identifier: Hinbest, Maggie  (2022) What Do We Owe To Each Other? Exploring Settler Identity in the Works of Ayumi Goto and Jin-me Yoon.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines socially-engaged art by Japanese-Canadian artist Ayumi Goto and Korean-Canadian artist Jin-me Yoon, whose works consider issues of identity within the settler colonial context of Canada. Using the title question as a point of departure, this thesis examines how Goto and Yoon consider ideas of indebtedness and relationality in their practices. I argue that their works are conduits for the observer to reflect on their own place on Indigenous land. This thesis examines how their artworks and practices reflect their connection to place through their distinct, self-described identities and tackles thorny questions about how racialized settlers inherit legacies of colonialism. Further, I explain how that informs their relationship with Indigenous peoples and lands, and how doing so creates a new understanding of ‘multiculturalism’ in Canada. Drawing from settler-colonial discourse and decolonial theory, this thesis focuses on Asian-Indigenous relationality as a case study for exploring the complexities of relationality and settler responsibility in the arts in Canada. This thesis is structured in three sections: the first section considers the current state of Canadian nationality, in tune with critiques offered by theorists concerned with possible alternatives to the concept of nationhood. The second section offers background on settler responsibility and discusses gestures of respect and indebtedness. The third section reflects on relational histories and how Asian-Indigenous relationalities affect Goto and Yoon’s practices. Ultimately, this thesis will argue that Goto and Yoon’s works are conduits for the observer to reflect on their place on Indigenous land and, in doing so, hold the potential for healing relationships through an embodied arts practice.


identifier: Aierken, Aixilawei  (2022) Consumer Preferences for Attributes of Livestream Shopping: A Study of Generation Z.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Retailing is experiencing critical innovations in many areas. Livestream shopping (LS) is one of these innovations that combines shopping and social media. Experts predict LS to capture considerable share of retail sales rapidly as it has already done in China. This study reports the results of two surveys involving the relative importance of attributes of LS sites for generation Z because they are likely to be included in the early target segments. The first survey involves an application of the Case 2 Best-Worst Scaling (BWS2) (MaxDiff) to measure the relative attractiveness (utility) of LS attributes and their levels on an interval scale. Both the modeling approach based on random utility theory and the so called “counting approach” are used to analyze the BWS2 data to derive importance scales. They can be used as a guideline in the design of LS sites for generation Z. The results also suggest gender differences in perceived relative importance. These differences can be instrumental in differentiated market targeting. The second survey deals with the general shopping styles of generation Z consumers who participated in the first survey. It is hypothesized that general shopping styles will affect preferences for various attributes of LS sites. A factor analysis of the collected data suggests nine shopping styles with mean factor score differences for genders in four factors. The factors with higher mean factor scores for females help interpret the higher importance of a subset of the LS attributes for females. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.


identifier: Tanuku, Gayatri  (2022) Induction Machine Emulation for Supply Faults.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) is increasingly being recognized as an effective real time emulation technique to mimic electrical dynamics of machines with the help of real time digital systems using real time simulator like Opal-RT, RTDS, D-space etc. In PHIL machine emulation, a power electronic converter or a linear amplifier emulates the behavior of electrical machines which are used in several applications such as Transportation, Aerospace / Military, Automotive, e-vehicle, Grid and motor Applications. Using these emulation techniques, various complex control algorithms or different configurations of controllers/drives for electrical machines can be tested, and also allows the testing of complex control strategies of an ac microgrid with critical industrial machines.
The emulation techniques can be used to represent new machine prototypes thus reducing the time to market of the complete drive system significantly. That is prior to the installation of a physical machine, testing of an electric drive or micro grid can be done with the help of a real time machine emulator. Therefore, if the drive controller fails, it will not jeopardize the life of a costly machine. Different loading profiles can be tested. In addition, a PHIL based machine emulation can be particularly useful to emulate faulted machine behavior. A machine undergoes wear and tear and may develop faults such as winding faults, bearing faults, or rotor eccentricity etc. If such machines are being emulated, their corresponding impact on the driving inverter, controller and power system can be studied without implementing these faults on a healthy motor. In fact, these emulation related research areas explore the feasibility of employing a real machine under such atypical conditions. Furthermore, machine emulation also provides an idea of detecting specific faults in advance.
The main research areas focused on this research are development of machine models of high accuracy, development of an emulator controller to attain dynamic current/voltage tracking capability and research in emulator configuration. Several atypical conditions are considered including short circuit faults, open circuit faults and switching faults. The mathematical models are developed considering the machine steady state and transient behavior under starting and different fault operating conditions of the machine. The emulator chosen is a linear amplifier, because of its high bandwidth and performance. However, in comparison to a low bandwidth switched power amplifiers, it also possesses maximum current limitations. The emulator control strategies consider the abnormal conditions to which the machine is exposed. Hence, the emulator in this research work can replace the real machine effectively. Also, this method of emulation can be applied to any machine such as permanent magnet synchronous machine, synchronous reluctance machine, wound rotor induction machine etc. Especially, when the machine is rated in the MW power range, the developed emulator can be used with scaled down parameters.
In this PhD work, the main components in the emulator test bench include a real time system, back-to-back converters or linear amplifiers, link filters, required sensors and the grid. The developed IM emulator test bench can be used for studying the performance of the grid or drive control system for various grid faults, drive faults and other severe transient conditions. To validate the designed machine emulator system and its control philosophy, results are taken with a real 5 hp machine under same transient conditions.
On the other hand, this PHIL technology is also employed for grid emulation. An interface algorithm in the power hardware in the loop determines the accuracy and stability of emulation. Conventionally, this PHIL setup uses the ideal-transformer-method (ITM) as an interface algorithm between the device-under-test (DUT) and the real-time grid simulation model. The closed-loop PHIL interface with the DUT is usually stabilized using low-pass filters in the feedback path. Such filters stabilize the closed-loop PHIL interface, but with compromised accuracy. To improve the accuracy of the PHIL interface, this research work presents a method to design an optimal feedback compensator. This method depends on the type of physical filter topology used for the device under test.
To summarize, this research work represents 1) different induction machine emulators for different conditions of the grid and drive converters. This includes grid faults and test drive faults. 2) A grid emulator is designed with PHIL technology to test balanced and unbalanced resistive loads, islanding and grid connected modes of a distributed energy source (DER). The results obtained from the analysis and simulation for machine emulation and grid emulation are validated experimentally.


identifier: Pimentel-Lopes, Kelly Ann  (2022) "How (a)effective Is It?": An Experiment in Affective Audio Journalism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text audio audio audio

abstract:
This research-creation project investigates how concepts of affect theory can offer insight into new models of journalistic storytelling that engage audiences through affect, particularly in audio journalism and podcasting. Affect is described here as an intensity of emotions that urges individuals to feel something and do something, driving them towards thought and movement (Seigworth & Gregg, 2010). This motivation is equally shared in journalism, which urges audiences to provoke thought and inspire change.

This study develops an “Affective Framework” – narratives driven by compelling characters, emotive and non-stylized voices, descriptive and vivid language, moments of tension, a full-bodied soundscape, personal anecdotes – and applies it to the podcasting format to explore how journalists can produce engaging human-interest stories for news audiences that stimulate deeper levels of sense-making, connection, empathy and feeling by analyzing the composition of three podcast episodes produced for this research. Each episode recounts the story of a woman who spent her pregnancy and the first few months of motherhood in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic but is structured differently to test the various aspects of the Affective Framework.

Podcasting transcends as the ideal immersive listening space for audiences to fully submerge themselves in a narrative due to the intimacy between the listener and the voices in the podcast. The “Affective Framework” offers direction on how to create empathetic value for listeners by embedding pockets of affect into the composition of the podcast (e.g., strategic use of sound, timing, and descriptive language). Structuring the podcast by emphasizing different elements of the framework at varied levels between episodes and comparing them will prompt an interesting discussion around how different applications of affective techniques may stimulate emotional responses from listeners and evaluate which elements might be more effective at eliciting the emotions and affects the producer is seeking.


