identifier: Dolan, Jessica Alexandra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5148-623X <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5148-623X>  (2017) connaissance de la fugue.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: connaissance de la fugue

abstract:
ABSTRACT:

This collection compiles three distinct forms: the lyric poem, the haibun, and an invented form I am referring to as the 'code poem'. This thesis examines states of homelessness, insecure housedness, and attempts to encounter the underwriting impulse to run away from home through these various poetic formulations.

Often associated with a journey, the haibun seemed a fitting mode through which to translate some of these experiences. The inclination on the part of haibun writers to alter and omit aspects of their journeys render a vision of these forms of travel writing as being “...discursive creations rather than simply transcriptions of experience” (Carter 195). It is in this tradition that connaissance de la fugue persists - timelines are plural, the issue of then/now abuts the question of how the concept of we/us shifts, or is in conflict with the remaining ‘i’. This 'i' is manifestly the writer recording observations, very much skewed by distance, time, and imbricated subsequent reads and responses to situations that, when immediate, seemed entirely clear. To know what it is to run away - to have a knowledge of the fugue - is the propellant engineering the motion of this set of quasi haibun. Obvious travel is not always taking place, yet even in scenes of settled domesticity there grates a discomfort: disease at the excess of stability, disease at the state of housedness - a state forever changed, redefined, by the experience of homelessness, by repeated fugue, by the knowledge of it.

Fugue states, of course, filter in. The fugue in this context is a form of forgetting, erasure. It is fitting, then, that the original job description that sparked, named, cohered this collection has been altered in the time since this project began. Dans La Rue, a Montréal organization that works with street involved youth, posted a call for applications for a role at their drop-in centre. Published in French, the callout asked that, amongst other aptitudes and qualifications, potential candidates must possess a connaissance de la fugue: a knowledge of what it is to run away from home, to take flight. No succinct term for this exists in the English language - we do not language running away in this manner, therefore we do not speak of it or think of it in the same way. This project is interested not only in the impulse to leave and the subsequent knowledge that experience imparts on the subject, but also in the channeling of those subjects that occurs when they interact with the system of homelessness, of street life, of shelter life and all of the social work interventions that both sustain and constrict the fugueur.

The included code poems represent a series of sustained narratives. The mechanism of the constraint determining these pieces derives from the field of machine translation, specifically practices that involve an intermediary, an interlingua. The ideal interlingua analyses and codifies all possible characteristics of the source text, organizing meaning and producing a holistic, semiotically informed translation. This project represents an attempt on the part of the writer to enter into this relay, intervening on computer code and 'reading it' semantically, morphologically, and intuitively in order to produce a written text that is 'translated' through that code. This text draws on a knowledge base of autobiographical material, specifically a personal history of homelessness.

The source code selected for the work titled 'script mall' is an appropriated slide recovered from a database of academic PowerPoint presentations, originally titled “Sub-language processing for phenotype curation” by Hong Cui via the University of Arizona. The application of this experimental poetic process to a selection of code already intended to be a computational structure for sorting, organizing and narrativizing data has produced a series of texts that each respond to the innate cues or gestures perceptible in the code. Using the same process, source code from the website of Dans La Rue has been excerpted and interpreted in a corresponding manner to provide the basis for 'improving mental health' and 'the unlit lamp'.

A form of homolinguistic translation, this interdisciplinary poetic project violates the typical flow of information through computer code. By occupying the impossible: the 'mentality' of a component of machine translation, the writer becomes the ideal interlingua. This is an experiment in translation, an experiment in wresting an unmastered language by interpreting familiar words, symbols, and morphemes in order to force the code to communicate a monstrous, inappropriate-to-academia or seemingly 'untellable' personal history. The constraint-based nature of this work demands a complete co-operation with the structure and progression of the machine instruction. The resulting series of novel poetic works explore personal narrative through the semi-alien yet unexpectedly inquisitive interpreted logic of the appropriated segment of code.

Throughout the collection, theories of place and place attachment local to the field of environmental psychology offer ways of thinking place in the context of the connaissance de la fugue. This work is interested in the transposition of the 'third place' (a park, a public area) for 'first place' (the home) that may manifest during homelessness. The hyperbarren represents this inverse landscape: homes seen from the outside, homes escaped and recreated in the manipulable space of a backpack or even a leather jacket patched with wards and sigils: signs of association, of protection - the mark of the other that is also the mark of the insider.


identifier: Singh, Dalvir  (2017) To investigate power of brain activity using EEG comparison between creative and non-creative design task.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: In recent times, neurophysiological measurement methods such as EEG and fMRI are widely used in an Engineering field to study designer’s brain activity during creative thinking. In literature, many researchers reported the synchronization and desynchronization of EEG activity in specific brain cortex during creative thinking. However, we do not find many studies associated to comparison of designer’s brain activity during creativity/non-creativity related task demands. The chief objective of present thesis is to investigate the power of brain activity using EEG comparison between creative and non-creative design task.  For psychometric measures of creative thinking, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance, 1966) is widely used. In present thesis, we use modified TTCT according to our experiment requirement. The test was decomposed between creative and non-creative design task. In creative design task, designers were instructed to think creatively whereas in non-creative design task they were required to think intuitively. When designers were performing these design tasks, their EEG recordings were obtained to investigate brain activity during design tasks. The EEG powers are calculated through spectral analysis. We aggregate electrode positions to identify distribution of EEG powers among brain regions during cognitive task performance. In order to compare EEG between creative and non-creative design task using cortical area to area approach, we perform repeated measure ANOVA for within-subject factors such as design task and brain areas. However, we found non-significant interaction effect between creative/non-creative design task and cortical areas.


identifier: Li, Can  (2017) Does Friendship Make Employees Better Citizens?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study explores the influence that different dimensions of workplace friendship cast on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). I draw on social exchange theory, impression management theory, and affect theory to argue that workplace friendship opportunity (WFO) will lead to OCBO (OCB directed at the organization) through perceived organizational support (POS), and OCBI (OCB directed at individuals) through employees’ impression management tactics (IM). I also propose that workplace friendship prevalence (WFP) can lead to both OCBI and OCBO through positive affect (PA), with workplace friendship quality (WFQ) moderating these relations. The sample for this study includes 400 Concordia undergraduate business students, who are employed in various industries in Canada. Regression analyses were applied to analyze proposed mediation and moderated mediation relationships. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that WFO is positively related to OCBO and OCBI, with POS and IM partially mediating these relationships, respectively. We also found that WFP is positively related to OCBI, but not OCBO. In contrast to the hypotheses, WFQ does not moderate the relationship between WFP and positive affect, and positive affect does not mediate the relation between WFP and OCBO/I. Post-hoc analyses indicate that WFQ is positively related to both OCBO and OCBI, and that the relationship between WFQ and OCBO is fully mediated by PA and the relationship between WFQ and OCBI is partially mediated by PA. Based on these results, companies can benefit from creating more friendship opportunity at work and promoting high friendship quality among employees. Considering that our sample is mostly young and they are university students, these results may be most applicable to organizations who have hired, or who intend to hire, young professionals from the millennial generation.


identifier: DAO, VAN PHUNG  (2017) Learner engagement in peer task-based interaction: Identifying the effect of interlocutor proficiency and task outcome.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The goal of current peer interaction research is to develop an in-depth understanding of how peer task-based interaction promotes second language (L2) learning. Situated in this line of research, this dissertation investigated peer task-based interaction in light of learner engagement conceptualized as a multifaceted construct that manifests in cognitive, emotional and social dimensions. Specifically, the dissertation investigated how interlocutor proficiency and task outcome affected learner engagement in tasks during peer interaction, and whether leaner engagement in tasks was predictive of L2 question development during peer interaction.
Study 1 investigated whether learners engaged differently during peer interaction when they were paired with peers from different proficiency levels. Fifteen Vietnamese core learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) were asked to work with a peer of higher proficiency and another peer of lower proficiency. The core learners’ degree of engagement when interacting with the lower proficiency partner and a higher proficiency partner was compared. The results revealed that the core learners showed greater cognitive and social engagement as reflected in their behavior. The core learners also reported greater emotional engagement when working with higher proficiency partners, although their preferences did not show explicitly in their interaction.
Study 2 examined the impact of task outcome on learner engagement. This study compared learner engagement in the tasks that have convergent outcome as opposed to divergent outcome. A convergent task was the one that required learners to agree on an outcome whereas a divergent task did not have this requirement. The degree of learner engagement between the two tasks was compared to determine whether task outcome affected how learners engaged in tasks during peer interaction. The results showed that learners demonstrated greater cognitive and social engagement in the convergent task than the divergent task. Their emotional engagement in both tasks was not significantly different.
Different from Study 1 and Study 2, the last study in this dissertation set out to make a link between learner engagement and L2 question development. Twenty-seven learners carried out five tasks that were designed to elicit L2 questions. A logistic regression was conducted to establish whether learner engagement was predictive of L2 question development, which was operationalized as a stage increase in Pienemann and Johnston’s (1987) development sequence of question formation.  The predictor variables included in this logistic regression were cognitive, emotional and social engagement operationalized as question idea units, laugh episodes, and instances of responsiveness, respectively. The results revealed that only cognitive engagement was a significant predictor of L2 question development.


