identifier: Benty, Ryan  (2012) Concentration of Measure and Ricci Curvature.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In 1917, Paul Levy proved his classical isoperimetric inequality on the N-dimensional sphere.  In the 1970's, Mikhail Gromov extended this inequality to all Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded below by that of The N-sphere.  Around the same time, the Concentration of Measure phenomenon was being put forth and studied by Vitali Milman.  The relation between Concentration of Measure and Ricci curvature was realized shortly thereafter.
Elaborating on several articles, we begin by explicitly presenting a proof of the Concentration of Measure Inequality for the N-sphere as the archetypical space of positive curvature, followed by a complete proof extending this result to all Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded below by that of the N-sphere in the process, we present a detailed technical proof of the Gromov-Levy isoperimetric inequality.
Following Yann Ollivier, we note and prove a Concentration of Measure inequality on the discrete Hamming cube, and discuss his extension of Ricci curvature to general metric spaces, particularly discrete metric measure spaces.  We show that this “coarse” Ricci curvature on the Hamming cube is positive and present Ollivier's Concentration of Measure inequality for all spaces admitting positive coarse Ricci curvature. In addition, we calculate the coarse Ricci curvature for several discrete metric spaces.


identifier: Saeedi, Khodabakhsh  (2012) Influence of Rotating Tire Dynamics on Vehicle System Vibrations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: In the present study, a new two-dimensional hybrid quarter-car model has been developed. The hybrid model takes into account the inertia of the discrete vehicle body mounted on suspension and the dynamics of the rotating tire modeled as a continuous ring. The contact force between the tire and road is defined as a function of the bounce vibration of the vehicle as well as a function of the radial and tangential displacements and accelerations of the tire. The effects of the vibrating system on the contact force are investigated. Three different types of solution are presented: the Galerkin method, the finite element method, and the exact analytical method. Different solutions are used to validate the accuracy of the results. The mode shapes of the center-fixed rotating ring are used as admissible functions in the Galerkin method. In the finite element method, a curved beam is used as the element. The equations are derived in a non-rotating coordinate system. In other words, the nodes do not rotate. However, the material of the ring does rotate by flowing through the non-rotating nodes. The analytical study presents the closed-form solutions of the horizontal displacement and of the vertical displacement of the center of the tire (unsprung mass) as well as the displacement of the vehicle body (sprung mass). This method also provides the radial displacement and the tangential displacement of the rotating ring in the non-rotating coordinate system, all the displacements of the ring being measured with respect to the center of the ring. The results obtained by the different methods are compared and discussed. The natural frequencies of this hybrid system are compared with those obtained for a center-fixed ring. Also the damped frequencies of the system are obtained for different velocities of the vehicle. The mode shapes of the hybrid model are complex because of the rotating tire. Moreover, the response of the hybrid model to the random excitation caused by the road is studied. Results show that the rotation of the tire and the bounce vibration of the vehicle body affect the dynamic forces at the contact point. These results are compared with those of the conventional 2-DOF quarter-car model.


identifier: Kingdon, Danielle  (2012) Addressing the Gender Gap: Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Boys’ and Girls’ Academic Trajectories.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We applied a risk and resilience perspective to the understanding of the gender gap in academic performance that emerges at the transition from elementary to secondary school among at-risk children. The goal was to determine: (1) the extent to which children’s social-behavioural resources (including problem behaviours, attention, and social skills) at school entry explain these gaps; and (2) the role of parental school involvement in protecting against academic decline. Multiple-group latent growth curve analysis was used to compare the academic trajectories among 126 boys and girls from at-risk backgrounds. Children and their families were part of the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project and were followed across four time points, from early elementary to the end of secondary school. Results revealed a decline in academic performance associated with the transition to secondary for all children; however, boys (who as a group had lower social-behavioural competencies than girls) experienced the greatest rate of decline. A protective effect of teacher rated parental involvement emerged. Teacher rated involvement predicted children’s grades at the end of elementary school, although these effects were stronger for boys than girls. For boys only, teacher rated involvement exerted large protective effects against academic decline over time. In contrast, mother rated involvement was negatively associated with boys and girls’ elementary school grades, but had no lasting impact on academic trajectories. Results suggest the protective effects of parental involvement among at-risk populations may vary according to reporter and child gender.


identifier: Doriani, Ahmad  (2012) Simulation-Based 4D Modeling for Planning and Scheduling of Elevated Urban Highway Reconstruction Projects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Highway infrastructures in North America have surpassed their service life, and the transportation developments are shifting from construction of new highways to reconstruction of existing facilities. Elevated urban highway reconstruction projects involve complex geometry and limited space available which lead to spatio-temporal conflicts. Additionally, maintaining acceptable flow of traffic without compromising safety in highway construction zones is another major issue for planners. Overall, the phasing of construction work in such projects is complicated due to the structural complexity, large number of involved contractors, independent resource utilization planning by each contractor, and the vast number of activities that will be taking place at the same time.
This research proposes a new methodology by integrating 4D modeling and simulation in the planning and scheduling phases of elevated urban highway reconstruction projects to detect spatio-temporal conflicts. A sequence assessment approach using a deterministic 4D model is presented to define the order in which the segments should be constructed or demolished. The result of this step is a sequence which will be used as the process chain for simulation techniques. Then, a probabilistic 4D model is introduced by linking the 3D model of the project with generated probabilistic schedules from Monte-Carlo and Discrete Event simulations. The proposed approach is capable of identifying scenarios with the highest potential of conflict and calculating the probability associated with each scenario. The benefits of the proposed approach are highlighted, and the feasibility of the proposed methods is explored through three case studies.


identifier: Levy, Hannah C.  (2012) The effect of safety behaviour on the acceptability of exposure therapy for contamination fear.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Gutierrez, Ronaldo  (2012) Environment-Based Design (EBD) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Comparison.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Brett, Matthew  (2012) The Contested Terrain of Central Banking: Ideas, Interests and the Bank of Canada’s Inflation-Rate Reduction Policies, 1975-1991.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Monetary policy in Canada underwent significant changes between 1975 and 1991 as the central bank shifted from fostering full employment to aggressively reducing and controlling inflation. Existing studies of this period largely adopt either monetarist or constructivist frameworks of analysis. Both of these approaches do not sufficiently account for the class-based dynamics of monetary policy. Adopting Epstein’s view that central banks are contested terrains in which conflicting interests compete for profit and power over the marcroeconomy (2001), this paper examines the class-based dimensions of monetary policy change. The framework developed in this study accounts for both systemic factors of capital accumulation and class dynamics that influence monetary policy. Three distinct yet overlapping periods are analysed: the monetarist period (1975-82); the Volcker Shock period (1977-84); and the Crow Doctrine period (1988-91). Each of these periods had a distinct configuration of class forces, and these shifting configurations influenced the monetary ideas and policies that prevailed during a given time. Organized labour was significantly weakened during the monetarist and Volcker periods, while finance capital grew in power and influence over the macroeconomy into the 1990s.