identifier: Campbell, Dawson Ford  (2022) Frapper d’Esprit: An Investigation into the Translational Potential of Humour, with Respect to Irony—Preceded by a Translation of Pierre Lafargue’s Aventures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation is, primarily, a first translation into English of the French writer Pierre Lafargue (1967) whose œuvre spans fifteen titles across nearly thirty years. I have translated excerpts from his 2015 work Aventures, a farcical, anti-novelistic and Menippean text that laughs at language. The excerpts I have chosen are representative of the humour emblematic of Lafargue, the humour that made translating this work a constant attempt to express its risible effects, the coextensive play of seriousness and frivolity, of sense and nonsense, of signifier and signified. It is this aspect, the Lafargian humour, that creates a springboard to think of translation in humorous terms and in tandem with irony. While the latter has a long history in the West as a legitimate mode of thought, the former has not received the same philosophical interest and has only recently been considered anew—notably in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. This dissertation illustrates two positions of translation theory, considered through the singular lenses of irony and humour. Discussing theories both ancient and modern, I will analyse the more significant iterations of irony as theorised and practiced in the Western tradition to inform the ironic positions inherent to the translation theories of St. Augustine of Hippo, Walter Benjamin, and Antoine Berman. Considering the “incongruity theory” of humour, I will later develop a notion of translation as complication after more recent work in translation theory, following Suzanne Jill Levine, Kate Briggs, Barbara Cassin, and Barbara Godard, among others. A humorous theory of translation proposes to challenge the ironic return to origin and principles, to instead turn to the complication, proliferation, and perversion of a source-in-flux.
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Ce mémoire est d’abord une première traduction en anglais de l’écrivain français Pierre Lafargue (1967), l’auteur d’une œuvre d’une quinzaine de titres publiés durant sa carrière d’une trentaine d’années. J’ai traduit des extraits de son livre paru en 2015, Aventures — une farce anti-romanesque et ménippée, un roman qui fait du risible de la langue. Les extraits choisis illustrent l’humour caractéristique de Lafargue. C’est cet humour qui pose d’importants problèmes en traduction et qui exige un effort continu pour exprimer les effets drôles, la danse coextensive entre sérieux et frivole, sens et non-sens, signifiant et signifié. Or, l’humour lafarguien crée un tremplin pour penser la traduction sur le plan de l’humour en tandem avec l’ironie. Tandis que cette dernière bénéficie d’une longue histoire en occident, et est considérée comme un mode de pensée légitime, l’humour n’a pas reçu un pareil intérêt philosophique. Cependant, l’humour profite d’une remise en cause depuis peu — provoquée notamment par la philosophie de Gilles Deleuze. Cette thèse discutera deux théories générales de la traduction, examinées depuis les positions singulières de l’ironie et de l’humour. D’après des théories à la fois anciennes et modernes, on analysera les itérations de l’ironie les plus significatives dans la tradition occidentale afin de façonner les positions ironiques des traductologies de Saint-Augustin d’Hippone, de Walter Benjamin et d’Antoine Berman. On se penchera, dans une autre section, sur la « théorie de l’incongruité » de l’humour pour développer une notion de la traduction comme complication d’après le travail de Suzanne Jill Levine, Kate Briggs, Barbara Cassin et Barbara Godard, parmi d’autres. Une théorie de la traduction modelée sur l’humour propose de remettre en cause le retour ironique vers les origines et les principes, pour se tourner plutôt vers la complication, la prolifération et la perversion d’une source en flux.


identifier: Feng, Haibo  (2022) A Practical, Direct Approach for Fusion of Tool Size Measurement and Flank Wear Prediction of End-Mills in Machining.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: On-machine measurement (OMM) of cutting tools is to automatically and directly measure them for length and diameter in machining breaks and compensated tool paths in the following machining. Tool condition monitoring (TCM) is to automatically predict tool wear and detect tool failure in machining, which is often evaluated with the width of flank wear land. OMM of cutting tools is widely applied with tool setters in the industry, however, it cannot measure flank wear to monitor tool conditions and predict the tool life. To address the problem in this research, an approach for fusion of tool size measurement and flank wear prediction of end-mills is proposed. First, the model of a fillet end-mill is built. Design principles are studied based on practical machining, which include the smoothness of the end-mill’s flank face, and the relief angle of the fillet cutting edge. Second, the model of an indexable face mill is also built accurately. Third, the geometric relationship between tool radius and flank wear land width is established for the indexable face mill. Then, an experimental method is adopted to optimize measurement locations. At last, experiments are conducted that the end-mill is measured at the locations, and the tool radius is used to calculate the flank wear width. The results show the proposed approach is effective for tool condition monitoring. This research successfully develops the OMM-TCM fusion technology and benefits the manufacturing industry.


identifier: Bayeh, Rebeca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6325-4751 <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6325-4751>  (2022) Neurodiversity, Intersectionality and Distress: A Quantitative Survey on the Experiences of University Students.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the profile and mental health status of neurodivergent (ND) students in a large university sample (N = 2,206), as well as to examine how intersectionalities of neurodivergence with other minority statuses impact mental health and wellbeing. Participants were recruited to an online survey, and were coded based on their reported gender, sexual orientation, racial minority status, linguistic minority status, citizenship status, relationship preferences, religiosity, socioeducational profile and presence of neurodivergent and mental health conditions. Psychological distress was assessed with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS) was used to examine experiences of discrimination in racialized groups. Neurodivergent participants were more likely to belong to LGBTQ+ groups, to engage in non-conventional relationship dynamics and styles, and to engage in non-conventional academic and religious and spiritual paths. Women were more likely to self-identify as ND than men, and white participants were more likely to self-identify as ND than participants from racial minorities, which might reflect larger systemic and institutional factors. ND participants had on average higher scores in all three subscales of the DASS-21, but not in the EDS. Main and interaction effects in DASS-21 scores were observed between neurodivergence and gender, racial status and income, and main effects were observed between neurodivergence and sexual minority status. Both main and interaction effects were found between neurodivergence and racial and linguistic minority statuses in discrimination scores. Limitations and future directions are discussed, as well as clinical and institutional implications.


identifier: Grant, Nicole  (2022) Hearing Loss is Associated with Widespread Alterations in Functional Connectivity in Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Hearing-loss (HL) is prevalent in adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a risk state for Alzheimer’s disease. Both MCI and HL are associated with alterations in brain connectivity. These connectivity alterations have been associated with cognitive impairment in both groups and progression to Alzheimer’s disease in individuals with MCI. This suggests that altered brain connectivity may be related to the cognitive decline and increased dementia risk in these two populations. Despite this, HL and cognitive impairment are rarely investigated together in the context of brain connectivity. Based on this, we characterized the relationship between two measures of hearing and brain connectivity in adults with MCI. All data are from the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Dementia study of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging. Based on a pure-tone screening protocol participants were classified as having either normal hearing (NH, n=60, %female= 40%, age=74.5, education=15.19) or HL (n=35, %female=48%, age=70.07, education=16.5). Groups were matched on gender and did not differ in age/education/Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores. Speech reception-thresholds were used as a measure of supra-threshold hearing ability. Analyses tested whether default-mode network and Heschl’s gyrus connectivity differed as a function each hearing measure. In all analyses, age, education, reading acuity, and contrast sensitivity were included as covariates. In all analyses using speech-reception threshold as a variable, pure-tone HL was controlled for. Hearing loss was associated with widespread alterations in functional connectivity. Compared to participants with NH, those with pure-tone HL had decreased connectivity between the default-mode network and the bilateral caudate and right thalamus. Compared to individuals with NH, those with pure-tone HL had increased connectivity between right Heschl’s gyrus and the right insula, the right operculum, and within right Heschl’s gyrus itself. They also had decreased connectivity between right Heschl’s gyrus and three regions in the left frontal lobe. Poorer speech-reception threshold was also associated with decreased connectivity between right Heschl’s gyrus and three regions in the left frontal lobe. Finally, there was no relationship between either measure of hearing and the connectivity of left Heschl’s gyrus. These results show that in individuals with MCI HL is associated with altered functional connectivity in regions responsible for sensory and higher order cognitive processing. This suggests that the increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia seen in individuals with HL may be due to alterations in functional connectivity reducing the brains’ ability to compensate for aging and Alzheimer’s disease related brain pathology.


identifier: Ansari, Abdul Moiz Abdul Rahim  (2022) A bilevel product pricing problem with ranks and utilities: Models and Algorithms.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Product pricing is a revenue management strategy that facilitates the determination of the prices of a series of products by understanding customer's purchase behavior to optimize the firm's revenue. It is worth mentioning that contributions in the current literature mainly focuses on a single purchasing behavior of the customer either by using utility or rank. To address this problem, we propose a product pricing model incorporating both the customer's utility and the rank. We present a bilevel programming formulation to model this problem and present its corresponding single level formulation. We present two algorithms to assess the validity of the single level formulation and obtain high-quality solutions in reasonable CPU times. Results of computational experiments are presented to assess the performance
of the proposed algorithms, in comparison with the single level formulation by solving it with a general purpose solver.


identifier: Mastroberardino, Meghan  (2022) Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership: An Approach to Minimize the Rate of Burnout in Healthcare.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Healthcare workers, especially nurses, are susceptible to burnout at more prevalent rates than the rest of the population. We argue that one way to mitigate rates of burnout in healthcare is by putting a spotlight on the Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership (SBNH-L) approach. Literature on SBNH-L is in its infancy, and no literature to date has looked at this leadership approach in relation to burnout. This study aimed to understand how SBNH-L can foster a culture of inclusion in nursing (and healthcare) and how this can be reflected in the rates of burnout among nurses and other healthcare employees. We surveyed 357 healthcare workers in Canada (144 of whom were nurses) using the AskingCanadians online data collection service. The participants were asked to complete the SBNH-L questionnaire in relation to their manager, a perceived inclusion questionnaire and a self-rated burnout questionnaire. To analyze the data, we conducted a mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro on SPSS. The results showed that inclusion partially mediated the relationship between SBNH-L and emotional exhaustion in the full healthcare sample. These results contribute to findings on the newly developed leadership approach of SBNH-L. They also extend into the clinical world to provide insight into inclusion as a mechanism to mitigate burnout rates.


