identifier: Bertrand, Margie  (1997) Women's experiences of literacy participation in Cape Town, South Africa : six African women tell their stories.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the experiences of six African women participating in literacy programs in Cape Town, South Africa.  In order to understand the present context in which the women live and study, it is important to consider the historical, political, economic and cultural factors that have shaped their lives, and those of their ancestors. From here, the paper explores the present social position and material condition of African women living in the Western Cape Province. By becoming aware of the important underlying factors that hinder and/or support women's education, teachers, policy makers and program directors may be able to respond to a reality that is often overshadowed.  Using qualitative research techniques, I present the perspective of six women and their experiences as mature students in literacy programs. As "illiterate" people are often portrayed as being helpless and deficient, this study unveils a reality far from the stereotypes that are common in the dominant discourse on literacy. The African women that I interviewed, though deeply affected by their gender roles, historical context and economic constraints--revealed strength, determination and confidence in their ability to learn, raise children and confront the harsh realities of South African society. The women in this study continue to pursue an education against all odds and with little support. They speak well of themselves and their abilities to survive and nurture their children and communities. These conclusions are different from studies carried out in other contexts, such as India (Medel-Anonuevo, 1996) Nova Scotia (Horsman, 1989), U.S.A. (Rockhill, 1985) where women echo low self-esteem and a sense of helplessness.  It is important that our assumptions about "illiterate" people be challenged. In order for this to happen, it is helpful to seek the perspectives of literacy participants themselves. Their voices must be central to any discussion on literacy practice and theory.


identifier: Beshlian, Taline  (1997) Value creation in international acquisitions : evidence from U.S. firms buying into Canada.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: This study attempts to investigate two main issues: (1) Whether international acquisitions, in contrast to their domestic counterparts, create value for the shareholders of acquiring firms, and (2) What explains the variation in the abnormal returns generated by international takeover announcements. Using a dummy-variable approach and a sample of 187 transactions between Canada and the U.S., we examine the stock behavior of American companies that have purchased Canadian firms in the period 1982-1995, in order to determine whether the market reacts differently to domestic and foreign takeover announcements, and more specifically, to transactions between these two countries. Characteristics of the bidding firm and its industry, as well as of the acquisition and the economical environment were examined to identify the variables enhancing wealth creation.  Consistent with prior research, significant positive abnormal returns to American firms announcing the acquisition of Canadian companies are reported. Moreover, evidence shows that the wealth created by international acquisitions is a function of the bidding firm's prior level of international exposure, the degree of the firms' relatedness, the foreign exchange rate, and the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Furthermore, the method of payment, the ownership status of the target firm, whether the firm was purchased by a Canadian subsidiary, and the bidder's stock exchange seem to also play a role in explaining the abnormal returns generated by diversification to the acquiring firms


identifier: Boutin, Suzanne  (1997) Nationalisme et mouvement écologique.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Nationalisme et mouvement écologique

abstract: Ce memoire a pour but de montrer les liens existant entre le nationalisme et le mouvement ecologique. L'analyse du sens que l'on accorde au concept de communaute et de territoire servira de fil conducteur pour comprendre cette relation. Communaute et territoire en effet prennent des sens differents selon qu'ils sont places dans le contexte d'un discours soit ecologique, etatique, nationaliste ou post-moderniste. Tirant parti de l'examen des concepts de communaute et de territoire, nous chercherons des parametres qui permettront de concevoir une conscience collective qui soit porteuse du souci ecologique et respectueuse des droits de la personne, et cela, dans le cadre institutionnel approprie.  Notre conclusion nous suggere que l'institution cosmopolite plutot que nationale serait le meilleur pole d'adhesion pour soutenir les projets ecologiques. Cette instance serait mieux en mesure de faire respecter le droit a un environnement sain et par ricochet, aurait l'effet de renforcer les droits de la personne.


identifier: Bradley, Gordon  (1997) 21 skin lies & the naked truth : short fiction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: 21 Skin Lies & The Naked Truth is structurally comprised of forty-two pieces of short fiction varying in both length and subject matter. Presumably then, 21 are lies and 21 are the truth. Some are one-page, somewhat-isolated stories in miniature, but there are also longer, episodic pieces--each and all of which should be readable as stand-alone prose, or alternately as parts of a whole.  The thesis will synthesize multiple voices, perspectives and narrative modes. 21 Skin Lies ... is concerned with investigating personal and textual transitions, the interchangeability of pronouns (and therefore identities) and the search to order fragmented experience into sense.  It explores the journey towards becoming a hu(man) (be)ing, the second-handedness of most first-hand experience and the self as component of the world.  Repetitions, or leitmotifs in the text include: open salt water, mermaids, classical and popular culture as reference marks, the "twinning" of ideas and phrases, facets of the so-called digital age and selected portions of the lives of North American gay men between about 1965 and 1997.  This collection of short fictions is mostly set in 1995 Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Themes also include racial and sexual difference, facets of love and life (conducted even between "you" and the narrator), disease and premature death, finding beauty in garbage and vice versa, popular music and narrative self-identity.


identifier: Froio, Lydia Barsalou  (1997) Needs assessment and formative evaluation in the development of a college level English second language placement test.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Instructional design and test development models converged in the development of a valid placement test for college level students in English second language courses in Quebec. The realities of instructional design within the context of budget cuts and time constraints often result in the curtailment of the needs assessment and formative evaluation phases of design. The development of the placement test relied heavily on these two essential phases of instructional design despite constraints. The needs assessment and formative evaluation phases provided the necessary insights for the production of a test that corresponds to the learning objectives of the curriculum and the expectations of the test users. Adhering to these models provided the framework for the test design and ensured that the test items produced for the large scale field testing were functioning well in terms of their level of difficulty and their ability to discriminate. This thesis deals with the needs assessment that led to the development of items for a placement test and the formative evaluation of both the individual items and the test itself. n = 299 and n = 118, respectively.


identifier: Fraser, Steven  (1997) Multi-variable optimal numerical control using adaptive model for identification of thermally induced deformation in high-speed machine tools.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Thermally induced deformation in machining has been accorded an equal place with other sources of error, namely tool wear and mechanical deflection. The demand of the manufacturing sector to control the residual thermal errors below ±10 om in the whole working range of the machine tool has not yet been achieved. Since it is impossible to design machine tools that are thermally stable within this range, a feedback control system emerges as a logical and practical solution.  The major problem in implementing real-time control systems for thermal deflection is that it is not possible to directly measure the relative thermal displacement between the tool and the workpiece during machining, prohibiting the use of true feedback control. Process models relating the thermal deformation to the temperature rise at some points on the structure are frequently used, but since complicated models are not practical in a real-time control environment, simplified empirical models of the structure are employed. Based on the results reported in the literature, one can conclude that this will lead to poor predictions.  In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of thermal deflection estimation, a new concept of generalized modeling is expanded in this thesis to develop accurate real-time process models relating practical measured temperature points to the net thermal deflection of a machine tool structure. The first of these models deals with the identification of the generation of heat sources from the delayed temperature time response of measured points on the structure. The second model deals with the identification of the nonlinear effects that are introduced by contact interfaces within the machine tool structure. It has been shown that the accuracy of these models is within ±4 microns for typical configurations of a multi-component machine tool.  The estimated thermal deflection error is compensated by means of a feedback/feedforward control system, using NC position control and electronically-controlled resistance heating pads as a micro-positioning actuation mechanism. The feedforward controller was designed using the method of model inversion, and the feedback controller was optimized using the LQR error minimization technique. The procedure was validated on linear and nonlinear machine tool models. It has been shown that the estimation and control system reduces the thermal deflection error to within ±10 microns, a reduction of 96%, for multi-component machine tool structures of typical geometry, using economical hardware and data acquisition techniques


identifier: Francis, Lee H  (1997) Memory for objects and places following lesions of the hippocampus or perirhinal cortex in rats.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Retrograde memory for object discrimination problems and spatial information was assessed in rats that had received either bilateral aspiration lesions of the perirhinal cortex or bilateral NMDA lesions of the hippocampus. Rats learned three different object discrimination problems: They learned one problem approximately 72 hours prior to surgery, another problem approximately 24 hours prior to surgery, and a third problem approximately 1 hour prior to surgery. The rats also learned a place-memory problem, in which they were required to learn the location of a submerged platform in a pool of water, either 72 or 3 hours prior to surgery. Following recovery from surgery, rats were tested for (1) their ability to remember the presurgery object discrimination and place-memory problems, as well as (2) their ability to acquire new object discrimination problems. Neither lesion caused significant retention deficits for the object discrimination problems. Rats with perirhinal cortex lesions were impaired at acquiring the first postsurgery object discrimination problem but unimpaired at acquiring a second postsurgery object discrimination. Rats with hippocampal lesions were unimpaired at acquiring either postsurgery object discrimination problem. Rats with hippocampal lesions, but not those with perirhinal cortex lesions were impaired on the place-memory task that had been learned prior to surgery. These findings suggest that: (1) the hippocampus, but not the perirhinal cortex, plays an essential role in spatial memory, and (2) neither the hippocampus, nor the perirhinal cortex play an essential role in long-term memory for object discrimination problems.