identifier: Lianoudakis, Dimitris  (2012) Statistical Analysis of Volatility Surfaces.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Hynes, Benedict S  (2012) Unclosing Behind Me.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Unclosing Behind Me

abstract: Unclosing Behind Me seeks to illuminate the spaces of dialogue between the lyric and aleatory modes of poetic writing. The collection hangs around the idea of the biographical as being of intrinsic value to both modes and constructs a loose historical sketch of a poetic subject that begins with events that precede its emergence and follow through to current times. Through the utilization of this biographical skeleton, the collection hopes to demonstrate the manner in which elements of both the lyric and aleatory methodologies overlap and inform one another, i.e., that the process by which a lyric acquires a historical narrative is not entirely dissimilar from the manner that the aleatory mode procures language from an external source text. The manuscript is composed of three movements that reflect this dialogue. The collection begins with a “traditional” long historical narrative poem, “Then the Letting Go: June 24th, 1972”, that broadly describes the drowning of a pair of men utilizing language and tropes familiar to lyric writing from the Pastoral and Romantic traditions onward. The manuscript's second section transitions gradually from this lyric mode toward the aleatory mode and is comprised of several short poems that hinge around the poem “Loosed Change”. The collection ends with “Letting Go, Shuffling On, May 2012” which seeks to recapitulate the narrative of “Then the Letting Go...” through language gleaned from song lyrics selected in an aleatory fashion via the shuffle function of an iPod. It is my hope that this comparative gesture allows for a productive explication of the oftentimes subterranean and unexplored dialogue that transpires between lyric and aleatory modes.


identifier: Nougoue, Alphonse Romuald  (2012) DNA Barcoding as a Tool for the Identification of Illegally Traded Wildlife Products.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The rapid identification of species using DNA barcoding technology could facilitate the monitoring of the trade in wildlife products. A short fragment of mitochondrial DNA sequence has been established as a standard DNA barcode for animal species identification. We tested the utility of these DNA barcodes using taxonomically verified samples obtained from two Canadian Zoos. Then we tested the feasibility of getting DNA barcode sequences from various “field samples” that would mimic the conditions of confiscated wildlife products. We also asked whether designing more specific primers for DNA amplification might increase the success rate of obtaining DNA barcode sequences from commonly hunted mammalian species. Five of the major animal orders involved in the wildlife trade were included in our study. Our results show that we were able to obtain high quality DNA barcode sequences from almost all samples. We were able to amplify DNA from the blood samples from the Zoos and to get high quality DNA from fresh, smoked and processed meat samples purchased from grocery stores and restaurants. Only a few samples, specifically old hair from dried animal skins, failed to yield amplifiable DNA. We conclude that: (i) DNA barcodes provide a rapid and reliable method for species identification when applied to wildlife trade monitoring, and (ii) this technique is applicable to samples collected under field conditions, such as those that might be obtained when monitoring the bushmeat trade


identifier: Faghih-Imani, Seyed Ahmadreza  (2012) Sustainable Tactical Planning for Road Infrastructure Management.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Maistret, Celine  (2012) Computations on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for elliptic curves over pure cubic extensions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Ashrafi, Omid  (2012) Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Wastewater Treatment Plant of Pulp & Paper Industry.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Wastewater Treatment Plant of Pulp & Paper Industry

Omid Ashrafi, Ph.D.
Concordia University, 2012

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of the pulp-and-paper industry were estimated by using an elaborate mathematical model. The steady-state and dynamic models were used for the development of mass and energy balances. Significant changes were observed in the magnitude of GHG generation in response to variations in operating conditions, demonstrating the limited capacity of steady-state models in predicting the time-dependent emissions of these harmful gases, thus justifying the use of dynamic model. Aerobic, anaerobic, and hybrid - anaerobic/aerobic - biological processes were used as the main treatment processes. In addition, anaerobic digestion for sludge treatment, nitrification and denitrification processes to remove excess nitrogen in the effluent, and chemical coagulation/flocculation process for the removal of color, residual BOD and suspended solids were incorporated in the model. The generated biogas was assumed to be recovered and used as a source of energy for the treatment plant, in an effort to reduce GHG emissions while decreasing the total required energy. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide were considered as the major generated GHGs. The impact of pertinent operating parameters including reactor temperature, solid retention time, primary clarifier underflow rate and BOD concentration on GHG emission and energy consumption were investigated, leading to the identification of controlling operating parameters and adequate strategies to reduce GHG emission and energy consumption.
The overall GHG generation by using the steady-state model was equal to 3152, 6051, and 6541kg CO2-equivalent/day by the three examined systems. The results showed considerably higher generation of sludge by the aerobic treatment system, amounting to 376 kg/day, compared to that produced by the anaerobic and hybrid treatment systems. The generation of GHGs from aerobic and hybrid processes increased by 27% and 33.2%, respectively, when N2O emission from nitrogen removal processes was taken into consideration. The results of the dynamic model during 140 days of operation showed that the daily variations of GHG emissions were changed up to ±30%, ±19%, and ±17% in the examined systems. The estimated energy consumption amounted to 4028, 2017 and 3084 MJ/day in the aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid systems. The results showed that the produced energy by the recovery and combustion of biogas could exceed the energy demands of treatment plants examined in this study. The variations of process variables caused variations in energy generation from biogas recovery by ±16%, ±17%, and ±14% in the three examined systems. The lowest fluctuations of GHG emission and energy generation were observed in the hybrid system, showing the stability of this particular process design. Parametric studies using the steady-state model indicated that the best strategy to reduce GHG emission and energy consumption would result from a 12% increase in the bioreactor temperature in the aerobic system, a 10% increase of the bioreactor temperature and a 5 days increase of SRT in the anaerobic system, and a 10% increase of temperature and a 5 days reduction of SRT in the anaerobic bioreactor of the hybrid system. Additional reductions in the GHG emission and energy consumption would result from a 50% increase of the primary clarifier underflow rate.


identifier: Graham, Percival  (2012) Droplet Coalescence on Surfaces of Various Wettabilities.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Sadough, Zakieh  (2012) Fault Detection and Isolation In Gas Turbine Engines.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Aircraft engines are complex systems that require high reliability and adequate monitoring to ensure flight safety and performance. Moreover, timely maintenance has necessitated the need for intelligent capabilities and functionalities for detection and diagnosis of anomalies and faults. In this thesis, fault diagnosis in aircraft jet engines is investigated by using intelligent-based methodologies. Two different artificial neural network schemes are introduced for this purpose.
The first fault detection and isolation (FDI) scheme for an aircraft jet engine is based on the multiple model approach and utilizes dynamic neural networks (DNN). Towards this end, multiple DNNs are constructed to learn the nonlinear dynamics of the aircraft jet engine. Each DNN represents a specific operating mode of the healthy or the faulty conditions of the jet engine.

The inherent challenges in fault diagnosis systems is that their performance could be excessively reduced under sensor fault and sensor degradation conditions (such as drift and noise). This thesis proposes the use of data validation and sensor fault detection to improve the performance of the overall fault diagnosis system. In this regard the concept of nonlinear principle components analysis (NPCA) is exploited by using autoassociative neural networks.

The second FDI scheme is developed by using autoassociative neural networks (ANN). A parallel bank of ANNs are proposed to diagnose sensor faults as well as component faults in the aircraft jet engine. Unlike most FDI techniques, the proposed solution simultaneously accomplishes sensor faults and component faults detection and isolation (FDI) within a unified diagnostic framework.