identifier: Dobric, Steven and Amir, Shimon  (2022) Consequences of Striatal Bmal1 Deletion on Dendritic Spine Morphology.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

creator:
Dobric, Steven
Amir, Shimon

abstract:
Alterations to the circadian molecular clock that drive these rhythms are associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease and  plays a key role in neuroplasticity (Cronin et al., 2017 & Perez-Cruz et al., 2009). Among the many genes involved in regulating circadian rhythms, Bmal1 is vital for both the generation and maintenance of molecular circadian rhythms. Alterations to Bmal1 functioning are associated  with severe health concerns, such as motor impairments, metabolic syndrome, and a reduction in lifespan (Tonelli et al., 2009). The circadian system consists of a master pacemaker located in the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, and peripheral clocks that synchronize to the master clock. Among these peripheral clocks is the striatum, a major site of synaptic plasticity, and a key player in motor control, and affective behaviors. Studies in our laboratory have confirmed that Bmal1 is expressed in most neurons throughout the striatum (Frederick et
al., 2017). Currently, our understanding of local circadian regulation on neuronal plasticity in the striatum is limited. By Golgi-staining striatal sections of Bmal1 KO animals, we aim to understand the impact of deleting this crucial circadian gene on dendritic spine morphology. By utilizing the rotarod test, we also want to investigate the role of this gene in motor coordination. Results indicate that Bmal1 deletion in the principal medium spiny neurons of the striatum has an impact on motor coordination and spine branching by reducing the density of spines and their junctions. However, no such differences were found between WT and HET animals, suggesting that Bmal1 is haplo-sufficient in its role in striatal spine morphology. These results are the first to establish a role of Bmal1 in striatal dendritic morphology and could have implications for future studies on striatal connectivity.


identifier: Orrego Caicedo, Camilo  (2022) Design of a switched control system for a free-piston linear expander.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A switched controller was designed so that the power output of a free-piston linear expander is almost constant during a stroke cycle. The control system consists of an open loop system that accelerates the piston, a quadratic neural network controller which maintains the output power constant for most of the non-linear gas expansion process and a state feedback controller that decelerates the piston at the end of the cycle. The quadratic neural network is implemented to predict the dynamics of the system and to determine the required electromagnetic load force for constant power during the isentropic expansion. Its results are compared with two optimal controllers, for continuous time and discrete time models. The focus of the control is on the electromagnetic force and its calculation, leading to the determination of the states and input trajectories that yield the desired value of power. The design of the power electronics drive to generate the force is out of the scope of the thesis. The additional use of an energy storage system (ESS) reduces the drop of power during the change of stroke. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.


identifier: Taherkhani, Atefeh  (2022) Sustainable upgrading of wastewater treatment plant through enhanced adsorption of micropollutants by waste-based biochar activated with in-situ emitted greenhouse gas.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The current world's challenges concerning Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have introduced new principles in environmental engineering. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTPs) is one of the most important parts of modern cities, which is no exception to following these principles. The daily production of a large amount of biosolids, greenhouse emissions, and the effluent quality concerning EMs have made the wastewater treatment plant the center of attention. Consequently, providing solutions for sustainable upgrading of the wastewater treatment plant is of great importance. Emerging micropollutants (EMs), including pharmaceuticals compounds, personal care products, and metals, have been continuously released into aquatic systems due to their lack of removal from the effluents in conventional wastewater treatment plants. Subsequently, these EMs require advanced treatment such as sorption to decrease their harmful effects on human health and the environment. Adsorbing material is expected to adhere to as many sustainable development standards as feasible. This study investigated the preparation of biochar adsorbent from in-situ produced biosolids and industrial waste, which performance was enhanced with CO2 generated at the same WWTP. Designing parameters and optimum operation conditions for scaling up the filtration system are determined by setting pilot adsorption column experiments in three stages. In the first stage, adsorptive material preparation was optimized using three different methods. In the second stage, a series of batch tests was conducted to achieve the highest efficiency of pharmaceutical compound adsorption. In stage three, the fixed-bed column was designed to verify the performance of prepared adsorptive material under continuous flow conditions to determine designing parameters for scaling up the system. Then, the removal of micro & micropollutants was investigated in the pilot system. The designed system successfully removed 96.8% of SMX as a ubiquitous pharmaceutical compound in aquatics systems. Furthermore, metals such as Cr, Mn, Zn, and Pb were removed by 20.2%, 69.9%, 53.2%, and 28.7%, respectively. Additionally, chloride, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, bromide, phosphate, sulfate, sodium, calcium, and magnesium were eliminated by 22.42%, 23.36%, 30.29%, 34.5%, 99.5%, 27.12%, 22%, 14.96%, 36.94%, and 64.56%, respectively. Moreover, the metals usually present in biosolids were also reduced. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM & EDX) showed that waste-based biochar, formulated using an optimal method, demonstrated specific high porosity with the spherical structure that increased its adsorption capacity. The production of waste-base biochar upgraded with GHG might be conducted on-site in WWTP, where it can be used for the effluent filtration before its discharge to a receptor.


identifier: Serhan, Lucine  (2022) In-Between: An Autoethnographic Inquiry into the Notion of Home amongst Palestinians living in the Diaspora.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis uses research-creation, autoethnography and collaborative research-for-creation to explore the notion of home amongst Palestinians living in the diaspora. It is centered on the involvement of five participants, including myself, who guided the creation of an art installation combining participants’ videos, accompanying text, postcards and oranges scattered on the floor of the gallery. This project allowed participants to use research-creation to conceptualize and represent their experiences through video and storytelling.
Using the framework of diaspora studies and identity, In-Between employed creative practices, self-reflective texts, collaborative exchanges with participants, and academic writing, to explore the way Palestinians use their memories and imagination to make sense of their personal and collective identities. Throughout the process I focused on fostering a collaborative and caring researcher-participant relationship to examine the pedagogical implications art practices have on art education.
The value of this research lies in grounding our lived experiences as Palestinians in creation and in theory. In relation to art education, this study shows educators how memory and imagination can be used to foster students’ collaborative processes. It is my hope that this thesis would inform Autoethnographic researchers of Palestinian communities in exile in the future and encourage art students to use their respective socio-political location as an advantageous position for their research.


identifier: Al-Amaren, Abdullah Mohammad  (2022) Development of Deep Convolutional Neural Network Techniques for Edge Detection in Images.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Edge detection plays a very crucial role in many image processing, and computer vision applications. Several edge detection methods have been proposed in the literature, which can be categorized into two groups: non learning based methods and learning based methods. The performance of the methods in the first category is not as good as of the methods in the second category. Use of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) has significantly advanced the performance of image edge detection techniques. Most of the existing DCNN techniques are based on the ResNet architecture or on the VGG-16 architecture. The ResNet based techniques exhibit a good edge detection performance at the expense of an extremely high computational complexity due to the use of very large number of convolutional layers. The VGG-16 based techniques have much lower complexity, however, their performance is inferior to that of ResNet based techniques. This inferior performance is due to the fact that the spatial resolution of the feature maps in the last layer is very small. Restoring this small spatial resolution to the original image size would result in a blurred output and a poor localization of the edges. In addition, the deeper layers of the VGG16-based techniques are not able to learn some of the information captured by the initial layers. In this thesis, deep convolutional neural networks based on the VGG-16 architecture, with a focus on a reduced complexity and a performance that is comparable or superior to those of the other existing edge detection techniques, are developed. The thesis has two parts.

In the first part, the idea of residual learning is introduced for the first time in a VGG-16 architecture for the task of edge detection with a view to improve the performance of the existing VGG-16 based networks and also to reduce the complexity. The idea of residual learning enables the network to progressively increase the spatial resolution of the maps as the features extraction process is moved from the shallow layers to the deeper layers of the network through an appropriate use of transposed convolutions, and the use of smaller number and larger size filters in the deeper layers. The proposed network is experimented on different datasets and is shown to outperform most of the existing techniques. At the same time, the complexity of the proposed network in terms of the number of parameters is lower than that of all the other existing edge detection techniques.

Even though the complexity of the technique proposed in the first part is lower than that of all of the other networks, it is still high and its performance is lower than that of  a couple of the other existing techniques, one of which is VGG-16 based and the other is ResNet based. Hence, it is important to develop an edge detection convolutional network having a complexity that is still lower than that of the network proposed in the first part, but without lowering its performance. With this objective in mind, in the second part, we develop deep residual convolutional neural networks based on the VGG-16 architecture. The objective of reduced complexity of the networks is achieved through the use of fire modules which results in increasing the depth of the proposed networks. Also, the use of residual learning allows to maintain or even improve the performance of the networks. The objectives of the proposed networks are validated by conducting experiments employing two different datasets and the proposed networks are shown to outperform all the existing techniques in terms of the edge detection accuracy and complexity.


identifier: Xie, Tianhao  (2022) Differentiable Subdivision Surface Fitting.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this paper we present a powerful differentiable surface fitting technique to derive a compact surface representation for a given dense point cloud or mesh, with application in the domains of graphics and CAD/CAM. We have chosen the Loop subdivision surface, which in the limit yields the smooth surface underlying the point cloud, and can handle complex surface topology better than other popular compact representations, such as NURBS(Non-uniform rational basis spline). The principal idea is to fit the Loop subdivision surface not directly to the point cloud, but to the IMLS (Implicit moving least squares) surface defined over the point cloud. As both Loop subdivision and IMLS have analytical expressions, we are able to formulate the problem as an unconstrained minimization problem of a completely differentiable function that can be solved with standard numerical solvers. Differentiability enables us to integrate the subdivision surface into any deep learning method for point clouds or meshes. We demonstrate the versatility and potential of this approach by using it in conjunction with a differentiable renderer to robustly reconstruct compact surface representations of spatial-temporal sequences of dense meshes.


