identifier: Record, Joseph  (2016) Fabrication, Characterization, and Simulation of Gallium-Nitride Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents the fabrication, characterization, and off-state gate leakage simulation of Al x Ga 1−x N/GaN Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistors (HFETs). GaN HFETs are promising devices for high power, high frequency applications such as microwave amplifiers. This is due to the numerous benefits of the GaN material system including high electron mobility, breakdown field, saturation velocity, and thermal conductivity. This thesis is broken down into two major components. The first and most significant covers the fabrication and characterization of Al x Ga 1−x N/GaN HFETs. Devices were fabricated at McGill University’s Nanotools Microfabrication laboratory using a custom designed process flow. This process flow builds on previous work and presents Ohmic contact results of Ti/Al/Ti/Au and Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ti/Au metalizations. A complete description of the process flow is provided including technology characterization results, such as mesa height profiling, where applicable. Electrical characterization of fabricated devices is performed. Results show an average contact resistance across temperature of 3.39Ωmm for the Ti/Al/Ti/Au metalization and 3.22Ωmm for the Ti/Al/Ti/Al/Ti/Au metalization. Full contact resistance results are provided over
a wide range of temperature. The Ti-Al multi-layer metalization also outperforms the Ti/Al/Ti/Au metalization in terms of drain current density ( 0.12A/mm vs. 0.09A/mm ) and transconductance
( 60mS/mm vs. 40mS/mm ). Off-state gate leakage and current-voltage profiling are also carried out.

The second part of this thesis concerns gate leakage current in Al x Ga 1−x N/GaN HFETs. A new off-state gate leakage model is presented to determine the variation in leakage mechanisms with
the change in barrier layer aluminum mole fraction. A new metric of turning point is introduced to show where Fowler-Nordheim tunneling becomes the dominant leakage mechanism. Results show that as Al mole fraction is increased, the turning point becomes more negative and total gate leakage increases. Finally, improvements to the fabrication process and simulations are presented.


identifier: Fournier-Sylvester, Nicole  (2016) Connected: Facilitating Transformative Online Dialogue in Peace-Building, Reconciliation and Global Citizenship Education Programs.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
Since the 1990s, globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) have emerged as pathways for dialogue, connecting classrooms from around the world. Although it was initially hoped that bringing diverse populations together online would naturally foster the inclusion of disparate voices and viewpoints, it is now widely acknowledged that online communication may just as easily reinforce pre-existing social arrangements as challenge them. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore how GNLEs developed for civic and peace-building purposes conceptualize dialogue and address power inequalities. Data include multiple case studies grounded in interviews, journal and news articles, and policy and curriculum documents.  Data were analyzed using a critical theory framework and a decolonizing global education checklist in order to identify potentially colonizing assumptions behind these programs. Findings from this research suggest that despite some examples of shallow and apolitical approaches to intergroup or intercultural dialogue, there are also many ways that online learning environments can be conducive to facilitating transformative and decolonizing learning experiences.
This dissertation makes ten recommendations for implementing a critical approach to dialogue online. These recommendations include how to frame, structure and facilitate online dialogue through asynchronous forums and videoconferencing.  In addition, the recommendations speak to the importance of addressing social and political issues while constructing learning environments that are conducive to the expression of marginalized viewpoints and forms of expression. Recommendations also address how online channels for communication and interaction can be used to address epistemological, linguistic and technological hegemonies often present in global education initiatives. These strategies include, for example, the incorporation of digital imagery and storytelling, as well as wikis that help visualize conflicting narratives and understandings of history. In addition, acknowledging and openly exploring the implications of having a dominant language for communication is necessary as is addressing differential access to technology between groups, including those excluded from online intercultural dialogue opportunities.


identifier: Alo, Franco M.  (2016) The Influence of Operational Sex Ratio on the Intensity of Competition in Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) during Rut: An Experimental Approach.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We examined how manipulating operational sex ratio (OSR: the ratio of reproductively active males to fertilizable females), could affect the intensity of competition in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) using an experimental approach to test mating systems theory on the very first field study on large mammals of its kind. Study was conducted at the Kutuharju Reindeer Research Station where we had access to a herd of semi-domesticated reindeer. We manipulated OSR on two levels in two enclosures, a female biased treatment (3♂:6♀ = OSR 0.5) and a sex balanced treatment (3♂:3♀ = OSR 1). Female reindeer were injected with 1 ml of estrumate prior to a trial to promote early and synchronized oestrous to assure competition among our 1.5-year-old males. We predicted that with increasing OSR, male-male aggression would increase and courtship behaviours would decrease, unless males adopted alternative mating tactics. Conversely, female-female aggression was predicted to decrease with increasing OSR. The propensity for males to act agonistically was predicted to increase with increasing OSR. Male-male rate of aggression did not differ between treatments. Female-female rate of aggression was found to decrease significantly with increasing OSR. Propensity to act agonistically was not significantly different between treatments. 1.5-year-old males may be too young and inexperienced to behave predictably. We conclude that the intensity of competition cannot be predicted at the group level based on OSR alone, though some trends emerged.


identifier: Darmond, Corinne  (2016) The use of filamentous fungi Myceliophthora heterothallica as a host for heterologous protein production.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The goal of this research was the development of an expression system using a thermophilic host organism for heterologous protein production. Mycothermus thermophilus, Myceliophthora thermophila and Myceliophthora heterothallica were chosen as candidate host organisms due to their high production of extracellular proteins under cultured conditions and their ability to grow in wide range of pH. Of particular interest is Myceliophthora heterothallica, an organism largely unexplored as a host organism, which holds the potential of using sexual mating in strains development. Transformation of the host organism was done by means of polyethylene glycol mediated transformation using cotransformation with a selection plasmid containing the selectable marker amdS and an expression plasmid containing heterologous xylanase genes. Six different promoters were tested to drive the expression of xylanase genes of interest in order to assess the production of heterologous proteins under different conditions. These promoters included PglaA from Aspergillus niger, PgpdA, PpmoA, PcbdA, PagdA from Myceliophthora thermophila, and PagdB from Myceliophthora heterothallica. The level of expression in the transformants was estimated using levels of xylanase activity observed using both a xylanase spot assay and BCA assay. Production of a heterologous xylanase from Aspergillus niger were obtained with constructs containing PagdB from Myceliophthora heterothallica CBS375.69. Transformants containing the construct PagdB - ANxynA showed an 80 fold increase in xylanase activity 24 hours after induction by sucrose, over transformants who had been transformed with the selection plasmid alone. Yields remained low and the heterologous protein could only be detected by mass spectrometry rather than by SDS-PAGE. However this research demonstrates that Myceliophthora heterothallica has potential as host organism for heterologous protein production and provides not only a thermophilic host organism, but one with sexual mating system as well.


identifier: Sharifi Sorkherizi, Milad  (2016) Microwave Filters Based on New Design Concepts in Several Technologies with Emphasis on the Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide Technology.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Microwave filters have been an interesting research topic for more than half a century. Since any communication system is required to use some microwave filters, considerable effort is being made to optimize the performance and size of these filters. As operating frequency is on the rise, filter design becomes more challenging with the demand for low insertion losses and low cost. As low cost might require the use of printed circuit technology, high performance demands waveguide technology that drives the cost to unacceptable levels. There is a need for a new technology that achieves both requirements of low cost and high performance.
The new technology of ridge gap waveguide that was proposed in 2011 shows promising characteristics as a new guiding structure, especially for high-frequency bands. Therefore, it is necessary to design and propose classic or even new filtering devices on this technology. Here, we propose the use of this technology to design practical and efficient microwave filters.
The work of this thesis can be divided into three major parts: (1) Developing efficient codes and methods to optimize the computationally expensive structure of ridge gap waveguide or any other large-scale microwave filter device. (2) Characterizing cavity structures on ridge gap waveguide and using them in the design of simple microwave filters. (3) The third part will discuss more advanced and practical filters, especially using printed ridge gap waveguide technology. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to design and propose state of the art designs in the field of microwave filters that can satisfy the requirements of today’s advanced communication systems and to be cost efficient and compete with other rival technologies. We achieved these objectives using efficient optimization, efficient design techniques, and fabrication of the models using advanced technology.


identifier: Tebung, Walters Aji  (2016) Functional Rewiring of Zinc Cluster Transcription Factors Between Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract

Functional Rewiring of Zinc Cluster Transcription Factors Between Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Walters Aji Tebung, PhD
Concordia University, 2016
	The prediction of protein function based on the role of orthologous proteins in other species is a common practice in life sciences. While such predictions prove accurate in some cases, a growing number of structurally orthologous proteins with different roles have been reported. Functional differences among structurally orthologous transcription factors create what has been termed transcriptional rewiring. We have characterized some zinc cluster transcription factors (ZCFs) in Candida albicans (C. albicans) including Ppr1, Stb5 and Put3. We identified cases of total rewiring, partial rewiring and functional conservation (no rewiring) but with some regulatory fine-tuning between C. albicans and S. cerevisiae for the ZCFs Ppr1, Stb5 and Put3 respectively.
	We show that Ppr1 regulates purine catabolism in C. albicans, which is different from its role in S. cerevisiae where it regulates pyrimidine biosynthesis. We identified that Ppr1 rewired at Naumovozyma castellii in the phylogeny, and propose that Ppr1 rewiring is a result of cellular adaptations to permit growth in hypoxic conditions. In another study, we report that Stb5 has gone from regulating drug efflux pumps and glyoxylate cycle enzymes in C. albicans, to only regulating drug efflux pumps in S. cerevisiae. The glyoxylate cycle is required for C. albicans virulence, and our stb5 null mutants showed sensitivity to the echinocandin class of antifungal drugs. We therefore propose Stb5 as a potential drug target against candidiasis. Finally, we discovered that Put3 has conserved its role in regulating proline catabolism between C. albicans and S. cerevisiae. However, unlike the case of S. cerevisiae where Put3 can only activate transcription of proline catabolism genes in the absence of rich nitrogen sources, there is no equivalent restriction in C. albicans where Put3 preserves its ability to activate proline degradation even in the presence of the rich nitrogen source ammonium sulfate, thus allowing for the use of proline as a carbon source. The robust ability of C. albicans to obtain nutrients from a variety of sources adds to its efficiency as a pathogen.
	These studies correlate transcriptional rewiring to species requirements, where different species adapt available transcription factors to meet their specific needs.