In both proposed FDI approaches, by using the residuals that are generated from the difference between each network output and the measured jet engine output as well as selection of a proper threshold for each network, criteria are established for performing the fault diagnosis of the jet engines. The fault diagnosis tasks consists of determining the time as well as the location of a fault occurrence subject to the presence of disturbances and measurement noise. Simulation results presented, demonstrate and illustrate the effective performance of our proposed neural network-based FDI strategies.


identifier: Elliott, Corinna M.  (2012) Mental Contamination: A Cognitive Approach.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Pooyan, Mahmood-Reza  (2012) A Model for Selecting Project Delivery Systems in Post-Conflict Construction Projects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Adopting the most suitable PDS (Project Delivery System) is a process that entails thorough analysis of multiple criteria and does not follow a “one size fits all” approach. In most cases, the development agencies in post-conflict states resort to informal procedures in selecting a project delivery approach. There is an oversimplification of the decision making process in such a way that conclusions are often drawn in absence of careful review, and consideration of alternatives, or all determinant factors. The overarching objective of this research was to develop a scalable and site adaptable decision framework to facilitate objective selection of project delivery systems in post-conflict construction projects. This objective was primarily pursued through identifying the most pertinent selection factors in post-conflict projects. The research at hand consists of two PDS selection models. These models differ in their modality of judgment elicitation and score aggregation. At the output level, both models produce suitability index (SI) scores for the PDS options being considered. The SI Score is a sum product function of the relative importance weight (RIW) of the selection factors and the relative effectiveness values (REV) of the PDS options. In both models, the RIW’s were obtained through Analytic Network Process while the REV’s were directly assigned from a predefined measurement scale. The first model is predicated on individual assessment of the parameters leading to calculation of the suitability indices. This model applies Monte Carlo simulation to define a range for the suitability indices. The second model however, is hinged upon consensus-based assessment of the components of the suitability index. In the latter case, judgments are elucidated through successive decision conferencing workshops. The bottom line results of this research allude to Construction Manager at Risk (CM-R) as the more viable option. Ultimately, the research provides a comparative analysis of the results obtained from both models and tests the veracity of the models by confirming their utility and applicability outside the universe formed by the case study projects.


identifier: Mithun, Shamima  (2012) Exploiting Rhetorical Relations in Blog Summarization.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Bambara, James  (2012) Experimental Study of a Façade-integrated Photovoltaic/thermal System with Unglazed Transpired Collector.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Building façades and roofs receive significant amounts of solar radiation that can be used to generate useful renewable energy onsite. Photovoltaic (PV) technology may be integrated into well-oriented building surfaces to convert up to 20% of incident solar energy into useful renewable electricity. However, most of the solar energy not converted into electricity is turned into heat, which must be appropriately vented to the exterior to avoid overheating and reduced PV lifetime or delamination. Building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) systems recover the useful excess heat from the PV modules for use within the building, in addition to generating electricity. As the exterior cladding is replaced by the BIPV/T façade, costs associated with traditional building materials can be avoided through architectural integration.

This thesis presents an experimental study of a BIPV/T system made by mounting custom-designed PV modules over an unglazed transpired solar collector. Experimental testing of the prototype was performed in an outdoor testing facility at Concordia University and in a solar simulator - environmental chamber laboratory. The BIPV/T concept was applied to the façade (288 m²) of an institutional building in Montreal(45°N). Measured combined efficiency (thermal plus electrical) on the order of 50% shows the potential for BIPV/T technology to reduce the energy needs of the built environment while providing a durable building skin. Design correlations developed for predicting the performance of the BIPV/T system may be used for the design of similar systems in new buildings or for retrofit applications.


identifier: Soliman, Moataz Aly  (2012) Understanding Individual Adoption and Use of Social Media: A User-System Fit Model and Empirical Study.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: During the last few years, the phenomenon of Web 2.0, or social media, has gained growing attention both in academic research and in practice. Evidence suggests that a complex and rich set of motives drive individuals to use social media. However, traditional models of IT acceptance generally do not account for these motives, and thus are not particularly suited to explain the adoption and use of social media. Indeed, a central construct in many of these models, the „usefulness‟ construct, exclusively focuses on productivity and/or performance-related motivations and seems too narrow in a social media context. The current study makes an effort to provide improved understanding of that important phenomenon by offering two contributions. First, the research expands the existing conceptualizations of usefulness through the construct of „needs-supplies fit‟. Based on theories of motivational needs and person-environment fit, needs-supplies fit is conceptualized as a second-order construct with dimensions that span a wide spectrum of needs, including both extrinsic and intrinsic needs. Building on the extant literature and extensive interviews, this research develops a user-system fit model. The model comprises the perceived user-system fit construct, a third-order multidimensional construct that is a combination of four dimensions of fit: user-expression, needs-supplies, demands-abilities, and user-group fit. Perceived user-system fit, is hypothesized to be positively associated with social media use. The model is tested using a Web-based survey of 643 undergraduate students in a large Canadian university. Results indicate that 4 of 5 hypotheses are supported and that the user-system fit model explains 32.2% of social media usage of respondents.


identifier: Davies, Sandra K.  (2012) Green Bean Casserole.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Green Bean Casserole

abstract: Green Bean Casserole is a collection of short stories that explores the changing dynamics within the modern family. The stories focus mainly on the women, many of whom spend an inordinate amount of energy trying to maintain a strict definition of family, while at the same time making choices that end up redefining and perhaps destroying the very ideals they are trying to save.  The stories are set in and around Kansas and Missouri as well as Montreal, and use the influence of place as an important aspect of storytelling.  How does home and family affect a woman’s life, even when she decides to move away from both? What happens to the woman who stays?  The characters in the stories are related by blood or marriage, separated by distance or differences, but always seem to make it home for Thanksgiving, a holiday where secrets spill onto the perfectly set table, no matter how well we stuff the bird.


identifier: Cheng, Peiran  (2012) U.S. Energy Futures Markets: Liquidity and Optimal Speculative Position Limits.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: U.S. energy prices have grown dramatically since the 2007 financial crisis. Speculators are blamed for market manipulation, and regulators seek additional tools to control the market. Given the growing roles of liquidity and position limits in finance along with recent Wall Street legislation changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act, we carry out studies to test how effectively price impact liquidity measures measure liquidity, whether position limits have impacts on market liquidity, and how optimal speculative position limits should be modeled, based on microstructure theories. Using the major New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) energy futures data from Bloomberg, we compare low-frequency liquidity proxies with high-frequency liquidity benchmarks, run an event study on futures contracts’ liquidity following the launching of the Dodd-Frank Act, and develop a theory-based position limits model. Our empirical results indicate that the new price impact liquidity proxy developed in this thesis is more effective in measuring liquidity than the Amihud (2002) proxy. Further, contrary to Grossman's (1993) finding, position limits on financial futures do not force traders to move to foreign substitute markets. Finally, position limits for single commodity derivatives should be based on corresponding underlying spot market factors, and strong fluctuations in optimal position limits over time suggest that exchanges should update position limits on a high-frequency basis.


identifier: Funicelli, Michel  (2012) Personality, Competency and Communicative Suspiciousness Profile of Canadian Police Interrogators of Criminal Suspects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A confession in a criminal investigation is a prosecution’s most potent weapon and is sometimes the best available evidence. Identifying the profile of an effective interrogator may improve interview performance and personnel selection. Data concerning personality, interviewing competency, and communicative suspicion was collected from 29 police interrogators employed with large police forces across Canada. Interrogators reported on the outcome of their interrogations of suspects over a six-month period. It was expected that interrogators who obtain a positive outcome (full confession, partial admission, cleared innocent) would likely score high on four of the five factors of the NEO-PI, but low on N; would tend to score high on all dimensions of the competency scale (C-T, CNR, DI and Co), except for the Be scale; and would score moderately on the communicative suspiciousness measure. Results indicated a significant but inverse relationship between interrogation outcome and two pairs of variables: Conscientiousness and Careful-Tenacious, and Extroversion and Careful-Tenacious, each accounting for nearly 25% of the variance. A suppression effect is present. The knowledge gained from this experiment will assist police forces in Canada with the identification and selection process of two main groups of police officers, investigators who are called upon to interrogate persons suspected of having committed serious criminal activities and polygraph operators.