identifier: Grassi, Jacqueline  (2022) teamLab Borderless: The Role of Play in Immersive, Interactive Installations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis considers the work of teamLab, a Japanese art collective that creates immersive and interactive installations using projection-based new media technology. An examination of teamLab’s exhibition teamLab Borderless (2018-2022), at the MORI Building Digital Art Museum in Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan, is the primary focus of this study. In this exhibition, teamLab claims to present a “borderless” world. The collective believes that the multisensory, co-creative experiences they present have the potential to foster connections between people. In order to better understand how teamLab’s exhibition invites visitors to rethink the way they interact with art, the significance of other people, and their perception of the gallery space, this thesis considers the experiential aspects of teamLab’s Borderless exhibition through the lens of ludic theory. This perspective explores how the shifting interpretation of play has influenced the way people partake in artistic experiences, particularly in the context of the culture industry’s “experience economy”. Through a formal analysis of key artworks highlighting the relationship between visitors and the design of teamLab’s installations, this thesis examines how immersive experiences affect the visitor’s sense of agency, both within the museum and in the digital domain of social media as well. By exploring the dynamics between visitors and the virtual environment in teamLab’s exhibition, this thesis proposes that that the collective’s work offers a renewed understanding of the importance of our connections to others and our environment.


identifier: Warkentin, Ruben  (2022) Toward the use of Ankyrins and Affibodies as Scaffolds for Glycan Binding Proteins: A Directed Evolution and Computational Approach.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Glycans are present in all domains of life and have broad physiological functions that are implicated not only in normal, healthy biological functions, but also in various diseases such as cancer, making them diagnostic and therapeutic targets. The study of glycans is currently limited in part by a lack of specific tools to target glycans of interest, with available glycan binding proteins often having low affinity and specificity. Thus, there is a need to develop new tools that can accelerate the development of novel glycan binding proteins. Here we discuss the application of directed evolution by mRNA display using new binding protein scaffold libraries, in combination with molecular dynamics simulations, as tools for developing novel glycan binding proteins.
We designed mRNA display compatible libraries of affibodies and designed ankyrin repeat protein (DARPin) to be screened for binding against sialyl Lewis X (SLeX), a tumour associated carbohydrate antigen that is overexpressed on cell surfaces of various cancers. We developed an improved enzymatic synthesis protocol for SLeX and describe a click chemistry immobilization method coupled with a fluorescent-based lectin assay to test glycan immobilization. The affibody library was successfully created for future selection, whereas the DARPin library assembly needs to be optimized further. Future mRNA display selection should also be complemented with the molecular dynamics probing method developed here. We demonstrate that short, computationally inexpensive probing simulations were able to identify the binding site of a nucleoside sugar dTDP-Qui3N in an ankyrin domain of an N-formyltransferase. Future approaches could simulate protein variants selected by display methods to identify glycan-protein interactions that may be used to improve the protein design. In combination, the tools developed here provide a framework to accelerate the discovery and production of future glycan binding proteins with applications in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.


identifier: Ganzon, Sarah Christina  (2022) Playing at Romance Otome Games, Globalization and Postfeminist Media Cultures.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Otome games is a category of games originated in Japan that are marketed specifically to women. While genres in this particular category tend to range from RPGs to visual novels (the latter being the most common), they notably have the following common features: these games contain a system that allows the female player character to form relationships with the mostly straight and predominantly male game characters, they have simple controls, and they are related to other multimedia products, often imitating plots and art styles from manga and anime. Moreover, romance is often features as a part the games’ narratives, often imitating plots from shoujo manga. Although otome games occupy a niche sector of the game industry in its country of origin, the number of titles that are being adapted for audiences outside of Japan have steadily increased during the past decade.

This thesis explores this largely unexplored category of games, its players and the ways in which these titles have migrated out of Japan. Focusing on games, platforms and its predominantly female fandom, I examine cultural sensibilities, economies and online social formations that allow these migrations to happen. I apply a mixed-methods approach of textual analysis and interviews to help formulate my analysis of these games and the fan communities, which operate quite similarly to Radway’s book clubs. The results of this study indicate how communities and postfeminist media cultures both allow women to shape discourses around gender and romance, but also at the same time limit these discourses in ways that are beneficial to companies that create and localize these games.


identifier: Wright, Wyatt  (2022) Tunable Enhancement of Light-Matter Interaction in Graphene Heterostructures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Optoelectronic applications and the exploration of 2D light-matter interactions often require an increase on the bare light absorption of ultra-thin 2D materials (2DM)s, such as graphene. Light absorption by these 2DMs can be enhanced by their incorporation in planar heterostructures which can act as optical interferometric cavities. Furthermore, by fabricating an optical cavity with a suspended 2DM, we can tune its light absorption by tuning the thickness of the air spacer (h_air).
We report the development of an all-dry deterministic transfer technique that is capable of suspending ultra-thin 2DMs in order to fabricate suspended optical cavities, and also the ability to tune the light absorption of said cavities in-situ by the electrostatic tuning of h_air. We studied the absorption of visible light in suspended bilayer graphene (BLG) through Raman spectroscopy, which can distinguish the light scattering and absorption of the graphene layer from the rest of the heterostructure.
We first adapted models for the exclusive light absorption and the Raman scattering enhancement (Raman factor) of arbitrary planar 2DM heterostructures using Fresnel equations. In order to fabricate pristine, suspended heterostructures, we developed a transfer method which capitalizes on the softness and adhesion of a nitrocellulose micro-stamp to dry-pickup and deterministically transfer 2DMs. This transfer method proved capable of fabricating on-substrate (95% success) and suspended (93%) optical cavities. Raman measurements on a partially-suspended BLG optical cavity agreed with our Raman factor model and demonstrated our ability to tune Raman factor (3.8x) and light absorption (6.3x) over a cavity thickness varying from 0 - 150 nm.
We then sought to further enhance and tune Raman factor in-situ through the addition of an aluminium (Al) back-plane mirror, which can also act as a gate electrode to electrostatically tune h_air for suspended devices. On-substrate BLG optical cavity devices with an Al back-plane mirror demonstrated that Raman scattering can be tuned by a factor of 19 with cavity thickness differences on the order of 75 nm. We next assembled an optical cavity by suspending BLG over Al, whose Raman measurements at V_g = 0 V demonstrated that Raman factor can be tuned 1.8x over a 10 nm change of h_air in the same device. Once applying a gate voltage, our final measurements demonstrated an ability to electrostatically tune Raman factor by 20% and h_air by 3 nm with the application of 500 mV. These results pave the way for further research into the in-situ tunability of light-matter interactions for enhanced light absorption at higher gate voltages.


identifier: McLaren, Gabrielle  (2022) ‘Not so very fine and healthy as has been reported’: Settlers, Malaria, and the Construction of the Rideau Canal (1826-1832).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Nineteenth-century understandings of malaria as an environmental illness led Euro-Americans to pathologize certain places as healthy or unhealthy, including Upper Canada where the disease was endemic. Using the construction of the Rideau Canal (1826-1832) as a case study, this thesis asks how British imperial agents reconciled their visions of settlement, agriculture, and growth for Upper Canada with malaria’s presence in the colony. Drawing on the written work, financial reports, and correspondence of John Mactaggart and Lieutenant-Colonel John By, I argue that imperial agents mobilized knowledge of disease from across the British Empire to rationalize their presence in Upper Canada. Mactaggart carefully crafted the personae he presented so that experiences with disease flagged his loyalty and dedication to the imperial project. Meanwhile, By dealt with malaria’s paralyzing effect on canal construction by avoiding disease as much as possible and expanding his vision of the canal so that it healed the landscape it traversed. The canal was subsequently understood as a kind of health infrastructure by settlers. My thesis emphasizes the Rideau Canal’s role as settler colonial infrastructure and situates Canada within the global imperial history of malaria, thus also showing the limitations of current understandings of malaria as a “tropical disease.” My work also adds to our understanding of environment and health’s interconnectedness in pre-Confederation Canada. I end by investigating the environmental longue durée of the canal’s construction in the twenty-first century, focusing especially on those associated with health such as wetland drainage.


identifier: Sedigh Rahimabadi, pooria  (2022) Surface Preparation of Polymer Composites Embedded Metal Mesh for Coating Using Optimized Grit-Blasting Process and Image Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Many advantages of fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) make them suitable for various industrial applications, especially aerospace. However, they possess limitations, such as low thermal and electrical conductivity, as well as relatively low erosion resistance. This has led to in-service failure of FRPCs causing fatal accidents, as well as the waste of materials and equipment. In order to overcome these limitations, surface coating and metallization of FRPCs is a potential resolution. For this purpose, the incorporation of a metal wire mesh in the outermost layer of the composites forms a superficial anchor for the deposition of metals using thermal sprays, which has been proven to be an effective method. However, obtaining a proper surface coating is yet dependent on the mesh exposure level of the fully resin-covered metal mesh by surface preparation methods before the coating process. In this study, optimization of grit blasting parameters and introduction of operational parameter maps for preventing damage to the mesh pattern and composite during grit-blasting are carried out. An in-house automated sample holder for grit blasting process is designed and assembled allowing for better control over the grit blasting process. Then, the effect of grit blasting pressure, time, and stand-off distance at three levels on the exposure level of metal mesh were investigated through systematic experimentation. Portable digital microscopy and conventional optical microscopy are employed to inspect the composite surface and to measure the level of polymer removal at each processing condition. According to the results, it is practical to achieve a desirable metal mesh exposure following the optimized grit-blasting parameters. Moreover, developing a computer-aided inspection system can enormously contribute to the realization of uniform, and efficient grit blasting in industrial applications for huge structural parts.