identifier: Seraj, Saemul  (2016) Free vibration and dynamic instability analyses of doubly-tapered rotating laminated composite beams.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Due to the outstanding engineering properties, such as high strength/stiffness to weight ratios, capability to be stiff at one location and flexible at another location and favorable fatigue characteristics, doubly-tapered composite beam is used in the rotating structures such as helicopter rotor blades and wind turbine blades. Due to its distinct characteristics from static beam and wide range of applications, rotating beam requires a comprehensive research to understand its dynamic response. Design of mechanical components using doubly-tapered composite beams requires a better understanding of their behavior in free vibration and their dynamic instability. In the present thesis, free vibration and dynamic instability analyses of doubly-tapered rotating cantilever composite beams are conducted considering three different types of vibrations (out-of-plane bending, in-plane bending and axial). Rayleigh-Ritz approximate method based on classical lamination theory has been employed to formulate the free vibration problem and solve it. Bolotin’s method is applied to determine the instability regions. Numerical and symbolic computations have been performed using the software MATLAB. The results for natural frequencies have been validated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tool ANSYS. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted in order to understand the effects of various design parameters. Moreover, critical speed of doubly-tapered rotating composite beam is determined and change of critical speed due to double-tapering is investigated. Also, change in maximum deflection due to rotational velocity and double-tapering is observed in this thesis. The material chosen in this thesis for numerical calculations is NCT-301 graphite-epoxy prepreg.


identifier: Nawar, Sandra Maria  (2016) Machine Learning Techniques for Detecting Hierarchical Interactions in Insurance Claims Models.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents an intuitive way to do predictive modeling in actuarial science. Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) are  the standard tool for predictive modeling in the actuarial literature and in actuarial practice, yet GLMs can be quite restrictive. The aim of this work is to model claims and to propose solutions to current actuarial problems such as high variability in large data-sets, variable selection, overfitting, dealing with highly correlated variables and detecting non-linear effects such as interactions.

Regularization techniques are crucial for modeling big data, which means dealing with high-dimensionality, sometimes noisy data that often contains many irrelevant predictors. Penalized regression is a set of regression techniques that impose a constraint/penalty on the regression coefficients and can be used as a powerful variable selection tool as well. They are a generalization of GLMs and include techniques such as Ridge regression, lasso, group-lasso and Elastic Net. The proposed approach is a hierarchical group-lasso-type model that can efficiently handle variable selection and interaction detection between variables while enforcing strong hierarchy. This is achieved by imposing a penalty on the coefficients at the individual and group level. By optimizing the penalized objective function the model performs variable selection and estimation. Additionally, the model automatically detects interactions which is another important factor to achieve a high predictive power. For those purposes the group-lasso method is investigated for the Poisson and gamma distributions to perform frequency-severity modeling.


identifier: Al-Yawer, Faisal  (2016) The impact of Cognitive Training on Brain Electrophysiology and Divided Attention in Healthy Older Adults.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Aging impacts older adults’ ability to divide their attention. Research has shown that cognitive training techniques are promising in improving divided attention. Investigating the effects of training on electrophysiological brain activity might elucidate the mechanisms underlying improvements and allow better training method selection. Electroencephalography (EEG) is ideal for studying divided attention as switching attention is a dynamic process that takes place within milliseconds and requires high temporal resolution.
All participants (mean age 69.5 years, SD=6.42) performed a visual detection task and an alphanumeric equation task under single and dual-task conditions. Afterwards, participants were randomly assigned to three groups: The single task training group (STT, N=13) practiced the two tasks separately; the fixed attention training group (FAT, N=12) was trained to assign equal attention to both tasks concurrently; the variable-attention training group (VAT, N=14) was trained to flexibly vary their attention while performing the tasks concurrently. After training, participants were tested again. EEG measures were taken pre- and post-training.
Training led to behavioural improvements in all of our participants, with the VAT group displaying the greatest benefits and a reduction in dual-task costs. The N1 component was less pronounced after training while P2 was enhanced, suggesting more efficient processing. Functional connectivity measures indicated an increase in theta band coherence between fronto-parietal and fronto-occipital regions in the VAT group, suggesting improved cognitive control. Our results suggest that variable attentional allocation training incurred behavioural benefits with an electrophysiological profile distinct from single task practice and equal priority dual-task training.


identifier: Frederick, Ariana  (2016) Expression patterns of the circadian proteins PER2 and BMAL1 throughout the rodent forebrain: immunofluorescent mapping of their co-expression with Enkephalin and Substance P.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Despite rhythmic clock gene expression being found throughout the central nervous system, very little is known about their function outside of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Understanding how clock genes are expressed across a variety of neural cell types is important to elucidating how these clock genes are regulated and how they may influence the function of each brain region. Using immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, we quantified the co-expression of the clock proteins BMAL1 and PER2 with Substance P (SubP) and Enkephalin (Enk). Regions examined included the limbic forebrain (the dorsal striatum, ventral striatum, amygdala, stria terminalis), the thalamus (medial habenula), the hypothalamus (paraventricular nucleus, arcuate nucleus) and the olfactory bulb. In most regions examined, PER2 and BMAL1 were homogenously expressed in nearly all cells (~90%), despite very different expression profiles of SubP or Enk in each nucleus. In nuclei that expressed both SubP and Enk, PER2 and BMAL1 were not preferentially co-expressed in one cell type or the other. The olfactory bulb was unique and expressed PER2 or BMAL1 in a much smaller percentage of cells, and Enk was rarely found in the same cells that expressed the clock proteins (SubP was undetectable). This indicates that clock genes are not unique to specific cell types and further studies will be required to address which factors contribute to clock gene rhythmicity. A focus on network interactions is recommended in order to determine how different cell types contribute to various aspects of rhythmicity, such as rhythm generation, amplitude and synchrony.


identifier: Peyman, Hanieh  (2016) Evaluation of dispersive solid-phase microextraction using hydrogel microparticles for global metabolomics by liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: An ideal sample-preparation method for LC-MS metabolomic analysis should be as non-selective as possible for metabolites but still capable to remove the interferences such as salts and proteins. Microextraction methods have not been widely used in this application despite their potential to reduce ionization suppression and/or increase metabolite coverage. The main goal of this M.Sc. project was to develop a new dispersive solid phase microextraction (D-SPME) sample preparation method and investigate whether this approach can improve the coverage of the metabolome from human plasma. Different types of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide hydrogel extraction phases functionalized with vinyl acetate (VAC), acrylic acid (AAC) or N-3-aminopropyl methacrylamide hydrochloride (APMAH) were tested. Sample analysis was performed using three complementary liquid chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry methods for high, intermediate and low polarity sub-metabolomes respectively. The extraction conditions were optimized in terms of desorption solvent, influence of pH, centrifugation time, extraction time, sorbent to sample ratio, increasing portion of functional monomer and evaluation of reproducibility. Finally, the performance of the optimized D-SPME method was compared against protein precipitation using methanol, which is currently the gold standard method for global metabolomics of human plasma, and commercial core-shell nanoparticles (CERES Nanotrap) functionalized with acrylic acid or Cibacron blue cores. The main criteria used for the comparison were ionization suppression, metabolite coverage and precision. Hydrogel microparticles performed as well as nanotraps in terms of extraction and performed better than nanotraps and methanol precipitation in terms of ion suppression. Hydrogel D-SPME had lower total coverage than methanol precipitation, as expected for a microextraction method, but successfully revealed more than 568 low abundance metabolites in positive ESI mode and 48 metabolites in negative mode that could not be observed using the methanol method. Therefore, hydrogel D-SPME appears to be a promising new method for global metabolomics.


identifier: Dewal, Faras Mohan  (2016) A Testbed for Simulation-based Analysis of Forwarding Plane.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
A Testbed for Simulation-based Analysis of Forwarding Plane
- Faras Mohan Dewal
Master of Applied Science (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Concordia University, Montreal QC, 2016

This thesis presents a testbed capable of generating scalable realistic network traffic on a standalone machine. The functionality of the proposed testbed is to model a scalable network of client and server instances and generate network traffic to perform simulation based-analysis of forwarding plane designs. The testbed enables the designer to successfully conduct experiments on the design under test using realistic traffic profiles and assess the performance for multiple use cases.
The proposed testbed defines simulation models for client and server nodes. The testbed modeling has been abstracted to three different levels. First, a base node design allows us to instantiate and manage multiple instances within the node. Second, a transmission protocol is implemented to enable data transfer between client and server instances. The final stage is the Internet application modeling stage. Our experiments show that we are able to reliably generate network traffic for up to 400 client and server instances on a standalone machine.


identifier: Kuate Defo, Zenas  (2016) “We’re all on the same boat, but we’re not the same passengers”: an exploration of the hidden and fragmented nature of the homeless subject.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The subject of homelessness is one that has been covered extensively in social scientific research. Yet, it continues to remain hidden and fragmented, even to those researchers who have had significant experience working with this population. Using a combination of anthropological methodologies – oral history, archival research, and participant observation –, the current research project examines some of the reasons for this fragmentation of the homeless subject matter, first through an examination of the changes in homelessness literature over time, then via examination of parallels to other homelessness research and the life history of one homeless individual, an exploration of the ways in which shelters impact the lives of those residing within them, and finally through reflection on the ways in which ‘experience’ informs homelessness research.


identifier: Rostami Dovom, Shahriar  (2016) Identification Of JavaScript Function Constructor Using Static Source Code Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Software maintenance and comprehension constitute a considerable portion of the required effort for software development, and thus, myriad number of studies have proposed approaches for improving maintainability of software systems. However, the majority of these studies have examined software systems written in traditional programming languages, such as Java and C++. While the ubiquity of web has resulted to JavaScript to be extensively adopted by developers, studies that investigate maintainability issues in JavaScript are scarce.