identifier: Ilea, Corina  (2012) Contemporary Romanian Photography and Video Art after 1989: Perspectives on a State of Unprotectedness.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Key Manesh, Mohammad  (2012) What Creates a Successful SME: An Investigation on Entrepreneurship in Quebec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Naccache, Rafik  (2012) Colloidal Upconverting Nanoparticle Systems for Integration in Targeting, Therapeutics and Imaging Applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The synthesis and surface modification of sodium gadolinium fluoride (NaGdF4:Er3+/Tm3+, Yb3+) nanoparticles were investigated for potential integration in biological applications. These nanoparticles are poised to replace conventional fluorophores in targeting, imaging and therapeutic applications. The latter possess several shortcomings ranging from photobleaching to requirements for ultraviolet (UV) excitation. In contrast, these nanoparticles are optically robust and may be excited using a near infrared (NIR) light source, which can be converted to UV, visible or NIR light via upconversion. Near infrared light is advantageous as it offers greater tissue penetration depth relative to UV or visible light and does not harm cells.
	Colloidal upconverting nanoparticles were synthesized using thermal decomposition. Synthetic parameters such as reaction temperature (280-320 C), time (30-180 min) and precursor addition rates (0.5 2.5 mL/min) were used to tailor the nanoparticle morphology, crystal phase (cubic or hexagonal) and particle size (10-80 nm). Integration of these nanoparticles in biological applications requires dispersibility in aqueous media. Hence several strategies such as silica shell coating and ligand exchange were carried out to render the nanoparticles hydrophilic.

	Orthogonal surface functionalization with amino and azido silane reagents was carried out on silica coated nanoparticles allowing for surface decoration using a cancer targeting folic acid derivative and a cis-platinum precursor therapeutic agent. The folate derivative was functionalized to the nanoparticle surface using "click" chemistry via surface N3 groups, while the cis-platinum derivative formed a coordination bond with the surface NH2 groups in a one-pot, one-step approach. The nanoparticle system was tri modal with targeting, imaging and therapeutic capacities.
	These luminescent upconverting NaY(Gd)F4:Tm3+/Yb3+ nanoparticles were investigated as novel contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging. Hydrophilic citrate capped colloidal nanoparticles showed strong T1 enhancement effects. Positive contrast enhancement was observed at Gd3+ host concentrations as low as 5 mol%. The 5 nm sized nanoparticles produced similar contrast enhancement to current clinical gadolinium chelates with the added advantage that toxic Gd3+ leaching is not a concern as the ions are tightly bound in the crystal.
	These nanoparticles have been developed into multimodal systems, which may be used in cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications as well as in whole body magnetic and optical imaging.


identifier: Jones-Doyle, Jameson and Katsanis, Lea  (2012) Moral Licensing and Environmentally Friendly Green Behaviour: Why People Go Green.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

creator:
Jones-Doyle, Jameson
Katsanis, Lea


identifier: Jin, Chao  (2012) A Motion Learning-based Framework for Enhancing Keyframe Character Animation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In the field of computer animation, character animation using keyframes remains a popular technique. In this, the animation sequence is represented compactly by just the more important character poses, termed as keyframes and the rest of the frames, known as in-betweens are generated when needed, say during playing the animation, using the keyframes. The animator specifies (creates) the keyframes while the in-between frames are computed using a suitable interpolation scheme. Interpolation parameters are usually under the control of the animator. Most animation software today will include support for keyframe animation. However, specifying the parameters so that the generated animation sequence fulfils the animator expectations and other motion requirements, say like preserving area or volume, or satisfying a physical constraint, can be quite difficult. The number of degrees of freedom is very high for skeleton-based animation and much higher for mesh-based animation. Physically-based animation techniques have been proposed for character poses to satisfy physics constraints. But animators find it difficult and non-intuitive to specify physics parameters, like body mass, forces. etc. and seem to  very much dislike the fact that they lose control over the final animation. Trial and error using the keyframe technique is presently the most popularly adopted solution by animators.

Our main thesis is that for a character action, given just the keyframe representation or the entire animation sequence, we can recover a characterizing motion representation in lower dimension space using manifold learning. This characterizing motion recovers distinguishing information hidden in the huge amount of correlated and coherent character animation data in high dimensional space. Then we can use it to enhance keyframe animation techniques, which can considerably reduce animator effort required for specifying the keyframes for desired quality of animation. Further, these new techniques are equally applicable to 3D skeleton and mesh animation.

In our first major contribution, we present a formulation to adopt the technique of locally linear embedding (LLE) to project the given character animation data into a much lower dimension embedding space. We show that animations depicting distinguishable activities, say walking, running, jumping, etc. take distinct characteristic shapes in lower dimensional embedding space. Based on this embedding, we present a new framework consisting of a reconstruction matrix combined with motion represented in the low dimension embedding space. This framework enables us to generate complete animation sequences in the original high dimensional space while maintaining desirable physical properties in a deformable shape. The latter is done by introducing the concept of a property map in the embedding space of values for the different physical properties of the mesh, for example area, volume, etc. A probability distribution function in embedding space then helps us rapidly choose the required number of in-between poses with desired physical properties. The reconstruction of the animation sequence is achieved by using the whole set of keyframes during interpolation for generating each in-between. This framework has many other applications and we demonstrate this by introducing two other new techniques which further enhance key frame animation.

In another contribution of this research, we present a non-physically based method for incorporating perceivable variations in repetitive motion of an autonomous virtual character while retaining its principal characteristics. Usually, this is rather difficult to achieve using standard keyframe animation techniques, since even small changes in keyframes can result in less predictable changes in the final interpolated animation. The basis for our method is provided by asymmetric bilinear factorization of a given animation derived using the above framework. Keeping the action unchanged (that is the characterizing motion extracted as the embedding in the low dimensional space), we define a method to incorporate controlled perturbations into the reconstruction matrix so as to yield variations of the same motion. Further, to join the varied motion segments into a longer animation sequence, we present an embedding space method, which again makes use of the property map to maintain the desired physical properties.

We also present an effective method for optimized keyframe selection from complete animations or motion capture sequences. Given the fact that most animators are very comfortable with the keyframe animation technique, this will enable animators to work easily with previously created animations or motion capture data. Our solution uses animation saliency and combines it with the embedding. For this, we use the representation of the animation in the form  of matrix multiplication of reconstruction matrix with combination weights and then cast the keyframe selection problem into a constrained matrix factorization problem. The error metric that is minimized however uses animation saliency computed in the original high dimensional space. This way, the time consuming optimal search required by the matrix factorization problem in high dimensional space is simplified to a much more efficient method in low dimensional space.