identifier: Proulx, Mikhel  (2022) Social Practice Before the Web: Networked Media in Canadian Art.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation examines the concurrent emergence of digital networks and participatory art practice in Canada over a period of five decades. Although much literature on network culture has provided for rich discussion of community and togetherness in the digital age, there has yet to be a cohesive and sustained historical analysis of this discussion in networked art. From the Eternal Network to the global village, to the virtual community and social media today, concepts of community have shifted in relation to technological development over the last fifty years. Artists have been at the forefront of articulating this movement in both digital and non-digital forms of social practice.
This dissertation project looks to insights from art historical precedents to consider network culture today. The chapters are built from case studies of art projects that each employ a specific media network to create a temporary community. These include: Anna Banana’s (b. 1940) extended community produced through an ongoing, fifty-year practice of mail art exchange; the co-operative performance of Vera Frenkel’s (b. 1938) 1974 String Games, which used an early telematic network; a collaboratively-produced, site-specific textile installation in Laura Vickerson’s (b. 1959) Fairy Tales and Factories, 1999; and CyberPowWow, a platform for Internet-based artworks made by Indigenous artists, which was a project produced by the artist Skawennati (b. 1969) and many collaborators between 1997 and 2004. These are art projects that draw attention to intimate social encounters with diverse networked media, and they demonstrate how communications technologies can be used consciously and critically in the formation of temporary communities.


identifier: Du, Wenhang  (2022) Policy Model of Waste Management - Modelling of Shanghai Municipal Solid Waste Management Regulations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Waste management systems have always been considered complex. Scholars have studied waste management mostly from a macro perspective for a long time, considering waste management policies as a fraction of this complex system. This study presents the causal variables and feedback relationships related to waste management from the inside of the policy, using the macroscopic ideas of Environment-Based Design (EBD) and the system dynamics pictorial representation. The policy model developed in this thesis provides a graphical representation of the abstract policy language. The policy system model constructed based on the policy model further clarifies the linkage between policy and waste management systems. The way the policy really works is also clear from the analysis of the results, i.e., the policy controls the entire waste management system by controlling a subset of variables that affect other variables but are not affected by other variables. These variables can be divided into three categories: user-related variables, policy-related variables, and resource-related variables.
Along with the analysis of policy statements and the search for policy variables, this thesis investigates the process of policy generation and evolution. The general structure of the policy is linked to the responsibilities and work requirements of the various stakeholders within the policy based on three aspects: master plan, management hierarchy, and legal penalties. These structural maps will work together with the policy model to help policymakers further enhance the comprehension and improve the content of the policy in the future.


identifier: Thompson, James  (2022) The Psychology of Error: How Supervisor Behaviour Affects Mental Health.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Supervisors must deal with employee errors on a regular basis and may resolve them by acting according to various behaviors, including error management or error avoidance. However, the relationship between supervisor behaviors when dealing with errors and their effect on employee mental health has been subject to limited study, despite an increasing focus on mental health in the workplace. In this thesis, the data I gathered from 244 survey respondents support a model that links supervisor error treatment behavior to the job stress experienced by employees. I discuss the theoretical and practical applications for mental health, leadership training, organizational productivity, and future research.


identifier: Dammak, Chifa  (2022) Reliability Assessment of the Open-source Many-core Processor OpenPiton.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The fast-growing demand for computational capacity has led to the emergence of large-scale systems where the parallel processing capabilities of many-core processors have made them an ideal solution to bridge the gap between the onboard processing throughput and the applications’ increasing complexity. A many-core processor on a chip can enhance the overall performance without the need for higher clock frequencies and the associated cooling problems at a lower design cost and a smaller system footprint. These features have made the many-core processors an interesting platform to implement complex algorithms. The scaling of space applications from single-core to many-core processors is constrained by the estimation of the vulnerability of many-core COTS’ reliability in the presence of radiation. Recent academic and industrial research efforts have focused on evaluating the reliability of many-core processors against radiation events in order to facilitate their integration in an avionic domain. The radiation environment is characterized by a high-energy particle that ionizes the processor's components causing potential system failure.

This work presents a scalable fault injection and SEU impact categorization tool. The proposed engine performs simulation-based fault injections at the register transfer level (RTL) level of the design. The injection campaigns insert bit-flips in the general-purpose registers as well as the instruction memory of the different cores in the target processor. The approach enables a fully automated analysis of the SEU effects early in the design time. The soft error propagation through the many-core components is also evaluated to determine the potential impact on the memory elements of the multiple cores. This framework has been applied to evaluate the resilience of the open-source many-core processor OpenPiton.


identifier: Ramil, Joanne May  (2022) Dim-Light Melatonin Onset as a Circadian Marker in Children and Adolescents: Quantification of Melatonin Dynamics.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Quantifying melatonin, specifically dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO), in pediatric populations allows us to better understand the implications of circadian rhythm on health. However, current melatonin metrics were developed for adult populations and melatonin collection is typically time and resource intensive. The first goal of this thesis was to identify melatonin metrics traditionally used in pediatric literature and to examine alternative metrics. Data extracted from twenty-two articles identified via scoping review revealed that the most common DLMO metrics focused on a single melatonin dynamic: timing (i.e., the time melatonin concentration surpasses a predetermined threshold). Thus, alternative metrics to quantify timing, concentration, and rate dynamics, such as total melatonin output and rate derived by linear regression, were proposed, and applied to a pediatric secondary dataset. Traditional and alternative timing (ravg=.86) and concentration (r=.93) metrics where highly correlated, while rate metrics were moderately correlated (r=.38). The second goal was to explore potential proxy variables to estimate DLMO. This was achieved by augmenting the secondary dataset using multiple imputation, then by conducting a Classification and Regression Tree analysis to estimate DLMO dynamics. Sleep midpoint and bedtime measured by actigraphy were some of the best proxies for the timing dynamic (R2=.91) but not for concentration (R2=.50) and rate (R2=.41). Thus, other proxies to estimate concentration and rate dynamics, such as temperature, diet, or race, should be explored. Results of this thesis highlight the lack of melatonin metrics for youth populations in the literature and the need to better quantify melatonin and circadian rhythms.


identifier: Boyer, Sarah  (2022) A Collective Trembling: Apocalyptic Affective Practice.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Apocalyptic discourse, established as an emotional norm situated within the environment of belief of the late-modern era, is an affective expression of embodied anxiety. This thesis contends that the affective practice of apocalypticism motivates people to seek security in explanatory models, in attempt to make meaning, speculate on the future, and rationalize the present. Chapter one outlines the historical trajectory of Christian and secular apocalypticism and situates it within the American Protestant evangelical movement. Chapter two establishes that embodied anxiety is reinforced by turbulent social conditions which distinguish the current world order. Chapter three demonstrates that predictive misattributions, or errors in judgement, are valuable to emotional and ideological formation, exemplified through the case study of Pastor Jeremiah Johnson’s “I Was Wrong” video series. An appendix suggests future directions of study and advocates for applications based in embodied and expressive therapies in order to regulate affect.


identifier: Languay, Benjamin  (2022) Creating Accessible Data Journalism: Communicating Social Issues Effectively Using Numbers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Much existing data journalism literature chooses to focus on how to create data journalism; comparatively little research has examined how audiences react to elements of data journalism. In examining this subject, this research aims to determine specific elements of data journalism that can be applied to general news production. By creating a scale of numerical complexity, creating pieces of test journalism along this scale, and presenting the resulting articles in focus group discussions, this research found that data plays the specific role of corroborating a human experience, but cannot replace it in a traditional story structure. However, focus group participants viewed the inclusion of numerical information as essential evidence in an article. In short, this research finds that accessible data journalism must include (1) a central character through which the story can be followed, (2) sufficient numerical information to corroborate the account presented by the main character, and (3) a visual element that offers some level of interpretation of the information to the reader, rather than solely a “data-dump.” The findings of this research can serve as a foundation for attempting to create pieces of data journalism suitable for traditional news media and general news audiences.