identifier: El-Mallah, Mourad  (1997) Experimental and numerical study of the bleed effect on the propagation of strong plane and converging cylindrical shock waves.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A combined experimental-numerical study was conducted to determine the effect of bleeding on the propagation of plane and converging cylindrical shock waves. A fully 3-D Finite Element code was written for simulating inviscid unsteady flow in various cases of shock tube geometry. The scheme used was implicit time-marching with the Galerkin discretization for spatial coordinate derivatives and multi-step finite difference formulation for time derivatives. Initial trials with 1-D radial flow have shown good agreement with the analytical power law of shock propagation derived by Guderley.  The numerical code was first applied to the test case of shock wave strengthening through its reflection from a 15 ̕ramp. The numerical results of the shock front shape were found to be in good agreement with the Schlieren photographs taken for the flow at different time intervals.  The numerical code was then applied to the test case of a plane shock interaction with a transverse slit. Experiments were carried out in this case to determine the degree of shock attenuation for shock Mach numbers ranging between 1.2 and 2.5, and slit-duct width ratios varying between 0.25 to 1.0. For this test case, a simplified model--based on the Method of Characteristics and the Chester-Chisnel-Whitham (CCW) theory--was also introduced. Numerical results for the attenuated shock Mach number were found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental results and the approximate analytical model.  For the 2-D axisymmetric flows, domains similar to the plane flow cases were used to account for the radial convergence effect. Pressure measurements were also carried out at various radii to determine the pressure time history. The transmitted shock, past the slit, was found to undergo attenuation as in the 2-D case, but combined with strengthening due to area convergence. At the same location downstream of the slit, attenuation was found to be higher than in the 2-D case of similar slit-chamber width ratios.


identifier: El-Hacha, Raafat  (1997) Strengthening of concrete members with advanced composite materials.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research involves two experimental investigations into the behaviour of prestressed concrete members strengthened using two typical techniques: the first is by application of external post-tensioning using carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) cables, whereas the second is by bonding composite straps on the tension side of the members. In the first investigation, a total of twelve partially prestressed concrete beams were tested. Nine of the beams were first subjected to loads large enough to cause considerable cracking and deformations and then strengthened with the external CFRP cables and loaded up to failure. The CFRP cables used were CFCC 1 $\times$ 7-5 mm and 7.5 mm diameter, manufactured by Tokyo Rope, Japan. The remaining three beams were loaded monotonically from zero up to failure without strengthening and were used as control beams for comparison purposes. The twelve beams had the same concrete cross-section dimensions and were divided into three groups; each group consisted of four beams of the same length but with different levels of internal prestressing. The purpose was to study the effects of the span-to-depth ratio and the partial prestressing ratio or the reinforcing index on the performance of reinforced or prestressed concrete beams after being strengthened with the external CFCC cables.


identifier: Ducharme, Jennifer Lynn  (1997) Adolescent attachment : implications for adolescent interpersonal behavior.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Attachment security to mother as a contributing factor to the affective quality of, and interpersonal behavior involved in, adolescents' parent and peer relationships was investigated, as was concordance in attachment security to mother and to friends. One hundred and five adolescents (75 girls and 30 boys) in grades 9 and 10 participated. Attachment security was assessed categorically using The Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). Subjects completed a daily diary for one week in which they described two interactions per day, either positive or negative, one with parents and one with close friends, and a measure of emotional expressiveness (EES; Kring et al., 1994). The diary entries were coded to assess the hypothesized interpersonal manifestations (self-disclosure, emotional expressiveness, conflict, and positive versus negative valence) of attachment. Findings revealed little association between attachment to mother and to friend; most subjects were securely attached to friends. As hypothesized, securely attached subjects described more affectively positive and less affectively negative interactions with parents in their diaries than did insecurely attached subjects. Further, secure subjects used more negotiation, while insecure subjects used more disengagement, as conflict resolution strategies with parents. Attachment groups did not significantly differ in self-disclosure, or emotional expressiveness and amount of conflict in their diary entries. However, securely attached girls were higher in emotional expressiveness (EES) than were insecurely attached girls. Significant gender differences, consistent with past research, were also documented. These findings suggest attachment security continues to hold implications for adolescents' interpersonal behaviors and the affective quality of their relationships.


identifier: Dubé, Jean-Sébastien  (1997) Jouer (dans) le texte : des jeux de rôle aux médias interactifs narratifs informatisés.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The introduction of interactivity to popular narratives has changed the relationships of authors and readers to those works, as well as the relations between the authors and readers themselves. In fact, the nature itself of those new texts is being put to question as they are no longer set but open; no longer the result of single minds, but that of a collaborative effort between conceptors and interactors.  In this context, recreational role-playing games (e.g.: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) are seen as precursors to computerized interactive narrative media (i.e. such as computerized text-based adventure games, Muds, CD-Roms, hypertext narratives, etc.).  After a review of various conceptions of interactivity, play is put forward as the most productive metaphor to start thinking about narrative interactivity. Different aspects of role-playing games (social, ludic, ideologic, etc.) are then introduced, after which their historical filiation with computerized interactive media will be presented. Finally, a discussion of the new ways in which power and pleasure are articulated around the open text will be initiated, where it will be shown how role-playing games can contribute to that reflection


identifier: Doradla, Vijay  (1997) A new hybrid acquisition scheme for CDMA systems employing short concatenated codes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the rapid growth of Personal Wireless Communications in our times and the important role being played by Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) in the realization of the goals of second generation wireless systems, there is an ever increasing need for the development of better acquisitions techniques along with the study of a variety of techniques. Noting the important role of synchronization in CDMA systems, active research is being carried out to develop synchronization (acquisition+tracking) schemes that suit particular applications.  In the first part of this thesis we propose a New Hybrid Acquisition Scheme for CDMA systems employing Short Concatenated Codes. A new coding scheme using short concatenated codes is presented along with a detailed description of a new hybrid acquisition scheme. Simulation studies of the scheme are performed in a multiple access and additive white gaussian noise environment.  In the second part of the thesis, a Simplified Analytical Model of the scheme is developed using the state transition flow diagram approach and standard signal flow graph reduction techniques. Expressions for the mean and variance of the acquisition along with the probability of detection are developed. Finally the simplified model is studied in a Rayleigh fading channel.


identifier: Ding, Yuan  (1997) Some new types of designs with applications in conjoint analysis.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Conjoint Analysis (CA) is a mainstream method in market research studying the consumer behaviour. This method entails choice of experimental designs often dealing with large numbers of attributes and attribute levels. This thesis introduces the use of Partially Augmented Design (PAD) in CA and develops the universal optimality of two specific PAD's for use with large numbers of attribute levels. An example is presented to show the efficiency of the universally optimal PAD.  Uniform design, based on the work of Fang and Wang (1981), is introduced as an alternative to PAD in CA. A theorem previously developed by the author concerning the restriction in use of uniform design is presented. Optimal uniform designs are proposed. These designs are not orthogonal and hence they are also useful in the context of CA, because substantial correlations may exist between attributes.  The next important step in CA is proper statistical analysis. Appropriateness of random and mixed effects models, which are different from traditional fixed effects models used for analyzing CA data, is highlighted in several examples.


identifier: Debaiky, Ahmed S  (1997) Analysis of time-dependent effects on segmental prestressed concrete curved box-girder bridges.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the present thesis, a numerical technique is introduced and a computer program is developed for the time-dependent analysis of segmentally erected curved prestressed box-girder bridges and other structures. The program is capable of predicting the response of such structures throughout their various stages of construction and service load history. The analysis accounts for the effects of concrete creep and shrinkage, prestressed steel relaxation, differences in age between concrete segments, sequence of construction and changes in geometry and support conditions. Deviations in the positions of new segments due to the deformation of completed part of the structure needed to calculate formwork adjustment are accounted for in the analysis.  The procedure is based on the displacement method of analysis where multi-node variable cross-section beam elements curved in space, as well as conventional prismatic straight elements, are used to model bridges of arbitrary geometry. Prestressed tendons can have any profile in the space and can be prestressed, restressed or removed at any construction stage. Prestress losses due to friction and anchor setting are automatically evaluated by the program. A Step-by-Step approach is used to model the construction processes and to calculate the time-dependent effects at any instant during and after construction.


