experiences; the therapist’s process notes and comments; and the visual data in the form of photographs and maps of the created sandpictures. Data analysis included the analysis of the transcription of the sessions and of the sandpictures, for which the perspective of the Kalffian model of Sandplay analysis and Jungian theory was used. The findings suggest relations among the imagery representing the participants’ experiences (in the form of the sandpictures); the underlining psychological processes unfolding in the participants’ psyche; and the conscious understanding of the experience of adaptation voiced by the participants. The research participants presented patterns in their expressions linking their experiences of adaptation to the unfolding of the specific psychological processes that were revealed through the images.


identifier: Luan, Tina Chi  (2014) Assisting Older Adults Transition into Long-Term Care: A Music Therapy Intervention Approach.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study presents a music therapy intervention program that addresses social support needs and purposeful life in older adults 65 years old and older, who are transitioning from private homes into long-term-care facilities. Six malleable mediators were identified to influence needs relating to social support and a purposeful life for older adults in this transition, from an analysis of data obtained from current music therapy and psychology literature from 1981 to 2011, and interviews conducted with a music therapist, social worker, and recreation therapist. Malleable mediators include: (a) to provide opportunities for interaction and build connections; (b) to develop awareness of newly-relocated residents; (c) to develop mutual support; (d) to encourage acceptance of new residents; (e) to provide opportunities for residents; and (f) to help each other and to help residents voice their opinions in the community. Action strategies were paired with the malleable mediators, and a detailed music therapy intervention program was designed. Ideas for future research related to the overall process of transition are also discussed.


identifier: Power, Jessica  (2014) A Music Therapy Vocal Intervention to Address Self-Esteem and Resilience in Female Adolescents At-Risk for School Failure.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the increased significance of a high school education in today’s society, the modern public health system is focusing more on mediating factors, such as resilience, instead of risk factors, in an attempt to protect adolescents against school failure. The present research reports on the development of a program designed to strengthen resilience for female adolescents who are at-risk of school failure. As resilience is a complex, multi-layered construct, only one aspect, self-esteem, is addressed. Given the scope of the research, the first two steps of a five-step model for intervention design were completed in the development of an eight-session group vocal music therapy protocol. The program design is informed by analysis and application of pertinent literature and findings from semi-structured interviews with area experts – two music therapists, a school counsellor, and a special-care counsellor. This self-esteem vocal music therapy program design is intended to serve as one facet of a larger program aimed at improving resilience to mediate against school failure.


identifier: Wu, Kejia  (2014) Parallelizing Description Logic Reasoning.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Description Logic has become one of the primary knowledge representation and reasoning methodologies during the last twenty years. A lot of areas are benefiting from description logic based technologies. Description logic reasoning algorithms and a number of optimization techniques for them play an important role and have been intensively researched.

However, few of them have been systematically investigated in a concurrency context in spite of multi-processor computing facilities growing up. Meanwhile, semantic web, an application domain of description logic, is producing vast knowledge data on the Internet, which needs to be dealt with by using scalable solutions. This situation requires description logic reasoners to be endowed with reasoning scalability.

This research introduced concurrent computing in two aspects: classification, and tableau-based description logic reasoning.

Classification is a core description logic reasoning service. Over more than two decades many research efforts have been devoted to optimizing classification. Those classification optimization algorithms have shown their pragmatic effectiveness for sequential processing. However, as concurrent computing becomes widely available, new classification algorithms that are well suited to parallelization need to be developed. This need is further supported by the observation that most available OWL reasoners, which are usually based on tableau reasoning, can only utilize a single processor. Such an inadequacy often leads users working in ontology development to frustration, especially if their ontologies are complex and require long processing times.

Classification service finds out all named concept subsumption relationships entailed in a knowledge base. Each subsumption test enrolls two concepts and is independent of the others. At most n^2 subsumption tests are needed for a knowledge base which contains n concepts. As the first contribution of this research, we developed an algorithm and a corresponding architecture showing that reasoning scalability can be gained by using concurrent computing.

Further, this research investigated how concurrent computing can increase performance of tableau-based description logic reasoning algorithms. Tableau-based description logic reasoning decides a problem by constructing an AND-OR tree. Before this research, some research has shown the effectiveness of parallelizing processing disjunction branches of a tableau expansion tree. Our research has shown how reasoning scalability can be gained by processing conjunction branches of a tableau expansion tree.

In addition, this research developed an algorithm, merge classification, that uses a divide and conquer strategy for parallelizing classification. This method applies concurrent computing to the more efficient classification algorithm, top-search & bottom-search, which has been adopted as a standard procedure for classification. Reasoning scalability can be observed in a number of real world cases by using this algorithm.