identifier: Ahmadi, Bahar  (2022) Hybrid Vision and Force Control in Robotic Manufacturing Systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The ability to provide a physical interaction between an industrial robot and a workpiece in the environment is essential for a successful manipulation task.  In this context, a wide range of operations such as deburring, pushing, and polishing are considered. The key factor to successfully accomplish such operations by a robot is to simultaneously control the position of the tool-tip of the end-effector and interaction force between the tool and the workpiece, which is a challenging task. This thesis aims to develop new reliable control strategies combining vision and force feedbacks to track a path on the workpiece while controlling the contacting force. In order to fulfill this task, the novel robust hybrid vision and force control approaches are presented for industrial robots subject to uncertainties and interacting with unknown workpieces.
The main contributions of this thesis lie in several parts. In the first part of the thesis, a robust cascade vision and force approach is suggested to control industrial robots interacting with unknown workpieces considering model uncertainties. This cascade structure, consisting of an inner vision loop and an outer force loop, avoids the conflict between the force and vision control in traditional hybrid methods without decoupling force and vision systems. In the second part of the thesis, a novel image-based task-sequence/path planning scheme coupled with a robust vision and force control method for solving the multi-task operation problem of an eye-in-hand (EIH) industrial robot interacting with a workpiece is suggested. Each task is defined as tracking a predefined path or positioning to a single point on the workpiece’s surface with a desired interacting force signal, i.e., interaction with the workpiece. The proposed method suggests an optimal task sequence planning scheme to carry out all the tasks and an optimal path planning method to generate a collision-free path between the tasks, i.e., when the robot performs free-motion (pure vision control). In the third part of the project, a novel multi-stage method for robust hybrid vision and force control of industrial robots, subject to model uncertainties is proposed. It aims to improve the performance of the three phases of the control process: a) free-motion using the image-based visual servoing (IBVS) before the interaction with the workpiece; b) the moment that the end-effector touches the workpiece; and c) hybrid vision and force control during the interaction with the workpiece. In the fourth part of the thesis, a novel approach for hybrid vision and force control of eye-in-hand industrial robots is presented which addresses the problem of camera’s field-of-view (FOV) limitation. The merit of the proposed method is that it is capable of expanding the workpiece for eye-in-hand industrial robots to cope with the FOV limitation of the interaction tasks on the workpiece. All the developed algorithms in the thesis are validated via tests on a 6-DOF Denso robot in an eye-in-hand configuration.


identifier: Le, Dang  (2022) Two-stage route planning algorithm for last mile delivery.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis reports an application of using two stage optimization framework to solve the clustered
asymmetric traveling salesman problem to compete in the 2021 Amazon Last Mile Routing
Research Challenge. This approach implicitly leverages tacit knowledge encoded in delivery data to
learn a data-driven routing algorithm capable of predicting high quality routes. Given a set of features
and a set of decision targets corresponding to routes taken by experienced drivers, the model
seeks to learn routing models that provide near-optimal decisions for a set of high quality observed
routes. The thesis presents and computationally compares the algorithmic approaches capable of
learning feature-dependent cost functions for the base routing model. The results of extensive computational
experiments based on real data provided by Amazon involving 6,112 historical routes
show that this approach is comparable in score with the prize winners methods.


identifier: Wang, Xinling  (2022) Nitro-containing Polymers from Recycled Wastes as Organic Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The development of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries has reached a bottleneck due to the restricted capacity and energy density of conventional transition metal oxides. Meanwhile, the toxic metal-based electrodes will cause damage to the environment, which is not conducive to the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new energy-storage cathode materials that are rich in resource and eco-friendly. The rise of organic electrode materials has brought dawn to researchers. Recently, nitroaromatic compounds have been demonstrated as novel and high-performance organic cathode materials, which opens a new researching direction for lithium-organic batteries. In this thesis, two nitro-containing polymers, nitrocellulose (NC) and nitrated polystyrene (PS-NO2) from recycled ping-pong ball and waste polystyrene, respectively, are studied for their use as organic cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Their electrochemical performances under different parameters have been systematically investigated. It has been shown that NC can achieve a high specific capacity up to 676 mAh g-1 and energy density up to 1396.3 Wh kg-1 and PS-NO2 can reach high specific capacity up to 357 mAh g-1 and energy density up to 678.3 Wh kg-1. However, both polymers display poor cyclability with rapid capacity decays due to irreversible electrochemistry. This research thus shows the potential of two green and sustainable nitro-containing polymeric cathode materials for applications in high energy-density primary LIBs.


identifier: Fidotta, Giuseppe  (2022) Antimafia Media: Value, Imaginary, and Community in Western Sicily.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Antimafia Media examines the multifarious ways through which the antimafia movement and the local culture industry have fed each other in the last two decades, while also benefiting from and capitalizing on the global popularity of the Sicilian mafia. Grounded on an ethnographic approach, the dissertation demonstrates how the crime syndicate, currently undergoing what is probably the worst crisis in its century-long history, has morphed into a symbolic resource widely mobilized by the local culture industry to attain credibility, legitimacy, and economic gains. By attending to the work of a variety of cultural actors in and out former capital of the mafia Palermo, it maintains that the local culture industry’s re-elaborations of mafia history and mythology enabled the circulation of a politically deleterious imaginary of the syndicate grounded on its cinematic mediations rather than on its actual manifestations. The emergence of this easily accessible and commodified moviemade mafia imaginary underpins the current surge of mafia-themed cultural production, which I chart out in relation to the workings of the film and television, tourism, and cultural heritage industries. Through a wide range of cases ethnographically documented spanning from mafia museums and tourist tours to the making of a TV series belonging to the popular genre of mafia television, Antimafia Media illuminates largely unknown forms of cultural production that nonetheless have a massive impact over Sicily’s social and economic life. Moreover, it explores the ambivalent complicity of the hegemonic faction of the antimafia movement toward mafia-themed cultural production, arguing for a reassessment of the entanglements of activism, social imaginary, media making, and cultural politics in light of the ongoing economic recession and social distress affecting the region


identifier: Johnson, Alexandre  (2022) Overconvergent Modular Forms, Theoretical and Computational Aspects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we perform a review of the theory of overconvergent modular forms, then we explore the distribution of the eigenvalues of the Hecke operator T_p by considering their p-adic valuations. We begin by covering algebraic and geometric definitions of modular forms, then expanding these definitions to overconvergent modular forms. We then introduce algorithms, from "Computations with classical and p-adic modular forms" by Alan G. B. Lauder, which provide a method for calculating the p-adic valuations of the aforementioned eigenvalues. In order to implement these algorithms, programs were written for the Sagemath computer algebra program to perform the necessary calculations. These programs were used to collect lists of p-adic valuations, for various values of p and for spaces of modular forms of various weights and of various levels. The collected data confirms the fact that the Gouvea-Mazur conjecture is false, but also indicates that it may be a useful approximation of the true behavior at large weights or at large values of p, at least for the first few slopes. It shows the existence of  "plateaus" of weights which have the same slopes, up to the precision used, even at low values of p and k. The reason for the existence of these "plateaus" is unknown.


identifier: Tang, Anton Zihan  (2022) Second language use at work and school: A study of errors, satisfaction, and stress appraisals.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The main purpose of this study was to examine how miscommunications may be perceived as stressors by people who do not have the common business language at their workplace as their first language, and how this can affect job satisfaction. It also examined if these relations will be different when people perceive stressors related to speaking a second language as a challenge and/or a hindrance. I hypothesized that employees’ job satisfaction is negatively related to their second language use and communication error frequency. I further hypothesized that hindrance stress appraisals and challenge stress appraisals are moderators of these negative relations, where hindrance stress appraisals strengthen the relations and challenge stress appraisals weaken the relations. A secondary purpose of this study was to test these same hypotheses in the school domain. This study was done by gathering data from a sample of undergraduate students (N = 250), some of whom were employed (N = 219 for work domain analyses and N = 179 for school domain analyses). In the work domain, regression results showed that communication error frequency is negatively related to job satisfaction, consistent with the hypothesis, but with no moderating effect of stress appraisals, in contrast to the hypotheses. Results also showed that the relation between second language use and job satisfaction is negative and significant when second language use challenge appraisal is low and it becomes non-significant when second language use challenge appraisals increase, which was in line with the hypothesis. In the school domain, regressions demonstrated that school satisfaction has no significant relation with second language use, in contrast to the hypothesis. However, in line with the hypotheses, the relation between communication errors and school satisfaction is negative and significant when communication error challenge appraisal is low, and it becomes non-significant when communication challenge appraisal increases. These results suggest that it is important to find ways to make people feel that making communication errors are educational and promote their personal growth. Future research directions are discussed.


identifier: Pilehchiha, Sina  (2022) Improving Reproducibility in Smart Contract Research.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The most popular smart contract-based blockchain platform at the moment is Ethereum.
			Based on market value, it is the second-largest blockchain platform behind Bitcoin, with a steadily increasing market share. Ethereum smart contracts are used to secure billions of dollars worth of assets.
			Source code for smart contracts must be examined for any potential flaws that could result in significant financial losses and damage trust because they cannot be modified after deployment.
			A wide range of tools have been developed for this goal, and extensive literature on vulnerabilities and detection techniques on the subject above constantly keeps emerging.
			The analysis, testing, and debugging of smart contracts through automated processes have also been the subject of extensive research.
			Researchers have worked on the development of tools that can automatically detect and fix vulnerabilities in smart contracts, especially tools that rely on less explored methodologies, such as machine learning-based tools.
			We provide details on our work on \slithersimil, a statistical addition to a static analyzer, as a data-driven endeavor to complement the existing security analysis methods of smart contracts.
			\slithersimil~allows developers and auditors to check the similarity between the source code snippets of smart contracts written in Solidity and allows users to check smart contracts with a database of vulnerable smart contracts through the same mechanism of similarity checking in order to facilitate the discovery of security vulnerabilities in smart contracts.
			However, such automated analysis tools typically need datasets for their training, testing, and validation phases; collecting such data for smart contracts is time-consuming.
			Besides, it is difficult and time-consuming to replicate the findings of the majority of prior empirical studies or to contrast one's findings with those of others who have researched the above topics.
			Research studies offer datasets that frequently come in the form of sparse datasets with minimal to no usage guidance.
			Due to the fast-paced nature of the Ethereum ecosystem, the datasets available are often quickly outdated.
			These are significant barriers to performing verifiable, reproducible research, as it takes a substantial amount of time to accomplish many subtasks such as locating, extracting, cleaning, and categorizing a reasonable amount of high-quality, heterogeneous smart contract data.
			To address this issue, we introduce \etherbase, an extensible, queryable, and user-friendly database of smart contracts and their metrics that improve reproducibility and benchmarking in smart contract research.