identifier: De Iaco, Gilda Assunta  (1997) The consequences of shift work : job performance, job satisfaction, and social life.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The adoption of rotating shifts and permanent night shifts gives rise to a large number of problems that have harmful effects on the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the worker. In this thesis I examine the impact of shift work on 23 hospital female switchboard operators and 23 male porters in two different hospitals. Each of the 46 respondents in the study were interviewed in depth and diaries were kept by 30 of them. In addition I observed the work routines of the respondents. Three theoretical models have been chosen to describe the negative consequences of shift work; the Circadian, Psychological, and Sociological models. Among the different models the Sociological model appeared to be the most informative in interpreting the job effects on individuals.  The findings revealed that the occupation of switchboard operating is much more stressful than the occupation of portering. The effects of shiftwork added to the job demands of switchboard operators increases their already stressful occupational demands. Some reasons for this are that family responsibilities weigh heavily on most female switchboard operators, and these responsibilities increase during certain stages of the life cycle.  Male porters do not face the same degree of stress in their jobs, nor are they as likely to deal with conflicting demands of the family to the same degree as female switchboard operators. Indeed many of the porters preferred shift work despite stressful levels that may occur. Quite surprising in the research findings was the discovery of the ability of those respondents experiencing stress to cope with these conditions


identifier: Da Costa, D  (1997) A prospective study on the influence of stress, social support and coping on birth outcomes and depressive symptomology during pregnancy and the postpartum.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The role of psychosocial factors in adverse birth outcomes and postpartum depressed mood remains unclear mainly due to methodological flaws and difficulties conceptualizing and measuring maternal stress. As well, variables such as social support and coping styles during pregnancy which may have an influence on birth outcomes and depressed mood have not received adequate empirical attention. Using a multidimensional approach to measure stress and a prospective design while controlling for demographic and biomedical variables, this study examined the influence of maternal stress, social support and coping styles on labor/delivery complications, infant birth weight and depressed mood pre- and postpartum. Beginning in the third month of pregnancy, data on numerous variables including daily stress (Hassles), state-anxiety (STAI-state), pregnancy-specific stress (PEQ) and depressed mood (DACL) were collected monthly. As well, in each trimester social support and coping strategies (CISS) were assessed, as were lifestyle behaviors such as smoking, caffeine and alcohol intake, and pregnancy progress. Approximately 4-5 weeks following delivery, information on labor, delivery and infant status was collected and the DACL and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were administered. The final sample consisted of 80 women with a mean age of 29.19 (range 20-38).  The results demonstrated that women who experienced greater stress during pregnancy had a more difficult labor/delivery, even after controlling for parity. Younger maternal age was also linked with intrapartum complications. Perceived prenatal social support emerged as a predictor of infant birth weight. Women who reported less satisfaction with their social support in the second trimester gave birth to infants of lower birthweight. Some evidence for a buffering effect of social support was also shown, as women who reported being less satisfied with their social support in the second trimester and experienced higher levels of depressed mood during pregnancy had infants of lower birthweight. Approximately 16% of the women in this sample experienced depressed mood in the postpartum assessment. Twenty-five percent of the women in this study reported depressed mood only during pregnancy, but not in the postpartum. This study showed that specific psychosocial variables are among the multiple factors involved in the occurrence of the adverse birth outcomes examined. Some support was found for the role of different psychosocial variables on depressed mood during pregnancy compared to the postpartum. Possible etiological mechanisms, clinical recommendations and directions for future research are discussed.


identifier: Chen, Tzu-Fang  (1997) Analytical and experimental studies for space boundary and geometry inverse heat conduction problems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Inverse Heat Conduction Problems (IHCPs) have been widely used in engineering fields in recent decades. IHCPs are not the same as direct heat conduction problems which are "well-posed". IHCPs are made more difficult since they are inherently "ill-posed"; that is, a small error perturbation will lead to a large error in the solution reconstructed. Prediction of an unknown in an IHCP is not an easy event. An IHCP also handles the desired information from measurements containing noise. A stable and accurate reliable inversion solver shall be studied.  This dissertation is split into four parts. The first part describes space boundary IHCPs, and attempts to utilize noisy measurement data to predict unknown surface temperatures or heat fluxes. A new algorithm, using a Kalman Filter to filter the measurement noise combined with an implicit time-marching finite difference scheme, solves a space boundary IHCP. In the second part, errors in reconstruction of the temperature at each boundary of a one-dimensional IHCP can be presented by a simple relation. Each relation contains an unknown coefficient, which can be determined by using one simulation through the inversion solver of a pair of specified sensor locations. This relation can then be used to estimate the other recovery errors at the boundary without using the inverse solver. In the third part, an experimental study of temperature drop between two rough surfaces is conducted. The experimental data are analyzed by utilizing an inversion solver developed in this dissertation. In the fourth part, an IHCP with a melting process using the measured temperature and heat flux at one surface is solved by a new geometry inversion solver with a heat flux limiter to reconstruct the melting front location and the temperature history inside the test domain.


identifier: Cass, Susan B  (1997) A journey along the road to "Model 2" : an in-depth study of one practitioner's experience in learning the diagnostic skills of action science.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This work is an in-depth case study of an action science teaching/learning project, and the focus is on one practitioner's experience in learning the diagnostic skills of action science. Using the theory-of-action approach developed by Argyris and Schon, the study examines a series of episodes, critical incidents, and issues that arose during a reflective practicum in which the learner participated over a year and one half period. The study is unique in that not only is the learning experience examined from the learner's perspective, but the practitioner under study is the researcher herself. In applying the particular approach and methodology to studying in-depth part of the complex process of learning to become an action scientist, the goal is to contribute to the current, rather limited bank of knowledge in this area, and build understanding about what kinds of learning environments and processes might better facilitate the learning of future action scientist trainees.


identifier: Broadhurst, Maura Lesley  (1997) Strategic spaces : towards a genealogy of women artists' groups in Canada.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: As part of an alternative to canonical Canadian art history, this thesis looks at the histories of women artists' spaces in Canada Overlooked by predominant texts addressing Canadian art history, these spaces have provided a physical place where many Canadian women artists have gathered to train, exhibit, and support each other as professional artists throughout the twentieth-century. The lack of documentation of the activities of the groups has resulted in a widespread ignorance among Canadians of women artists' histories, and in a case of amnesia causing a repetition of history. The creation and growth of women artists' groups have so far been followed by their deterioration and often death. With their activities and successes forgotten, similar groups formed years later are destined, or doomed, to repeat history.  By studying organizations of both "first" and "second-wave" feminisms, this thesis looks at the similarities and differences of several women artists' spaces in order to begin to understand this disturbing cycle. This material is based largely on archival information analyzed through the use of contemporary feminist theory. By pulling together these scattered pieces it is my hope to begin to trace a genealogy of women artists' groups in Canada. In documenting the activities of these spaces, perhaps the cycle can be slowed and the genealogy strengthened.


identifier: Braidy, Nadim G  (1997) Management policies to handle multi queuing systems in a service oriented organization : a study of the Henri Bourassa driver licensing office in the City of Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Service operations are often characterized as a seemingly endless series of waiting lines and servers. Almost every interaction between a consumer and the organization providing the service involves waiting in a queue. Capacity management is one response to the cry for a service performance improvement during the past decade. It represents the ability to balance demand and the capability of the service delivery system to satisfy the demand. A review of the literature reveals that an integrated approach of management strategies (demand and resources) is desirable. A feasible set of management policies to handle multi-tandem queuing systems characterized by stochastic demand is presented in this paper. This type of system is common in many high customer contact (HCC) service related organizations.  An extensive study of the city of Montreal driver licensing office (Henri Bourrassa Complex) was conducted and explored. A GPSS/H based simulation model was developed and employed to manipulate various policy variables (demand management, labor assignment and job flexibility) in an effort to provide options for increased system efficiency. The use of simulation analysis permits the incorporation of complex system characteristics, therefore providing a realistic representation of the effects of possible management actions. Customer arrival patterns during a three week period in January and July were compared using this model. Using a full-factorial design and given the statistical analysis, it was evident that a deterministic customer arrival rates produce significantly shorter mean system transit times. The results also revealed that job flexibility policy as well as the moving server model have been the most effective in decreasing the customer waiting time in the system and reducing servers idle time


identifier: Kumar, Kumaresannair Suresh  (1997) Simulation of fluctuating wind pressures on low building roofs.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Wind pressure fluctuations acting on low building roofs are important for the prediction of peak pressure values and for fatigue design purposes. Collection of several time histories of pressure fluctuations, using traditional wind tunnel measurements is time consuming and expensive. Within this context, a systematic study on the development of an efficient and practical method of digitally simulating realizations of local wind pressure time series has been carried out.  The stochastic characteristics of wind pressure fluctuations acting on various low building roofs have been investigated by using systematic wind tunnel measurements. Thereafter, based on the Fourier representation of time series, a new time series generation technique capable of simulating Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian wind pressure fluctuations is developed. Both Fourier amplitude and phase, which are required for the simulations, are modelled individually. The Fourier amplitude part is constructed either from sample time history or from sample spectra, while a simple stochastic model is proposed for the generation of Fourier phase of non-Gaussian time series. In the present study, the criterion for successful modelling is set to preserve the first four moments (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis) and spectra of the corresponding pressure fluctuations. The efficiency of this novel methodology is illustrated with several examples.  Several measured wind pressure spectra have been investigated to determine characteristic spectral shapes and derive a suitable mathematical representation. Based on the similarities among normalized spectra, an empirical model has been suggested for the synthetic generation of normalized spectra. Such artificially produced pressure spectra have been utilized for the generation of Fourier amplitude part in subsequent simulations. Thereafter, for easy generation of pressure time histories on roofs, normalized spectra are categorized for each roof and the standard spectral shapes associated with various zones of each roof and their parameters are established.  Further, potential applications of the proposed simulation methodology in extreme value as well as fatigue analysis are presented. In particular, the fatigue analysis of roof cladding using simulated pressure fluctuations has been described in detail