Prior to the recent updates on the JavaScript language specifications, developers had to use custom solutions to emulate classes, modules, and namespaces in JavaScript programs; consequently, detecting classes in JavaScript programs is non-trivial due to the flexibility of JavaScript’s syntax. To improve the maintenance and comprehension of JavaScript programs, we design and implement JSDeodorant, an automatic approach for detecting Function Constructors (i.e., the emulation of Object-Oriented classes) in JavaScript programs. These function constructors can be declared locally, under a namespace, or in other modules. The comparison with the state-of-the-art tool, JSClassFinder, shows that, while the precision of the tools are very similar (97% and 98%, respectively for JSDeodorant and JSClassFinder), the recall of JSDeodorant (98%) is much higher than JSClassFinder (61%).

Finally, we conduct an empirical study to compare the extent to which JavaScript programs in different domains (websites, server-side programs written in NodeJS, and libraries) adopt Object-Oriented classes. Our study shows that classes are more frequent in websites than NodeJS programs. Also, NodeJS projects have fewer classes compared to libraries.


identifier: Dalena, Kara  (2016) Emotion Regulation Theory and Interventions for School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT

Emotion Regulation Theory and Interventions for School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Kara Dalena

	As seen in previous literature, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder often struggle with regulating their emotions and prosocial coping strategies (Beeger et al., 2008; Beidas et al., 2010; Domitrovich et al., 2007; Erbas et al., 2013; Gould et al., 2011…Yeo & Choi, 2011). The inability to regulate emotions and apply prosocial coping strategies often result in problem behaviors in the classroom and among peers. Understanding and examining how students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) perceive their emotions as well as others’ emotions can help us understand what intervention is necessary to improve their emotion regulation. In particular, teaching these students about theory of mind, emotion differentiation, and perspective may help them improve their emotion regulation (Gould et al., 2011; Hammond et al., 2009). Teaching these children prosocial coping strategies may ultimately decrease problem behaviors in the classroom (Jahromi et al, 2013).
	This research study aimed to explore how children with ASD perceive their emotions, as well as others’ emotions. Additionally, this research focused on children’s emotion regulation and provided them to practice prosocial coping strategies. In collaboration with Sunshine School, the school staff, an intervention centered around emotional awareness was put in to place. Four students between the ages of 8 and 10 years old, with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in this intervention. These participants were interviewed in order to understand how these children perceive their emotions and then completed the emotion regulation intervention created by the researcher. Each participant also completed a Video-Self Model (VSM) to implement prosocial coping strategies.  The classroom teachers were asked to complete a rating scale in order to measure social skills and problem behaviors.
	This qualitative analysis used grounded theory to explore themes related to emotion regulation as well as emerging themes from the interviews, drawings, observation and field notes.  Findings were consistent with previous research; children with ASD struggle with emotion regulation and lack the possession of prosocial coping strategies (Jahromi et al., 2012; Jahromi et al., 2013; Landy & Bradley, 2014). More importantly, these children have difficulty differentiating between emotions, understanding the perspective of others, and often struggle with coping with emotional conflicts. Findings showed a positive change in each participant’s emotion regulation after participating in the intervention. Additionally, children showed a positive change in understanding prosocial coping strategies.


identifier: Parsazad, Shafigh  (2016) Fast Simulation of Programmable Network Forwarding Plane Devices.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
With the evolution of the Internet, the processing of packets at the routers while providing
flexibility in deploying new protocols and services at the same time has become a major concern.
Programmable forwarding elements with high processing capability have emerged as a solution.
But the main challenge is to find the optimal hardware architecture while taking into account
constraints  such  as  different  packet  processing  functions,  task  scheduling  options,  electrical
power consumption and providing quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees. Therefore, it is essential
to  investigate  methods  that  help  in  identifying  limitations  and  bottlenecks  before  physical
fabrication. Having an  appropriate model provides designers a progressive path  to  narrow the
design  space  and  establish  credible  and  feasible  alternatives  before  deciding  on  an
implementation.
In this thesis, we propose a flexible and fast instruction accurate host-compiled simulator to
make it possible to  explore wide ranges of architectures  and application scenarios  to find the
optimal configuration that meets given performance, throughput and latency for programmable
forwarding  elements.    Application  developers  can  use  the  simulator  as  a  virtual  prototype  to
simulate and debug their applications before hardware availability. Moreover, forwarding device
architects  can  use  simulator  to  evaluate  the  trade-offs  between  different  hardware/software
design decisions.


identifier: Ismaeel, Mostafa  (2016) Performance based budget allocation model for water networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
PERFORMANCE-BASED BUDGET ALLOCATION MODEL FOR WATER NETWORKS
Mostafa Ismaeel, MASc
Concordia University, 2016
The assessment of water network is a challenge that concerns municipalities worldwide. Most of the water distribution systems around the world are deteriorating and, thus, their rehabilitation become urgent while it costs billions of dollars. According to the Canadian Infrastructure Report Card (CIRC, 2016), the Canadian water distribution systems are graded as “good: adequate for now” with 35% graded from “fair” to “very poor” and the estimated replacement cost is almost CAD 60 billion. The American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card has evaluated the condition of drinking water networks in the United States as “poor” with a grade “D”, stating that the United States water networks need USD 126 billion in order to reach a grade “B” by 2020 (ASCE, 2013). Thus, it is obvious that the necessity of providing continuous potable water under tight budgets plunks extra pressure on municipalities and triggers the need for a proper performance assessment.
Accordingly, this research aims at developing a Water Networks Performance-Based Budget Allocation (WNPBA) model, composed of two sub-models: (1) Water Networks Performance Assessment (WNPA) model to precisely assess the performance of the water network components and (2) Budget Allocation (BA) model to optimally allocate budget according to the performance assessment. The WNPA model encompasses two key indices: (1) Pipes Performance Index (PPI) and (2) Accessories Performance Index (API). These indices reflect the status of network components and their deterioration levels and they propose consequent, preventative actions. The WNPA utilize the Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP) to identify and evaluate the weight of functional performance criteria (i.e. physical, operational, quality of service and environmental) of pipes and accessories. It also exploits both the Preference Ranking Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) and the simple Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to compute the functional and global performance indices of the network components. Moreover, the BA model utilize genetic algorithms (GA) and Greedy Heuristics (GH) to optimally allocate the available funds. The required data for this research is collected from experts and two water municipalities (Montreal, QC and Moncton, NB). The developed models are applied to the two water networks.
The results show that most of City of Moncton sub-network 2 components are in a good or medium state, except for pipes 4 & 10 and accessory 7; those are in a poor state, while sub-network 1 is graded excellent for 1 accessory, good for 9 accessories and 7 pipes, medium for 23 accessories and 14 pipes and poor for 2 accessories and 14 pipes. The pipelines in city of Montreal sub-network are graded excellent for 16 pipes, good for 32 pipes and medium for 5 pipes while the accessories are graded excellent for 49 accessories, medium for 8 accessories and poor for 21 accessories. All the sub-networks are generally in a medium state (4<PI≤6). City of Moncton results are verified where the verification factor (VF) is found to be higher than 0.8. Results from the city of Montreal are verified, where almost 90% of the recommended actions from the budget allocation match the actions recommended by the city of Montreal water services. Thus, it can be concluded that WNPBA has proved to be a promising tool with a high capacity in allocating budget to water network components, based on performance indices. Finally, the developed models helps maintain the water supply healthy and work continuously, while maintaining the network in an acceptable condition and protecting it against any unexpected incidents.


identifier: Duchesne, Natalie  (2016) A Comparative Study of How Trans People Interact with Public Policies in Montréal and Toronto.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This dissertation examines trans people's relationship to policy in Montréal and Toronto. Adopting a critical/reflexive methodology, it begins by examining how past research has been framed through the object of study of gender transgression (transness). It demonstrates that this focus has limited the scope of policies considered: which policies are discussed, what is said about them, and how they are evaluated. In order to move forward, the dissertation proposes the concept of policy encounters, that is, contact between policy users and policy. This notion is developed by examining trans people's encounters with housing, social assistance, refugee, and trans-specific policies (e.g. civil status). Based on 30 one-on-one interviews, this review expands the scope (breadth and depth) of what is considered in relation to trans people and policy, uncovers new points of evaluation, and re-examines political priorities. All in all, policy encounters offer a much better perspective of trans people's policy landscape than gender transgression. Finally, this dissertation highlights the skills and strategies adopted by trans people to navigate complex and imperfect policies. As a whole, the project moves towards offering policy advice to policy users.