identifier: Chatterjee, Piyusha  (2022) ‘We have always been here’: Busking, urban space and economy of Montreal.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation follows the buskers in Montreal to garner from them an understanding of the city’s economy, culture and urban space, and their entanglements. It is a historical and geographical study that examines the position of the itinerant entertainer or musician in the political economy of the city. Both history and place are explored from the vantage point of this
itinerant figure; and spaces frequented by buskers in the present or in the past are foregrounded in tracing urban transformations effecting the city since the 1960s.
An oral history project, it engages with memories of busking and formal and informal archives to address the lived experiences of buskers in the contemporary city; transformations in spaces of busking and their position with relation to the city’s economy; contestations over urban
public space; and the neoliberal entanglements of Montreal’s economy. Buskers' life histories are privileged in exploring concepts such as flexible, immaterial and precarious labour. The thesis, therefore, decenters the creative class in examining the entrepreneurial and self-regulated
worker and the nature of labour intermediaries within the neoliberal economy. It shines a light on the role of surveillance and politics of access that are deepening social divides in this new economy. It also compares the historical representation of street musicians and performers to their own perceptions of busking. In doing so, it not only challenges the distinctions between work and leisure, but also between economic and cultural or social domains.

The thesis foregrounds a temporal and spatial claim on the city by buskers. It is an argument for their place and practice in urban space and economy. Implicit is also a critique of urban planning and policies that are producing a sense of displacement among the economically
and socially marginalised. Experiences of surveillance and power, institutionalisation of culture, and professionalization of public art within the cultural economy make visible the exclusionary landscapes of the postindustrial city. Finally, in centering informality and informal spaces of
work and sociality through buskers, the thesis unsettles dominant narratives of Montreal to challenge a dichotomous framing of the world.


identifier: Sadeghian, Tanaz  (2022) LC-MS/MS-Based, Label-Free, Peptide-Centric, Quantitative Proteomics of the H2O2 Stimulon in Wild-Type S. Cerevisiae Cells vs Those Deleted for the H2O2 Sensor, Ccp1.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can be harmful to cells. However, cells adapt to sublethal doses of H2O2 by the enhancement of antioxidant synthesis and shifting their carbon flux to NADPH generation. Cytochrome c peroxidase (Ccp1) is a heme-based protein located in the intermembrane space of yeast mitochondria that functions as a sensor of H2O2. To fully explore the H2O2-sensing role of Ccp1, we compared the H2O2 stimulon in wt and ccp1Δ Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells (BY4741 strain) using label-free peptide-centric, quantitative proteomics. Cells were grown to mid-log phase, challenged with 0.4 mM H2O2, and whole-cell lysates were prepared 10 and 60 min later for three biological replicates. All the proteins in each lysate were concentrated into a single band on a 6% stacking gel for tryptic digestion and peptide analysis by nanoLC-MS/MS. A total of 2222 proteins were quantified and identified from their unique peptides (14,642) in the biological replicates. The stimulated and repressed proteins were analyzed using an abundance ratio (R) calculated by Proteome Discoverer v2.4, and Ccp1’s role was evaluated through the examination of proteins up- and downregulated following H2O2 challenge. Our results suggest that Ccp1 influences the abundance of key antioxidant enzymes such as Ctt1, Trx2 and Prx1 by effecting the levels of transcription factors involved in H2O2 signaling, including Yap1 and Hsf1. Ccp1 deletion alters the abundance of proteins that are important in NADPH production such as Rki1 and Sol3. These proteomics results combined with published biochemical data provide new insights into how Ccp1 contributes to the coordination of cellular defensive mechanisms and the shifts in metabolic pathways following H2O2 challenge.


identifier: Cheligeer, Cheligeer  (2022) An ebd-enabled design knowledge acquisition framework.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Having enough knowledge and keeping it up to date enables designers to execute the design assignment effectively and gives them a competitive advantage in the design profession. Knowledge elicitation or acquisition is a crucial component of system design, particularly for tasks requiring transdisciplinary or multidisciplinary cooperation. In system design, extracting domain-specific information is exceedingly tricky for designers. This thesis presents three works that attempt to bridge the gap between designers and domain expertise. First, a systematic literature review on data-driven demand elicitation is given using the Environment-based Design (EBD) approach. This review address two research objectives: (i) to investigate the present state of computer-aided requirement knowledge elicitation in the domains of engineering; (ii) to integrate EBD methodology into the conventional literature review framework by providing a well-structured research question generation methodology. The second study describes a data-driven interview transcript analysis strategy that employs EBD environment analysis, unsupervised machine learning, and a range of natural language processing (NLP) approaches to assist designers and qualitative researchers in extracting needs when domain expertise is lacking. The second research proposes a transfer-learning method-based qualitative text analysis framework that aids researchers in extracting valuable knowledge from interview data for healthcare promotion decision-making. The third work is an EBD-enabled design lexical knowledge acquisition framework that automatically constructs a semantic network -- RomNet from an extensive collection of abstracts from engineering publications. Applying RomNet can improve the design information retrieval quality and communication between each party involved in a design project.
To conclude, this thesis integrates artificial intelligence techniques, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods, Machine Learning techniques, and rule-based systems to build a knowledge acquisition framework that supports manual, semi-automatic, and automatic extraction of design knowledge from different types of the textual data source.


identifier: Syed, Kanwal  (2022) ھم گنہاگار عورتیں (We Sinful Women) Urban Feminist Visuality in Contemporary Art and Feminist Movements in Pakistan After 9/11.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
ھم گنہاگار عورتیں (We Sinful Women): Urban Feminist Visuality in Contemporary Art and
Feminist Movements in Pakistan After 9/11
Kanwal Syed, PhD
Concordia University, 2022
This dissertation provides a chronology of the circumstances that led to opposing but symbiotic representations of Pakistani urban gendered bodies as a site of contestation between imperialist and religious-nationalist patriarchies. It uses the War on Terror as a historical context to foreground a body of representative artworks by eight women artists that destabilize the oppressed-versus-pious rhetorical binary and tie the iconography of these artworks to diverse visual and popular cultures. It argues that these artists create “urban gendered subjectivities” through hybrid and rhizomatic ethnic pop-cultural material and symbolic signifiers; they do so not for a regional, religious, or nationalist identity but as a strategic feminist visual resistance against multiple patriarchies.
The attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, followed by the Global War on Terror waged in Afghanistan, and the peripheries of Pakistan, had a massive impact on the region’s gender politics. For political gain, neocolonial imperialism and regional religious patriarchies exploited the rhetoric of a homogenized gendered Muslim body by substantiating it through their respective singular lens: religiously oppressed or religiously pious and empowered in their subjugation. This gendered binary politics strengthened and reinforced existing patriarchal structures and further demonized urban women who stood up for their right to exist in a mutually conducive urban society.
Using cultural theory, art-historical scholarship, and gender studies through an emphatic postcolonial and non-Western feminist lens, this dissertation envisions an alternative art history by tracing feminist insurgency within urban Pakistan’s visual discourse at its primordial stages. Explicitly negating dichotomies, this dissertation gives credence to cultural, historical, and even individual complexities to gender representations of urban Pakistani women.
This dissertation aspires to unpack artworks that entail histories of ancestral wisdom, migratory anxieties, intergenerational feminist struggles, defiant ideologies, and colonial residues. The research warrants academic peripheral-gendered space within art historical authorship transnationally and domestically, much like the female artists under consideration,
iv
who strive to create a nuanced gendered visuality by challenging and destabilizing monolithic representations. For productive and ethical ways of gendered visual representations and knowledge sharing, this dissertation proposes that it is time that Pakistan is seen through the eyes of its alleged “sinful women.”


identifier: Mu, Xinzhao  (2022) Thermodynamic Modelling and Experimental Investigation of 3D Printed Inconel 718 Superalloy.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In recent years, with the constant maturity of metal 3D printing technology, the additive manufacturing of IN718, nickel-base superalloy, has attracted very strong attention in the aerospace field. Additive manufacturing, especially the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of IN718, has several advantages over the conventionally manufactured IN718 (cast and wrought) because additive manufacturing is more time-saving with lower cost and a lower buy-to-fly ratio. However, 3D printed IN718 components still exhibit defects due to thermal gradient during printing. This thermal gradient affects the mechanical properties of printed parts to a large extent. Performing some special post-processing heat treatment could minimize this problem. However, only heat treatments designed for conventionally manufactured IN718 are currently applied to the printed material. Therefore, establishing and optimizing a thermodynamic database representing the 3D printed IN718 alloy is essential to effectively guide the heat treatment and obtain information on phase formation and transformation.
In this work, firstly, a customized database was constructed by optimizing the phases presented in IN718, starting with the lower-order binary systems, followed by extrapolation to higher-order systems. The customized database is used to calculate the thermodynamic properties and predict phase formation in the IN718 alloy. Furthermore, to validate this database, experimental investigations, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), are done to determine the temperature of different phase transitions and the microstructure of the printed IN718 alloy. The modelling results obtained in the current work are more consistent with the current experimental results and the experimental results from the literature than the results obtained using two commercial databases.


identifier: Comeau-Lapointe, Antoine  (2022) Dirichlet Twists of L-functions of Elliptic Curves over Function Fields.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Some of the most fundamental questions about L-functions are concerned with the location of their zeros, in particular at the central point, or on the critical line. Following the work of Montgomery, and then of Katz and Sarnak, number theorists have learned that it is very fruitful to study families of L-functions rather than individual L-functions. Given a family of L-functions, it is common to classify it according to its symmetry type. The symmetry type can be either symplectic, orthogonal, or unitary, which refers to the corresponding ensemble from random matrix theory that models most accurately the distribution of the zeros of the family.