identifier: Ding, Steven H. H.  (2014) Authorship Identification and Writeprint Visualization.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Internet provides an ideal anonymous channel for concealing computer-mediated malicious activities, as the network-based origins of critical electronic textual evidence (e.g., emails, blogs, forum posts, chat log etc.) can be easily repudiated. Authorship attribution is the study of identifying the actual author of the given anonymous documents based on the text itself, and, for decades, many linguistic stylometry and computational techniques have been extensively studied for this purpose. However, most of the previous research emphasizes promoting the authorship attribution accuracy and few works have been done for the purpose of constructing and visualizing the evidential traits; also, these sophisticated techniques are difficult for cyber investigators or linguistic experts to interpret. In this thesis, based on the EEDI (End-to-End Digital Investigation) Framework we propose a visualizable evidence-driven approach, namely VEA, which aims at facilitating the work of cyber investigation. Our comprehensive controlled experiment and stratified experiment on the real-life Enron email data set both demonstrate that our approach can achieve even higher accuracy than traditional methods; meanwhile, its output can be easily visualized and interpreted as evidential traits. In addition to identifying the most plausible author of a given text, our approach also estimates the confidence for the predicted result based on a given identification context and presents visualizable linguistic evidence for each candidate.


identifier: Chen, Yun  (2014) The RhoGEF ECT-2 is required for ventral enclosure during C. elegans embryogenesis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Tissue morphogenesis is crucial for the development of metazoans. C. elegans, is a model system for studying tissue morphogenesis, as there are many genetic tools available, and embryos are amenable to microscopy. We study ventral enclosure, which is the process where ventral epidermal cells migrate to enclose the C. elegans embryo in a single layer of epidermal cells. This process is initiated by the migration and adhesion of two pairs of anterior leading cells, followed by the migration and adhesion of eight pairs of posterior pocket cells. The migration of the leading cells is mediated by F-actin rich filopodia-like protrusions, which are under the control of the Rac – Wave/Scar – Arp2/3 pathway. Cables of F-actin become enriched around the margins of the pocket cells to form a ring, and early studies showed that this ring is under tension. Based on this data, actomyosin contractility was predicted to mediate the closure of this ring during ventral enclosure. However, nonmuscle myosin has not been studied in ventral enclosure, where it could regulate ring closure in addition to regulating cell shape changes and/or adhesion. For example, proteins that form adhesion junction complexes are also required for ventral enclosure, as they maintain contacts between cells so they can migrate as a unit and form new junctions with contralateral neighbors.
Our studies support a role for myosin contractility in ventral enclosure. RhoA regulates nonmuscle myosin contractility for cytokinesis in the early embryo and for elongation of the lateral epidermal cells in late embryogenesis. ECT-2 is the GEF that activates RhoA during cytokinesis, and a different GEF, RHGF-2, activates RhoA during late embryogenesis. A hypomorphic, maternal ts allele of ect-2, ax751, is required for polarity in the early embryo, but displays few cytokinesis defects, especially at non-permissive temperatures. Using this allele, we found that ect-2 is required for the migration of neuroblasts during earlier embryonic stages, and ventral epidermal cells during ventral enclosure. Genetic crosses suggest that ect-2 functions in parallel to the Rac pathway and may be part of the Rho pathway to regulate actomyosin contractility, supporting a role for myosin in ventral enclosure. Imaging and quantification of embryos expressing GFP-tagged myosin showed that myosin forms into a supracellular structure around the margins of the ventral pocket cells, reminiscent of the actin ring described previously. We found that ect-2 is required for the enrichment and organization of myosin, supporting a requirement for ect-2 in regulating myosin contractility. Interestingly, ect-2 may also function in the cadherin/catenin pathway that forms adhesion junctions, suggesting ect-2 could also regulate the actomyosin filaments that contribute to adhesion.


identifier: valiante, giuseppe  (2013) Investigative Journalism in Montreal: “A Golden Age.”.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Investigative journalism in Montreal is healthy and robust, despite a North
American media landscape in flux, where newspapers across the continent have closed or
significantly reduced staff. Newsroom budgets have shrunk across the continent, and the
migration of print content to the web has not brought with it a comparative level of
advertising. This thesis is a case study that researched how Montreal’s investigative
journalism environment has fared in light of the perceived newspaper crisis.
The case study consists of a quantitative analysis of Montreal’s La Presse and The
Gazette newspapers, which revealed that since 2009, investigative journalism articles
increased in both papers. Additionally, through interviews with eight of Montreal’s mostprominent
investigative journalists, I discovered three main reasons why the city has
become a welcoming environment for one of the most costly and time-consuming
journalistic projects: the rise of Radio-Canada’s Enquête program, which created a
successful model for an investigative unit; a surge in whistleblowers coming forward and
willing to risk their well-being; and finally, strong market competition and an adversarial
newsroom culture. Investigative journalists in Montreal have uncovered severe cases of
scandal and moral transgressions committed by Quebec’s elected officials and business
leaders. Montreal’s investigative reporting has led to the resignations of big-city mayors
and the arrests of prominent businessmen and members of criminal organizations. I
demonstrate in this case study that there is a measurable increase of investigative work in
the recent past and my interviews suggest that there is a perception among journalism
stakeholders that investigative journalism is working well in Montreal.