identifier: Huggins, Julia  (2016) Analog Amnesia in the Digital Age.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Analog Amnesia in the Digital Age

abstract: A culturally and historically particular understanding of modern memory underscores ongoing popular debates concerning the status of human memory in the digital age. In an era circumscribed by anxiety around the extent to which digital technologies are eroding the boundaries of the human, this thesis argues that a bifurcated model of memory has emerged. This is to say that our understanding of human memory in the digital age has splintered along technological lines; on one hand, a model of technologically mediated memory associated with digital technologies and, on the other, a kind of subconscious embodied memory aligned with the human in its ‘natural’ state. Such a scenario insists on the distinction between the conscious memories we preserve through external technologies and the dormant memories housed in the depths of our psyches, which are imagined to be less amenable to technological intervention. We can observe this bifurcated model of memory at work in cinematic representations of amnesia in many recent Hollywood films, though this thesis will focus on Peter Segal’s 50 First Dates (2004) as a case study. Firstly, I examine how this dyadic model of memory emerges from the film’s nostalgic privileging of analog technologies, by virtue of their connection to the human body, as opposed to digital technologies, which are regarded more apprehensively due to their alienation from the body. Secondly, I work through the broader significance of this twofold model of memory for contemporary debates around authorship and the domains of private and public (virtual) space. Ultimately, through a symptomatic analysis of the intersecting functions of memory, technology, and intimacy in 50 First Dates, this project endeavours to demonstrate how this dyadic model of memory informs and is informed by discourses around what it means to be human in the digital age.


identifier: kamel, mohamed ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1968-4345 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1968-4345>  (2016) Cooperative Control of Multiple Wheeled Mobile Robots: Normal and Faulty Situations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recently, cooperative control of multiple unmanned vehicles has attracted a great deal of attention from scientific, industrial, and military aspects. Groups of unmanned ground, aerial, or marine vehicles working cooperatively lead to many advantages in a variety of applications such as: surveillance, search and exploration, cooperative reconnaissance, environmental monitoring, and cooperative manipulation, respectively. During mission execution, unmanned systems should travel autonomously between different locations, maintain a pre-defined formation shape, avoid collisions of obstacles and also other team members, and accommodate occurred faults and mitigate their negative effect on mission execution.
The main objectives of this dissertation are to design novel algorithms for single wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) trajectory tracking, cooperative control and obstacle avoidance of WMRs in fault-free situations. In addition, novel algorithms are developed for fault-tolerant cooperative control (FTCC) with integration of fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) scheme.
In normal/fault-free cases, an integrated approach combining input-output feedback linearization and distributed model predictive control (MPC) techniques is designed and implemented on a team of WMRs to accomplish the trajectory tracking as well as the cooperative task. An obstacle avoidance algorithm based on mechanical impedance principle is proposed to avoid potential collisions of surrounding obstacles. Moreover, the proposed control algorithm is implemented to a team of WMRs for pairing with a team of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for forest monitoring and fire detection applications.
When actuator faults occur in one of the robots, two cases are explicitly considered: i) if the faulty robot cannot complete its assigned task due to a severe fault, then the faulty robot has to get out from the formation mission, and an FTCC strategy is designed such that the tasks of the WMRs team are re-assigned to the remaining healthy robots to complete the mission with graceful performance degradation. Two methods are used to investigate this case: the Graph Theory, and formulating the FTCC problem as an optimal assignment problem; and ii) if the faulty robot can continue the mission with degraded performance, then the other team members reconfigure the controllers considering the capability of the faulty robot. Thus, the FTCC strategy is designed to re-coordinate the motion of each robot in the team. Within the proposed scheme, an FDD unit using a two-stage Kalman filter (TSKF) to detect and diagnose actuator faults is presented.
In case of using any other nonlinear controller in fault-free case rather than MPC, and in case of severe fault occurrence, another FTCC strategy is presented. First, the new reconfiguration is formulated by an optimal assignment problem where each healthy WMR is assigned to a unique place. Second, the new formation can be reconfigured, while the objective is to minimize the time to achieve the new formation within the constraints of the WMRs' dynamics and collision avoidance. A hybrid approach of control parametrization and time discretization (CPTD) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed to address this problem. Since PSO cannot solve the continuous control inputs, CPTD is adopted to provide an approximate piecewise linearization of the control inputs. Therefore, PSO can be adopted to find the global optimum solution.
In all cases, formation operation of the robot team is based on a leader-follower approach, whilst the control algorithm is implemented in a distributed manner. The results of the numerical simulations and real experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in various scenarios.


identifier: Novakovich, Jeanette  (2016) Why teach a fish to swim? A design-based research study incorporating social media into the professional writing curriculum to shape professional practice and identity.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Research has found that professional communicators are not prepared for the challenges that social media presents and face a number of barriers due to a lack of social media knowledge and skills.  Correspondingly, higher education has failed to include enough social media and online content to provide learners with the necessary skills for professional practice. Furthermore, the neoliberal objective to shape a flexible workforce has engendered a new form of professionalism that tasks individuals with developing an incorporated branded self.  Within the framework of the higher education curriculum, social media can perform two roles for learners: foster workforce competences and provide an authentic community of practice to comodify their brand.  The issue for educators is that no comprehensive studies have fully examined the incorporation of a social media component into a professional writing course, identifying the barriers, skills, and processes that facilitate or foster the professionalization of the tools for learners and enable them to use these technologies both appropriately and strategically.  This dissertation employed a design-based research methodology to systematically study how to design an effective learning environment for the integration of social media technologies and addressed the following research questions:
•	What problems might educators face when integrating social media practices into the curriculum?
•	How can social media technologies facilitate professional identity formation to bridge the transition from the everyday practices of learners to professional practices?
The study spanned the time period 2012-2016 and involved the developing, testing, investigating, and refining of a yearlong professional writing course, which included the tools, curriculum, activities, software, and theoretical constructs for the course design (Reeves, 2006, p. 58).  The results indicated that students lacked agency on social networks and required guidance when articulating modes of online authenticity.  The final iteration of the course design effectively produced a virtual community of practice, as measured through learning analytics, and provided a means to shape professional social media practices and foster professional identity.


identifier: Kamel, Mohamed A. M. I.  (2016) Cooperative Control of Multiple Wheeled Mobile Robots: Normal and Faulty Situations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Hamid, Mohamed  (2016) DCT-Based Image Feature Extraction and Its Application in Image Self-Recovery and Image Watermarking.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Feature extraction is a critical element in the design of image self-recovery and watermarking algorithms and its quality can have a big influence on the performance of these processes. The objective of the work presented in this thesis is to develop an effective methodology for feature extraction in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain and apply it in the design of adaptive image self-recovery and image watermarking algorithms.
The methodology is to use the most significant DCT coefficients that can be at any frequency range to detect and to classify gray level patterns. In this way, gray level variations with a wider range of spatial frequencies can be looked into without increasing computational complexity and the methodology is able to distinguish gray level patterns rather than the orientations of simple edges only as in many existing DCT-based methods.
The proposed image self-recovery algorithm uses the developed feature extraction methodology to detect and classify blocks that contain significant gray level variations. According to the profile of each block, the critical frequency components representing the specific gray level pattern of the block are chosen for encoding. The code lengths are made variable depending on the importance of these components in defining the block’s features, which makes the encoding of critical frequency components more precise, while keeping the total length of the reference code short. The proposed image self-recovery algorithm has resulted in remarkably shorter reference codes that are only 1/5 to 3/5 of those produced by existing methods, and consequently a superior visual quality in the embedded images. As the shorter codes contain the critical image information, the proposed algorithm has also achieved above average reconstruction quality for various tampering rates.
The proposed image watermarking algorithm is computationally simple and designed for the blind extraction of the watermark. The principle of the algorithm is to embed the watermark in the locations where image data alterations are the least visible. To this end, the properties of the HVS are used to identify the gray level image features of such locations. The characteristics of the frequency components representing these features are identifying by applying the DCT-based feature extraction methodology developed in this thesis. The strength with which the watermark is embedded is made adaptive to the local gray level characteristics. Simulation results have shown that the proposed watermarking algorithm results in significantly higher visual quality in the watermarked images than that of the reported methods with a difference in PSNR of about 2.7 dB, while the embedded watermark is highly robustness against JPEG compression even at low quality factors and to some other common image processes.
The good performance of the proposed image self-recovery and watermarking algorithms is an indication of the effectiveness of the developed feature extraction methodology. This methodology can be applied in a wide range of applications and it is suitable for any process where the DCT data is available.