identifier: Khasawneh, Mahmoud  (2017) A Hierarchical Structure towards Securing Data Transmission in Cognitive Radio Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Cognitive Radio (CR) technology is considered as a promising technology to overcome
spectrum scarcity problem in wireless networks, by sharing the spectrum between both unlicensed
users (secondary users, (SUs)) and licensed users (primary users, (PUs)), provided that the SUs
respect the PUs’ rights to use the spectrum exclusively.
An important technical area in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) is wireless security. A
secure CRN must meet different security requirements, which are: confidentiality, integrity,
availability and authentication. Data confidentiality is a mandatory requirement in cognitive radio
networks, generally to maintain the privacy of the data owner (PU or SU). Integrity means that
data is transmitted from the source to the destination without alteration. While availability is to
release the channels assigned to one SU as soon as a PU wants to use its spectrum. Authentication
in CRN means that each node has to authenticate itself before it can use the available spectrum
channels.
New classes of security threats and challenges in CRNs have been introduced that target
the different layers of OSI model and affect the security requirements. Providing strong security
may prove to be the most difficult aspect of making CR a long-term commercially-viable concept.
Protection of routes used for data transmission is a critical prerequisite to ensure the robustness of
iv
the routing process. Therefore, route discovery must be done in such a way that lets each node find
the best secure path(s) for its data transmission.
In this work, network security of CRN is improved through proposing different models that
are built to fulfil the security requirements mentioned above. Improving the network security
enhances the network performance, taking into consideration the quality of service (QoS) desired
by the different network nodes such as bandwidth and time delay. This work aims to combine the
spectrum sensing phase and the spectrum management phase, as well as to detect all the adversary
nodes that slow down the network performance by selectively holding and not forwarding packets
to their next hop(s). We measure the network node’s reliability for using network resources
through a value called belief level (BL), which is considered as the main parameter for our entire
work. BL is used to monitor the nodes’ behavior during the spectrum sensing phase, and then it is
used to form the best path(s) during the spectrum management phase. Particularly, this work
follows a hierarchical structure that has three different layers. At the bottom layer, a novel
authentication mechanism is developed to fulfil the authentication and the availability security
requirements, which ends assigning a belief level (BL) to each node. At the middle layer, the
nodes’ behavior during the spectrum sensing phase is monitored to detect all the adversary node(s).
Finally, at the top layer, a novel routing algorithm is proposed that uses the nodes’ security (BL)
as a routing metric. SUs collaborate with each other to monitor other nodes’ behavior. Users’ data
confidentiality and integrity are satisfied through this hierarchical structure that uses the cluster-based,
central authority, and nodes collaboration concepts. By doing so, the traffic carried in the
CRN is secured and adversary nodes are detected and penalized.


identifier: Christison, Margaret  (2017) The Goals and Outcomes of Adult Leaders of Humanitarian Trips with High School Students: What Motivates Them to Keep Organizing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
This qualitative study was designed to understand the goals and motivations of High School Humanitarian Trip leaders.   Three trip animators from three high schools from one school board in the Montreal area were interviewed and my own experience was added to the interview results.   The three main areas investigated were: 1) The impact animators feel they have on participants, their schools and communities, as well as the communities they visit.  2) Their knowledge, understanding and management of the critiques leveled against this type of travel. 3) How these factors work to motivate the continuation of trips in a positive way.
Organizing the endeavour is hard work, traveling with groups of adolescents is an enormous responsibility.  So while each of the trip leaders had some great adventures, they would not continue with the projects if they did not perceive there to be a positive educational value derived through the relationships and connections that develop in this inter-cultural exchange.  The trip leaders reflect in particular on the themes of learning and unlearning, on host communities and work projects and on gender issues.  Acknowledging that there is no perfect way of generating communication and learning between cultures, trip leaders aim to move forward, using their experience to ensure that encounters occur with mutual openness and respect.  This project aims to add the reflection of high school trip leaders to the general literature on internationalisation, globalisation and student exchanges that usually concentrate on the experiences of university and postsecondary students.  It is also suggested that a more appropriate designation than Humanitarian Trips should be applied to these trips.
 Key words:  Humanitarian trips, high school students, motivation and goals of trip leaders, learning and unlearning outcomes for students, impact on host communities, centrality of work projects, gender


identifier: Surette, Akycha  (2017) The Influence of the Toronto-based One of a Kind Craft Show on the Professionalization of Canadian Craft 1974-1999.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this case study, I argue that during its first twenty-five years the Toronto-based One of a Kind craft show influenced the professionalization of Canadian craft through its formation and iteration of professional expectations within the commercial market for craftspeople who either participated or hoped to participate in the show, along with the show’s audiences of private, commercial, corporate and public craft consumers.
Using a sociological approach to art history, as well as the lenses of anthropology of business and cultural sociology, and drawing on interviews with the show’s founders and participating craftspeople, archival analysis and contemporary writing, I analyse One of a Kind’s show policies, advertising campaigns, and press packets, as well as the show’s relationships to competing craft shows in Canada.
Commercial aspects of craft production have been mostly avoided in art history, consequently the important role that craft shows, such as One of a Kind, have had on Canadian craft has been largely left unexplored, a lacuna addressed by this thesis. Craft shows embody some of the complexity of the continuously changing faces of contemporary craft, a complexity not only about what is being made, but who is making it and how it is received.


identifier: Holt, Rebecca  (2017) “I masturbate watching these stats”: The Pornhub Insights Blog and the Collision Between Data, Visualization, and Pornography.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Pornographic tube websites such as Pornhub have drastically altered the style, technology, and business of mainstream porn on a global scale. Strangely, few scholars have sought to assess how pornographic tube sites function within the media genealogy of online pornography. This thesis begins that work through an explication of Pornhub's statistical and viral press vehicle: the Insights blog. Through an interdisciplinary methodological approach I analyze the material and semiotic architecture of the blog including: the blog’s use data visualizations, its production of images, the techniques by which it collects and processes big data, and its perpetuation of disembodiment through its relationship to information. Free online pornography is remarkable for the conglomerate of technical, linguistic, material and visual structures that comprise any encounter one might have with it. I analyze the essentially pornographic paratext of the Insights blog to begin teasing out these structures. In addition, I show how online pornography is one of our most useful tools for accessing the posthuman experience, or the process by which the structures of the world move further into the Internet.


identifier: Wargachuk, Mary Catherine  (2017) Reflective Thought and Practice Gains Through Career-Related Volunteering Opportunities During University Studies: An Exploratory Study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
Adult Education theories and studies related to experiential learning ascertain that career related volunteering opportunities during university studies will generate occasions for reflective thought and lead to gains in practice, in real life work situations, and after graduation.  The research question on which the exploratory study for this thesis is based is: What are the benefits and competencies university students develop in and attribute to career related volunteering opportunities and do they feel it promotes reflective thinking?  Four recent graduate students from a Bachelor Commerce degree program at a university in Montreal who had participated in  a career related volunteering opportunity during their studies were the participants. The students were first asked about their satisfaction with the career related volunteering program they followed.  They all said that their goals and expectations were met.  The participants found that the program structure allowed for creative freedom, fostered confidence, increased accountability, ownership and skills acquisition among the volunteers. The participants recounted that the skills gained, through the career related volunteering opportunities during their studies, did help them in interviewing for jobs and continue to be useful in the performance of their duties in their work mandate.  Although all four students wanted to give back through volunteering activities after they started gainful employment, they were not yet engaged in volunteering activities in their present jobs at the time of the interview.  Based on the results of this exploratory study, it is recommended that a more systematic follow up study be designed in order to bring specific improvements to the overall career related program offered and that resources be made available for a greater number of students to benefit from such programs.


identifier: Talhamy, Reem  (2017) Say Ça: A Case Study of Experiential Learning by Volunteers through a Tutoring and Mentoring Program for Adolescent Syrian Refugee Students in Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis presents a case study of the volunteers working at Say Ça to contribute to the literature on volunteering as community-based experiential-learning. Say Ça was established and funded through a grant obtained by a small group of Fulbright scholarship holders studying at Montreal universities. It is a non-profit organisation offering weekly free language tutoring and mentoring sessions and monthly cultural outings for Syrian refugee youth ages 12-18.  It is at present in its third phase.  This thesis project focused on the lessons learnt by five out of 13 volunteers of the first phase including the author’s personal insights as a volunteer and participant observer.  The two main research questions were: What lessons did the volunteers learn and how did this experiential-learning impact their previous knowledge in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and/or French as a Second Language (FSL) and other areas of their life.  The data were collected as narratives from the five participant volunteers derived from one-on-one audio-taped interviews and the autoethnographic narrative of the author.  The lessons learnt in response to the research questions were many and they resonate through these stories and are grouped under these three headings:  Understanding the general needs of refugee youth; the image of the ideal volunteer for similar programs and the importance of effective communication and continuous feedback with volunteers. Further research directions emerge for a deeper examination of ethical mentoring as well as the importance of helping volunteers by developing their skills for empathy and cultural sensitivity.