identifier: O'Brien, Sheila C.  (2014) Sketches of a Salvaged Soul: A social fiction that explores the intersection between the arts and anti-bullying.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is written with the hope of addressing the systemic issue and long-term effects of bullying in youth and young adults, and attempts to illustrate the incalculable ways that the Arts and Arts environments are responsible for the alleviation of these effects and the restoration of self-confidence in the victims of various forms of unwarranted aggression. It is my assertion that teachers (ideally, Arts teachers) need to better understand the lived experiences surrounding bullying so that they will no longer be unaware of how to identify and respond to it in their own classrooms and school communities. The thesis in itself is a didactic research-based social fiction that explores key empathic elements of my lived experiences as a student and teacher, informed by the adoption of elements including fictional settings, characters and plotlines, which will allow an interpretative portrayal of bullying within a creative and literary framework.  It is my intention to both provoke conversation and empathy, and inspire other teachers to embrace the possibilities of the intersection of the Arts and anti-bullying in their classrooms.  By choosing the vehicle of social fiction, I will demonstrate that there is tremendous value in creating work that is informative, entertaining and thus more easily accessible to a wider audience, including students, parents and the general public beyond the academy.


identifier: Ayotte, Alain  (2014) Un atlas pornographique : entre scientia sexualis et ars erotica.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Dans l’Histoire de la sexualité : la volonté de savoir Michel Foucault positionne deux
régimes de vérité de discours sur le sexe qui relèvent d’une science de la sexualité
(scientia sexualis) et d’un art érotique (ars erotica). La tension entre scientia sexualis et
ars erotica se retrouve dans le clivage entre le genre pornographique et l’art érotique dans
la société contemporaine. Notre hypothèse est que le geste des créateurs cherche à
reconfigurer les frontières entre la norme pornographique et la norme artistique et
repousse ainsi les limites de l’histoire, de l’art, et de la sexualité.
La méthodologie de l’atlas Mnémosyne de l’historien de l’art Aby Warburg avec
son étude des gestes, ses formules de pathos et ses survivances ; le traitement des
archives anthropologiques de la sexualité avec la notion de l’informe chez Georges
Bataille ; et la performativité du corps érotique queer, nous permettent d’appréhender
comment certains artistes s’approprient le genre pornographique depuis les années 1960-
70 et déjouent les grilles de lecture scientifiques aux catégories exclusives et au regard
« objectif » .
Car, au-delà du simple regard, l’appropriation artistique de l’imagerie
pornographique se produit dans une pratique incarnée à travers les concepts de résonance
charnelle et de force orgasmique (potentia gaudendi). Pure médialité, la pornographie se
transforme à travers son appropriation et ses remédiations esthétiques. Ainsi, elle se
trouve dotée d’une charge érotique et politique renouvelée. Des images aux gestes, il se
crée un passage où s’entremêlent science, art et sexualité.


identifier: Demers, David  (2014) The Procedural Rhetoric of War: Ideology, Recruitment, and Training in Military Videogames.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In light of the increasing popularity of military-themed videogames, as well as the U.S. military’s substantial investment in both the development and consultation of such games, there exist very pertinent questions regarding the effects that this particular media has over its consumers. Although this topic has been previously examined using official military serious games, largely absent in the literature is the study of entertainment-based videogames. In this thesis, I investigate the relationship between the military and videogame culture. In particular, I explore how recruitment, training, and ideology are promoted by the military through the design and production of both educational and recreational games. I apply theories of game/play, procedural rhetoric, and discourse analysis to videogames to determine the precise mechanisms behind the medium’s effectiveness as an implement for neomilitarism. I also demonstrate how the videogame industry is both theoretically and aesthetically intertwined with that of the film industry. Using the America’s Army and Call of Duty franchises as case studies, the results show that, while there exists notable procedural differences between serious and entertainment videogames, both categories effectively contribute to the military’s mission of fostering potential recruits among the young male demographic.


identifier: Tan, Nicholas  (2014) Of Cities Lived and Imagined.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Of Cities Lived and Imagined

abstract:
This thesis is a collection of poems that investigate the unsettled nature of public spaces, urban places, and tensions between individual living and collective living. These exercises in various voices, styles, and forms mimic the polyvocal and heterogeneous lives in cities. The first section of the thesis is a loose exploration of familiar urban sites and occurrences, grounding the true life in cities in everyday routines and encounters. The suite “Cards for Casual Walks” attempts to explore and evoke urban wandering through a series of meditations, occasions, and confrontations. Ideally, these ‘cards’ would be shuffled and re-ordered to present a meandering narrative unique to each reading. This was initially inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s practice of scribbling on index cards when drafting his novels, especially with the posthumous publication of his unfinished The Original of Laura, and Benjamin’s fragmented reflections in The Arcades Project. The third section consists of poems titled with selected headlines from various web-based news sources specifically about cities and public space. Although the headlines give a glimpse into what urban issues and subjects currently concern us (or our major media), they primarily serve as jumping points as the contents of the articles do not necessarily find their way into the body of the poems, which often take a much different trajectory. The final section, “Imagined Cities,” follows in the tradition of invented urban places, particularly in Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and Anne Carson’s Life of Towns. These cities are constructed from popular philosophical problems and magnified moments of the everyday.
These texts interrogate the conscious and unconscious processes that occur in our public’s ideological structures and collective notions. The language slips, rambles, and skips in the spaces between concreteness and abstraction to portray the erratic nature of dwelling together in these urban landscapes.