identifier: zangenehmadar, zahra  (2016) Asset Management Tools for Sustainable Water Distribution Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

format: text text

abstract:
Water Distribution Network (WDN) is the most important element in water supply systems. According to the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), there are more than 112,000 kilometers of water mains in Canada and their replacement cost is estimated to be $34 billion. Since majority of pipelines are frequently above 100 years old, they are prone to failure and outbreaks of disease derivable to drinking water are inevitable. Breakage in water infrastructure can result in disruptions and damage to other surrounding infrastructure such as road networks or structures. Moreover, unscheduled emergency rehabilitation works can cause interruption to traffic, households and businesses. Therefore, it is important to assess the unknown condition of WDNs to find their respective rate of deterioration in order to prevent disastrous failures or sudden shutdowns.
Determining pipe condition through cost-effective assessments will grant very poor condition pipes to be considered first in order to avoid related risk and devastating failures. The problem here is that in most cases, there are limited data about condition of water mains due to the underground location of the pipelines and their restricted access. Several pipes were installed 100 years ago and they have not been examined until a problem occurred. An extensive literature review shows the absence of comprehensive and generalized maintenance model for scheduling the rehabilitation and replacement of individual pipelines in the whole network based on their remaining useful life. Previous research efforts concentrated mostly on developing models, which utilize long-term data and consider solely the pipe segments not the whole network. Since pipe segments are connected together, the performance of one pipe affect the performance of other pipes in the neighborhood. This is the reason that pipes should be considered as a network rather than individual pipeline. This shows the need for a model which could forecast the behavior of each pipeline and the whole network based on available data simultaneously.
This study aims to develop a model that can predict remaining useful life to optimize the needed intervention plans based on the available budget. For this purpose, a statistical condition model is developed which utilizes characteristics of a pipeline to predict its condition. In this model, Delphi study identifies the most important factors affecting deterioration of water pipelines at first, through three rounds of questionnaires sent to selected experts. The findings show that important factors are mainly physical factors such as pipe age, pipe material, etc. After that, Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Entropy Shannon are employed to prioritize the selected factors in previous step and calculate their weights based on their relative importance. Results reveal that pipe installation, age and material are the most effective parameters in deterioration. These weights are used to find the condition index of the pipeline from pipe characteristics, soil and water properties. Upon determining the condition index, the remaining useful life is estimated using the developed artificial neural network (ANN). Ultimately, the budget is allocated efficiently and different repair and replacement strategies are scheduled based on the remaining useful life and breakage rate of the pipelines utilizing the developed near optimum Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based model. Data of the water distribution network of the city of Montréal is used to develop, train and validate the developed models. Results indicate that 30.7 km of the pipelines of Montreal should be replaced in the next 20 years and 2610 km are in need of both major and minor rehabilitations. This research proposes a framework for optimized replacement and maintenance plans based on the remaining useful life and condition of the pipelines which will help operators for efficient budget allocation and better management of needed intervention plans.


identifier: Seydewitz Munizaga, Erich  (2016) Multi-purpose greenways and nationwide trails networks: An examination of the Trans Canada Trail and the Sendero de Chile.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Greenways and trails have emerged in recent decades as a mechanism to facilitate access for increasingly urban-based societies to nature and its related services. Among the most ambitious of these initiatives are nationwide, interconnected networks of multi-use, multi-purpose greenways and trails, clustered under a single national project idea/vision, such as the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) in Canada and Sendero de Chile (SDC) in Chile. Unfortunately, limited research has been conducted to document the development of these national scale initiatives or glean lessons from their experiences. This thesis contributes to this knowledge gap by analysing these two national scale initiatives. Using document analysis and interviews, the evolution of the TCT and SDC networks is documented over time, emphasizing similarities and differences between them as well as identifying challenges and opportunities related to their implementation. Both initiatives have faced significant challenges in reaching their connection goals but have availed of opportunities, such as different strategies of multi-level and multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnership to advance their agendas. A virtuous cycle is recognized in relation to the positive feedback generated by sustained network expansion over time. It is hoped that the insights offered from this thesis may offer guidance to inform the development of similar projects elsewhere, particularly in less developed countries.


identifier: Saffie-Robertson, Maria Carolina  (2016) Understanding the Impact of Mentee’s Gender in the Development of Informal Mentoring Relationships in the Workplace.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Research regarding gender and mentoring suggests that women are mentored less often than their male colleagues, which could have a detrimental effect on women’s career development and growth. Although researchers have proposed different explanations and solutions to ease this phenomenon, women continue to report being under-mentored. In an effort to understand this issue in depth, two exploratory qualitative study were conducted. In the first study, twenty women holding tenure track academic positions in seven different business schools in Canada and the United States were interviewed to understand their experiences with mentoring. Through content analysis of the data, the existence of a type of barrier previously unidentified in the literature was unearthed, namely barriers to the development of the mentoring relationship. Two barriers to the development of a mentoring relationship, Need for Fit and Demonstrating Capability, are described and discussed in this study. Given these findings, a second study was designed in order to gain in-depth knowledge on barriers to the development of mentorships. Thirty three men and women from different organizations, industries and professions were invited to participate. The data from this second study supports the existence of barriers to the development of mentorship. The data signal the existence of the two barriers identified in Study 1, Need for Fit and Demonstrating Capability, while it also suggests the existence of four other barriers, Commitment of the Mentor, Trust in the Mentor, Need to Share a Goal/Vision and Admiration towards the Mentor. The relevance of these barriers seems to vary by gender and organizational context which would explain why women would be under-mentored when compared to their male colleagues. Implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.


identifier: Zorin, Petr  (2016) Spectral comparison theorems in relativistic quantum mechanics.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The classic comparison theorem of quantum mechanics states that if the comparison potentials are ordered then the corresponding energy eigenvalues are ordered as well, that is to say if $V_a\le V_b$, then $E_a\le E_b$. The nonrelativistic Schrodinger Hamiltonian is bounded below and the discrete spectrum may be characterized variationally. Thus the above theorem is the direct consequence of the min--max characterization of the discrete spectrum [1, 2]. The classic comparison theorem does not allow the graphs of the comparison potentials to cross over each other. The refined comparison theorem for the Schrodinger equation [3] overcomes this restriction by establishing conditions under which graphs of the comparison potentials can intersect and still preserve the ordering of eigenvalues.

The relativistic Hamiltonian is not bounded below and it is not easy to define the eigenvalues variationally. Therefore comparison theorems must be established by other means than variational arguments. Attempts to prove the nonrelativistic refined comparison theorem without using the min--max spectral characterization suggested the idea of establishing relativistic comparison theorems for the ground states of the Dirac and Klein--Gordon equations [4, 5]. Later relativistic comparison theorems were proved for all excited states by the use of monotonicity properties [6]. In the present work, refined comparison theorems have now been established for the Dirac \S 4.2.1 and \S 4.2.2 [7] and Klein--Gordon \S 4.1.1 and \S 4.1.2 [8] equations. In the simplest one--dimensional case, the condition $V_a\le V_b$ is replaced by $U_a\le U_b$, where $U_i=\int_0^xV_idt$, $x\in[0,\ \infty)$, and $i=a$ or $b$.

Special refined comparison theorems for spin--symmetric and pseudo--spin--symmetric relativistic problems [9], which also allow very strong potentials such as the harmonic oscillator \S 4.1.2, \S 4.2.1, and \S 4.2.2 [8, 10], are proved.


identifier: Doyle, Sophie  (2016) Refuting humanistic educational theory: towards a critical theory approach to quality of education.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Recent years of educational planning and policy have seen a marked shift towards promoting quality of education. Scholars, policy-makers and practitioners have shown increasing interest in defining and assessing what makes learning relevant to the needs of individual students and wider society as well as effective in teaching enduring competence of literacy, numeracy and other basic skills. Teachers have rarely been included in the process of crafting such frameworks and the literature has largely ignored class analysis, though social class is a significant social division and determinant of educational access, experience and achievement. In this study, principals and teachers working in different class contexts were interviewed about their ideas and experiences of QoE using the Delors Report learning pillars as a guiding framework. Responses showed clear differences in implementation and conceptualization of student potential and needs depending on educators’ academic and occupational expectations of social class. Interview data was analyzed using a critical theory perspective, an approach that recognizes and analyzes class conflict and struggle in education. Jean Anyon’s work on classed stratification of knowledge is particularly useful in framing this analysis. Critical theory validates and responds to interviewees’ articulated goals of education, which were outlined in respondents’ humanistic educational perspectives but not meaningfully tackled.


identifier: Burnside, Kimberly  (2016) Social Motivation and Naïve Theories in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Social motivation theory attempts to explain Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptomatology by suggesting that deficits in social motivation have downstream effects on children’s socio-cognitive abilities, such as theory of mind (ToM; Chevallier, Kohls, Troiani, Brodkin, & Schultz, 2012). This theory posits that children with ASD would show social motivation deficits, such as a lack of social preference, and would show deficits in ToM, such as failing an implicit false belief task. An objective to the present study was to examine the association between tasks measuring social motivation and ToM abilities in typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD. ToM is an example of naïve psychology, a category of domain-specific core understandings. Another objective of this study was to extend work on the dissociation across naïve theories by exploring children’s performance on naïve psychology, as well as naïve physics, and naïve biology. A biological motion and a static face preference task were administered on a split screen to measure social motivation. An implicit false belief task was administered to measure ToM (naïve psychology), a story sequencing task was used to measure naïve physics, and an understanding of “insides” was assessed to measure naïve biology. Tasks measuring social motivation were related to each other when assessed in TD children only. TD children but not children with ASD showed a social preference. Furthermore, children with ASD failed the implicit false belief task but not the naïve physics or naïve biology tasks. The present study replicates and extends previous findings, as well as strengthens the understanding of ASD symptomatology in the context of social motivation theory.