identifier: Khanduri, Atul C  (1997) Wind-induced interference effects on buildings : integrating experimental and computerized approaches.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Wind-induced interference effects are caused by the presence of adjacent structures, resulting in an increase or a decrease in the wind loads on a building depending mainly on the geometry and arrangement of these buildings, their orientation with respect to the direction of wind and upstream exposure. A comprehensive analysis of literature underscores the seriousness of the problem whilst exposing the inadequacy of existing research efforts in explaining and solving the problems of wind interference. The overriding reason for this is the complex nature of the problem and the large number of variables involved, even for the basic two-interfering buildings situation.  The main aim of this research is to tackle the problem of interference in a systematic manner in order to establish a generalized set of guidelines that will be of practical use to building designers and planners. An extensive experimental program is developed to quantify interference effects and a methodology employing neural network representations is developed to model these effects, to define the complex relationships among the various parameters involved and to provide knowledgeable assistance to building designers.  Extensive wind tunnel experiments have been conducted to find the mean and fluctuating forces as well as their spectra on a building due to an adjacent building of small, medium and large sizes, for several wind directions and various upstream exposure conditions, including city-centre situations. Interference effects are presented in the form of non-dimensional Interference Factors that represent the aerodynamic forces on a building with interference from an adjacent building, relative to the forces on a single free-standing building. The detailed experimental results have been analyzed and simplified to yield simple Interference Influence Grids, generalized guidelines and regression equations.  Finally, a database of experimental cases has been constituted and integrated with the qualitative knowledge-base developed during the course of this study, in order to provide valuable assistance to building designers at an early design stage. The database is used to model interference effects via a novel technique based on Neural Network representations. The methodology is capable of developing functional relationships among limited experimental data and documented cases. The ability of Neural Networks to generalize when presented with limited data makes them an attractive tool for knowledge acquisition on wind-induced interference effects for which there is no theory or empirical generalization at present. The developed knowledge-based design adviser is effective in analyzing wind interference situations and in suggesting suitable remedial measures to alleviate problematic interference effects.


identifier: Katakos, Kiriakos  (1997) Who is consoled by the Consolation of philosophy?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We developed the answer to this question on the basis of Boethius' own expectations, namely that a good life, an honest life deserves its reward and not the ultimate punishment of death. Then, following a long journey accompanied by Lady Philosophy, Boethius understood that God's ways do not coincide with human thinking and the nature of Fortune. This led him to the reconsidering of the notion of virtue and also the notion of Providence. Thus, the story of the Consolation of Philosophy becomes the search for a spiritual reward, a reward which is only in the power of a good God. But to reach this conclusion one has to accept the means leading to it, namely the conviction that human intelligence is able to rise with the help of philosophy beyond ordinary understanding of good and evil and penetrate the mysteries of God.


identifier: Jiang, Yingtao  (1997) A bulk-driven CMOS voltage-to-current transconductor and its applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Techniques that can provide non-degraded performance at low power supply voltages and consuming less power are demanded and will continue to evolute. In this thesis a novel bulk-driven CMOS voltage to current transconductor (VCT) is introduced. In contrast with the conventional gate-driven transconductors, this new transconductor (called bulk-driven VCT) has great potential to be used in low power low voltage supply system. Characteristics (DC, AC, etc.) related to this VCT circuit have been investigated. Noise performance of the circuit has been studied as well. Simulation and test results on several prototype chips fabricated in a 1.5 micron CMOS process show close agreements between the theoretical and test results. The functional parameters versus power consumption of the new VCT is very impressive compared with similar gate-driven VCTs that have been reported in the literature. This bulk-driven VCT can be further used to synthesize many components (like resistors and inductors). Using VCT-based inductors, a large system (filter) has been built. Advantage and disadvantage of the synthesized filter system have been shown through simulation and test results respectively. This VCT circuit may find its applications in audio devices and biomedical equipment, in which a modest working frequency band and efficient power consumption are required.


identifier: Huang, Qin  (1997) A study of software agent design and implementation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Software agents are the result of the development in the fields of human computer interaction, artificial intelligent and cognitive science. Recently it was the focus of both computer science research and the software industry. It has become clear that agents can take many roles in helping people complete their tasks. But, agents in real life have not been perfect things that can satisfy everybody. Some problems related to agent's usability have arisen, such as, whether an agent can provide useful help without annoying its users? Whether an agent can be trusted? Building agents that will be satisfied with and trust is important issue in the agents' design.  In this thesis, different approaches used in building agents and some current existing agents are introduced. Human-learning, machine-learning, and feedback learning are analysed. The thesis describes extensions made to an existing telephone agent. The enhanced telephone agent is presented by applying machine learning and feedback learning techniques. A demonstration is also given to show how the enhanced agent can make suggestions to its user unobtrusively with appropriate frequency and adjust its behaviour to support its user's daily work. Furthermore, a methodology for agents' development is derived from this case study. It is emphasised that through design and implementation to testing and maintenance, user's needs and user's satisfaction should always be the main concern of agent's designers. The thesis provides a frame for agents' development, which allows the construction of agents that meet these criteria.


identifier: Hijazie, Shadia  (1997) High-level synthesis and its application in the design of Reed-Solomon decoders.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Most of the improvements in the performance of digital systems have been brought about by recent advanced in VLSI technology. High-level Synthesis (HLS) is a major part of VLSI design process. Its techniques can be used to yield an optimal result in the design. Yet, major applications of HLS methods are on digital filters or DSP circuits. Arithmetic in these circuits are real, integer or complex. The major theme of this thesis is to show that HLS methodologies can be applied in the design of arithmetic circuits dealing with finite field elements, such as Galois Field ${\rm GF}(2\sp{m}).$  A case study for such a design is versatile time-domain Reed-Solomon RS(n,k) decoders. The structure of the time-domain RS decoder is simple and modular which makes it fit for VLSI implementation. The first part of the thesis studies HLS and introduces a Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) tool which can be used for designing an arithmetic based circuitry such as digital filters and algebraic codes. The RS(n,k) decoding algorithm, dealing with ${\rm GF}(2\sp{m})$ (7), is modified by applying some HLS techniques as transformation, clustering and loop unfolding. The transformed algorithm is then coded in VHDL and synthesized using Synopsys tools. The area and speed of RS(n,k) decoders are estimated and simulated for different values of m. The results proved to yield an efficient, fast with maximal throughput design


identifier: Holland, Matt  (1997) Taking place.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Taking place

abstract: This work of prose fiction explores two eras of a woman's life through contrasting narratives, situated more than seventy years apart. The woman, May Markham, indirectly witnesses the murder of her neighbour, an undercover R.C.M.P. agent, and becomes embroiled in the ensuing investigation. The disturbance recalls another violent incident, in the early 192Os, in which young May's father was murdered by her troubled lover, Major Redpath. As the story from the past unfolds, it informs May's present while she copes with people and circumstances both new and familiar. She befriends Monique, a colleague and former partner of the dead neighbour, who is struggling with her own demons surrounding the case. Meanwhile, a well-intentioned yet naive young May is revealed: bound by duty, moved by genuine affection, caught in the despair of an impossible and dangerously unpredictable situation. When the contemporary narrative moves toward a similar danger, she simultaneously confronts a concrete threat and an elusive sense of self.


identifier: Herba, Edward  (1997) Constitutive analysis and extrusion modeling of 6061 alloy and particulate composite.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Isothermal hot torsion tests were performed on 6061 Al alloy followed by a constitutive analysis of the alloy and three metal matrix composites previously tested (10%Al 2 O 3 /6061, 15%SiC/6061, and 20%Al 2 O 3 /6061). The flow stresses decrease with increasing deformation temperature and the rate at which this occurs increases with percent reinforcement. Flow stress as a function of strain rate and temperature was suitably represented by the hyperbolic sine and Arrhenius equations for the alloy and metal matrix composites. Extrusion, modeling was performed for the four materials using the constitutive equations above and the finite element software DEFORM which is a registered trademark of Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation. Simulations were run for various extrusion conditions and the output was placed in table format to facilitate interpolation. The simulation results were validated with comparison to real life extrusions and modeling of other researchers. The results showed that an increase in billet temperature, a reduction in ram speed, or a reduction in extrusion ratio, had the effect of reducing the ram load. According to the modeling results, maximum strain rate and maximum extrudate velocity increased with increasing ram speed or extrusion ratio and were not influenced by the percent reinforcement or initial billet temperature. The rate of decrease of nun load as a function of time (distance) increased with increasing percent reinforcement as a result of deformation heating.