These enhancements to the character keyframe animation technique are possible because of capability of the manifold learning technique like LLE to effectively capture in low dimensional space the characterizing motion information that is present in a given character animation. Together these form the most significant contributions of this thesis.


identifier: Onofrio, Mariann Cristina and Dover, Geoffrey C.  (2012) Athlete's Sleep and Performance Measures During The Competitive Season.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

creator:
Onofrio, Mariann Cristina
Dover, Geoffrey C.

abstract:
Important information about the effect of sleep on sport-specific performance measures during different athletic seasons is lacking. Therefore, objective sleep and performance measures in football players were examined during two seasons. This was done using a single group, repeated measures design at a university lab and athletics practice facility. Twenty-four healthy male football players (age=21.6±1.6years, weight=99.7±18.9kg, height=183.8±5.6cm) participated in the study.
Participants wore a wrist accelerometer, Actiwatch Score (AS), during 5 days in the off-season and the in-season, with the last recording being the night before a game. Sleep efficiency (SE) and total sleep time (TST) were calculated using wake-quiet activity from AS. All athletes also completed a self-report measures sleep diary before bedtime and upon awakening. Performance measures, including: reaction time test, handgrip strength, vertical jump, and the agility t-test, were recorded at the end of 5 days during the off-season and on the morning of game day during the in-season.
There was no significant change in SE between off-season and in-season (77.6±7.2% and 77.5±7.9%, p=0.962). There was a trend toward an increase in in-season TST (375.2±70.2min and 409.3±72.4min, p=0.056). There was no significant changes in performance measures between seasons (p values: 0.190 to 0.872).
There was no significant change in sleep measures between the off- season and in-season in university football players. However, the approximate 77% average of SE is alarmingly low. It is possible that student-athletes’ rigid schedules contribute to their poor sleep. Future studies are needed to determine the cause of poor sleep in football athletes.


identifier: Holt, Cimminnee  (2012) Satanists and Scholars: A Historiographic Overview and Critique of Scholarship on Religious Satanism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is a summary of scholarship on religious Satanism, a critique of claims, approaches, and methodologies within these studies, and a proposal for future considerations within the scholarship. It begins with the early academic mentions of the founding of the Church of Satan, as scholars approach it as evidence of the larger counterculture movement of American society in the 1960s. It is followed by a treatise on the schisms of the Church of Satan in the 1970s, and the scholarly studies surrounding questions of authority and legitimacy. It concludes with a summary and critique of contemporary research on the great variety of religious Satanic groups, and their internal dynamics and social tensions. This thesis summarizes this previous academic research on religious Satanism, discusses the methodological and theoretical approaches to these studies, provides selective commentary and analysis throughout, and finally, encourages further academic discussion and interplay in this emerging field. This thesis engages – concurring, countering, rejecting, and critiquing – with other researchers and their respective work, and as such, it is this dialog that is the primary focus of this study, as it partakes in the discussion of the academic study of religious Satanism.


identifier: Szymanski, Andrew J.  (2012) Those of Us Who Are Still Here.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Those of Us Who Are Still Here

abstract: Book of short stories by Andrew Szymanski


identifier: Farhanian, Donya  (2012) Evaluation of UV-PCO Technology and By-Products Generation in Full-Scale Open Test Rig.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The quantity of the outdoor air for building ventilation has a direct negative effect on the
building energy cost and the environment. Also, there are plenty of pollutants in an
indoor environment which affect building occupants’ health and comfort. This is one of
the concerns in design of sustainable buildings which leads to a balancing act between
indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy cost.
Ultraviolet photocatalytic oxidation (UV-PCO) is regarded as one of the salient
technologies for decomposition of pollutants, especially volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) and a viable alternative to activated carbon filters. Majority of the previous
research on UV-PCO was performed in an ideal bench top reactor and in ppm range of
VOCs. Also, limited research has been devoted to investigate the generation of UV-PCO
toxic by-products while this issue is one of the main drawbacks in design of sustainable
buildings.
The objectives of this study were to: (1) Develop a methodology for determining the
performance of UV-PCO technology using full scale experimental set-up; (2)
Qualification and quantification of generated by-products; (3) Comparing UV-PCO
performance either in presence or absence of ozone, and (4) Investigating the impact of
operational parameters.
Results showed UV-PCO method has better performance in presence of ozone using
VUV lamps, although some by-products generated only in presence of ozone. It was
found that among tested VOCs, ethanol and 1-butanol generated more by-products,
especially acetaldehyde. Some toxic compounds including formaldehyde and
acetaldehyde were generated in all cases. Increment of flow rate and relative humidity,
decreased the UV-PCO performance for ethanol oxidation. System performance was
significantly improved by increasing the number of reactors.


identifier: Glovaci, Iulia  (2012) Dopaminergic Enhancement of Excitatory Synaptic Transmission in Layer II of the Lateral Entorhinal Cortex.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Previous research demonstrated that dopamine produces concentration-dependent changes in synaptic transmission in the entorhinal cortex, wherein high concentrations of dopamine (50 µM) suppress evoked excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) and lower concentrations of dopamine (1 to 10 µM) facilitate them. Whole-cell current clamp recordings were used to investigate the dopaminergic facilitation of synaptic responses in layer II neurons of the lateral entorhinal cortex. Surprisingly, the pattern of changes in EPSPs was dependent on cell type. During bath applications of 1 µM dopamine, fan cells showed a facilitation of the amplitude of EPSPs evoked by layer I stimulation. In contrast, pyramidal cells showed mixed modulation of EPSPs in response to dopamine, with different cells showing either facilitation or suppression effects. Voltage clamp recordings of excitatory postsynaptic currents suggest that dopamine facilitates AMPA glutamate receptor-mediated EPSCs. To determine the dopaminegic receptor subtype involved, either the D1 receptor blocker SCH23390 (50 µM) or the D2 receptor blocker sulpiride (50 µM) was bath applied to the slices prior to dopamine. Application of SCH 23390 blocked the facilitation of EPSCs, whereas application of sulpiride had no significant effect. Therefore, the dopaminergic enhancement of EPSCs is likely to be mediated primarily through D1-like receptors. D1 receptors can act through a variety of intracellular signaling pathways to modulate synaptic strength. The role of signaling via protein kinase A was tested by including the PKA inhibitor H-89 in the recording pipette solution. Cells filled with H-89 did not show a facilitation of EPSCs in response to dopamine application. Thus, the dopamine-induced facilitation of AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic responses in the lateral entorhinal cortex appears to be mediated via a D1 receptor-dependent increase in PKA activity.


identifier: Ogniewicz, Avital S.  (2012) An Evaluation of a Computerized Measure of Interpretation Bias in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Theories suggest that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) make threatening appraisals of ambiguous information related to health, finances, and relationships, among other domains. As a result, we have recently developed two parallel word-sentence association paradigm (WSAP) computer tasks designed to assess threat and benign interpretation biases relating to GAD worry. It was hypothesized that the GAD analogue group (i.e., individuals meeting diagnostic criteria by questionnaire) would endorse more threatening interpretations and fewer benign interpretations of ambiguous sentences relative to the non-GAD group (i.e., individuals not meeting diagnostic criteria by questionnaire) in WSAP Sets A and B. In the current study, 97 university students and community volunteers were randomly assigned to Set A (n = 49) or B (n = 48), and completed self-report measures of anxiety, worry, and related symptomatology. The results indicate that of those assigned to Set A, no differences were found between the GAD analogue (n = 19) and non-GAD group (n = 30) on tendency to endorse threat interpretations. Of those assigned to Set B, the GAD analogue group (n = 17) was significantly more likely to endorse an overall threat interpretation bias and specifically, to reject benign disambiguations than the non-GAD group (n = 31). No differences were found between the groups in either Set in the tendency to accept threatening disambiguations. More research is needed on the specific role of biases in the etiology and treatment of GAD, and why Set A did not distinguish between the groups. This study provides preliminary support for the use of word-sentence paradigms to assess, and possibly modify, threat interpretation biases in GAD.


identifier: Grebennikov, Marat  (2012) Ethnicity versus Religion: Conflicting Sources of Political Mobilization in the North Caucasus.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Koupaki, Olivia Roseline  (2012) Mechanisms Underlying Regulation of Yeast Longevity by Genetic and Pharmacological Interventions that Alter Mitochondrial Membrane Lipidome and Remodel Mitochondrial Respiratory Supercomplexes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Mechanisms Underlying Regulation of Yeast Longevity by Genetic and Pharmacological Interventions that Alter Mitochondrial Membrane Lipidome and Remodel Mitochondrial Respiratory Supercomplexes

Olivia Roseline Koupaki, M.Sc.