identifier: Manouchehri, Farzin  (2014) Reliability-Driven Experimental and Theoretical Study of Low-Frequency Noise Characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HFETs.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Silicon technology, which is the most mainstream semiconductor technology, poses serious limitations on fulfilling the market demands in high-frequency and high-power applications. In response to these limitations, wide bandgap III-nitride devices, including AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterojunction field effect transistors (HFETs), were introduced at about two decades ago to satisfy these rapidly growing market demands for high-power/high-frequency amplifiers and high-voltage/high-temperature switches. The most appealing features of III-nitride technologies, and particularly AlxGa1-xN/GaN HFETs, in these applications, are the polarization-induced high sheet-carrier-concentration, high breakdown-voltage, high electron saturation-velocity, and high maximum operating temperature. Therefore, the development of enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN HFETs is one of the most important endeavours in the past two decades.
Low-frequency noise (LFN) spectroscopy, empowered by a proper physics-based model, is received as a capable tool for reliability studies. As a result, devising a physics-based LFN model for AlGaN/GaN HFETs can be capable of not only evaluating the alternative techniques proposed for realization of enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN HFETs, but also more importantly forecasting the reliability, and noise performance of these devices.
In this dissertation, for the first time, a physics-based model for the low-frequency drain noise-current of AlGaN/GaN HFETs is proposed. The proposed model, through including the thermally-activated and quantum tunneling processes of trapping/de-trapping of electrons of channel into and out of the trap-sites located both in the barrier- and buffer-layer of these HFETs, provides a descriptive picture for the LFN behavior of these devices. This work also aims to experimentally investigate the low-frequency noise-current characteristics of both conventional and newly-proposed devices (i.e., fin-, and island-isolated AlGaN/GaN HFETs) at various temperatures (i.e., 150, 300, and 450 K) and bias points in order to address the possible difficulties in performance of these devices. Matching of the trends proposed by the physics-based model to the experimentally recorded LFN spectra of AlGaN/GaN HFETs designed according to a newly-proposed technological variant for positive-shifting the threshold-voltage, confirms the accuracy and predicting power of the proposed model. The insights gained from this model on the latter group of devices provide evidence for the challenges of the aforementioned technological variants, and as a result offer assistance in proposing remedies for those challenges.
In formulating the LFN model, a massive discrepancy between the predictions of the existing analytical relationships used by others in evaluating the subband energy levels of AlGaN/GaN HFETs and the realities of the polarization-induced electron concentration of these HFETs was spotted. Careful evaluation of the polarization properties of these heterostructures unmasked the inaccuracy of the assumption of zero penetration of the electron wave into both the AlGaN barrier-layer and the GaN buffer-layer as the culprit in this discrepancy. In response to this observation, a model based on the variational-method for calculating the first and second subband energy levels of AlGaN/GaN HFETs is developed. On the basis of this model, more accurate analytical frameworks for calculating these subband energy levels in AlGaN/GaN HFETs for a variety of barrier thicknesses and Al mole-fractions in the barrier-layer are proposed.


identifier: Shojaee Bakhtiari, Ali  (2014) Count Data Modeling and Classification Using Statistical Hierarchical Approaches and Multi-topic Models.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis, we propose and develop various statistical models to enhance and improve the efficiency of statistical modeling of count data in various applications. The major emphasis of the work is focused on developing  hierarchical models. Various schemes of hierarchical structures are thus developed and analyzed in this work ranging from purely static hierarchies to dynamic models.
The second part of the work concerns itself with the development of multitopic statistical models. It has been shown that these models provide more realistic modeling characteristics in comparison to mono topic models. We proceed with developing several multitopic models and we analyze their performance against benchmark models. We show that our proposed models in the majority of instances improve the modeling efficiency in comparison to some benchmark models, without drastically increasing the computational demands.
In the last part of the work, we extend our proposed multitopic models to include online learning capability and again we show the relative superiority of our models in comparison to the benchmark models. Various real world applications such as object recognition, scene classification, text classification and action recognition, are used for analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of our proposed models.


identifier: Nitami, Hassan  (2014) Politics of educational reforms in Morocco since 1956: The gender dimenstion.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Since Independence, Morocco has implemented a number of policies geared towards the improvement of its educational system. The existence of socio-economic and cultural constraints does impede the full access of females to education, and to society as a whole. The right to education for every individual has been endorsed as a human right, which is essential to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) within most national and international development strategies that should be available to all by 2015. It is assumed that education is a way of measuring the degree of development of a country in the current international discourse. It is unfortunate to say that with all policies that have been implemented by the Moroccan government in the last six decades have not generated the desired outcomes, and have faltered for each initiative targeted at reforming the educational system.
The vision to meet the eight MDGs goals by 2015 is unattainable and has a long way to go in reaching the targets, mainly the ones related to gender. Even though substantial improvements have been noted, the various policies implemented by Morocco, alongside with international policies have not been capable of moving the country to an aspired-for level of development.