identifier: Hardy, Cindy  (1997) Friendship formation in early adolescence.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The objectives of this study were to (a) examine temporal features of youths' peer relationships during the transition to high school and (b) examine prospectively the earliest phases of friendship formation. Students were tested six times as they moved from Grade 6 in small elementary schools into Grade 7 in one larger high school. In May of Grade 6 and in September, October, November, December, and May of Grade 7, participants completed sociometric nominations. Upon entry to Grade 7, they identified same-gender target peers who they had just met and with whom they thought they would become friends, and reported their perceptions of these relationships throughout Grade 7. Sociometric nominations were used to assess whether the relationships developed into friendships. Examination of temporal features of peer relationships revealed that peer relationships demonstrate both stability and change during the transition to high school, and that girls experience greater change in their friendships than boys. That is, during the fall term of Grade 7, both boys and girls lost old friendships, but girls lost more than boys and did so earlier in the school year. In addition, both boys and girls formed new friendships with previously unfamiliar peers, but girls did so more often and earlier in the school year. Youth appeared to base their selections of potential friends on peers' degree of acceptance and, to a lesser extent, rejection by the peer group. Initial perceptions of the qualities of relationships with potential friends did not appear to differentiate relationships which later became friendships from those which did not, but the validity of that conclusion was limited by insufficient statistical power. The transition from acquaintanceship to reciprocated friendship was characterized by increases in perceived positive relationship qualities, and perceptions of relationship qualities did not change during the first four months of friendship. The continued study of temporal features of friendship is needed to clarify the causes and correlates of stability and change in adolescent friendships, both in terms of overall friendship networks and in terms of the development of specific friendships.


identifier: Guimond, Lisa A  (1997) An experimental investigation of the consumer perception of products featured on coupons.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The objective of the paper was to determine whether different characteristics of a coupon can impact consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons.  An experiment using a homogeneous group of male subjects in a controlled classroom setting exposed subjects to one of eight coupons, each representing one of eight possible conditions of a combination of two levels of three independent variables tested in a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design: face value, manner in which the offer was stated, and familiarity with the featured brand. Subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire measuring perceptions such as psychological value of using the coupon, perceived quality, perceived price, liking for the brand, liking for the offer, intention to use the offer, and perceived risk in using the coupon.  Findings show that the independent variables all have significant impact on consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons.  Among them, liking for the coupon and intention to use it increase more dramatically with increases in face value when the brand is familiar. Also, when only the face value was shown, liking and intention increased more with face value for the familiar brand than the unfamiliar one.  Finally, coupon proneness and value consciousness add to the understanding of consumer perceptions. Coupon prone consumers pay less attention to face values, and have more positive perceptions of coupons when only the face values are shown. Highly value conscious consumers, on the other hand, pay attention to the magnitude of the face values.


identifier: Gessesse, Yemane B  (1997) On the fretting wear of nuclear power plant heat exchanger tubes using a fracture mechanics approach : theory and verification.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The analysis carried out in this research work, showed the inconsistencies observed in trying to identify the tube wear in heat exchangers. It is seen that the associated error could be an order of magnitude higher than the expected value, indicating the possibilities of failure at less than the predicted design life. Hence, the use of the commonly accepted concept of "work rate" as a scaling parameter is found to be questionable.  Wear models available in the open literature, have always been heavy on empirical formulations, because of the complexity of the process. Therefore, it is essential to verify any proposed model experimentally, using controlled parameters. The experimental study conducted for this research work was implemented for the verification of the new theoretical wear model developed. These experiments were carried out on two independent rigs to assert the validity of the new model.  The basis for this model was the extension of the delamination theory of wear for impact conditions (normal and oblique). It was essential to conduct a parametric study using a future mechanics approach, to quantify some variables for this model. The finite element method was implemented to study the crack nucleation zones and loading cycles required for the formation of a crack. It was also implemented to study the probable direction a growing crack will follow, and to estimate the crack propagation rate.  Even though, all the quantities in the new wear model were determined theoretically, it was observed that the prediction of the wear volume using the trend line was close to the prediction of the wear using the experimental one. This discrepancy was adjusted using randomly selected three data points to properly calibrate the crack tip sliding displacement (CTSD). Calibrating the model using three data points or all the data points did not alter the results significantly, for most of the experiments.  In order to reduce the scatter observed while verifying the wear model, it is essential to introduce a characterization parameter. The new wear model is extended to incorporate this characterization, by implementing a force and displacement category multiplier to the work rate. The verification of the characterization process was conducted using the fretting experiments which were carried out on Inconel 600 tubes and stainless steel supports. The wear rate was properly characterized using the new macro/micro contact stress dependent model, developed through a fundamental understanding of the process.


identifier: Galigekere, Ramesh R  (1997) New algorithms for image analysis, compression, and 2-D spectrum estimation in the radon space.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: New signal/image processing algorithms involving the Radon transform are presented. Algorithms that address computed tomography (CT) are motivated by the desire to process within the Radon space, instead of post-processing a reconstructed image. Algorithms that use the Radon transform as a tool, exploit the properties of the transform to simplify a 2-D processing task.  New image-invariants based on the moments of the projections are developed. The notion of moment-patterns in the Radon space is introduced. A method of rendering the moment-patterns invariant to geometric transformations is presented. An alternative descriptor based on the moment-patterns, invariant to geometric transformations as well as contrast, is proposed.  Selective reconstruction of objects from noisy projections is considered as an application of the 'instantaneous matched-filter'. It involves a combination of the ideas of detection of an object of known shape and location, and an estimation of the associated parameter.  A new approach to binary image compression is proposed, based on a representation of binary objects by a small number of projections. Additional compression is obtained by coding the 1-D non-binary projections. The approach finds applications (i) in CT, involving binary densities, and (ii) as a method of compressing binary images. A new algorithm developed for reconstructing binary images from their projections, turns out to be a variant of the algebraic reconstruction technique.  Two-dimensional spectral factorization in the Radon space is discussed, and some new applications are indicated. The theory suggests a new approach to 2-D spectrum estimation using the Radon transform, which is considered in the sequel.  Some of the issues associated with the Radon transform of a stationary random field are brought out. A new representation for the Radon transform of a stationary random field (valid upto second-order statistics), is used to study the second-order properties of the transform. Limitations pertaining to the theory and its application to random field data over a finite support, are discussed. A novel approach to spectrum estimation based on the Radon transform of 2-D autocorrelation of the stationary random field data is investigated. Estimation by autoregressive modeling is considered, and an extension to the maximum entropy method is discussed


identifier: Nixon, Virginia  (1997) The Anna Selbdritt in late medieval Germany : meaning and function of religious image.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the decades between 1480 and 1520 the production of images of Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child increased in Germany and the Netherlands in an unprecedented manner. This increase followed on the extensive promotion of the saint's cult by Netherlandish and Rheinland German humanists and reforming clerics that began in the 1480s, manifesting itself in the founding of confraternities dedicated to her and in the writing of lives and other texts. These texts, which were republished elsewhere in Germany, were of crucial importance in heightening Anne's popularity for they attributed to her a power unprecedented in saints' lives, the power to help souls achieve salvation. This power which Anne enjoyed thanks to her fleshly relationship with the Redeemer and his mother, had special appeal for German Christians, who in the fifteenth century were showing a heightened concern over individual salvation. This attempt to encourage membership in St. Anne confraternities was part of a larger clerical program to control and shape lay piety in the late medieval North, in part in response to anxieties over lay, especially lay women's, religious activities, in part in response to financial pressures. Not only did the texts ascribe salvific power to Anne. The images, both the Anna Selbdritt which depicts Anne with Mary and the Child Jesus, and the Holy Kinship which shows her with her extended family, also link Saint Anne with salvation, first by compositions which emphasize her role as the source of the flesh of Mary and Jesus, and second by the directions of the gazes. The hooded gaze of the fifteenth-century madonna, which is directed either downwards at her son or into the distance towards his coming crucifixion, and which aligns her with the role of co-redemptrix (merited by her fore-known humility) that some fifteenth-century theologians ascribed to her, is repeated in the figure of Anne. Thus Anne, as well as Mary, is compositionally linked with the redemptive sacrifice. This type of composition is found where texts ascribe salvific power to Anne, in Germany and Flanders, but it is not found where this motif is absent, for example in England and Italy.