Recent studies in our laboratory demonstrated that in chronologically aging yeast grown under CR conditions LCA, a natural anti-aging compound, alters the age-related dynamics of changes in mitochondrial abundance and morphology, respiration, membrane potential, and ROS production.

Cardiolipin (CL), a dimeric glycerophospholipid that is synthesized and almost exclusively localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane, has been shown to modulate mitochondria-governed processes whose dysfunction underlies aging and age-related pathologies. Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is another glycerophospholipid that is almost exclusively synthesized in the inner mitochondrial membrane, from which it is then distributed to various other cellular membranes. Hence, it is likely that the synthesis and stability of CL and, perhaps, PE in the inner mitochondrial membrane are important targets of longevity-extending and health-improving interventions.

Because of the plausible importance of mitochondrially synthesized CL and PE in the longevity-extending effect of LCA, other graduate students in our laboratory elucidated how mutations eliminating nucleus-encoded mitochondrial proteins involved in the synthesis of CL and PE within the inner mitochondrial membrane influence the lifespan-extending efficacy of LCA in chronologically aging yeast grown under CR conditions.

The results of this genetic analysis suggested that the synthesis of both these membrane lipids in mitochondria plays an essential role in the ability of LCA to extend longevity of yeast placed on a CR diet. All these findings prompted us to elucidate how LCA influences the composition of mitochondrial membrane lipids in chronologically aging yeast grown under CR conditions.

To attain this objective, in experiments described in my thesis we used mass spectrometry (MS)-based lipidomics to elucidate the effect of LCA on the repertoire and quantities of membrane lipids in mitochondria that were purified from wild-type (WT) strain and from various long- and short-lived mutant strains impaired in different aspects of CL and PE metabolism.

By correlating the effects of LCA on the age-related dynamics of changes in the composition and quantities of membrane lipids in mitochondria of these strains to the effects of this anti-aging compound on their chronological lifespan, we concluded that under CR conditions LCA extends yeast longevity by remodeling the composition of mitochondrial membrane lipids and thereby modulating longevity-defining processes confined to and governed by mitochondria.

Specifically, findings described in my thesis strongly suggest that LCA extends longevity of WT yeast by (1) elevating the level of phosphatidylserine (PS; a precursor for the synthesis of PE in mitochondria) in the mitochondrial membrane, thereby enhancing its positive effect on longevity-defining processes in this membrane; (2) reducing the level of PE in the mitochondrial membrane, thereby weakening its negative effect on longevity-defining processes in this membrane; and (3) proportionally decreasing the levels of PE and CL in the mitochondrial membrane, thereby increasing PS/CL and PS/PE ratios but maintaining PE/CL ratio of mitochondrial membrane lipids and causing some longevity-extending changes in this membrane.

It is important to emphasize that these LCA-induced alterations in mitochondrial membrane lipids can satisfactorily explain the observed implications of LCA treatment on mitochondrial structure and function, including (1) the ability of LCA to cause dramatic changes in the length and curvature of the inner mitochondrial membrane; and (2) the ability of LCA to activate protein machines involved in mitochondrial respiration, the maintenance of mitochondrial membrane potential, ROS production in mitochondria and mitochondrial fusion.

Based on our recent findings and data of other researchers working in the field of mitochondrial biology, we hypothesized that, by altering the level of CL and other glycerophospholipids within the mitochondrial membrane, LCA could modulate the stoichiometry, composition and/or functional state of respiratory supercomplexes (respirasomes) in the inner mitochondrial membrane. To test the validity of this hypothesis, in studies described in my thesis we used a multistep method for recovery of intact respiratory complexes and supercomplexes from purified yeast mitochondria, their subsequent first-dimension electrophoretic separation using so-called blue-native gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE), their resolution into individual protein components with the help of denaturing Tricine-SDS-PAGE, and the mass spectrometry (MS)-based identification of each of these individual protein components.

Findings described in my thesis validate our hypothesis. Specifically, these findings revealed several ways of rearranging respiratory supercomplexes in the inner mitochondrial membrane of cells exhibiting altered mitochondrial membrane lipidome in response to LCA treatment or genetic manipulations impairing the synthesis of CL and other glycerophospholipids within the inner membrane of mitochondria. First, by altering the level of CL and other glycerophospholipids synthesized and residing in the inner mitochondrial membrane, LCA modulates the abundance of several major respiratory supercomplexes (respirasomes) in this membrane. Second, LCA- and genetic manipulations-driven changes in the inner mitochondrial membrane lipidome cause a recruitment of a number of new mitochondrial protein components, not previously known for being permanently associated with the ETC, into the remodeled respirasomes. Importantly, many of the proteins newly recruited into the remodeled respirasomes are known for their essential roles in mitochondria-confined processes that define longevity.


identifier: Oumlil, Kenza  (2012) ‘Talking Back’: Counter-Hegemonic Discourses of North American Arab and Muslim Women Artists.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation research examines expressions and articulations of counter-hegemonic discourses on the part of Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and Middle-Eastern women in the U.S. and Canada, with a particular attention to race and gender. As they are predominantly constructed as passive and imperilled in mainstream media, this doctoral work looks at how some of these women take voice and ‘talk back’ by creating their own media texts. The methodology involves a selection of the following case studies: (1) the poetry and performances of Suheir Hammad; (2) the cinematic interventions of Annemarie Jacir (Salt of This Sea); (3) the cinematic interventions of Shirin Neshat (Women Without Men); and (4) the films and the television comedy (Little Mosque on the Prairie) created by Zarqa Nawaz. These case studies were selected because they constitute long-term interventions to alter the dominant media sphere and on the basis of their popularity – they benefit from a wide reach within particular ‘interpretive communities.’ This dissertation includes a textual analysis focusing on the use of language and imagery deployed by these artists in their various productions. The analysis is supplemented with individual interviews with the artists involved. Additionally, the research includes a performance analysis since some of the case examples involve an embodied performance of an alternative discourse.

The selected artists are here defined as “identity workers,” rather than the more common phrase “cultural workers,” for the purpose of signalling that the circulated works not only relate to culture, but also endeavour to provide alternative portrayals of identity. My central argument is that these works are constitutive of a discourse of resistance. This thesis posits resistance as being counter-hegemonic. It demonstrates how these representations signify a re-articulation of identity and a call for a redistribution of symbolic power. It also situates these acts of talking back as constructed ‘mad’ speech based on the argument that hegemonic culture often attempts to construct a particular type of speech as mad in order to contain it while this type of talk is not always literally insane.