identifier: Mamlouk, Soufian  (2014) The influence of networks on consumer behavior: Understanding how social media networks impact online word of mouth and purchase behavior.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Social media has permeated the everyday life of consumers and with that, its influence on consumer behavior has only grown. To better understand this growth a look into the different networks of influence is needed.  This research looked at how the influence of personal networks and that of the general community impact online word of mouth and purchase behavior on facebook. We proposed that the endorsement of a marketing page from a user's own network and general community would both have positive impact on a consumer’s intent to engage in online word of mouth activities and purchase related behaviors. Furthermore, we propose that this relationship would be further moderated by the level of cognitive load consumers are exposed to.  However, findings in this study suggest that while social media networks do have an influence on purchase behaviour and online word of mouth, there are different combinations of behaviors associated with different product types.  Personal networks more heavily influence some Facebook pages, while others are more influenced by the general community, or by both types of networks or even by neither of the networks. This suggests that consumers react differently to the influence of networks based on the page category type.


identifier: Balzer, Jesse  (2014) New Line Cinema, Jackie Chan, and the Anatomy of an Action Star.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Jackie Chan’s Hollywood career began in earnest with the theatrical wide release of Rumble in the Bronx in early 1996 by independent studio New Line Cinema. New Line released two more Chan films – Jackie Chan’s First Strike (1997) and Mr. Nice Guy (1998) – after they were acquired by the media conglomerate Time Warner. These three films, originally produced and distributed by the Golden Harvest studio in Hong Kong, were distributed and marketed by New Line for release in North America. New Line reedited, rescored, and dubbed these films in order to take advantage of the significant marketing synergies of their conglomerate parents at Time Warner. Specifically, this case study analyzes the distribution and marketing strategies of New Line Cinema for the domestic theatrical releases of these three Jackie Chan films. More broadly, this analysis argues that the Hollywood studio oligopoly, backed by fully integrated media conglomerates, has largely controlled the theatrical release of foreign films in North America by not only authorizing, but often by authoring them as well. Finally, this analysis addresses a crucial, though under studied, subject in Film, Media, and Cultural Studies: that being the process, and products, of media importation.


identifier: Zhao, Rubin  (2014) Anatomy of a Socially Responsible Firm.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Anatomy of a Socially Responsible Firm

abstract:
This paper investigates the relation between firm characteristics and corporate social
responsibility (CSR) with the purpose to understand the reason for investment activities
in CSR. We develop a principal component based approach to categorize the KLD
fourteen-dimensions of CSR activities into two groups, namely, reactive CSR, which
firms would apply to counter any potential fallout from CSR concerns, and proactive
CSR, which stands for not reactive CSR activities. We find evidence supporting that (1)
financially strong firms, older firms, and firms with more R&D expenditures are more
likely to invest in CSR; (2) firms operating in multiple markets tend to invest more in
reactive CSR while do the same as single market firms in proactive CSR; (3) firms tend
to increase their investment in both CSR as the level of competition decreases but reduce
proactive CSR more in extreme high level of concentration; and (4) better corporate
governance leads to lower reactive CSR but higher proactive CSR.


identifier: Scheibling, Casey  (2014) Just For Men: The Representation of Masculinities in Grooming Product Advertising.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to analyze advertisements for grooming products in order to uncover what these texts communicate about contemporary men and masculinity. To support the present research, a theoretical framework consisting of three sections is provided.  First, the concepts of ideology, representation and communication are discussed, with regards to how they operate in advertising. Second, critical social and cultural research on theorizing the body is integrated.  Third, theories on the social construction of gender and shifting conceptions of masculinity are outlined and evaluated.  Next, a literature review gives insight to how men, masculinity and male bodies are represented in magazine advertising.  The examination of this research makes clear the timely relevance of exploring grooming product ads specifically.  Cosmetics, once reserved to beautify the bodies of women, are now being aggressively aimed at men. This begs the question of whether this shift in marketing denotes a break with certain normative gendered representations within the mass media.  Through conducting a thematic discourse analysis on a sample of advertisements from 2011 to 2013, I argue that advertising for male grooming products are coded as necessarily gendered and inherently ‘manly’.  While the act of grooming one’s body has been historically associated with femininity, advertisers often draw upon traditionally masculine conventions, ideals and stereotypes.  However, masculinities are also constructed as heterogeneous and pluralized; as a fragment of the male identity that varies across ages, classes and ethnicities.


identifier: Leduc, Jean-Marc  (2014) ¬La figure de l’Irlandais au Québec : perspectives historiques et littéraires (1815-1922).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Ce mémoire porte sur l’histoire de l’immigration et de l’intégration des Irlandais au Québec et cherche à départager les expériences singulières vécues sur un territoire commun par les Canadiens français et les Irlandais catholiques. Cette recherche interdisciplinaire se fonde à la fois sur le corpus littéraire québécois et sur l’historiographie contemporaine. Les analyses littéraires, appuyées sur une solide lecture socio-historique, vont entreprendre l’étude du personnage irlandais pour démontrer comment la figure de l’Irlandais était perçue dans l’imaginaire littéraire et social. Le mémoire analyse une période d’environ cent ans, du début du XIXe au début du XXe siècle. La première partie (1815-1844) met en scène un imaginaire patriote et libéral et permet une relecture des enjeux en cause dans les rapports entre Irlandais et Canadiens français, des rapports caractérisés par l’idéal utopique de l’ouverture à l’autre, tels que mis de l’avant dans le roman Les Fiancés de 1812 de Joseph Doutre. La deuxième partie (1845-1922) porte sur la consolidation des acquis des deux communautés et au mouvement possible de retranchement, explore le contexte social dominé par la religion, et couvre la période allant de l’immigration provoquée par la Famine irlandaise, jusqu’aux premières décennies du XXe siècle. L’Appel de la race de Lionel Groulx est relu à la lumière de son insertion dans un discours à la fois littéraire et socio-politique. Le mémoire démontre que les rapports entre Irlandais et Canadiens français ont suivi un parcours qui les a menés d’abord au rapprochement politique et culturel et ultimement vers une relation plus conflictuelle.