identifier: Nikopoulos, Achilles  (1997) Design and energy analysis of a hybrid electric natural gas vehicle.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The main goals of this thesis research were to provide a simple concept and to simulate the energy requirements of a hybrid electric vehicle, i.e. to design a very efficient power assist hybrid electric natural gas vehicle without compromising the vehicle space, weight, and comforts. It is recognized that HEV's represent new areas of research, where demonstration projects are also required to find out which modes of energy conversion would best suit the society.  A simple simulation procedure is introduced that is practical, can be used as an initial analytical approach for hybrid vehicle energy analysis, and can be easily validated. Two scenarios consisting of a 0-60-0 km/h and a 0-100-0 km/h cycle were established to demonstrate the highway and city mode driving situations. The energy efficiency and equivalent fuel consumption were determined for the specific hybrid powertrains. A comparison with established SAE drive cycles was effected to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed simulation processes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


identifier: Nguyen, Hoang Uyen Trang  (1997) CPSS : a flexible and efficient simulator for wormhole-routed multicomputers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of the Concordia Parallel Systems Simulator (CPSS), a simulator for wormhole-routed multicomputers. The ultimate purpose of the CPSS is to provide a parallel programming environment which allows users to study impacts of system and software factors on program performance and to locate performance bottlenecks in parallel programs.  The major challenge in the design of the CPSS is to make a good tradeoff between the accuracy of simulation results and the feasibility of simulation time. The CPSS can accurately simulate a large range of regular topologies that represent the communication structures of most applications in scientific computations as well as the topologies of many large-scale wormhole-routed networks. Users are given the flexibility of changing communication and computation parameters as often as needed. This flexibility allows for thorough analyses of program performance under different sets of systems parameters, or on various multicomputer systems having different characteristics. The CPSS provides a rich, powerful and user-friendly set of correctness and performance debugging tools. Performance statistics at several levels of details are available for users to fine-tune their programs.  To support efficient network communication, we also propose optimal program mappings specifically designed for wormhole-routed networks. Our theoretical work in program mapping on wormhole-routed networks aims at emphasizing the importance of good mappings on such networks. As wormhole routing has become more popular, network sizes are expanded, and communication overheads are reduced, good mappings are indispensable to ensure high performance of applications running on wormhole-routed networks.


identifier: Nelson, Wade Gordon James  (1997) Never mind the authentic : you wanted the spectacle, you've got the spectacle (and nothing else matters?).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines criteria of valuation in regard to popular music. Rock press coverage of particular events within the domain of popular music in 1996 were examined in regard to criteria of valuation (specifically the Sex Pistols reunion and tour, the original lineup/Kabuki makeup reunion and tour of KISS, and the release of a new album and the headlining of the Lollapalooza tour by Metallica). It was seen that there were not only the expected authentic versus inauthentic considerations in regard to criteria of valuation, but a second sensibility that could be termed a "postmodern" one. Furthermore, this thesis shows a complexity in regard to the ways in which rock writers evaluate particular popular music events beyond both the criteria of valuation of authenticity and what may be referred to as a postmodern sensibility. In this thesis, the receptions of rock writers (working within the rock press) of these three events of 1996 have been examined in order to illuminate how criteria of valuation were espoused.


identifier: Mousavi, Hirad  (1997) Development of a model for optimizing water storage.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop an efficient optimization model to determine storage strategies for water supply purpose in multi-reservoir systems. The specific goals in designing a multi-reservoir system for water supply purpose is to optimize the reservoir sizes and configurations to satisfy demands for water supply at the minimum cost.  Four models are developed to optimize the configuration of multi-reservoir systems for water supply purposes. These models apply optimal control theory (OCT) and penalty successive linear programming (PSLP) as the most promising techniques to optimize large and complex water resources systems. Three of these models are based on the OCT. They have, however, different approaches to join the cost function to other objectives. The fourth model employs a new composite optimization algorithm, which is introduced in this study. This is called PSLP-OCT model and consists of two OCT and PSLP modules. These two modules interactively share their results during the optimization iterations. Multi-objective programming methods are implemented in the four models in order to consider the two non-commensurate objectives of minimizing cost and water deficit. The weighting and epsilon constraint methods are used as the most suitable generating techniques to incorporate the problem objectives.  The comparative performances of the design models on several case studies showed that the design models based on the OCT algorithm fail to design the multi-reservoir system optimally. However, The PSLP-OCT performance indicated that it is a very promising optimization method to design multi-reservoir systems regardless of their size. The PSLP-OCT model is the first model of its type that applies the proposed composite algorithm and incorporates multi-objective programming into the multi-reservoir design problems. Due to the inherent characteristics of the optimal control theory, the control variables in the OCT, module is not sensitive to the initial solution. The model structure is adapted such that the PSLP module is independent of the design period length. Therefore, using large hydrologic data does not affect its problem dimension.


identifier: Molhim, Mohammad  (1997) Possibilistic sonar modeling and localization for mobile robots.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Sonar sensors are widely used in mobile robots applications such as navigation, map building, and localization. The performance of these sensors is affected by the environmental phenomena, sensor design, and target characteristics. Therefore, the readings obtained from these sensors are uncertain. This uncertainty is often modeled by using Probability Theory. However, the probabilistic approach is valid when the available knowledge is precise which is not the case in sonar readings. In this thesis a new model of uncertainty in sonar readings is proposed by using Possibility Theory. The possibilistic approach is valid when the available knowledge is imprecise and coherent as in sonar readings. It is verified experimentally that the behavior of the sonar readings obtained from a corner is the same as the behavior of these obtained from a wall only when the sensor is at distances less than 75cm. Based on this finding, a new approach for corner detection is implemented on the mobile robot, Pioneer1. Unlike signal and image processing approaches, our approach is not time consuming because it depends on direct interpretation of readings obtained from different sensors in the same time (TOF). Stationary and dynamic localization methods are presented and applied on Pioneer1. These methods can be generalized for different robots configurations, especially the ones with a ring configuration.


identifier: Mohammed, Khaleelul Iqbal  (1997) The Jewish and Christian influences in the eschatological imagery of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigates the Jewish and Christian influences in the eschatological imagery of one of Islam's major sources of tradition literature, the compendium known as Al-Jami' al-Sahid h or Sahid h Muslim. The focus will be on five main areas: the intermediate state between death and resurrection, the second advent of Jesus Christ, the Antichrist, The Last Days, and Resurrection and Heaven.  The broad methodology will be to analyse the language of the Qur'an without dogmatic refraction, and then compare that document's world view against the later Hadith. If a difference is noted, Jewish and Christian literature will be examined for provenance. Given the fluidity of the Judaisms and Christianities in the Muslim lands of the first three centuries of Islam and the resultant difficulty in identifying any belief as being peculiar to a particular source, attempts will only be made at identifying concepts as generally Jewish and/or Christian, and examples will be cited to support this contention.  In conclusion, after a summary of the eschatological perspectives of the Qur'an and the Hadith, an attempt will be made to identify the specific genre of eschatology imaged in the latter.


identifier: Mill, Davina  (1997) Correlates of affectionate and angry behaviour in day care educators of preschool-aged children.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Research suggests that daycare children develop a network of attachment relationships both within and outside of the family and that all attachment relationships are important to the development of children's emotional and social development. In Canada today, approximately two-thirds of mothers with children younger than school age are in the paid labour force, and there are a large number of children being raised in what has been labeled "other-than-mother care" (Scarr, 1984). Based on the presumption that affectionate and angry behaviours on the part of daycare educators would have major implications for the development of the children for whom they care, the aim of the present investigation was to provide the groundwork for identifying what factors were associated with educator warmth and anger in daycare settings.  The conceptual framework for the present study draws upon the ecological models (Bronfenbrenner, 1986) that explicitly acknowledge the multiple levels of environmental influence on the caregiver's behaviour in order to study the correlates of these behaviours. Thus, several categories of variables were used to predict affectionate and angry caregiver behavior. These included educator characteristics, personal resources, the work environment, wages and global quality, and the caregiver's perception of her work.  A multi-method, multi-respondent approach was employed, including researcher observations, educator self-report questionnaires, and objective data collected from directors and from Québec's Office des Services de Garde à l'Enfance. Seventy-eight female educators from 37 centres caring for preschool-aged children were observed in their classrooms for approximately two hours, using two valid and reliable time-sampling outcome measures of affection and anger. Characteristics of their work environments were also recorded. The educators then completed a battery of questionnaires in which they provided information on their background characteristics, personal resources and perceptions of their professional roles and details about their work environments. Directors were asked to complete a brief questionnaire concerning characteristics of their centre and their own background.  The findings from this study suggest that different sets of variables are related to affection and anger. The work environment had a greater relation with caregiver's affectionate behaviour, whereas more internal, negative perceptions were linked to the expression of anger in the classroom. Improvements in the work environment might increase warm interactions directly by liberating the educator's resources in order that she can devote more of her energy towards being affectionate with the children. Changes in the work environment, however, may only decrease the educator's expressions of anger if she perceives herself as being supported in her job.  Though training did not emerge directly as a significant factor in the display of affection or anger, (a) training did have an indirect relation with these behaviours by operating through the work environment, (b) educators who were less sufficiently trained were found to be more angry and less affectionate with the children when another risk factor was present, and (c) under adverse conditions, higher levels of affection and lower levels of anger were noted for higher levels of training, suggesting that training may serve as a protective factor from negative influences


identifier: Mendelsohn, Eric  (1997) Nature versus freedom : Hannah Arendt's theory of the political sphere from the polis to the modern world.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: My thesis bears on Hannah Arendt's theory of the political sphere. My objective is critically to assess Arendt's development of the theory from its introduction in her treatment of the self-understanding of the ancient Greek polis to its deployment in the modern context. With The Human Condition as the central text in my analysis, I consider the key philosophical-theoretical commitments surrounding the theory of the political sphere, notably Arendt's opposition of freedom to nature. I argue that problems arising in connection with Arendt's theory of the political sphere can be traced to the freedom-nature dichotomy.