identifier: Leduc, James  (2017) Between Sovereignty and Conscience in the Early Modern World: Archbishop Richard Creagh and the Problem of Government in Tudor Ireland.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Ireland in the mid-1560s and 1570s was a contested kingdom strained by Tudor governmental and spiritual reformist efforts. Having lost considerable ground, in 1564, the Roman church sent Richard Creagh, now archbishop of Armagh, on a mission back to his native country to roll back the effects of Tudor policy. Creagh followed unconditionally neither pope nor prince, however, but his conscience, which became a fulcrum of relations between subject and sovereign, human and God, and the spiritual and temporal realms that followed a single divine command: to give Caesar his own and Christ his own. Assessing his theology and politics against the divergent yet overlapping worlds in which they unfolded, this thesis explores how Creagh’s conscientious form of life coalesced at the juncture of two historico-ontological problems: government (order) and sovereignty (metaphysical, unitary, and layered). In a world of nascent empires and increasingly global encounters, Creagh’s absolute submission to God and Christ, and his steadfast, yet conditional, sense of duty to pope and prince, raises important questions about Irish sovereignty, for his very life constituted a commentary on European debates over rights ofimperium (sovereignty) and dominion (property), on reform and conquest, and on the boundaries and status of ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions on the one hand, and of law and grace, on the other. Tugging at itself from multiple directions, his form of life perennially risked its own undoing in a world redrawn by the pervasive, yet punctured, structuring force of a sovereignty increasingly indistinguishable from colonial power.


identifier: Stoica, Dragos C.  (2017) In The Shade of God’s Sovereignty: The Anti-Modern Political Theology of Sayyid Qutb in Cross-Cultural Perspective.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis is a study of the Egyptian radical Islamist thinker Sayyid Qutb’s (1906-1966) concept of God’s Sovereignty in a comparative and cross-cultural perspective. Thus, this dissertation employs a methodological mix of comparative hermeneutics, discourse analysis and a diagonal, lens comparison in order to provide a more capacious understanding of Sayyid Qutb as the first political theologian of God’s Sovereignty in the Sunni Islamic space. Moreover, it argues that Sayyid Qutb’s critical discourse is not an irrational, knee-jerk repudiation of modernity, but a seminal example of an Islamist antitheses political theology that meets the major ideological driving forces of western political modernity on their own terrain. Qutb analyzes and ultimately rejects all major ideologies of modernity: Socialism, Communism, Nationalism, Capitalism and Liberal-Democracy via a set of essential dichotomies: Jahiliyah (non-Islam) versus Nizam al-Islam (the “order” or “system” of Islam) and Hakimiyat-Allah (divine sovereignty) versus Taghut (human tyranny). These crucial antitheses are central for Qutb’s political theology, serving as cornerstones of his radical political hermeneutics and as driving forces of his discursive and rhetorical strategies.
This study aims to expand the perspective on Qutb’s Islamist radical critique of modernity by placing it in a family resemblance model. Therefore, it compares Qutb’s master concept of God’s Sovereignty and the dichotomies listed above, within and across the religious divide with commensurable constructions produced by other anti-modern political theologians. At the level of endogenous comparison, this dissertation focuses on the Pakistani Islamist Abu al-Aʿla Mawdudi (1903–1979), while at the level of exogenous comparison, the counterparts are two important anti- modern, antitheses political theologians: the Catholic counter-revolutionary Juan Donoso Cortés (1809–1853) and the Protestant political theologian Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). The study demonstrates that despite cultural, historical and religious differences, Qutb’s political theology of God’s Sovereignty shares significant conceptual affinities and a
critical vision with Mawdudi, Cortés and Kuyper. This common ground proves that Qutb’s political theology is not an endemic product of the Islamist space or a narrow expression of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, but an essential dimension of a more complex configuration that uses political theology as a conceptually disciplined critique of modernity.


identifier: Le Sceller, Quentin  (2017) Automatic Detection of Cyber Security Events over Social Network Stream.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Everyday, security experts face a growing number of security events that affecting people well-being, their information systems and sometimes the critical infrastructure. The sooner they can detect and understand these threats, the more they can mitigate and forensically investigate them. Therefore, they need to have a situation awareness of the existing security events and their possible effects. However, given the large number of events, it can be difficult for security analysts and researchers to handle this flow of information in an adequate manner and answer the following questions in near real-time: what are the current security events? How long they last? In this thesis, we will try to answer these issues by leveraging social networks that contain a massive amount of valuable information on many topics. However, because of the very high volume, extracting meaningful information can be challenging. For this reason, we propose SONAR: an automatic, self- learned framework that can detect, geolocate and categorize cyber security events in near real-time over the Twitter stream. SONAR is based on a taxonomy of cyber security events and a set of seed keywords describing type of events that we want to follow in order to start detecting events. Using these seed keywords, it automatically discovers new relevant keywords such as malware names to enhance the range of detection while staying in the same domain. Using a custom taxonomy describing all type of cyber threats, we demonstrate the capabilities of SONAR on a dataset of approximately 47.8 million tweets related to cyber security from July 2016 to July 2017. SONAR could efficiently and effectively detect, categorize and monitor cyber security related events before getting on the security news, and it could automatically discover new security terminologies with their event. Additionally, SONAR is highly scalable and customizable by design; therefore we could adapt SONAR framework for virtually any type of events that experts are interested in.


identifier: Chauhan, Suryaveer  (2017) A Microservice based Architecture for a Presence Service in the Cloud.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Presence service enables sharing of, and a subscription to the end users presence (online or offline) status. Primarily used for instant messaging applications, the presence service now finds its way into innovative solutions for domains such as wireless sensor networks and Internet of Things. The growth in users of instant messaging applications is ever increasing since the advent of social media networks. Presence service needs to be highly scalable to handle growing load of the users. Moreover, the user activity is inherently dynamic in nature which requires the presence service to be highly elastic to utilise resources efficiently. Traditional presence services are built as monoliths. Monolithic architectures by design are difficult to scale, lacks elasticity and are resource inefficient. Moreover, overprovisioning of resources to handle unanticipated loads further adds to resource inefficiency. Cloud computing and microservices are emerging paradigms that can help tackling the challenges above. Cloud computing with three key facets: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enable rapid provisioning and release of resources (e.g. storage, compute, network) on demand. Microservices is an approach of developing applications as a set of smaller, independent, and individually scalable services which communicate with each other using lightweight protocols. The on-demand nature of cloud computing provides a platform to achieve elastic scalability whereas microservices increase the scalability of the architecture. This thesis presents a microservice architecture for a presence service in the cloud. The architecture is based on a state of the art business model. The proposed architecture has three main components: A stateless front-end, a repository and a cache. The front end is built as a set of microservices exposed as SaaS. The front end, to remain technology agnostic, communicates with the repository using the Representational State Transfer (REST) interface. The cache provides fast data access to the front end. The front end microservices use message queues to communicate with each other. Besides, to check the feasibility of the architecture, a proof of concept prototype is implemented for a Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence (SIMPLE) based presence service. Performance measurements have been made for the proposed and traditional architectures. Also, a comparative analysis of the results is done. The analysis of the results shows that the proposed architecture provides the desired scalability and elasticity to the presence service. Moreover, the proposed architecture provides lower response time and higher throughput in comparison to the traditional architecture.


identifier: Laroche, Alexandre ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7041-7181 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7041-7181>  (2017) Comparative Evaluation of Embedded Heating Elements as Electrothermal Ice Protection Systems for Composite Structures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Since the development of modern aviation, the formation of ice on aerodynamic surfaces has been an important topic of study.  It has been most critical in aviation because icing accidents have a high probability of being fatal.  In energy production applications, such as wind turbines, blade icing can reduce power production efficiency and increase structural loads. Active ice protection systems have thus been developed using mechanical, thermal, or chemical methods.  The thermal method is the only one that can both prevent and remove ice formations.  Nowadays, hot air (i.e., bleed air from engines) thermal ice protection is used for commercial aircraft primary structures that are composed of metals. Composite structures are more suited to electrothermal ice protection systems than to hot air technology because bleed air is too hot and can cause structural damage to the composite.  Design criteria for electrothermal systems heavily stand or fall on heating elements’ properties.  Thus, within this work a study was conducted on the thermal efficiency, and temperature uniformity with consideration for manufacturability, availability, and potential impact of physical properties of three different heating element materials: constantan, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotube networks.  Tests were performed on flat heater coupons in an icing wind tunnel.  Infrared surface temperature measurements and de-icing time measurements revealed that the performance of the different materials did not differ considerably if all were driven by the same nominal power. Rather, the line spacing between the heating elements was the dominant influencing factor.