This interdisciplinary study, drawing from both Québec literature and contemporary Irish-Canadian historiography, explores the history of Irish immigration and integration in Québec and the singular experiences of both French Canadians and Irish Catholics in a shared social space. Benefiting from a rigorous reading of socio-historical materials, the literary analysis allows for a study of the figure of the Irish to explore how he is portrayed as a Québec social and literary reference. The thesis covers a period of about one hundred years, from the start of the XIXth to the beginning of the XXth centuries The first period (1815-1844) is steeped in a liberal and patriot perspective and allows us to reconsider what was at stake in the relationship between the Irish and French-Canadians, positing an idealistic and utopian heterogeneity as promoted in Joseph Doutre’s novel, Les Fiancés de 1812. The second part (1845-1922), sheds light on the efforts of both communities to consolidate their achievements and to perhaps turn inward in a religiously dominated societal context covering the period from the Irish immigration in response to the Great Famine to the first decades of the the XXth century. The part engages in a reinterpretation of Lionel Groulx’s novel L’Appel de la race as seen through its contribution to a literary and socio-political reading of the times. The thesis illustrates the evolving relationship between the Irish and French Canadian communities over one hundred years, from an initial desire for connexion to an eventually more conflicted relationship.


identifier: Martins Jr, Dorival  (2014) Genetic intervention and biochemical analysis of antioxidant enzyme function and their post-translational modifications in yeast.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Antioxidant enzymes play a critical role in stress response and cell viability by controlling intracellular levels of  reactive oxygen species (ROS). While at low concentrations they trigger stress response and extend chronological lifespan, high ROS levels are toxic since they damage DNA, lipids and proteins. Thus, cells must rapidly sense changes in ROS levels and synchronize the activities of antioxidant enzymes to prevent harmful oxidative modifications of cellular components. This thesis reports on how genetic manipulation of the mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme cytochrome c peroxidase (Ccp1) alters the synchronization of  the activity of antioxidant enzymes during the chronological aging of yeast. Ccp1 is identified as a mitochondrial H2O2 sensor that prevents mitohormesis and lifespan extension by increasing catalase A (Cta1) activity and attenuating the H2O2-dependent stress response during aging. On the other hand, Ccp1 signaling protects cells against acute H2O2 stress by increasing peroxiredoxin and catalase activity. The latter activity was found to be a critical defense against exogenous H2O2, since blocking the induction of catalase activity by genetic intervention or low nutrient availability impairs adaptation on H2O2 challenge. The critical antioxidant enzyme copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Sod1) from 7-day, stationary phase yeast cells was observed to be oxidized, which induced the formation of soluble high-molecular weight Sod1-containing aggregates. These species resemble the non-amyloid aggregates seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Combined, the presented work provides molecular insights into how antioxidant defenses are synchronized and modified during acute stress and during aging. Such synchronization modulates ROS levels, stress response and longevity, which in yeast was found to correlate with oxidative damage to mitochondrial proteins.


identifier: Marchica, Loredana  (2014) Examining Effective Social Skills Interventions for Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Social Skills Deficits: The UCLA PEERS Program.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The present study examines the efficacy of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), a parent-assisted social skills group intervention created at UCLA with a group of youths 13-17 years old with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and social skills deficits. Over the course of 7 weeks both youths and parents met twice a week and participated in their respective groups following the PEERS program. Social skill improvements were measured using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; Gresham & Elliot, 2008) and the Quality of Play Questionnaire (QPQ; Frankel & Mintz, 2011) at the beginning of the intervention, at the end of the intervention, and at a 7-week follow-up. Results indicated that after the program there were significant increases in assertion on Student Forms of the SSIS-RS. Additionally, there were significant increases in Mean Get-togethers, Mean Number of Friends Listed and a significant decrease in Conflict Levels on both Parent and Student Forms of the QPQ. Results from the 7-week follow-up indicated significant increases in social skills and significant decreases in problem behaviors on Student Forms of the SSIS-RS. Further, there were significant decreases in Observed Conflict Levels on both Parent and Student Forms of the QPQ. Parents also reported that participating in the program provided them with invaluable resources and tools, as well as, increasing their self-efficacy and providing them with emotional support from other parents who share similar experiences. Implications of the PEERS program as a social skills intervention for adolescents with ASD are discussed.


identifier: Papaxanthos, Nicholas  (2014) Heart-Shaped Fly Swatter.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Heart-Shaped Fly Swatter

abstract:
Heart-Shaped Fly Swatter is a failed attempt at writing in the style of so-called New York School Poetry, but a successful attempt, I think, at writing towards writing in that style. It’s a failed attempt because most of these poems are planted too firmly in the ground (the page), unable to leap off into the air. Take, for example, the difference between “Heart-Shaped Fly Swatter” and “Fly-Shaped Heart Swatter”: one is easily imagined before us, as satisfying as a well-timed swat killing the bug, while the other can’t be pinned down exactly, more out of reach, momentary, and indistinct—which is more akin, I think, to the playfulness and “going on your nerve” New-York-School sensibility. I hope my poetry moves towards and eventually in this direction in the future, happily embracing uncertainties and a slippery range of meaning.