identifier: Liu, Ying  (1997) Numerical analysis of elastic membrane structures subjected to hydrostatic pressure loading.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Membrane structures play an important role in a wide variety of applications, ranging from solar sails, satellites and aircraft, to pneumatic structures, lightweight temporary constructions and biological tissues.  In this research project a numerical model has been developed for stress analysis in isotropic elastic membranes undergoing finite deformations, while partly or totally subjected to pressure loading of the hydrostatic type. The possibility of wrinkling is accounted for by employing a Relaxed Strain Energy Density. The numerical procedure is based on the Dynamic Relaxation Method. This is an explicit, iterative technique in which the static solution is obtained as the steady state part of the damped dynamic response of the structure. The numerical scheme is constructed by applying Green's theorem differencing method for the spatial discretization of the partial differential equations describing the damped motion of the membrane. The resulting system of ordinary differential equations is further integrated in time by a central difference time integrator. Solutions of typical boundary value problems are obtained and analyzed. The effects of various loading and boundary conditions on the response of the membrane are examined. The predictions of the numerical method are in good agreement with the results obtained with experimental models.


identifier: Léger, Marc James  (1997) A fragment of the Berlin Wall in the Centre de commerce mondial de Montréal : notes toward a theory of the public artefact at the "end of history".  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The contemporary critical art practices of situational aesthetics and site specificity have affected and transformed the production and reception of monumental public art. This thesis examines the placement of a fragment of the Berlin Wall in the 'Centre de commerce mondial de Montreal' in light of the knowledge produced by these political and aesthetic practices. In keeping with materialist approaches to the study of art as well as to urban space, the production of the Wall fragment as a public monument is understood in terms of social relations and representation. By paying close attention to multiple spatial, aesthetic and social contexts, it is argued that the placement of the fragment in the CCMM yields specific meanings and preferred readings. While the interpretation provided in this thesis is situated and partial, it nevertheless makes the claim that the site chosen for this example of public art puts into question and undermines the very notion of the public sphere, that is, the same political ideal which establishes and legitimates "public art" as a social practice.


identifier: Lavoie, Kim Louise  (1997) Women, anger, and cardiovascular reactivity to interpersonal conflict.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The present study examined differences in affective response and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) in 42 women who were exposed to one of two harassment protocols; (i) Self-Harass, where participants were themselves harassed during a math task, (ii) Friend-Harass, where participants observed the harassment of a close female friend while the friend engaged in a math task. Whereas the former represents a traditional harassment protocol involving criticism of the participant's instrumental performance, the latter involves observing an attack on a significant other. Due to the social pressure placed on women to not express their anger, and because it may be considered socially appropriate to express anger in defense of a significant other, it was hypothesized that experiencing anger during harassment of the self would create feelings of discomfort in women, and that this discomfort would lead to greater elevations in CVR in Self-Harass as compared to Friend-Harass participants. The results of the present study offered support for this hypothesis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


identifier: Latendresse, Saskia  (1997) Yeats and water imagery.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Yeats and water imagery

abstract: Surprisingly little of Yeatsian scholarship deals with the cluster of images that forms one of the basic building blocks of the poet's philosophical system, water and its related imagery. This thesis intends to remedy this neglect.  The centrality of water imagery stems from the fact that Yeats had identified both himself and the Irish people (his subject, as he was trying to build a national body of symbols) with water. Water--sea, lake, ice, well--and its related imagery--moon, water birds, fish and dolphins, blood and alcohol as related liquids--pervades the poetical and dramatical work of Yeats. Water imagery is one half of the system that provided Yeats with his subjects, a religion of opposites; the other half is absence of water or fire. Water and fire, wet and dry, the Moon and the Sun symbolize Yeatsian opposites that either unite (Unity of Being) or clash (opposite characters or ages). In the late works, when Yeats concentrates on the Great Wheel, water and fire are fixed as a key concept of the gyre, its poles. All the images that had been paired with or related to water or the absence of water in the earlier works (stone, garden, tree, bird, woman) converge as correspondences for the two poles, each feeding off the other (the clashing opposites are alternate aspects of the one reality that is the gyre). The imagery is crunched around the wet and dry poles of the Great Wheel, making water imagery and its eloquent absence essential to understanding Yeats's symbolism.


identifier: Obaid, Mona  (1997) Board control, firm ownership structure, and chief executive compensation : an empirical analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The degree of board control and a firm's ownership structure have an important role in the determination of chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in large U.S. corporations. This study uses a model of political factors to attempt to describe their influence on both the overall amount and form of CEO compensation under differing growth and risk conditions. Past research indicates that powerful boards limit a CEOs' ability to control decisions made, such as those that have to do with setting their compensation (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1988; Westphal and Zajac, 1994). Also, that both institutional and large block holders have the power and the incentive to monitor CEO actions to make sure they are in their own interest. Finally, it is expected that both investors and board members are to make use of different forms of compensation depending on a firm's level of risk and growth opportunities. The findings based on data from a cross-sectional set of 362 Business Week firms are both supporting and contradictory.


identifier: Poirier, Frédéric J. A. M  (1997) Equating discriminability of subjective contours across the visual field requires two scaling factors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Performance in visual tasks can often be equated across eccentricities by proper scaling. The scaling or inverse magnification function (EMF), describes the ratio of peripheral to foveal stimulus size required to equate performance. Tasks and visual brain regions have different IMFs. It is argued in this thesis that IMFs may average out when a methodology insensitive to the presence of multiple IMFs is used. This fact is demonstrated through simulations. The present thesis introduces a data fitting technique that detects the presence of multiple IMFs in a psychophysical task. These are revealed as an interaction between stimulus configuration and eccentricity. These new techniques were used to investigate the percept of subjective contours (SC) defined by offset gratings which are thought to be encoded through a cooperation of V1 and V2 cells, two brain areas described by different IMFs. Five participants discriminated the orientation of a SC presented foveally (monocularly or binocularly) and at four eccentricities. SC length and carrier grating wavelength were adjusted until performance converged on 81% correct. There was an interaction between eccentricity and stimulus configuration, F (20, 80) = 2.063, p = .0124, which was accounted for only if two IMFs were assumed. It was found that SC length (V2) scaled faster than the wavelength (V1) as a function of eccentricity. This qualitatively agrees with anatomical measures of V1 and V2 IMFs. The method developed here provides a more informative and more objective measure of eccentricity-dependent performance limitations than other commonly-used methods.


identifier: Popeski, Naomi  (1997) NADPH-d staining in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei increases in late pregnant and lactating rats and is influenced by ovarian steroids and central oxytocin levels.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that staining for NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) a histochemical marker for nitric oxide synthase is increased in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei in late pregnancy. This work was extended to investigate whether increases in staining were evident at other times during pregnancy and lactation. The number of cells in the SON and PVN that stained for NADPH-d in rats on Day 4, 12, 16, and 22 of pregnancy and on Day 4, 12, and 20 of lactation was compared to that in virgin females. In other studies, the influence of ovarian hormones and central oxytocin infusion on NADPH-d staining in these nuclei was examined. Staining in the SON and PVN was compared among ovariectomized (ovex) animals exposed to either a steroid hormone regimen that mimics late pregnancy (estrogen (E) + progesterone (P) treatment followed by P removal), E alone, E + P, or cholesterol alone. A second study compared NADPH-d staining in ovex animals exposed to either chronic E or cholesterol treatment and infused with oxytocin or vehicle into the third ventricle for 7 days.  On the appropriate day, all animals were perfused and the brains were processed for NADPH-d histochemistry. In both the SON and PVN the number of densely stained cells present on Days 12 and 22 of pregnancy and 4 and 12 of lactation was greater than that seen in virgin females. Both the steroid treatment that mimicked late pregnancy and chronic i.c.v. oxytocin infusion in E-primed animals increased NADPH-d staining in ovex animals. These data suggest that, in general, NADPH-d staining in the SON and PVN is increased at times when oxytocin cells in these areas are activated and that the hormonal state associated with late pregnancy is sufficient to up-regulate NADPH-d in these regions


identifier: Poulin, Gisèle  (1997) A descriptive survey of two Québec multimedia art education courses.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study is a descriptive survey of two Quebec Universities multimedia art education courses. It attempts to answer a three-fold question about what has, what is, and what should be done to prepare pre-service art teachers to incorporate multimedia in their practice. Data collection was accomplished using the following qualitative methods: interviews, questionnaire, and observation. Drawing on the literature and the interviews, a relationship between the new technologies and postmodern theories is established. A description of two undergraduate art education courses with multimedia content is presented, using points of view gathered from interviews with teachers, class observation, and a questionnaire administered to students. I noted that as the school term progressed, there was a positive change in attitudes towards technology. Teaching approaches appear to promote cooperation and collaboration between students. Based on the results of the interviews and the questionnaire, teachers and students agree that teachers could be better prepared to deal with new technologies. Such preparation would include more hours of hands-on experience with the tools.