identifier: Obaidat, Ala' Taleb Mufleh  (2017) Compressive Behaviour of C-Shaped Confined Masonry Boundary Elements.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Reinforced masonry (RM) shear walls are commonly used in mid- and high-rise masonry buildings as the main lateral load resisting system. The seismic performance of RM shear walls can be enhanced by integrating reinforced boundary elements at the wall most stressed zone (i.e. wall ends). Evaluating the compression behaviour of the boundary elements is key for predicting the seismic response of the RM shear walls. Unlike reinforced concrete (RC), the experimental studies that focused on compressive stress-strain behaviour of reinforced masonry are scarce.
This study quantifies the stress-strain relationship of sixteen C-shape full-scale and fifty four C-shape half-scale fully grouted unreinforced and reinforced masonry boundary element (RMBE) specimens tested under concentric compression loading up to failure. The effect of changing hoop spacing, vertical reinforcement ratio, the strength of grout, and aspect ratio (height to thickness) on the axial compressive stress-strain behaviour of RMBE is investigated. Enhancement in both peak and post peak stress-strain behaviour were observed by decreasing the hoop spacing, increasing the grout strength, decreasing the aspect ratio, and increasing the vertical reinforcement ratio. Out of the studied parameters, the hoop spacing had the most noticeable effect on the stress-strain relationship.
Finite element modelling (FEM) numerical simulations are employed to simulate the compression behaviour of the full-scale RMBE. The proposed FEM procedure provides good prediction of the compression stress-strain behaviour of RMBEs and captures the influence of the confinement reinforcement ratio on the RMBE response. In addition, this study investigates the capability of three existing stress-strain models in predicting the RMBE stress-strain relationship. The considered models overestimated the enhancement in the RMBE stress and significantly overestimated the enhancement in the RMBE strain.
Finally, an analytical compressive stress-strain model capable of predicting the RMBE compressive response considering various confinement effects is proposed. The proposed empirical stress-strain model is capable of capturing the overall compressive stress-strain behaviour where a good agreement with the test results was achieved. This model can be implemented in different design and assessment frameworks aiming at better prediction of the seismic response of RM walls with boundary elements.


identifier: Voyer, Vincent  (2017) Mémoire individuelle et mémoire collective chez Michel Rabagliati.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
RÉSUMÉ
Mémoire individuelle et mémoire collective chez Michel Rabagliati

Vincent Voyer
Ce mémoire est consacré à la série Paul de Michel Rabagliati. Il examine la façon dont la mémoire individuelle, qui est la matière première des récits de Rabagliati, se déploie en parallèle avec la mémoire historique ou collective. Dans le premier chapitre, la situation de narration rétrospective propre à la série Paul est présentée et problématisée. Le deuxième chapitre aborde les « lieux de mémoire » variés du Québec des années 1960 et 1970 visibles dans la série. Ces lieux de mémoire — objets, évènements, lieux topographiques et intertextes — construisent une certaine vision de l’histoire et de la mémoire collective. Le troisième chapitre analyse la représentation de soi que dévoile la série. L’analyse permet de comprendre comment le regard rétrospectif du narrateur construit une sorte de roman d’apprentissage de Paul et contextualise l’évolution personnelle du personnage dans l’histoire. L’ensemble permet à Rabagliati de traverser plusieurs époques, de faire évoluer son personnage et de mettre en scène des éléments qui font naitre une nostalgie particulière chez le lecteur.

ABSTRACT
This paper studies the series Paul by Michel Rabagliati. It examines the way in which individual memory, which is the raw material of Rabagliati's narratives, unfolds in parallel with historical or collective memory. In the first chapter, the retrospective narrative situation of the Paul series is presented and problematized. The second chapter deals with the various 'places of memory' of Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s. These places of memory - objects, events, topographical places and intertexts - build a certain vision of history and collective memory. The third chapter analyzes the self-representation of the series. The analysis allows us to understand how the narrator's retrospective view constructs a coming-of-age story and contextualizes the personal evolution of the character in it. The ensemble allows Rabagliati to go through several decades, to evolve his character and to stage elements that give rise to a particular nostalgia for the reader.


identifier: Martinez, Magdalena  (2017) Reinventing Gender in Engineering: The (In)visibility Paradox and the Experience of Female Students at the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, Brazil.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Science and technology scholars, university administrators, and students have all asked: Why are there so few women in engineering? To answer the question, they have focused on the experience of women in the field, their motivations, and the challenges they face in pursuing the profession. Recently, scholars have shifted the focus from the “problem of women” toward “gender in engineering,” a term coined by Wendy Faulkner (2011). Such framing recognizes that gender norms in engineering (the “man engineer”) have influenced the experience of women. Through the concept of the (in)visibility paradox, Faulkner argues that while women are highly visible as women, they are also invisible as engineers. During four months of ethnographic research, I conducted in-depth interviews and participant observation with female engineering students at the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, Brazil. Based on the data collected, I ask: What are the processes through which the visibility and invisibility of female engineering students are performed and established? I attempt to show, on the one hand, the ritualization of gender roles on campus, and, on the other hand, female students’ negotiations of gender roles. To achieve their goals, female students play with their visibility spectrum. In that way, they create a new engineer identity, one that is transitional between man and woman, transcending the “man engineer” identity. Any attempt to control their visibility creates a response from fellow colleagues or professors. In the face of this challenge, women make compromises and change their strategies of adaptation.


identifier: Poulin, Jessica  (2017) Living Vikings: Dublin's Past and Present.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Vikings first appeared off the shores of Ireland in 795 AD, and established the foundations for the city of Dublin in 841 AD. In the present day, Vikings continue to exercise a formidable influence over Ireland’s capital city, as Vikings have been incorporated into diverse heritage initiatives. In the form of walking tours, museum exhibitions, and living history performances, historic and re-created Viking visual and material culture is accessible to citizens and visitors throughout the modern Irish cityscape. The Vikings, however, have not always been valued or recognized as a component of the city’s or Ireland’s heritage. Working in an interdisciplinary way across the domains of history, performance studies, and design studies this thesis investigates how historic and present-day textual, visual and material representations of Viking Dublin have been recruited and exhibited by official Dublin-based bodies – in particular the Dublin City Council, the National Museum of Ireland, and heritage centre Dublinia. Having identified links between heritage, nostalgia and performativity, I argue that the Vikings have been used as a conduit to imagine Irish identity as transhistorical. That is, by co-opting the Vikings as a component of Dublin’s heritage, stakeholders with a vested interest in Irish heritage production have shaped how audiences think about Irish identity both in the past and present. By engaging with the history, visual and material culture, and performative pageantry of Dublin’s Viking heritage, this thesis investigates the twin processes of Viking exclusion and Viking inclusion that has characterized Irish history and heritage for centuries.


identifier: Jardak, Amel  (2017) The Effects of Language Mixing on Word Learning and Comprehension in Bilingual 3-year-olds.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
The Effects of Language Mixing on Word Learning and Comprehension in Bilingual 3-year-olds
Amel Jardak

One challenge bilingual children face in their learning environment is language mixing (Bail et al., 2015; Byers-Heinlein, 2013), which occurs when two languages appear in the same sentence or conversation. Recent research shows that children are slower to process familiar words that occur at the point of language mixing (Byers-Heinlein et al., 2017). How does language mixing in the middle of a sentence affect the comprehension and the learning of words that occur after the mixed-input? We tested 3-year-old French-English bilinguals in two studies. In Study 1, children were tested on their comprehension of a noun that occurred either in a single-language sentence (e.g., “Look! Can you find the pretty cow?”) or following a mixed-language adjective (e.g., “Look! Can you find la jolie cow?”). We found that language mixing had no effect on the comprehension of following familiar nouns. In Study 2, children were taught two words, one in a single-language sentence (e.g., “Look! Do you see the dog on the teelo?”) and one in a mixed-language sentence (e.g., “Look! Do you see the chien on the walem?). We found that although children could correctly identify the novel target on both single- and mixed- language sentences, they were only able to learn the novel word that was taught in a single-language sentence. These results suggest that language mixing poses a challenge to word learning. Overall, these two studies demonstrate that the effects of language mixing on language acquisition depend both on the type of mixing and the type of language task.


identifier: Vasko, Jillian  (2017) What’s Past is Prologue: Filming Fascism and the Family in Japan and West Germany in the 1970s.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract:
This thesis theorizes the correlation between national historical trauma in Japan and West Germany, and the excessive, gendered and often sexualized violence inflicted upon and by women protagonists in films emerging from these nations in the 1970s. The thesis provides a comparative analysis of two films which investigate the origins of ‘fascism’ in their nation through the allegory of the female protagonist and her relationship to the institution of the family: Toshiya Fujita’s 1973 Lady Snowblood (Shurayukihime) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film Martha. This thesis puts the film’s conclusions regarding the origins of fascism in their nation in relation to the historiographical discourses emerging in the post-war period, to examine how these films participate in the project of rebuilding the nation and national identity in the wake of the enduring traumas of the Second World War. Whereas in Lady Snowblood, ‘fascism’ is depicted as a foreign product imported from the West in the Meiji period (1868- 1912), diametrically opposed to the Neo-Confucian politics governing family and state in Japan’s isolationist Edo period, (1603-1868). Contrastingly, in Martha, ‘fascism’ is a fundamentally domestic affair.