If they don’t leap off the page, perhaps these poems leap inside and around themselves. As I understand how I wrote them, they use repetition in one way or another to hold themselves together. “Cheerless and Ready for Love,” goes on a rampage of repeated diction to restrain its wild imagery; “In Preparation for the Long Awaited I Forget What” and “Infinite Digestion” are more interested in syntactical and rhythmic unity; and “Small Town” and “The Procedure” employ a narrative and/or a central theme or idea. Most of the poems in this collection fall into one of these general categories. The exception is “Noon,” an erasure, which might explain why it’s more loose and abstract. I’m excited by the first two lines: “I ran out the back of my closet. / Two people elevated the space for me.” What is holding these together? The speaker appears in both lines and the “back of my closet” becomes “the space” — but why or how two people are elevating it is the mystery, as well as the different implications of the phrases “back of my closet” and “the space,” a movement from the specific to the general, which fosters a kind of control and release in the poem, an almost unheard click in the lock that will (hopefully) eventually open for a Houdini-like escape. I think “Noon” comes closest in this collection to almost successfully resisting a kind of intelligence in which repetition isn’t the deciding factor that holds two lines together, but a mystery of difference, estrangement, and unpredictability. The rest of these poems are struggling towards that mystery. I imagine them like beginning swimmers holding on to the side of the pool: they’re kicking hard, but afraid, not fully trusting that something will hold them up if they let go.


identifier: Bird, Lauren  (2014) Ancient Wisdom, Modern Bodies: Hybrid Authenticity in the Space of Modern Yoga.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis investigates transcultural exchange expressed in architectural and conceptual spaces as well as visual and material culture through the case study of HappyTree Yoga, a popular downtown Montreal studio. Through images and objects within these spaces, I explore how the modern postural yoga studio is designed as an escape from, or antidote to, the stresses of modern Western lifestyle through the integration of spirituality from an imagined, ahistorical Orient with Western socio-cultural norms of health, gender and bodily
regulation. The studio interior and the objects housed therein are considered from the perspective of material culture in order to understand how the practice of yoga is constructed and authenticated through ‘exotic’ objects such as images of gurus and small shrines and how practitioners encounter and experience the agency of these objects. I discuss the hybridity of modern yoga’s performance as both openly progressive and Western but aware of a need for legitimacy and authorization through the presence of Hindu imagery, ultimately creating new meanings for both these artifacts and those who participate in the highly ritualistic and performative use of these interiors.


identifier: Burgoyne, Sarah  (2014) Oyster & Bear.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Oyster & Bear

abstract: Oyster & Bear is comprised of both short traditional lyric poems, influenced by the Persian form known as the ghazal, and long conceptual prose-lyrics constrained by excessive uses of singular parts of speech (for example, prepositions or conjunctions) or other units of the English language (i.e., prefixes). As a collection, the poems explore themes of absurdity and loss in the context of human relationships and how the loss of a “you” can drastically change the nature of the “I”. What other images appear when one faces grief alone? What comes in to take the other’s place? In many of the poems or poem sequences, the speaker’s perspective shifts from preoccupation with the Other towards the strange, mythical, and, at times, delusional. Moving past the familiar “life is absurd,” and “loss is difficult,” Oyster & Bear rejects defeatism to ask what lies at the centre of our language and explores what it could be if it isn’t, as some famously suggest, lack?


identifier: Henman, Samantha  (2014) Humour & National Identity in Canadian Contemporary Art: Diana Thorneycroft, Simon Hughes & BGL.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the use of humour as a means to negotiate themes of identity in some contemporary Canadian art by Diana Thorneycroft, Simon Hughes, and BGL. To ground this exploration of humour as a theme this thesis looks at humour theory and specifies three different discourses of humour which appear to recur frequently within the practices of the artists chosen: incongruity theory, national humour, and irony. As a context for this discussion, the broader topic of contemporary art and humour is addressed. This thesis then looks at the individual artistic practices as case studies. Diana Thorneycroft’s Group of Seven Awkward Moments series is analyzed for its use of Group of Seven paintings as backdrops for incongruous or uncanny scenarios related to Canadian identity. I examine Simon Hughes’ artistic practice from 2002-2007 where Expo 67 and Canadian architecture are the focus, and he makes ironic use of Native imagery.  Finally, the section on BGL looks at the way this artists’ collective use irony and incongruity to juxtapose themes of folkloric Quebec life with contemporary consumer culture.  All three case studies enable a discussion of how humour can be used to approach the loaded topic of Canadian identity.