identifier: Dhananjaya, Jahnavi  (2016) Triple Viz: A tool to explore document content from a graphical representation of subject-verb-object triples.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Most of the data available is unstructured. Text mining is the process of automatically extracting information from text. This thesis combines text mining with visualization to develop TripleViz, a lightweight, web-based tool used to process and analyze documents extracting subject-verb-object (SVO) triples, and visualize them as graphs. The SVO triples extracted from documents are visualized using the open-source visualization tools Turtled and Gephi. TripleViz extracts noun phrases and visualizes them in either full or head format to avoid overcrowding on the screen. For the same reason, TripleViz provides an option to select only triples that contain words of interest as provided by the user in the form of a word list. Within TripleViz, the user can also view color-coded output text highlighting words from a word list. This thesis presents an experiment in classifying newspaper articles and blogs into either "specific event" or "generic", which shows a moderate improvement over a strong baseline.


identifier: Xie, Zhijie  (2016) Decentralized and Dynamic Home Health Care Resource Scheduling Using an Agent-Based Model.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to design an agent-based scheduling system, simulated in a dynamic environment that will reduce home healthcare service costs. The study focuses on situations where a health care agency needs to assign home visits among a group of independent healthcare practitioners. Each practitioner has different skill sets, time constraints, and cost structures, given the nature, time and location of each home visit. Each expects reasonable payment commensurate with their skill levels as well as the costs incurred. The healthcare agency in turn needs all planned visits performed by qualified practitioners while minimizing overall service costs. Decisions about scheduling are made both before and during the scheduling period, requiring the health care agency to respond to unexpected situations based on the latest scheduling information.
	This problem is examined in a multi-agent system environment where practitioners are modeled as self-interested agents. The study first analyzes the problem for insights into the combinatorial nature of such a problem occurring in a centralized environment, then discusses the decentralized and dynamic challenges. An iterated bidding mechanism is designed as the negotiation protocol for the system. The effectiveness of this system is evaluated through a computational study, with results showing the proposed multi-agent scheduling system is able to compute high quality schedules in the decentralized home healthcare environment. Following this, the system is also implemented in a simulation model that can accommodate unexpected situations. We presents different simulation scenarios which illustrate the process of how the system dynamically schedules incoming visits, and cost reduction can be observed from the results.


identifier: Aftab, Umair  (2016) system-level modeling of programmable packet processing systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Computer networks are experiencing explosive growth which is reinforced by the recent
exhaustion of the global IPv4 addresses space in 2011 and the tenfold increase in users from 1999
to 2013. The advent of cloud, mobile and IoT is only going to accelerate this growth. This accedes
the need for flexible and scalable networks that process packets faster. Programmable packet
processing systems have emerged as a solution which aim to find balance between flexibility of
supporting different processing functions while maintaining a high processing capability.
Designing architectures that support such paradigms is fairly complicated as decisions need to be
made for evaluating trade-offs between flexibility and efficiency. Questions like what
programmatic interfaces, services, applications and protocols are required need to be answered
before synthesis of actual hardware. To evaluate such requirements modelling techniques are
required to evaluate architecture decisions accurately early enough in the design phase.
In this thesis, we propose a flexible system level modelling methodology for early
validation, design and analysis of packet processing applications for programmable forwarding
plane architectures. The hardware and software architecture is described in a high level language
which can be used to describe forwarding planes from many core network processors to
reconfigurable processing pipelines. Device architects can use this for design space exploration,
prototyping and validation; where application developers can start pre-silicon application design,
development and debugging to evaluate different hardware and software decisions in an industry
with ever shrinking market windows.


identifier: moursi, ahmed  (2016) priority assessment model for water distribution networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Infrastructure is a critical element in the countries’ growth and development. Poor management of these systems would lead to their failure and in turn to disastrous situations. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fifth report on drinking water infrastructure, the investments in the drinking water utilities need a total amount of $384.2 billion for the next 15 years, i.e. until December 2030. Also, according to the 2013 American’s Infrastructure Report Card, the Drinking Water System (DWS) is graded as “D”, implying a status between poor and fair, with an increasing failure probability. Similarly, as stated in the last 2016 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, the water system received a ranking of “Good”, representing an ‘adequate for now’ status. However, about 29 percent of pipelines condition is rated between fair and very poor, signifying that an urgent repair is needed with total replacement cost of $ 60 billion. Meanwhile, due to budget deficits, municipalities find it is a challenge to prioritize which asset to repaire or rehabilitate. Thus, a lot of research is done to predict the probability of failure. Yet, most of this research is limited to the consequence of failure and the criticality of water pipelines.
The main objective of this study is to develop a priority index induced by a combination of the criticality and performance of water distribution network. In this research, criticality factors that affect the water distribution networks are identified. Criticality is divided into three main aspects: (i) Economic, (ii) Environmental/Operational and (iii) Social factors. Each of these key elements is divided into subfactors with different attributes to describe the actual status of the proposed area. Paprika and Swing techniques are used to determine the weights of subfactors. The effect values are obtained from experts from North America, Europe and Qatar through questionnaires and meetings. After all the required data are collected, the data are analyzed and incorporated into the criticality model to determine the criticality index for each pipeline in the desired location. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to define the factors with the highest and the lowest impact on the criticality index. It is determined that the “Road type” sub-factor has the highest influence on the criticality index, based on Qatar’s data analysis. Meanwhile, the “Pipeline diameter” sub-factor has the greatest impact on the criticality index, based on North America and Europe data analysis.
The developed criticality index is utilized with the performance index to develop the priority index, which is illustrated on the emerged priority scale and matrix for a better evaluation of the current asset status. It is concluded that “Ville Marrie” sector is found to have the highest priority index in Montreal city, equals to 4.42. While,“Bizard Island” has the lowest priority index value in the city, equals to 3.69. The developed model will guide municipalities and governments to generate a capital plan and allocate the available budget to the most critical parts of their networks. These results are also used as a reference to highlight the key areas in each sector of the designed city that need an urgent repair. This will decrease the risks, defects and health hazards of the water networks while maintaining the safety and durability of the water distribution networks in a cost-effective manner.


identifier: Meisner, Patrick  (2016) The Distribution of the Number of Points on Abelian Curves over Finite Fields.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Classical results due to Katz and Sarnak show that if the genus is fixed and q tends to infinity, then the number of points on a family of curves over a finite field of q elements is distributed as the trace of a random matrix in the monodromy group associated to the family.

Every smooth projective curve C corresponds to a finite Galois extension of the field of polynomials with coefficients in the finite field. Therefore, some natural families to consider are the curves that correspond to a extensions with a fixed Galois group. This thesis involves determining the distribution of the families with fixed abelian Galois group, G, when q is fixed and the genus tends to infinity.

Several authors determined that the distribution for the family of prime-cyclic curves as well as for the family of n-quadratic curves is that of a sum of q+1 random variables. This thesis shows that if we fix any abelian group, the distribution will be that of q+1 random variables.

The above results deal only with the distribution for the coarse irreducible moduli space of the families. It has been shown that if you look at the whole (coarse) moduli space, the distribution is the same in the case of prime-cyclic curves. We are able to show that the distribution is the same for the coarse moduli space of curves with G=(Z/QZ)^n, Q a prime. Some work is done towards proving this true for all abelian groups.


identifier: Svistkova, Veronika  (2016) Aging-Delaying Plant Extracts Cause Age-Related Changes in Cellular and Organellar Lipidomes of the Chronologically Aging Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been successfully used to identify genes, signaling pathways and chemical compounds that delay cellular and organismal aging in evolutionarily distant eukaryotes. These findings provided evidence that the mechanisms of biological aging on a cellular level have been conserved in the course of evolution. Recent studies revealed 6 plant extracts that delay chronological aging in S. cerevisiae. All these plant extracts are more efficient aging-delaying interventions than any of the currently known longevity-extending chemicals. As a first step towards uncovering molecular mechanisms through which the 6 plant extracts delay yeast chronological aging, I used quantitative mass spectrometry to compare the concentrations of different classes of lipids in cells and cellular organelles of chronologically aging yeast exposed to each of these extracts or remained untreated. I demonstrate that each of the 6 aging-delaying plant extracts causes age-related changes in cellular and organellar lipidomes of chronologically aging yeast. My findings suggest that each of these extracts differently alters the relative rates of phosphatidic acid flow into the biosynthetic pathways for triacylglycerols in the endoplasmic reticulum, glycerol phospholipids in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria, and cardiolipin in mitochondria. Such re-wiring of phosphatidic acid conversion into triacylglycerols, glycerol phospholipids and cardiolipin delays aging by mechanisms that remain to be established. My study provides important knowledge on which aspects of lipid metabolism are essential for the ability of the 6 plant extracts to delay aging.