identifier: Nguyen, Thai Son  (2017) Wind-induced Shear and Torsion on Low- and Medium-Rise Earthquake Resistant Steel Braced Frame Buildings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
There are locations in Canada where buildings are equally affected by wind and earthquake loads. In these areas, designers may rise questions about the governing lateral load. It is known that buildings are designed to respond in the elastic range under wind load and in the inelastic range when subjected to earthquake load. Besides, there are other elements that influence the building responses under lateral loading, such as: building configuration, height, selected ductility level, structural irregularity types and geotechnical characteristics.
This thesis addresses the effect of wind-induced shear and torsion on 22 low-rise and medium-rise steel buildings located on Site Class C and Site Class B. These buildings were designed as earthquake resistant systems according to the 2015 edition of National Building Code of Canada (NBCC 2015) and Steel Design standard specifications (CSA S16-2014). The study examines the impacts from building configurations by considering different width-to-length ratios and heights on two sets of buildings: i) width-to-length ratio 1:4 and ii) width-to-length ratio 1:2. The 1st set comprises five buildings with heights ranging from 14.8 m (4-storey low-rise building) to 43.6 m (12-storey medium-rise building). The 2nd set comprises only medium-rise buildings with 8, 10, and 12 storeys. In addition, two types of ductility levels were selected for the lateral force resisting systems (LFRS): limited-ductility (LD-CBF) and moderately-ductile concentrically braced frames (MD-CBF). Two types of geotechnical characteristics were considered: Site Class C (firm soil) and Site Class B (rock). All designed buildings are structural regular. The effects from torsion, notional lateral load, and P- effect was also studied.
On the process of computing wind load, several ambiguities have been found in the NBCC 2015 wind load provisions. Consequently, recommendations were made to resolve these issues. In addition, these recommendations were implemented in several low-rise and medium-rise buildings before comparing with the results obtained when the ASCE/SEI 7-10 standard and the wind tunnel test were used. It was found that for low-rise buildings, the American standard and Canadian code yielded similar shear but quite different torsional coefficients. On the other hand, for medium-rise buildings, clear agreement was found, for both shear and torsion coefficients.
The comparisons between earthquake and wind loadings show that depending on building heights, horizontal dimensions, location and ductility level, the dominant loads are different. In taller, larger and more ductile buildings in Montreal, for direction normal to the larger face, wind loads may exceed the earthquake loads in the lower floor levels. In all other cases, earthquake load controls the design. For Montreal buildings taller than 8 storeys, selecting LD-CBF is recommended for the LFRS in order to balance the earthquake/wind design criteria. Caution should be given to buildings taller than 10 storeys when verifying the building deflection under the dynamic effect of wind load.


identifier: Le, Tiffany-Quan  (2017) MoMA and Nazi-Era Art Restitution: Contexts and Thoughts for the Future.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Holocaust-era restitution remains one of many issues troubling the museum world in recent years. These types of cases expose the persistent concern over ownership of the material culture held within museums that, in part, make up the philosophies and cultural traditions underlying them. In the wake of the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, the American museum community asserted they could properly regulate restitution claims without need for an independent commission, as was being established in many European countries at the time. This thesis reflects upon developments following 1998 and assesses the current value systems of American museums and their commitment to the international issue of restitution by examining the actions and policies of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Since the establishment of the Washington Conference Principles, museums holding Nazi-era misappropriated works have continually tried to mischaracterize applicable policy. MoMA has not only experienced difficulties resulting from its early acquisitions, but in recent years, it has been very visible in a series of recent restitution claims and debates.
This thesis argues that MoMA could set a different example, through its statements and actions, for Holocaust-era restitution by acknowledging its historical complicity and urging other institutions and the public to go beyond notions of possession. MoMA is an institution that has undoubtedly become more complex and internationally implicated in the past few years. However, the issue of restitution and its inadequate treatment in the United States has brought into scrutiny museums like MoMA, impacting upon the public’s willingness to place confidence in the museum in its role as trustee of works of art. I contend that, should MoMA wish to maintain its position of influence in the museum system in the United States and abroad, it needs to become more invested in the future and be conscious of how it is transmitting memory and the meaning of the past to an increasingly transnational and diverse public. Although this case study examines the treatment of Nazi-looted art in one American institution, the issues under consideration have transferable moral significance across the larger debate of stolen cultural property.


identifier: Guillen Cuevas, Alvaro  (2017) Importance sample algorithm for rare event simulation of jump-diffusions based on Hamilton-Jacobi equations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Consider a marked point process or a jump-diffusion, from which we want to simulate a trajectory of the process or a functional of it. In both cases the magnitude of noise contributors is controlled by a small parameter epsilon. Raw Monte Carlo methods produce estimators with a large relative error, which increases even more as N increases or epsilon decreases. Using viscosity sub-solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi equations, we were able to produce importance sampling algorithms with optimal asymptotic behaviour and low relative error across a variety of small values of noise contribution. Some basic stochastic knowledge and means to produce the discretization of a trajectory of the jump-diffusion are needed, both of which are provided in this text. Furthermore, we applied the algorithm we developed to model the bistability in the concentration of certain molecular species.


identifier: Vrinceanu, Tudor  (2017) A Comparison of Dance/Movement Therapy and Cardiovascular Training on Cortisol Awakening Response in the Elderly.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Aging is associated with numerous chronic conditions as well as an increased stress response. The present study looks at the effects of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) on chronic stress (measured by the cortisol awakening response – CAR) in older adults. Healthy older adults (n = 40) aged 60 and over (M=67.45, SD=5.3) were randomized into three groups: DMT (n=12), Aerobic Training (AT; n=14), and Waiting List (WL; n=14). DMT defined as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual” (ADTA, 2017), was comprised of exercises including gross motor skills, body awareness, and socialization. The AT consisted of high intensity activity on a recumbent bicycle. Both training groups were supervised by a licensed instructor and met three times a week for three months. Participants of all groups provided, before and after their respective program, saliva samples on three days at 0, 30 and 60-minutes after awakening, and had their fitness level evaluated. A group x time interaction was found (F(2,35)=5.256, p=.01, η2partial=.231), with the DMT group showing lower salivary cortisol values post-training, while the other two groups showed no change from baseline in their CAR. Maximal aerobic power improved only in the AT group, while DMT showed no group-specific physical functioning improvements. The results are further discussed in terms of physical and psychological mechanisms that could explain the change in cortisol.

Keywords: dance/movement therapy, cortisol, aerobic training, stress, older adults


identifier: Tomaszewski, Kamila  (2017) Examining Social Skills Training and Computer Assisted Technology for Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Follow-up of the UCLA PEERS Intervention.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The present study examines a follow-up to the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®), with teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and a Computer Assisted Technology (CAT) component. Over the course of the intervention, teens and parents met weekly and participated in a follow-up version of the PEERS® program. Social skills improvements were measured at pre and post intervention using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS; Gresham & Elliot, 2008), the Quality of Play Questionnaire (QPQ; Frankel & Mintz, 2011) and the Test of Adolescent Social Skills Knowledge-Revised (TASSK-R; Laugeson & Frankel, 2010).  Results indicated that based on mean scores teens increased their social skills and the majority decreased their problem behaviours. Further, the majority of teens increased their social skills knowledge and increased their attended and hosted get-togethers. Findings also suggest students were motivated and paid more attention to the intervention due to the use of visuals and videos throughout the intervention. Computer homework showed high completion rates across the program and positive parental feedback was observed in its ability to evoke discussions and consolidate learning. Implications of the PEERS® program in collaboration with a technological component for teaching social skills to teens with ASD are discussed.


identifier: Jitaru, Bianca  (2017) Novel conversion of waste activated sludge to Class A biosolids with support of electrokinetics.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Novel conversion of waste activated sludge to Class A biosolids with support of electrokinetics

Bianca Jitaru

Waste activated sludge (WAS), a common by-product of WWT requires treatment before reuse or disposal. WAS constituents include heavy metals and pathogens that can pose serious health concerns. Electrokinetics a novel and versatile technology used in sludge treatment can accomplish Class A biosolids. In this thesis, the effects of electrokinetic treatment in conjunction with enhancers on WAS were assessed. The experiment, done at a lab scale used a low voltage gradient under 5V/cm and low concentrations of BioxyS, (organic, non-toxic agent that acts as a biocide) and ammonium salts. The reaction took place in a BioElectro reactor composed of two stainless steel electrodes and a lid comprising of 18 silver probes designed to increase conductivity. Three different sources of WAS were used: WAS 0.6 % total solids (TS), WAS 5% TS and WAS 6% TS belonging to two different WWTPs. The samples of WAS depending on their total solids content reached required temperature at different time but always not more than 2.2 hours retention time. Also, higher voltage gradient (less than 5V/cm) permitted to reach the required temperature faster. For example, (5% TS) reached 65°C in approximately 55 minutes at a higher voltage gradient and in 130 minutes at a lower voltage gradient. Testing for E. Coli and total CFU showed that the biosolids that underwent BioElectro treatment with enhancers can be categorized as Class A and can therefore be dedicated to land application.


identifier: Rappaport, Brittany  (2017) Assessing students’ conceptual understanding of place value with the Video Evaluation Task.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigates the affordances of a novel assessment of students’ conceptual understanding of place value, The Video Evaluation Task, over and above two other typical measures of place value, the Place Value Word Problems task and the Place Value Relational thinking task. The Video Evaluation Task assesses a participant’s evaluation of another student solving an addition problem in real-time. We individually interviewed second grade students’ (N = 45) to assess their place value understanding and asked them to provide justifications for their responses. Participants’ justifications and/or written work was coded and scored for evidence of place value understanding. The Video Evaluation Task was significantly correlated with the Place Value Word Problems task (r = 0.347, p = 0.02) and the Place Value Relational Thinking task (r = 0.371, p = 0.012) indicating that these measures tap into similar constructs. However, I also developed a second level of coding to determine the nuances of students’ place value understanding, which allowed me to investigate the different affordances of each measure. Regardless of whether participants performed better or worst on the Video Evaluation Task as compared to the other two measures, it seems the Video Evaluation Task afforded more information about students’ conceptual understanding of place value. Not only did the Video Evaluation Task provide an opportunity for participants to evaluate another student in the context of a double-digit addition problem, but it also allowed participants to demonstrate place value knowledge and/or misconceptions that may not have been revealed on the other two measures. The Video Evaluation Task is a promising measure for both researchers and teachers, in a complex mathematical domain that cuts across the elementary curriculum.