identifier: Yasuda, Kotaro  (2014) Development of an Active Shape Model Using the Discrete Cosine Transform.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Facial recognition systems have been successfully applied in security, law-enforcement and human identification application, for automatically identifying a human in a digital image or a video frame. In a feature-based face recognition system using a set of features extracted from each of the prominent facial components, automatic and accurate localization of facial features is an essential pre-processing step. The active shape model (ASM) is a flexible shape model that was originally proposed to automatically locate a set of landmarks representing the facial features. Various improved versions of this model for facial landmark annotation have been developed for increasing the shape fitting accuracy at the expense of significantly increased computational complexity.
	This thesis is concerned with developing a low-complexity active shape model by incorporating the energy compaction property of the discrete cosine transform (DCT). Towards this goal, the proposed ASM, which utilizes a 2-D profile based on the DCT of the local grey-level gradient pattern around a landmark, is first developed. The ASM is then utilized in a scheme of facial landmark annotation for locating facial features of the face in an input image. The proposed ASM provides two distinct advantages: (i) the use of a smaller number of DCT coefficients in building a compressed DCT profile significantly reduces the computational complexity, and (ii) the process of choosing the low-frequency DCT coefficients filters out the noise contained in the image. Simulations are performed to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed ASM over other improved versions of the original active shape model in terms of the fitting accuracy as well as in terms of the computational complexity. It is shown that the use of the proposed model in the application of facial landmark annotation significantly reduces the execution time without affecting the accuracy of the facial shape fitting.


identifier: Stratica Mihail, Eliana  (2014) I Don’t: The Commodification of the Bride in Montreal Art from the 1970s.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis investigates some of the specific local articulations of the international Women’s Liberation Movement created by artists in Montreal at the beginning of the 1970s. I highlight the prevalence of the commodification of women through marriage as a main focal point for this investigation. My case studies are Mauve’s performances, manifesto and installation, entitled La femme et la ville (1972), and Francine Larivée’s environment-event La chambre nuptiale (1976). The first section of the thesis explores Mireille Dansereau’s documentary J’me marie, j’me marie pas (1973) as an introduction to the social and political contexts in which Mauve’s and Larivée’s works were created. In the second section, I discuss the development of feminism in Montreal, and the history of the institution of the family. The third section examines Mauve’s and Larivée’s works, and their exploration of the bride in relation to commodities, in the context of an increasingly consumerist society. I focus my discussion on commercial mannequins and the white wedding dress, two elements that are at the centre of both La femme et la ville and La chambre nuptiale. Additionally, the thesis casts a critical glance at the ambivalence that characterizes sexually empowered women in the media as both objects of male desire and independent, emancipated individuals. The fourth section deals with the impact of pop art, its Quebec counterpart, ti-pop, and with the cultural democracy model. I conclude my thesis by showing that the commodification of the bride and marriage is a topic that is still relevant today, perhaps even more than it was in the 1970s.


identifier: Young, Victoria  (2014) Tales of Whoa.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Tales of Whoa

abstract: Tales of Whoa is a collection of short stories that explores themes of: disappointment; sexual and emotional dissatisfaction; fidelity; and a person’s right to define her own terms of happiness.  The stories themselves attempt to move between the comic, the tragic, and the fairy-tale hopeful.  The narrator is a thirty-something, female writer whose passion and intellect are often at war with one another as she struggles to find a happy balance in life.  Feminist and fallible, the narrator navigates some of life’s trickiest relationship dilemmas in a humorous and accessible manner.  In these stories, a woman leaves an unsatisfactory relationship; a writer tries to pinpoint the essence of man while she searches for her own happiness; a first date explores what happens when people ignore their own short comings; a girl’s first sexual experiences are recounted; a woman struggles with the idea that her boyfriend is trying to kill her with food (or love); advice is given for how to have a fake affair with a real celebrity; a woman experiences her own version of a modern day fairy-tale.  Each story highlights a moment of illumination, or epiphany, where the narrator realizes something profound about herself or the men in her life.  It is a book, gritty and often explicit, that seeks to pull off the veil of embarrassment that covers discussions of sex, and to present things just as they are: awkward; messy; beautiful.


identifier: Gagnon, Jonathan  (2014) Minimum Latency Aggregation Convergecast in Wireless Sensor Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In wireless sensor networks, sensor nodes are used to collect data from the environment and send it to a data collection point or a sink node using a convergecast tree.  Considerable savings in energy can be obtained by aggregating data at intermediate nodes along the way to the sink.

We study the problem of finding a minimum latency aggregation tree and transmission schedule in wireless sensor networks.  This problem is referred to as Minimum Latency Aggregation Scheduling (MLAS) in the literature and has been proven to be NP-Complete even for unit disk graphs.  We present a new simpler proof of the NP-Completeness of the MLAS Problem for arbitrary networks and unit disk graphs.  We give tight bounds for the latency of aggregation convergecast for grids, tori, and trees. For regular unit interval graphs, we provide an algorithm which is guaranteed to have a latency that is within one time slot of the optimal latency.  Finally, for unit interval graphs we give a 2-approximation algorithm to solve the same problem.

For arbitrary graphs, we introduce a new algorithm for building an aggregation tree.  Furthermore, we propose two new approaches for building a transmission schedule to perform aggregation on a given tree.  We evaluate the performance of our algorithms through extensive simulations on randomly generated graphs and we compare them to the previous state of the art.  Our results show that one of our algorithms has a latency that is 38% less than the latency of the previous best algorithm.