identifier: Orimoloye, Kayode  (2016) Experimental investigation of the Fe-rich regions in the Ce-Fe-{Ni, Si, Al}-B quaternary systems: High-throughput screening of magnetic phases.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Fe-rich regions of the Ce-Fe-{Ni, Si, Al}-B quaternary systems were studied and screened for magnetic phase identification. The main magnetic phase found in these systems is the
Ce2(Fe14-xTx)B solid solutions, where T denotes Ni, Si or Al. No new Fe-rich magnetic phase was discovered. Fe-rich regions of the Ce-Fe-{Ni, Si, Al}-B quaternary systems were experimentally studied using diffusion couples and selected key alloys annealed at 900OC. Homogeneity ranges of Ce2(Fe14-xNix)B, Ce2(Fe14-xSix)B and Ce2(Fe14-xAlx)B solid solutions were measured to be (0 ≤ xNi ≤ 1.5), (0 ≤ xSi ≤ 2.33) and (0 ≤ xAl ≤ 2.5), respectively.
Magnetic force microscope analysis was used to screen out non-magnetic phases. Among the phases observed in the Fe-rich regions of the Ce-Fe-{Ni, Si, Al}-B quaternary systems, only the quaternary extensions of Ce2Fe14B show visible magnetic domains. Using thermogravimetric analysis and physical property measurement system, further tests were performed to quantify the intrinsic magnetic properties of the Ce2Fe14B quaternary extended solid solutions. This is to reveal the effect of modifying Ce2Fe14B ternary compound by Ni, Si and Al additives on its intrinsic magnetic properties. Modifying Ce2Fe14B ternary compound with these additives showed decrease in the saturation magnetization and anisotropy field. But in the case of Curie temperature, Ni and Si additives increase the Curie temperature of Ce2Fe14B ternary compound while Al additive reduces its Curie temperature.


identifier: Dahl, Audrey  (2016) Alph@-lab : laboratoire de partage des savoirs.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Cette thèse rend compte d'un projet de recherche-action qui vise à mettre à l'avant-plan l'émancipation des adultes faibles lecteurs en travaillant sur la valorisation de leurs savoirs. Pendant près de quatre mois, des ateliers d'alphabétisation populaire ont constitué l'Alph@-lab : un laboratoire de partages de savoirs, dans lequel un groupe de treize apprenants adultes ont pris le rôle de ceux qui enseignent. À travers le partage de différents savoirs, les participants ont expérimenté la pédagogie autrement qu'en tant qu'apprenants, ce qui leur a permis de réfléchir sur les approches pédagogiques.
	L'intervention de recherche se déroule dans un contexte d'éducation populaire, en collaboration avec une animatrice d'alphabétisation qui veut réfléchir sur ses pratiques. Cette étude explore la possibilité d'une culture pédagogique qui serait propre aux personnes faibles lectrices des classes populaires. Elle tente de créer un espace dans lequel une autre culture pédagogique pourrait se manifester. Pour ce faire, l'animatrice d'alphabétisation et ses savoirs de lecture et d'écriture sont temporairement mis de côté, afin de laisser toute la place aux savoirs des personnes peu alphabétisées. Vingt-et-un savoirs sont partagés par les participants et chacun des partages est suivi d'une période de rétroaction, dans laquelle ils réfléchissent et commentent les partages de leurs pairs. À partir de ces pratiques et de ces réflexions pédagogiques, sont formulés des critères qui donnent lieu à une praxis pédagogique par et pour les apprenants. La praxis pédagogique qui ressort de l'Alph@-lab comporte six composantes qui peuvent être résumées comme étant une pédagogie ancrée dans une action authentique, qui tente de répondre aux besoins des apprenants, qui se déroule au sein d'une communauté de partage et d'entraide, où l'on reconnaît les savoirs et la contribution de chacun, qui laisse place à différentes prises de parole et où l'évaluation laisse place à l'appréciation. Toutes ces composantes sont liées à au moins une des trois visées du projet de recherche, soit la valorisation des savoirs, une prise de conscience des processus éducatifs et une forme d'émancipation quant à la posture d'apprenant en difficulté.


identifier: Baroudi, Sami  (2016) Evaluation of Outage Probability in Presence of Interference and Noise with Application to Dual-hop Wireless Systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In a wireless network, the main objective of designers is to manage the available resources to maintain good quality of service for all users. As a result, engineers put extra effort in evaluating and improving the performance of wireless systems. Geometric modeling of wireless networks is drawing significant attention with regards to analytically evaluating the performance. In this dissertation, stochastic modeling of users is used to emulate their distribution in the wireless network. The wireless network is analyzed as a single-hop network where there is only one direct link connecting the base station to each user in the cell. Next, probability density function (PDF) of signal to interference ratio (SIR), signal to noise ratio (SNR) and signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) are evaluated. Given that outage probability is one of the important factors in studying the performance of a wireless network, outage probability is evaluated based on path loss, SIR, SNR and SINR. Simulation is performed in order to validate the analytical results. To show the application of the work done related to outage probability, a dual-hop wireless system is considered.

Wireless networks face some challenges, such as the presence of users in severe shadowing regions, or obstacles which may diminish the link quality. To overcome these limitations, dual-hop relaying system is considered. Dual-hop system is used as a cost effective solution in improving the performance of the wireless system. In such a solution, a number of relays is deployed over the cell to help transmission of signals from the base station to mobile stations. In the dual-hop system, a low-quality long-distance link is broken into two better quality links, achieving the required outage probability and enhancing the system performance. The number of deployed relays and their location over the studied area affect the performance of a dual-hop wireless system. Therefore, the required number of relays and their placement over the studied area are investigated, and a desired outage probability is achieved.

Uniform distribution of users cannot describe the real distribution for all cases. Gaussian distribution has malleability, as clustering tendency of users can be controlled in the network using the standard deviation of the distribution. Consequently, Gaussian distribution is considered for users in the studied area to evaluate PDF of SIR and the outage probability.


identifier: Gujba, Abdullahi Kachalla  (2016) Influence of Mechanical Surface Treatments on the Water Droplet Erosion Performance of Ti-6Al-4V.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In an attempt to enhance the water droplet erosion (WDE) performance of Ti-6Al-4V, a typical material used for compressor blades in gas turbines, this work studies the WDE performance/behaviour of reference untreated and surface treated Ti-6Al-4V. Existing literature suggests that WDE is likened to fatigue-like damage due to the continuous liquid impacts in a cyclic fashion. Also, the crack initiation and propagation have been found to significantly influence WDE behaviour similar to fatigue. It is known that induced compressive residual stresses from mechanical surface treatments retard crack initiation and further propagation and improves fatigue life. Hence, mechanical surface treatments might enhance WDE performance. For this reason, this work employed two mechanical surface treatments, laser shock peening (LSP) and ultrasonic nanocrystalline surface modification (UNSM), for the first time. UNSM treatment induced high levels of compressive residual stresses into the material. Variation in grain size was observed across the modified layer and the microhardness of the UNSM condition was enhanced significantly compared to the As-M condition. Although, significant amount of compressive residual stress was induced via LSP, the treatment showed mild increase in microhardness and no noticeable changes in the microstructure. This was attributed to the low level of cold work (about 5 %) during LSP processing. The WDE performance tests were conducted in a rotating disc rig in accordance with ASTM G73 standard. Influence of impact speed (between 150 and 350 m/s) on WDE performance was explored on two different sample geometries (T-shaped flat and airfoil). First, to understand the WDE behaviour of the reference or as-machined (As-M) Ti-6Al-4V before applying surface treatments, its WDE behaviour was studied. In the second and third parts of this study, the WDE performance of UNSM treated versus As-M Ti-6Al-4V and LSP treated versus As-M Ti-6Al-4V conditions was investigated, respectively. WDE results showed that the T-shaped flat UNSM samples had enhanced WDE performance at speeds 250, 275 and 300 m/s compared with the As-M condition. At 350 m/s, both UNSM and As-M conditions showed similar performance due to diminished effect of the UNSM treatment. UNSM airfoils showed mild enhancement in the WDE performance at 300 m/s during the advanced stage compared with the As-M condition. At 350 m/s, no enhanced performance was observed for the UNSM airfoil condition. LSP showed little or no beneficial effect at any stage of the WDE performance at all tested impact speeds for the T-shaped flat geometry. However, LSP airfoil samples showed only mild enhancement in the WDE performance at 300 m/s during the advanced stage compared with the As-M condition. At 350 m/s, no enhanced performance was observed for the LSP airfoil condition. It was concluded that the influence of mechanical surface treatments on the WDE performance of material depends in general on the erosion test condition, sample geometry, materials’ properties and microstructure. However, for the mechanical treatment to be effective in improving WDE performance, it has to cause surface hardening and grain refinement. Compressive residual stresses alone are not sufficient to enhance WDE performance especially for the T-shaped flat geometry. For the airfoil, the induced compressive residual stresses show limited beneficial effect in mitigating erosion at the advanced erosion stage. This is due to the fact that compressive residual stresses are through the thickness of the airfoil. This is the case observed at relatively low speed of 300 m/s. However, at 350 m/s where the test condition is severe, the induced compressive residual stresses show no beneficial effect on the airfoil geometry.


identifier: Babiuk-Henry, Tanya  (2016) Thyroid Hormone Mediation of T cell Proliferation and Survival; Implications for Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism affect 5.9% of Americans over the age of 12. It is not known how dysregulation of thyroid hormones such as triiodothyronine (T3), impacts the immune system.

A laboratory model system was used to study the interactions between T3 and T cells. Jurkat T cells, a leukemic lymphocyte cell line, were cultured in fetal bovine serum (FBS) restricted growth media containing four different levels of T3. In order to assess T3 activity on proliferation and survival of Jurkat T cells, cell staining and flow cytometry-based techniques were used. Adding 10 µg/mL of T3 to culture media increased cell survival rates over a 20 day period (p<0.05) and allowed the cells to utilise palmitic acid (PA) as an alternative energy source. Adding T3 10 µg/mL significantly increased T cell proliferation over 12 days. While T3 was essential to T cell survival, it did not significantly affect T cell apoptosis and necrosis rates over 12 days. When 2 µM of PA and 10 µg/mL of T3 were added to the cultured cells, T cells survived better than with PA alone (p<0.05).