identifier: Jovanovic, Sofija  (2017) The "problem" of character in contemporary circus in Quebec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis, I explore the nature of character in Québec (Canada) contemporary circus focusing on two case studies: Patinoire (Patrick Léonard, 7 doigts de la main) and The Whore of Babylon (Andréane Leclerc, Nadère arts vivants). Given that circus studies is a relatively new and interdisciplinary research field, I rely on the theory from other art forms. Circus theory provides circus performance analysis models that I use to study circus shows and companies from Québec (Hurley, 2016, Batson, 2016). Theatre provides a rich theoretical framework for understanding and representing character ranging from Aristotle to Lehmann. Louis Patrick Leroux’s “Conceptual Model for Circus Dramaturgy” is useful for studying how the performer’s persona and body influence circus character (Leroux, 2016). My research also draws on interviews with Patrick Léonard and Québec contortionist Andréane Leclerc on the intentionality and execution of their shows, and the relationship between their performance experience and spectators’ reception.
After analyzing the performances, their dramaturgy, aesthetics, and artistic intentionality, and informed by the interviews, I argue that the contemporary circus character becomes manifest through its striving to unite the represented character, the performer’s body and the performer’s persona. Though only two shows were analyzed, these two were distinctive case studies of current trends in contemporary circus in Québec beyond the well-known Cirque du Soleil’s own aesthetics and narrative.


identifier: Xie, Yunhao  (2017) Who Gives and What Drives? — A Family-Business Approach to Household Philanthropy.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Drawing on literature from corporate social responsibility and household philanthropy, the present thesis examines the philanthropic activity of business-owning households. Specifically, I study how owning a business and characteristics of that business influence both monetary giving and volunteering of time. I suggest that because business-owning households accrue reputational benefits that also spill over to their firms, they are more likely to be involved in philanthropy activity. However, this extent of philanthropy activities is likely to vary depending on characteristics of the business which the households own such as firm return on sales, firm size, family ownership, family involvement in active management. In order to test the arguments, I utilize the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances which contains 6,111 households’ financial observations. Results indicate that business-owning households are more prone to donate money and their time, but the strength of this relationship is dependent on business characteristics. Contributions are expected to make covering the shortage in the current literature of the household philanthropy phenomena. Conclusions, implications, and also suggestions for the future direction are discussed.


identifier: Monnin, Cian  (2017) Comparison of in vivo solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to Folch extraction of brain lipids in Rattus norvegicus using LC-MS.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Lipidomics is the comprehensive study of the lipids present in an organism. To achieve high analytical sensitivity and good lipid coverage in global lipidomics, sample preparation, mobile phase composition, chromatographic separation, and data processing parameters must be optimized. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a non-exhaustive, in vivo sample preparation method that has not previously been applied to lipidomics studies but that provides a promising alternative to microdialysis for in vivo lipid analysis. Before SPME can be successfully applied to lipidomic studies, it is important to increase the sensitivity of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) detection as much as possible. This was accomplished by comparing the effect of four different mobile phase additives on signal intensity using negative electrospray ionization (ESI): acetic acid, ammonium acetate, ammonium hydroxide and ammonium acetate with acetic acid. Acetic acid at a concentration of 3.5 mM outperformed the other additives tested causing a 42% increase in lipid coverage along with a 2-19-fold increase in signal compared to 10 mM ammonium acetate. The main disadvantages of acetic acid were (i) wide peak shape for two lipid classes: phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine and (ii) reduction of signal intensity for phosphatidylcholine and ceramide lipids. These results show that although basic pH promotes in-solution ionization, surface, electrochemical and gas-phase processes provide significant contributions to overall ESI efficiency thus resulting in enhanced ionization at acidic pH. Acetic acid is good choice of additive for negative mode ESI due its ability to increase formation of deprotonated adducts, low molecular volume, high gas phase proton affinity, and capability for electrochemical reduction. Traditionally, lipids are extracted from brain tissue using the Folch method, a biphasic liquid-liquid extraction method that relies on chloroform/methanol solvent. In this study, SPME was compared to the Folch method to determine if it is a viable alternative. The main SPME parameters that affect extraction efficiency of in vivo SPME were evaluated for this application: extraction time, desorption time, and desorption solvent. Analysis of SPME extracts showed 147 and 613 features versus 1368 and 1161 detected in the Folch extract in positive mode and negative mode, respectively. Using LipidSearch 127 lipids in positive mode and 57 lipids in negative mode were identified in the SPME extracts verses 145 in positive mode and 99 in negative mode for the Folch extracts. This study represents the first step towards the development and inter-laboratory validation of in vivo SPME demonstrating its ability as a new and viable alternative to Folch extractions that can be used in lipidomics studies of the brains of alive, awake animals for the first time.


identifier: Parenteau, Julie  (2017) Du dépaysement à l'envie de créer, recherche création sur l'art et le voyage.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Ce mémoire est basé sur un projet de recherche-création analysant l’impact des changements de décors et d’environnement à travers un dépaysement par le voyage. Réalisé selon les balises de la méthodologie heuristique, mon projet fourni des réponses pertinentes et originales à la question suivante : Quelles incidences ont les voyages artistiques sur une démarche de création et une approche pédagogique? Le besoin pour cette recherche est flagrant face à l’ampleur de la popularité des voyages de création chez les artistes et les lacunes de la documentation à cet effet en enseignement des arts.
Ma recherche traite de la mobilité de l’artiste contemporain en regard au concept de tourisme culturel et des implications d’un point de vue identitaire. À travers un programme d’artiste en résidence en Inde, j’ai fait l’apprentissage de techniques d’art traditionnel dans leur contexte d’origine, notamment dans l’État d’Uttarakhand au cœur des paysages himalayens. Par le biais d’ateliers de création, la tenue d’un journal exhaustif, en multipliant les échanges et les discussions avec d’autres artistes et la création d‘œuvres personnelles, j’ai su extirper énormément de sens dans l’expérience du voyage créatif et ses possibilités pour l’enseignement.
Au diapason du discours de la littérature, il en ressort que les voyages de création favorisent l’inspiration à travers la contamination des idées par le contact avec d’autres artistes et en offrant un espace-temps dédié et propice à l’art. De plus, cela favorise une conscientisation à propos des espaces de vie et des lieux qui nous entourent. Enfin, l’art lui-même se révèle être un dépaysement, un voyage en tant que tel. D’un point de vue pédagogique, j’ai développé une plus grande sensibilité quant aux enjeux portant sur l’appropriation culturelle et la manière de réaliser l’appréciation des objets issus du patrimoine culturel en contexte scolaire, rappelant le rôle capital de l’enseignant spécialiste en arts plastiques en ce qui a trait à ces questions.


identifier: Szymanski, Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5846-1892 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5846-1892>  (2017) Minor Cinemas of Melancholy and Therapy.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

title: Minor Cinemas of Melancholy and Therapy

abstract:
Since the turn of the millennium, diagnostic rates of depression have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels across the globe, constituting a veritable mental health pandemic. During this same historical period, numerous art films have aesthetically explored the political and existential sense of depression. This dissertation selects five of these films as case studies, and closely analyzes how they use the aesthetic resources of the “cinema of poetry” tradition to critically perceive the experience of depression in a manner that breaks from psychiatry’s clinical gaze and the diagnostic models that it serves to support. By perceiving the depression pandemic through a critical lens which shifts its focus from the clinical individual onto the field of subjectivity production where the individual is produced, these films propose an event-based symptomatology of depression which unsettles many of psychiatry’s assumptions pertaining to the nature of depression.
To theorize the political stakes of this perceptual shift enacted through film aesthetics, I invoke Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s theory of minor cinema, which has its roots in their collectively written book Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature. This present study brings to the forefront Guattari’s overlooked solo writings on minor cinema where he allies the concept to an anti-psychiatric and schizoanalytic praxis, and it lays out the ways in which the principles of minor cinema facilitate a re-politicization and re-existentialization of depression in light of its systematic depoliticization and de-existentialization.
Close analyses of the following five films facilitate the discovery of speculative, event-based symptoms of melancholy: The Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964), Afternoon (Angela Schanelec, 2007), Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, 2013) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010) and Palawan Fate (Kanakan Balintagos, 2011).


identifier: Courville, Elyse  (2017) The Effect of Cutaneous Sensation, Proprioception and Strength in the Non-Amputated Leg on Balance in Traumatic Transtibial Amputees.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
As of 2005, there were 1.6 million people living with limb loss in the US. Studies have shown an effect of amputation on balance. Balance has mainly been studied during quiet standing in double-legged stance and results are conflicting regarding the amount of sway in amputees compared to controls. Few studies have assessed single-legged stance, but they all agree that sway is not different when standing on the non-amputated leg only or on a control leg, although standing time is decreased in amputees. Other variables, including cutaneous sensation, proprioception and strength have also been found to be decreased in both the amputated and non-amputated legs. Not much is known about single-legged stance, perturbed standing or the relationship between balance and cutaneous sensation, proprioception and strength in amputees. The goal of this study was to assess balance in traumatic transtibial amputees during perturbations when standing on the non-amputated leg. Whole body kinematics, 3D ground reaction forces and activity in eight trunk and lower limb muscles were recorded during the balance testing. Three other measurements were taken on the same leg as the balance test: cutaneous sensation, proprioception and strength.