Further, the works analyzed in this thesis can be understood as making ‘noise.’ I conceptualize noise as a counter-hegemonic language that disturbs the tranquility of the status quo and that celebrates difference. In making noise, the selected identity workers described in my case studies deploy a variety of discursive tactics as interventions. Most notably, they engage in discursive practices of re-writing historical narratives, revalorizing native languages, activating collective heritages, and deploying resignification and reversal. These interventions additionally archive erased stories. Moreover, these texts significantly re-center gender – by referencing the workings of patriarchy, positing women heroines at the center of their narratives, or portraying lead female and feminist characters. The results of this analysis reveal that these works are subjected to attempts of containment and appropriation. In effect, the very popularity of these works endows each artist with increased latitude to stage interventions but also dilutes their intended oppositional messages through circulation and cooptation within traditional and new media. This study also demonstrates that the selected artists have been surprisingly burdened with representation.


identifier: Vaseghi, Payam  (2012) Benchmarking of Advertising Efficiency in U.S. Car Market Using Data Envelopment Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Measuring advertising efficiency is an important and challenging issue in marketing. It is important since advertising spending consumes the biggest part of a marketing budget. Yet many firms have difficulty to determine the optimal level of advertising budget and to allocate this budget across different media. And it is challenging since finding a methodology that can incorporate multiple effects of advertising (cognitive, affective and behavioral), measure efficiency in a competitive setting, and provide guidelines for advertising improvement is difficult. This thesis explores the usability of an alternative method, data envelopment analysis, in measuring advertising efficiency. The focus of this research, which comprises of two studies, is to benchmark advertising efficiency of major car-models in U.S. car market with application of DEA. The objective of first study is to measure the level of over-advertising at macro level, in the whole industry, and also to determine the level of advertising inefficiency in each major media. The objective of second study is to measure advertising inefficiency of each car-model in creating different levels of advertising effects, and also to investigate the influence of strategy on advertising effects and efficiency.


identifier: Zhang, Ying  (2012) Three Essays on Financial Restatements.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

title: Three Essays on Financial Restatements


identifier: Xypnitou, Eleni  (2012) Wind Loads on Solar Panel Systems Attached to Building Roofs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Solar panel systems placed either on building roofs or in the fields have become popular worldwide during the last decades since their contribution to environmental friendly energy production is remarkable. Their exposure to wind loads results to wind-induced loading which cannot be predicted efficiently because design standards and codes provide very little information. The main objective of this study is to determine and assess how different combination of parameters can affect the wind flow and thus the pressure distribution on the surface of the panels. For this purpose, wind tunnel tests were performed in the Building Aerodynamics laboratory of Concordia University.
Literature review was conducted demonstrating experimental results from previous studies for stand-alone panels and those attached to building roofs. A 1:200 scale model was fabricated consisting of a building and panels attached to the roof. The model was tested in the wind tunnel for different configurations, such as two different building heights and the case without the building, two panel locations and 4 panel inclinations for 13 angles of wind attack.
The acquired data was transformed into mean and peak force, local and area-averaged pressure coefficients. Different configurations result in different pressure distribution indicating those parameters contributing to the most critical cases. The results of the study will be made available to the wind code and standards committees for possible utilization.


identifier: Hachem, Caroline  (2012) Investigation of Design Parameters for Increased Solar Potential of Dwellings and Neighborhoods.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Neighborhoods can be designed to achieve net-zero energy consumption by addressing key design parameters for optimal solar collection, while allowing flexibility of building designs.
The current study comprises a comprehensive investigation of key parameters of dwelling shapes and neighborhood patterns for increased solar potential. Key findings and recommendations related to the solar potential and energy consumption of these dwellings and their assemblages are presented. Solar potential include the capture of solar radiation incident on, and transmitted by windows of near equatorial facing facades, and energy generation by building integrated photovoltaic systems covering complete near equatorial facing roof surfaces. The design parameters studied include geometric shapes of individual units, density of units and site layouts. Dwelling shapes include basic geometries and variations on these geometrical shapes. Density effect is analyzed through different assemblages of detached and attached housing units, as well as of parallel rows of units. Site layouts include straight road configurations and semi-circular road patterns, with the curve facing south or north. Roof designs are
iv
investigated independently to explore concepts offering an increased electrical/ thermal energy generation potential of integrated photovoltaic/thermal systems.
The analysis employs the EnergyPlus simulation package to simulate configurations consisting of combinations of values of parameters in order to assess the effects of these parameters on the solar potential, as well as heating and cooling demand/consumption of dwellings and neighborhoods. Effects are evaluated as the change of the energy generation and energy demand/consumption, relative to reference configurations. The reference shape is a rectangle, the reference density is detached units and the reference layout is a straight road. The weather data for Montreal, Canada (45°N) are employed to represent a northern mid-latitude climate zone.
An evaluation procedure is proposed as decision-aiding tool to assess the performance of design alternatives. The evaluation is based on design parameter effects and weights assigned to different performance criteria. A holistic design methodology is developed to support the design and analysis of solar optimized residential neighborhoods. This methodology may be employed to assist the design of net-zero energy communities while allowing for different dwelling shapes, roads and density patterns.


identifier: Masoudimansour, Walid  (2012) Energy-Efficient Algorithms for Target Monitoring in Mobile Sensor Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The main focus of this work is directed towards maximization of the lifetime of a network of cooperating mobile sensors monitoring a pre-specified target. It is assumed that the main sources of energy consumption in the network are movement, communication and sensing. It is desired to gather information about a moving target in a 2D field and find a proper route to transmit it to a fixed base or destination point. In order to find the most efficient route for transmitting information, the field is discretized as a grid of nodes. It is assumed that the sensors and target are located in the nodes at any point in time. A direct graph is subsequently constructed whose vertices are the grid nodes, and whose edges are weighted properly based on their residual energy. The proper set of nodes are then obtained (which form the desired route for maximizing the lifetime of the network) by solving the shortest path problem in the resultant graph. Finally, a proper model is adopted for the batteries to plan the sensor movement by solving a nonlinear programming problem to minimize the energy consumption of the overall network.


identifier: Spaulding, Hannah  (2012) Magnetic Memories, Revolutionary Camcorders, and Videomaker Magazine, 1986-1993.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the discursive construction of amateur and home video in the late 1980s and early 1990s, analyzing its emergence, popularity, and practices. Through an analysis of 150 articles published by Videomaker Magazine – a video hobbyist publication directed toward amateur video practitioners – between 1986 and 1993, this thesis works to examine how the magazine’s contributors, most of whom were self-described video enthusiasts, expressed the meaning, significance, and power of video as a medium, videomaking as a practice, and videomaker as an identity. Using the concepts of the private and public spheres, and the analytical approaches of home movie scholars, including Patricia Zimmermann, James Moran, and José van Dijck, my research contends that the value given to amateur and home video practices within Videomaker Magazine was informed by the gendered discourses of amateurism, professionalism, and domesticity. I argue that within Videomaker certain video practices were deemed more important than others, their significance hinging largely in the degree of public recognition they attained. Home video, as the most personal form of amateur production, held the lowest position within Videomaker’s hierarchy, while professional videography held the highest. The magazine’s articles advanced the view that amateur video gained social, cultural, and political value – and was even described as revolutionary – when it was incorporated into broadcast television, whether through news programs or public access stations. Thus, through a discursive analysis of Videomaker Magazine, this thesis examines the histories and practices helping define the meaning and significance of home and amateur video.