This thesis presents two papers studying the zeros of the family of Dirichlet twists of the L-function of an elliptic curve E over F_q[t]. In the first paper (Chapter 2), we show that the one-level density (the study of the low-lying zeros) for this family agrees with the conjecture of Katz and Sarnak based on random matrix theory, for test functions with limited support on the Fourier transform. For quadratic twists, the support of the Fourier transforms of the test functions is restricted to the interval (-1,1), and we observe an orthogonal symmetry. For higher order twists, the support is restricted to (-1/2,1/2) and we observe a unitary symmetry.

In the second paper (Chapter 3), we are taking the opposite point of view, and we construct certain elliptic curves over F_q[t] with infinitely many twists of high order vanishing at the central point, generalizing a construction of Li and Donepudi-Li for Dirichlet L-functions. This construction only works when E/F_q[t] is a constant curve. In the general case where E is not a constant curve, we performed extensive numerical computations that are compatible with the conjectures of David-Fearnley-Kisilevsky and Mazur-Rubin over number fields, which predict that such vanishing should be rare.

The last chapter presents an algorithm to construct the factorizations of the monic polynomials, a description of the zeros of L(E⊗χ,u), and a family of quadratic twists such that the rank of L(χ,u) goes to infinity.


identifier: Salahi, Hamidreza  (2022) Simulation of Multi Pulse EPR Signals for Distance Measurement in Biological Systems by Exploitation of COSY, DQ, DQM, DQC, and DEER Signals; Relaxation Due to Fluctuation of Spin-Hamiltonian Parameters of Echo ELDOR Signal; and Effect of Instantaneous Diffusion and Many Body Interaction in a Frozen Malonic Acid Crystal on a SECSY Signal.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation is devoted to three main subjects:
In the first part, an algorithm to calculate the multi-pulse EPR signals including COSY (Correlation Spectroscopy), two-pulse DQ (Double Quantum), five-pulse DQM (Double Quantum Modulation), four-, five-, six-pulse DQC (Double Quantum Coherence) is developed. The applicability of each of these pulse sequences is further studied.
In addition, a novel method based on doubly rotating frames (DRF) has been exploited to calculate three- and four-pulse DEER (Double Electron-Electron Resonance) signals for a system of two dipolar-coupled nitroxides on a sample of bis-nitroxide nanowire, P1, in deuterated ortho-terphenyl solvent with 5% BnPy (d14-oTP/BnPy) as well as two coupled Gd^{3+} ions in Gd ruler 1_5 in D_2O/glycerol-d_8 (7/3 volume ratio). The technique is then used to calculate the basis kernel signals accurately by numerical techniques to obtain the probabilities of distance distribution, P\left(r\right),\ using Tikhonov regularization and DeerAnalysis software.
In the second part, two models, namely cylindrical and conical models of fluctuation, are presented wherein one considers the random fluctuations in the \widetilde{g} and \widetilde{A}  matrices of the spin Hamiltonian due to thermal motion of malonic acid molecule. Accordingly, the relaxation matrix is calculated in Liouville space for the four-level coupled electron-nuclear spin system, using the formalism outlined by (Lee, Patyal and Freed 1993). The obtained relaxation matrix is then used to calculate the time-dependent echo-ELDOR signal by solving the relevant Liouville-von Neumann (LVN) equation.
In the third part, the relaxation during free evolution and many-body effects in a SECSY signal, including instantaneous and spectral diffusions, which are due to the dipolar interaction between an electron with other electrons in a \gamma-irradiated malonic acid crystal are investigated.


identifier: Biron, Camille  (2022) The Artist and the Artisan— The Venetian Glassmaker of the Sixteenth Century.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The separation between art and craft in the contemporary fine art context is less black and white than before, although some mediums are still associated with crafts as opposed to fine arts. When considering the academic distinctions between craft and art, what could we learn from looking at a moment in time when the boundaries between arts and crafts were blurred, unsettled, or in the process of being created? Although these questions have been studied by scholars before, this thesis will re-examine the division between fine art and craft from the point of view of Renaissance glassmaking – a craft technique which shared many similarities with painting and sculpture, but which was not recognized as fine art at the time that painting was. Despite not being recognized as a fine art, Venetian glassmaking stood at an equal, if not at a higher position, than other visual arts of the fifteenth century. The art was thriving in the Renaissance, even before certain mechanical arts were elevated to the status of a fine art or liberal art. Looking at the concept of liberal arts—the intellectual and gentlemanly arts—and the concept of mechanical arts—the manual and instrumental arts—this thesis will examine the line separating the two categories and will challenge standard narratives about why some mechanical arts (namely painting) eventually became recognized as liberal arts, while others (namely glassmaking) did not. The art of Venetian glassmaking will also be studied through the intimate connection it shared with the city’s image of itself as a divine state, and how certain socio-political aspects might have influenced the elevation of some crafts, and perhaps limited others.


identifier: Latham, Graham  (2022) Set in Stone? Conflict and Compromise in Orillia, Ontario.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The past decade has seen an international wave of public debate regarding monuments and commemorative practices, as societies attempt to come to terms with histories of colonialism, slavery, and white supremacy. In Orillia, Ontario, controversy has proliferated around a monument to Samuel de Champlain, erected in 1925 to commemorate “the advent of the white race into Ontario,” and seen by many as offensive to Indigenous peoples and people of colour generally. In 2017 the monument was removed for refurbishing, and the Samuel de Champlain Monument Working Group (SCMWG) was struck to consider options for its potential remediation, in the spirit of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Up to the present, the process has yet to yield definitive results. Based on archival research, newspaper reporting, and two participant interviews, this study examines the SCMWG process as it has unfolded in the community and seeks to evaluate its effectiveness in addressing the problematic aspects of the monument. My conclusions are two-fold. First, I find that the discourse surrounding the process skewed towards a minimalist understanding of the monument’s embedded symbolic meanings, and as such failed to engage with a robust understanding of its problematic messaging. Second, I find the twin goals of honouring the TRC and representing popular public opinion to conflict with one another, to the detriment of the former. Overall, while based in a good faith intention, the SCMWG thus far has proven a missed opportunity to engage meaningfully with the project of “reconciliation” with Indigenous peoples.


identifier: Portaro, Rocco  (2022) Liquid Needle Free Injectors: Design and Analysis of Power Sources.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Drug delivery without the use of hypodermic needles has been a long-term objective within the medical field. Although there exist many different needle free technologies, these have typically been limited to the delivery of micro-molecules and small volumes. This dissertation focuses on liquid jet injection, a technique utilizing micro size, high-speed liquid jets for the delivery of macro-molecules in line with commercially developed injectables. The devices using this technique are known as needle-free liquid jet injectors (NFJI). However, pain, bruising, hematomas, incomplete delivery, and cross-contamination, have limited their widespread clinical use.
This dissertation will focus on contributing to the development of the most important aspect of an NFJI, the power source. Power source requirements of NFJIs are established through a numerical study utilizing a computational fluid dynamic model constructed by Nakayama et al. (2013) and subsequently analyzing the effect of drug viscosity to underline the requirements for successful liquid jet injection. The results of this study highlight that increasing viscosity to levels required by novel drug therapies will make it difficult for commercially available NFJI to deliver viscous injectables.
These limitations are addressed by the analysis of a servo-tube actuated NFJI, this prototype advanced the work conducted by Taberner et al., (2012) and Do et al., (2017), by utilizing advanced power electronics and fully closed-loop control to illustrate the viability and real-time controllability of linear PMSMs for powering NFJIs. This yielded a prototype device producing accurate pressure profiles and large delivery volumes, however demonstrated slight difficulties in scalability.
In response, a combustion-driven injector was analyzed to provide rapid energy release in a smaller form factor. The study yielded a prototype capable of producing jets attaining stagnation pressures above 80 MPa, by detonating a gaseous mixture of acetylene-oxygen. A model that characterizes the pressure output of the device is also developed and verified experimentally.
A novel NFJI, that combines the scalability and energy release of the combustion-driven injector, with the controllability of a servo tube-powered NFJI is also presented. This concept utilizes a rotary servo motor, electromagnetic clutch and drive screw, to reduce the power requirements at the onset of liquid jet injection while providing real-time control of jet stagnation pressure.