There is no difference in sway between amputees and able-bodied controls although there is a trend suggesting an increase in sway in controls after the perturbation. Amputees exhibited less variability than controls in sway variables. Decreased variability in the balance task may be due to decreased balance confidence in amputees. No differences were found between groups in cutaneous sensation, proprioception and strength although a trend was revealed for controls to be stronger than amputees. Although some aspects of balance were significantly correlated to cutaneous sensation and proprioception, strength was the measure that was most often significantly correlated with balance in amputated individuals. Electromyographic activity increased after the perturbation in five muscles, although no differences were found between groups. The amputees and controls also did not differ in terms of muscle latencies, but a different activation pattern was found in the peroneus longus.


identifier: Moslemi, Zoheir  (2017) High efficiency dynamic pressure based flow measurement.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Over the past few decades considerable attention have been directed towards the development of different types of flow-metering techniques. High pressure drop after passing the metering device and partial obstruction of the flow represent the two most common problems for the majority of the existing flow-metering devices. The main intention of the current study was to overcome or minimize these two issues.
      The principle objectives were developing a low-cost measurement system and setup to measure the flow in pipes of small diameters (0.5” to 4”), and performing an analytical / numerical model that enables to extract the distinction of the dynamic pressure throughout the flow.
       Both analytical and numerical solutions of the fluid flow inside the pipe indicate forming of a parabolic velocity profile across the pipe in the fully developed flow region. Dynamic pressure variation due to velocity change across the pipe is used as the fundamental measurement principle in this work. The equipped cantilever beams with piezo-resistive materials are used as sensor for detecting the induced signals in three different levels across the pipe. The collected signals are used to reconstruct the parabolic velocity profile. Further, the integration of the parabolic profile in the cross-section area of the pipe will yield to the flow value.
     The constructed sensors with strain gages are connected to a Wheatstone-Bridge. The resistance variation due to the strain changing in cantilever platform converts to voltage variation by the Wheatstone-Bridge. Signal amplification and filtering are carried out by a dedicated circuit board.
     The work was extended to inkjet-printing of the conductive ink which is introduced as an alternative method for piezoresistive sensor fabrication. Easiness and fast-fabrication process are two important factors which give ability to mass production of low-cost piezoresistive sensors.


identifier: El Meslmani, Nabil  (2017) Three Essays on Mergers and Acquisitions.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis consists of three essays. In the first essay, we examine the behavior of the implied volatility of both target and acquirer firms around merger and acquisition announcements. We find that option implied volatility is related to the bidder firm’s announcement cumulative abnormal return (CAR-Bidder), the choice of the method of payment as well as the probability that the deal will be concluded successfully. Specifically, we show that target implied volatility not only drops at the announcement day but moves towards the acquirer implied volatility post acquisition announcement for stock or mixed deals. Moreover, we find that the method of payment is related to the post announcement target implied volatility, and we document that target implied volatilities are lower in cash deals. The probability of deal success is significantly negatively affected by the spread between the actual target’s implied volatility two days after the announcement and its theoretical value. The greater the difference between the target’s implied volatility and its theoretical value, the lower the probability of successful deal completion. Next, we rely on the average of the implied volatility as a proxy for expected risk and the volatility of the implied volatility as a proxy for uncertainty about expected risk. We show that the CAR-Bidder decreases with an increase in both the expected risk and the uncertainty about expected risk of the bidder firm for stock or mixed deals. We also illustrate that the probability of a cash offer is decreasing in the expected risk and the uncertainty about expected risk of both bidder and target firms. We also find that the probability of deal success is decreasing in bidder’s expected risk. Our measures related to risk and uncertainty about risk contain information additional to common proxies for asymmetric information and uncertainty used in the literature such as the standard deviation of analysts’ forecasts and idiosyncratic volatility.

The second essay examines whether the puzzling negative relationship between idiosyncratic volatility and next month performance is affected by the intensity of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the market. Our results show that the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle is stronger in periods of high M&A activity than in periods of low M&A activity. Further analysis shows that the negative relationship between idiosyncratic volatility and next month performance is the strongest in the high M&A activity sub-period spanning from 1982-1989. In contrast, M&A activity does not explain the negative relationship between the common factor in idiosyncratic volatility (CIV) and the next month’s performance. M&A activity can in part explain the idiosyncratic volatility puzzle, but it does not subsume the negative relationship between CIV exposure and firm returns.

The third essay investigates how investor sentiment affects mergers and acquisitions. Our results show that periods of higher market sentiment are associated with a lower likelihood of observing a Cash-Only offer. We also find that for stock and mixed offers, periods of higher market sentiment are associated with lower bidder announcement returns, higher target bargaining power, and lower synergy. Our findings are consistent with Barker and Wu’s (2012) argument that associates periods of higher market sentiment with greater overpricing. These results are consistent with the argument that higher overpricing results in bidder firms opting for stock or mixed deals. However, this will also lead bidder investors to react more negatively to these non-cash offer announcements, target investors to bargain more if they are to be paid in stock (fully or partially), and the market to anticipate lower total synergy as the deal may be driven by the stock overpricing rather than the maximization of synergy. Next, we find that target firm runups are, on average, higher in periods of higher market sentiment. This relationship is not observed in the premium, which is unrelated to investor sentiment. The differing results of the runup and the premium is interesting as we expected to find a relationship between runup and premium similar to the markup pricing hypothesis of Schwert (1996). It appears that in periods of higher investor sentiment there is a higher runup potentially associated with the overreaction of optimistic investors. However, bidder firms’ management realize that this excessive runup is not an increase in the stand-alone value of the target firm and they price the deal accordingly.


identifier: Rodrigues, Lynden  (2017) The Effect of Physical Training Cessation on Cognitive and Mobility Performance of Older Adults.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In order to prevent declines in cognition and mobility in older adults, physical activity has been looked to, to improve outcomes. The method in which past and current research has examined the effects of physical activity, is through exercise interventions. Multiple types of exercise interventions have been described as effective methods for improving cognition and mobility in older adults. Lack of adherence to exercise is a challenge, however, which may bring about periods of training cessation. Training cessation may lead to a to loss of fitness adaptations. The effects of cessation on cognitive performance, particularly executive functions, and mobility have yet to be elucidated, especially within the context of dual-tasking. This study examined the impact of an 8-week training cessation, on cognitive performance and mobility, after one of three interventions: combined lower body strength and aerobic (LBS+A), combined upper body strength and aerobic (UBS+A) or gross motor skills (GMS) training. Forty older adults (70.5  5.5 years; 67.5% female) participated in 3x-weekly training sessions for 8 months prior to training cessation. Pre, post and follow-up (post-cessation) measures of executive function (Random Number Generation test – single and dual-task condition) and mobility (Timed-Up and Go Test, 10-metre maximal walk test, six-metre walk test) were assessed. Performance in certain inhibition indices, in single and dual-task conditions, and mobility tests retained improvement or continued to improve after cessation, after all exercise interventions. Our findings indicate the potential of resilience in benefits to executive function and mobility in older adults after the cessation of exercise.


identifier: Giovanniello, Sabrina  (2017) What algebra do Calculus students need to know?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Students taking a Calculus course for the first time at Concordia University are mature students returning to school after an extended period of time away from formal education, or students lacking the prerequisites to enter into a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) related field. Thus, an introductory Calculus course is the gateway for many STEM programs, inhibiting students’ academic progression if not passed. Calculus tends to be construed as a very difficult subject. This impression may be due to the fact that this course is taught in a condensed form, with limited class time, new knowledge (concept, type of problem, technique or method) introduced every week, and little practice time. Calculus requires higher order thinking in mathematics, compared to what students have previously encountered, as well as many algebraic techniques.  As will be shown in this thesis, algebra plays an important role in solving problems that usually make up the final examination in this course.  Through detailed theoretical analysis of problems in one typical final examination, and solutions produced by 63 students, we have identified the prerequisite algebraic knowledge for the course and the specific difficulties, misconceptions and false rules experienced and developed by students lacking this knowledge. We have also shown how the results of our analyses can be used in the construction of a “placement test” for the course – an instrument that could serve the goal of lessening the failure rate in the course, and attrition in STEM programs, by avoiding having underprepared students.


identifier: Forget, Bettina  (2017) Converging Art and Science: Considering the Conditions in which Women and Girls enter STEM Subjects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Girls lose interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects at an early age because they are seen as “boys’ subjects” (Cooper & Heaverlo, 2010). This research examined the conditions in which women and girls enter the field of science, and whether art can play a role in creating access points for women who encounter hurdles due to restrictive gendering practices. Using the comparative case study design and the theoretical frameworks of complexity theory, gender theory, feminist standpoint theory, and institutional ethnography, this research examined two institutions where art and science intersect: the Exploratorium, a museum of science, art, and human perception, and the SETI Institute, an organization that is dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life. Two women from each institution were interviewed about their careers in the STEM field.
This study identified commonalities in the institutional philosophies of the women’s work environments, and analogous coping strategies employed by the women when encountering gender restrictions. Of special interest is how an emphasis on individual research practice over disciplinary labels and gender categories can replace the labels “artist” and “scientist” with the term “researcher.” The shared scripts of performing research create a community of practice, a library of actions and implicit rules and behaviours. This research describes how convergence points of the communities of practice in art and science can disrupt disciplinary distinctions, and by doing so dismantle the gendered dualities associated with each discipline. These convergence points create access points for women to enter the field of science.