identifier: Preville, Philip  (1997) The effort to forget : collective memory and documentary film in Québec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is an exploration of collective memory with respect to Quebec nationalism. Three documentaries are used as a case study through which to examine the primary themes of collective memory in Quebec: Denys Arcand's Le Confort et l'indifference (1981), Donald Brittain's The Champions Part 3: The Final Battle (1983), and Jacques Godbout's Le Mouton noir (1992). Particular emphasis is placed upon the dynamics of forgetting in collective memory. Specifically, this thesis argues that forgetting is not the antithesis of memory, but its complement; forgetting emerges through the process of memory narrativization itself, as embodied through the documentary films. Conclusions are drawn with respect to the role of forgetting in the imagined community of the nation, and suggestions are formulated with respect to the understanding of collective amnesia in further study on collective memory.


identifier: Roy, Claude  (1997) Assessment of quality of municipal services and residents' satisfaction with these services.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the adaptation of a Marketing instrument, SERVQUAL (Parasuraman, Berry, & Zeithaml, 1991a), to gauge empirically the attitudes of residents towards the quality of municipal services. SERVQUAL comprises two batteries of items, one for expectations and one for perceptions, and posits that there are five dimensions to the quality construct.  The aims of this study are (a) to develop a reliable and valid instrument to determine the quality of municipal services as perceived by residents, (b) to assess the relative importance of the dimensions in the shaping of the quality construct, (c) to develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure residents' satisfaction with the services provided by a municipal government, and (d) to study the relationship between measures of satisfaction and quality of service offered by that municipality.  A mail survey was conducted on a representative sample of the population of a town in Western Quebec. Several findings have emerged from the data analysis. First, the quality construct can be structured hierarchically as a second-order factor model. Second, the importance weights that the residents assign to the dimensions for the expectations are not the same as those for the perceptions. Third, perceptions alone are sufficient to explain the shaping of satisfaction. Hence, this study has successfully resolved some of the outstanding issues concerning the scales, but has raised new issues about their use in the municipal context.


identifier: Sabour, Mohammad Reza  (1997) Inorganic contaminant transport through unsaturated clay soil.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The fate of contaminant migration through the subsurface environment as well as their potential hazard to humans, animals, and aquatic life has become one of the major current concerns of the scientific community. Accordingly, various theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted on the saturated soil by many researchers.  The literature review emphasizes that the problem of the unsaturated transport of contaminants through porous media has received little attention. Thus, the present work is carried out to contribute to the study of heavy metals migration within unsaturated clay soil through mathematical modeling of the mechanisms and parameters which influence the transport phenomenon.  For successful modeling, it is imperative that parameters which affect the transport phenomenon be investigated and determined properly. Hence, the study was conducted through two principal parts. The first part is an experimental investigation to quantify the various soil-water (solution) interactions that have an effect on the flow and contaminant transport and to derive the constitutive relationships required in mathematical modeling. The second part develops a contaminant migration mathematical model which includes unsaturated flow, hydrodynamic dispersion, and physico-chemical reaction between the solid and the liquid phase, employing the theory of mass transport.  The experimental investigation contains two main sets of laboratory tests: ( i ) some independent tests in order to isolate and better understand the individual processes, and ( ii ) some tests on experimental models of the real phenomena to verify the related parameters in a combined kinetic situation.  The results of all experiments are followed by discussion, in order to better understand the phenomenon behavior, and to realize the relationships among the various processes. Based on the above mechanisms, the governing equations of the problem are derived to provide a quantitative account of the behavior of the phenomenon.  Finally, a finite volume algorithm is developed, on the basis of the mathematical model, in order to solve the contaminant transport equations numerically. Using experimental results, the numerical model is then calibrated and verified. The developed computer code provides the ability to predict the contaminant migration for any depth and period of time. Based on this capability the concentration variations of the solution along the soil profile, especially for long time periods, are predicted and illustrated


identifier: Schreyer, Suzanne Katherine  (1997) Development of a synthetic enzyme for detection and quantitation of Thiols.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A voltammetric survey of quinone and ferricinium derivatives showed that several are useful for electrocatalytic thiol oxidation. Those showing the highest rates are the quinone form of dihydroxybenzylamine and the dimethylaminomethylferricinium ion, which oxidize glutathione at rates of 18 $\rm M\sp{-1}s\sp{-1}$ and 111 $\rm M\sp{-1}s\sp{-1}$ at pH 7.0.  Synthesis of artificial enzymes by coupling these catalysts with the primary or secondary monotosylate of $\beta$-cyclodextrin yielded unique species based on RP-HPLC, and UV-Visible spectroscopy. After isolation by RP-HPLC, synzymes were examined for thiol oxidation under pseudo-first order conditions, and thiol oxidation rates were determined. Only the secondary ferrocene-$\beta$-cyclodextrin product gave enhanced thiol oxidation rates in comparison with free dimethylaminomethylferricinium. Further tests on this species showed it was a better catalyst for cysteine than for glutathione oxidation as oxidation rates for the cysteine were 1470 $\rm M\sp{-1}s\sp{-1}$ as compared to 260 $\rm M\sp{-1}s\sp{-1}$ for the glutathione. Enhanced thiol oxidation rates were also observed at pH 8.0 $\rm(k\sb{obs} = 4123\ M\sp{-1}s\sp{-1})$ for the secondary ferrocene-$\beta$-cyclodextrin with cysteine, as compared to pH 7.0.


identifier: Shinkle, Eugénie  (1997) The body in the landscape.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: The body in the landscape

abstract: Western Landscape is more than a description of Nature, it is a field on which discourses of perspective, aesthetics, and political philosophy intersect to describe the subject's relationship to Nature and civil society. Defined as such by the homogenous space of linear perspective, Landscape is not a 'real', but a virtual space, which functions hegemonically to conceal the material body and to legislate subjective agency. Classical representational space imposes limits upon visible, material Nature by confining the spectator to a unique viewing position; the park or garden delimits an ideal subject of government by presenting a politically expedient vision of Nature. Landscape--both the image, and the real spaces which pattern themselves after it--demands to be read as a text, locating the subject as/at a 'point of view' which is removed from real space and time.  Perpetuated by historical and present-day discourses of landscape representation and alteration, as well as the discourse of art history, Classical or perspectival vision characterizes not only the subject's relationship to real Nature, but to knowledge and history as well. Positing subjective agency in/as corporeal choice is a possible means of critiquing perspectival vision and its role in traditional art historical practice. Deconstructing the 'point of view' implies a different way of situating oneself as a subject; as well, it suggests the collapse of the narrative history of Landscape. Finally, it raises the question that the real itself is produced out of a desire for the other.


identifier: Smith, Wendy  (1997) Lifetime stress, blood pressure, heart rate, and salivary cortisol levels in post-menopausal women.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Post-menopausal women are a unique group who may be at increased risk for the development of coronary heart disease. As such, more research is needed to understand the physiology of these women. This study had two purposes. The first was to assess the effects of past stress levels on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and salivary cortisol excretion in post-menopausal women. The second purpose of this study was to examine the interactions between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the cardiovascular system in these women. Two measures of past stress were examined in relation to BP, HR, and cortisol levels. The Concordia Lifetime Stress Graph (CLSG) provided a measure of lifetime stress, and scores on the Life Experiences Survey (LES) provided a measure of stress in the past year. Salivary cortisol levels, BP, and HR were examined both at baseline and in response to a laboratory stress test comprised of an anticipatory period, an oral defense, and a mental arithmetic task. Results indicated that neither stress experienced over the lifetime or over the past year was related to baseline or reactive BP, HR, or cortisol levels. Other results assessing the interaction between the HPA axis and the cardiovascular system indicated a negative relationship between cortisol reactivity and baseline BP. This negative relationship is inconsistent with previous findings of a positive relationship in younger men. The findings of this study suggest that past levels of stress in post-menopausal women do not influence current functioning of the HPA axis or the cardiovascular system. In addition, the relationship between the cardiovascular system and the HPA axis may be different in post-menopausal women than it is in younger men.