The data collected demonstrates that T3 promotes both the survival and proliferation rate of T cells cultured in 1% FBS media due to enhanced use of free fatty acids as fuel. This work has implications for how hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, impacts the proper functioning of the immune system. Low T3 levels could decrease T cell survival and proliferation, while high T3 levels may result in changes in T cell substrate utilisation.


identifier: Lacroix, Franca  (2016) Activating the infralimbic prefrontal cortex promotes the inhibition of appetitive Pavlovian conditioning following extinction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Objectives: There is conflicting evidence about the role of the infralimbic prefrontal cortex (IL-PFC) in the extinction of appetitive Pavlovian conditioning. Here, we tested the hypothesis that IL-PFC activity mediates the inhibition of conditioned behaviour following extinction, and predicted that augmenting IL-PFC activity would reduce sucrose-induced reinstatement and spontaneous recovery of Pavlovian conditioned sucrose-seeking.
Methods: Male, Long-Evans rats (Charles River) received bilateral cannulae or unilateral microinfusions of a viral vector coding for Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP), or eYFP only, and optical fiber implantation targeting the IL-PFC. During Pavlovian conditioning, presentations of an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS; 10 s, 14 trials/session, VT-140 s) were paired with a 10% w/v sucrose solution (0.2 ml; 2.8 ml/session). The same procedure was repeated during extinction and test sessions, except that sucrose was omitted during CS trials. The effect of optically stimulating (473 nm, 5 ms, 20 Hz, 30 mW) IL-PFC neurons during CS trials in spontaneous recovery tests was assessed at 24 h after a single extinction session, and also 26 days later. In two separate groups of rats, the effect of enhancing IL-PFC activity using pre-session microinfusions of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA; 0 or 0.3 nmol/µl/side) or optical stimulation during CS trials on sucrose-induced reinstatement of sucrose-seeking behaviour was assessed. The ability of optical stimulation to induce Fos expression was also measured in separate animals.
Results: Optical stimulation of IL-PFC neurons reduced spontaneous recovery after a delay of 26 days, but not 24 h. Reinstatement was reduced by both intra-IL-PFC AMPA and by optical stimulation. Optical stimulation increased Fos expression in ChR2 expressing neurons compared to eYFP controls.
Conclusions: Our results show that the IL-PFC plays a key role in maintaining the inhibition of appetitive, Pavlovian conditioned behaviour following extinction.


identifier: Plante, Judith  (2016) Caractérisation des lieux de mortalité de la faune de petite et moyenne taille le long de la route 175, Québec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Les routes sont considérées comme une source majeure de perturbations pour la faune. La répercussion la plus observable au quotidien est la mortalité de la faune associée aux tentatives de traversée de la chaussée. Lors de l’élargissement de la route 175 dans la réserve faunique des Laurentides, 33 passages spécialement conçus pour la faune de petite et moyenne taille ont été construits sous la chaussée. Ces passages combinés avec des clôtures d’exclusion étaient parmi les premiers de ce type au Québec. Ce projet de recherche examine l’efficacité de ces mesures d’atténuations afin de réduire la mortalité routière de la petite et moyenne faune tout en évaluant les caractéristiques du paysage qui peuvent influencer l’emplacement des mortalités. La probabilité de détection des mortalités routières a aussi été considérée puisqu’il s’agit d’une source potentielle de biais. La probabilité de détection des carcasses pour l’ensemble des espèces était de 0,72. Il n’y avait pas d’effet de l’expérience de l’observateur sur la probabilité de détection des carcasses, mais il y avait un effet de la masse de l’animal. Pour l’ensemble des espèces excluant le porc-épic d’Amérique, la marmotte commune et les micromammifères, les mortalités étaient plus importantes lorsque qu’une bande médiane avec de la végétation arbustive était présente et à la fin des clôtures comparativement aux sections non clôturées. Dans le futur, les abondances de chacune des espèces et la probabilité de détection des mortalités routières devraient être prises en considération afin d’avoir une idée plus juste de l’impact de la mortalité routière sur les populations fauniques à proximité de la route.


identifier: Sha, Xiaoyang  (2016) The Impact of Takeover Rumours on Rival Firms.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper examines the takeover rumour effects of potential U.S. acquisition targets on rival firms. On average, rival firms earn positive abnormal returns during the rumour period, despite the type and outcome of the rumour. Specifically, rumours concerning industry takeover activities and those regarding targets that undergo financial distress provide higher rival firm returns around the rumour date, while rumours that are seconded by analysts tend to lead to negative abnormal returns for rival firms. Rivals that subsequently become acquisition targets within one year following the rumour experience significantly higher abnormal returns. In related tests, we find that rumours proven to be credible, rumours denied by targets, rumours driven by insiders, rumours involving the PE finder, and rumours containing multiple informative signals are significant predictors of future rival acquisitions.


identifier: Tofighi, Maryam  (2016) Three Essays on the Effects of Ethical Attributes on Private Label and National Brands.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Ethical attributes and social responsibility initiatives have become an important focus of attention among marketing researchers and practitioners. My dissertation focuses on how consumers respond to introducing product-related social responsibility initiatives/ethical attributes (i.e., attributes that reflect concern about social and environmental issues; Luchs et al. 2010) for different tiers of retailers’ private label brands (paper 1), brand attributes (paper 2), and brand concepts (paper 3). In paper one, building on research in social responsibility and evolutionary psychology, we introduce a conceptual model and opposing predictions to explore how social responsibility initiatives can be integrated into different quality tiers (high vs. low) of retailers’ private label brands (PLBs). The results of two experiments show that social responsibility initiatives enhanced consumer evaluations of high-tier PLBs but hurt consumer evaluations of low-tier PLBs. These findings were more consistent with an explanation based on resource synergy beliefs rather than costly signaling theory.
In paper two, we focus on other brand attributes that may affect offering ethical attributes to PLBs and manufacturers’ national brands (NBs). Building on cue utilization theory (Burnkrant, 1978; Jacoby, Olson, & Haddock 1971), the findings of this paper was twofold. First, ethical attributes enhance PLB evaluations only in the presence of extrinsic cues signaling high quality (i.e., high price or high retailer reputation), and this effect is mediated by consumers’ product quality perceptions. Second, ethical attributes do not affect NB evaluations in the presence of ethical attributes regardless of the extrinsic quality cues.
In paper three, we shift our attention to the type of ethical attributes (i.e., symbolic vs. utilitarian) and their congruity with the brand concept of symbolic national brands and utilitarian private label brands. Three experiments show that a congruity between ethical attribute type and brand concept (e.g., a symbolic ethical attribute for a symbolic NB) enhances consumer brand evaluations whereas an incongruity between ethical attribute type and brand concept (e.g., a symbolic ethical attribute for a utilitarian PLB) mitigates brand evaluations. This effect is mediated by perceived congruity.


identifier: Wiltshire, Zachary D.  (2016) Metabolic engineering of isoprenoid biosynthesis in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The feasibility of increasing isoprenoid biosynthesis in the obligate photoautotrophic cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 was explored through the use of a heterologous mevalonate pathway. Incorporation of heterologous genes that produce non-native metabolic intermediates has previously been demonstrated as a method of increasing product formation while bypassing endogenous regulatory mechanisms. While this design strategy has been exhaustively explored in model heterotrophic microbes, far less work has been carried out in photoautotrophs. Practically, this disparity is due to the preference of using faster growing heterotrophs, greater understanding of metabolic regulation in model heterotrophs, and more limited characterisation of genes and genetic regulatory elements in cyanobacterial hosts (particularly S. elongatus). Here the host response to incorporation of a heterologous mevalonate pathway under the control of non-native promoters is characterised. Analysis was focused on metabolic intermediates, endogenous isoprenoid products, and cell growth indicators, primarily using HPLC and GC-MS. The heterologous route for isoprenoid biosynthesis was found to be functional. An intermediate in this pathway, mevalonate, accumulated to 70μM under standard laboratory conditions. Recorded changes to endogenous isoprenoid products were smaller, but still apparent. Because of commercial interest in phototrophic production of isoprenoids, particularly for fuels, I also attempted to generate a previously demonstrated biofilm phenotype in S. elongatus. This phenotype is of interest for testing in evanescent field based photobioreactors, but I was unable to replicate it during the period of work.


identifier: Li, Weigang  (2016) Numerical and Experimental Study of Thermal Stratification in Large Warehouses.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Thermal stratification in large warehouses is a common phenomenon in winter, especially in regions with cold climates. Natural buoyancy causes warmer air to move upwards towards the ceiling. The relatively high temperature beneath the roof leads to a large amount of heating energy loss. Nowadays, mixing the air is one of the effective methods for reducing thermal stratification which have started to be used in industrial warehouses. This thesis aims to determine thermal stratification conditions in five warehouses via field measurement. Furthermore, this thesis also aims to investigate the effects of mechanical mixing of indoor air with fans using CFD-based numerical simulations. For these objectives, field measurement of thermal stratification in five warehouses was conducted and used to validate CFD models. Meanwhile, two warehouses were simulated in CFD. ANSYS FLUENT, a commercial CFD package, was used to the indoor air flow in this thesis. The numerical temperature results were validated by comparison with the on-site measurement data. The vertical temperature profiles and rate of heat flow from different cases were compared. The effectiveness of different fan configurations in reducing thermal stratification was evaluated.