identifier: de Sa Tavares Russo, Mariana  (2017) Development of a LC-MS method for analysis of thiol ratios as an indicator of oxidative stress.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Reactive oxygen species are free radicals capable of damaging the cellular components in a process called oxidative stress. Among the different biomarkers that are used to determine level of oxidative stress is the ratio between reduced and oxidized thiols, such as glutathione and oxidized glutathione. The use of glutathione ratio as a biomarker of oxidative stress is possible because the thiols are responsible for reducing the oxidizing species in a process that oxidizes the thiols into their disulfides. Under normal conditions, the cells can regenerate the reduced thiols by the action of reductases, which keeps the ratio constant. However, under oxidative stress, the cell cannot regenerate the reduced thiols rapidly enough. This in turn increases the concentration of the disulfide, and the ratio decreases. The ratio can also be inadvertently altered during sample manipulation because thiols can autoxidize. Therefore, for their accurate determination, thiols should be derivatized prior to analysis. The existing protocols using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for thiol analysis largely focus on urine or plasma analysis, and do not consider exposure to oxidation during sample handling, while the few studies on intracellular thiol concentrations employ derivatization after cell lysis. The main objective of this thesis was to develop a LC-MS method to accurately measure individual thiols and disulfides, and their ratios in Jurkat cells.
To achieve this goal, the selectivity and efficiency of two different derivatizing agents that are able to permeate the cell membrane were first compared in detail: N-ethyl maleimide (NEM) and N-phenyl ethyl maleimide (NPEM). They were compared in terms of their derivatization efficiency, electrospray ionization enhancement, stability and selectivity/side product formation with focus on four abundant intracellular thiols: cysteine (CYS), homocysteine (HCY), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), glutathione (GSH) and their corresponding disulfides. While NPEM provided greater ionization efficiency than NEM (NPEM/NEM varies from 2.1x for GSH to 5.7x for CYS), it was also more unstable, forming more side-products. The instability of its maleimide ring led to reaction with amines, as well as double derivatization and cyclization reactions, which corresponded to about 10% of the signal of CYS. NEM showed only minor contribution of side reactions (about 1.5% of the signal of CYS), so it was chosen as the derivatizing reagent for the protocol. The derivatizing conditions with NEM were further optimized to minimize side product formation, and pH 7.0 was selected for further assay development while being compatible with cell handling.
In the next step, a full cell extraction protocol was developed to quantify the thiol ratios in Jurkat T cells. Briefly, the optimized protocol required 1 × 106 cells and combined NEM derivatization prior to cell lysis, cell lysis and extraction using 20% methanol (v/v) and protein precipitation by methanol. The thiols were then chromatographically separated using a biphenyl, reversed-phase, separation in combination with Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (QToF-MS) analysis. Protocol optimization included evaluation of different lysis solvents, recovery, matrix effects, and evaluation of the number of washes required to ensure as complete removal of extracellular metabolites as possible without compromising cellular integrity. The final method was tested for its capacity to evaluate oxidative stress in cells stimulated by hydrogen peroxide, a known inducer of oxidative damage. The results show that the method was capable of differentiating between the control, mild and intense oxidative stress conditions.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first cellular protocol that combines NEM derivatization prior to cell lysis with LC-MS determination of individual thiol ratios. An innovative aspect of this procedure is the protection of reduced thiols prior to lysis, which minimizes changes in the ratio caused by sample manipulation, as opposed to the typical procedure which has the derivatization after extraction. This work is also the first systematic comparison of NEM versus NPEM derivatization for LC-MS analysis and shows clearly the propensity of NPEM for side-product formation under conditions commonly used for maleimide derivatization. In summary, this research contributes towards more accurate measurement of thiol ratios as readouts of oxidative stress.


identifier: De Luca, Cedric  (2017) Design of a Graphite Based Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrated Solar Power Applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents the feasibility of a residential scale, low cost, high temperature, graphite
based sensible thermal energy storage (TES) device and proposes a design for such a device. The
intended use for the proposed design is as a component of a larger concentrated solar power
(CSP) generation system. A scaled down model of the prototype was tested for performance and
durability. Measurements of thermal properties, discharge power, charging and discharging
efficiencies and resistance to degradation by oxidation and vibration were taken to quantify the
performance and durability. Oxidation rates were measured at 700 0C with SiC and Al2O3 based
protective coatings as well as with inert gas blanketing using argon, CO2 and evacuation. The
graphite was also subjected to vibration at 1000 rpm to evaluate any damage caused by contact
with a reciprocating heat engine. To quantify the performance, the relationship between
temperature and thermal conductivity was determined as well as the variation of specific heat
capacity with temperature. These were measured in the range of 50 0C to 400 0C. Solar irradiance
heat flux on the heat storage was simulated on the test samples to determine the temperature
variation throughout the charging period of one day. All tests were done on two grades of
graphite that vary in density, porosity and microstructure. Results obtained from testing the
device indicate an effective lifespan of 31 years before needing to be replaced and yields a
charging efficiency of 40.2%. Based on these results, a detailed design is presented. Finally,
based on the results, a more detailed design of the device is proposed.


identifier: Stevanovic, Lazar  (2017) Multiple Phase Treatment of Contaminated Backfill: Soil Washing, Electrokinetic and Phytoremediation System.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
Multiple Phase Remediation of Contaminated Backfill: Soil Washing, Electrokinetic and Phytoremediation System
The combination of physical and biological treatment methods for remediation of contaminated backfill has the potential for decreasing treatment period, and lowering costs, then, might be more suitable for small volume treatments. e.g. residential mazut leaks.  In this thesis, a combination of soil washing, leachate treatment, electrocoagulation (EK) and phytoremediation  was investigated.  Applied matrices, simulated the conditions where backfill is contaminated with petroleum products. The investigated physical treatments were soil washing with water with and without EK, as well as with and without recirculation. Additional tests considered washing of soil with an anionic surfactant solution.  Results showed that an EK system is suitable for turbidity removal from a recirculated oily wastewater after 24 hours of treatment. Results also showed an efficient removal (63.06 +/- 11.65%) of TPH in the trial with an anionic surfactant washing solution.  This trial, performed over a period of 5 days, gave 2.5 higher removal of TPH than other trials without surfactants running for 10 days.   The phytoremediation of washed soil was added as a biological component of treatment. This media was used for the replanting of Pelargonium crispum which was grown under “greenhouse”-lab conditions for 9 months prior to transplanting..  Following replanting, Pelargonium crispum was grown for an additional 5 weeks in the contaminated media prior to uprooting and TPH determination.  TPH determination revealed a further TPH removal of 38.78% +/- 12.42 % from the sand treated by soil washed with anionic surfactant.  The combined soil washing-EK-phytoremediation system had a TPH removal of 84.16% +/- 8.27 %.  Investigations utilizing phenol as an indicator for high solubility hydrocarbons in wastewater revealed that a three phase treatment system including a phase with EK equipped with graphite anode, following a phase of EK with stainless steel electrodes, and subsequent settling period permitted to remove 80.11% of phenol from wastewater. This research presents a treatment method for contaminated backfill originating from leaking underground storage tanks, which combines advantages of physical and biological methods in order to achieve a high remediation in a shorter than usual periods.

Keywords: contaminated backfill, Pelargonium crispum, soil washing, electrokinetics, total petroleum hydrocarbons, anionic surfactant, polyelectrolytes, phytoremediation.


identifier: Ohri, Aditi  (2017) Recognition on Settler Terms: The Canadian Handicrafts Guild and First Nations Craft from 1900 to 1967.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis examines the relationship between the Canadian Handicrafts Guild and Onkwehonwe (Indigenous peoples) from 1900 to 1967. The body of research my analysis draws from focusses primarily on First Nations artists, especially Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) people living in Kahnawà:ke. Two separate pictures emerge when we consider historical accounts of the Guild’s relationship to Onkwehonwe artisans. Guild founders were ahead of their time in their encouragement of “Indian” arts and crafts. Nevertheless, their desire to improve the quality of “Indian crafts” through integration into a settler arts and crafts economic model was also presumptuous, naive and paternalistic.
	Looking carefully at the Guild’s history from 1900 to 1967, I argue that Guild volunteers enacted a politics of recognition in response to the aggressive policy of assimilation that the Canadian government and the Department of Indian Affairs legislated through the Indian Act. Their politics of recognition encouraged Indigenous peoples’ cultural production while reinforcing a government-backed civilizing mission that marginalized Indigenous worldviews and rendered invisible the importance of land-based cultural, economic and political practices. The Guild rejected assimilation on grounds that it would do a disservice to Canada as an emerging nation in the British Dominion. Envisioning itself as a benevolent saviour easing the plight of poverty-stricken artisans, the Guild worked to integrate Indigenous people into the settler economic structure. Although Guild volunteers did take great efforts to celebrate Indigenous artwork, they did so on terms that, from Indigenous perspectives, did not help to strengthen Indigenous-led ways of life.