identifier: Fazioli, Domenic A.  (2012) In the Name of God and Profit: An Analysis of Fourteenth-Century Foreign Exchange Gains in the Trade Between Florence and England.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Foisy, Catherine  (2012) Des Québécois aux frontières : dialogues et affrontements culturels aux dimensions du monde. Récits missionnaires d'Asie, d'Afrique et d'Amérique latine (1945-1980).  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Kerr, Barbara  (2012) Design preferences for and attitudes concerning e-learning in a global organization.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Online educators are being faced with increasingly heterogeneous student populations. Researchers and practitioners are concerned that learners studying in a culture other than their own may be at an unnecessary disadvantage for a variety of reasons including but not limited to: difficulties in studying in a second or foreign language, different communication styles, coming from a another tradition of academic discourse, and differing expectations of student and teacher roles. However, the literature to date has been mostly descriptive and anecdotal. Of note, there is a lack of larger sample-size studies with sufficient power and control of extraneous variables, to identify the effects of cultural dimensions.
This study investigates: the characteristics of the particular challenges that global learners encounter in an online setting; the ways that cultural and linguistic differences manifest themselves as difficulties and opportunities in global online learning environments and the usefulness of current theories regarding the influence of culturally related factors in online learning. A large scale cross-sectional survey was conducted with participants from a large multinational non-governmental agency. This study will help close the gap in the research literature. Specifically it attempts to confirm, clarify and extend our current understanding of the differential appeal of three e-learning designs (e-training, problem-based learning, and virtual classroom) to adult professional in-service learners related to their diverse national and disciplinary cultural backgrounds. This study also includes other variables that might be more significant than, or might mediate the effects of cultural effects. Furthermore, the survey sheds some light on which theoretical cultural characteristics/dimensions seem to account for such observed differential perceptions of the three modes of e-learning.


identifier: Tannahill, Kerry L.  (2012) Citizen Discontent in the European Union: A General Phenomenon?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The European Union (EU) through a series of treaties has gradually deepened its institutional powers within member states and widened its membership to 27. These changes were largely pushed forward by political elites relying on permissive consensus. Failed referenda on treaties and declining general support (beginning in 1993 with the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht) expose growing public discontent. Previous studies claim that when citizens voted against the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe and the substantively similar Treaty of Lisbon, they did so based not on opposition to the treaties themselves but to something else. Through evaluation of all 27 member states, I reveal that discontent is highest on the question of enlargement. Conclusions in the literature on what explains this opposition are also mixed. Replicating a study conducted by Gabel (1998), I compare the many integration support theories existing in the literature. Using survey responses from Eurobarometers and the European Values Study I establish that citizens are not homogeneous in what determines their views toward enlargement. Attitudes of individuals in original member states are influenced by their level of trust in governmental organizations. Members of the first enlargement base their opinion on the degree of Europeanization of their self-identity. And citizens from the most recent enlargements consider the EU in terms of their attitudes toward national governments.


identifier: McLaughlin, Dylan  (2012) An investigation of the viedma deracemization process on conglomerate crystals of achiral molecules.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Viedma deracemization is the attrition-induced asymmetric amplification of a conglomerate crystal mixture of achiral or racemizing compounds.  There are 13 reported crystalline systems that undergo Viedma deracemization that can be classified as having: (i) achirality in solution, (ii) a racemizing state in solution or (iii) a reversible racemizing reaction in solution.  This phenomenon is based on an autocatalytic attrition-enhanced Ostwald ripening process with a requirement for an achiral, or rapidly racemizing state in solution.  The concepts of ‘chiral amnesia’, where a molecule’s chiral memory is lost in solution, and ‘the common ancestor effect’, where the chirality of daughter crystals is the same as the mother crystal, can be used to rationalize the generation of a homochiral solid-state.  The involvement of chiral clusters in the overall deracemization mechanism is critical.  This research explores the generality of Viedma deracemization for an additional 5 achiral organic molecules: benzil, diphenyl disulfide, benzophenone, butylated hydroxytoluene and tetraphenylethylene.  Stochastic chiral crystallization was observed for benzil, however chiral crystallization for butylated hydroxytoluene, diphenyl disulfide, tetraphenylethylene and benzophenone was non-stochastic, likely resulting from a cryptochiral environment.  Under standard Veidma deracemization conditions, each system reached homochirality within 2 to 30 hours.  A shaking mechanism and liquid assisted grinding conditions were also examined and yielded homochiral benzil crystals as little as 10 minutes.  Chiral methylbenzylamine was used to direct the chiral amplification of benzil as an example of implementing ‘the rule of reversal’ under attrition conditions, where (R)-methylbenzylamine yielded M-form benzil and (S)-methylbenzylamine yielded P-form benzil.


identifier: Jarrin, Denise C.  (2012) Waking up to weight: The meditational role of sympathovagal balance in the relation between inadequate sleep and childhood obesity.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Gao, Shan  (2012) Galois Theory for Schemes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Galois Theory for Schemes


identifier: Saunders, Saneeta  (2012) Risk Factors for Hypertension in a Black Canadian Population: Stress, Cardiovascular Reactivity, Cardiovascular Recovery, Gender, Dietary Sodium, Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Blood Pressure Dipping, Anger Expression, and Perceived Racism.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The present study investigated the effects of gender, sodium, anger-in, and perceived racism, on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery from laboratory stressors, ambulatory sleep and wake measures, and nocturnal blood pressure dipping. Fifty-three healthy Canadian Black male and female university students participated in a 21-day experimental protocol. Participants were twice exposed to three laboratory stressors tasks, and twice underwent 24-hr ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, at the end of a 10-day regular and a 10-day sodium-loaded diet period, respectively. Cardiovascular measures were recorded at baseline, pre-stress, during the stressor, and post-stress during the recovery period. Self-report measures on anger expression and perceived racism were collected. No effect of sodium on cardiovascular reactivity was found. Marginal findings implicate an interaction between sodium and gender on cardiovascular recovery from stress, and an effect of sodium on nocturnal blood pressure dipping. Gender differences were found for patterns in cardiovascular reactivity to stress, and for ambulatory heart rate measures. No significant findings emerged for effects of anger-in; however an interaction between gender and anger-out on blood pressure dipping is implicated. A significant interaction between gender, stressor type, and perceived racism was found for cardiovascular recovery from stress. Implications of these findings for future research on risk for development of hypertension in the Canadian Black population are discussed.


identifier: El-Sokkary, Hossam  (2012) Seismic Retrofit of Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls using Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In the past few decades, there have been considerable advancements in the design of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls for new construction, such as performance-based seismic design and capacity design principles. These advancements have resulted in a concurrent need for upgrading the seismic performance of existing RC shear walls so that they can meet the safety requirements of modern seismic design codes. As such, there is a need to retrofit existing RC structural shear walls to increase their capacity at locations of higher seismic demands. These upgrades could be at the plastic hinge zone at the base of a wall, or at higher stories due to the effects of higher modes of vibration.
This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using externally bonded carbon fibre-reinforced polymers (CFRP) in the seismic retrofit of RC shear walls. The research program comprises three phases. First, the testing of two 8-storey RC shear walls rehabilitated using CFRP composites under dynamic excitation. The walls were designed according to the NBCC 2005 and the CSA-A23.3-04. The walls were first tested under a simulated earthquake excitation using the shake table at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, where they experienced higher demands and nonlinearity at the sixth storey panel due to the effect of higher modes of vibrations. The tested walls were rehabilitated at the ground and at the sixth-storey level and retested on the shake table when subjected to several levels of ground motion excitation. In the second phase, three RC shear wall
iv
panels were tested under cyclic lateral excitation at the Structures Laboratory of Concordia University. The tested wall panels represent the control wall and two FRP-retrofitted panels using two different retrofit schemes. All three wall panels had reinforcement details similar to those of the sixth-storey panel of the code-designed 8-storey shear walls from the first phase. The walls were tested when subjected to a constant axial load along with synchronized cyclic moment and shear force at the top of the tested panel. The main purpose of the FRP-retrofit schemes was to increase the flexural and shear capacities of the tested wall panels and to assess the effectiveness of the FRP-retrofit schemes up to failure. In the third phase, a numerical macro-model was proposed to simulate the behaviour of the control and the retrofitted wall panels tested under cyclic loading.
The experimental test results of the FRP-retrofit schemes used in the two 8-storey RC shear walls and the three RC wall panels showed a satisfactory performance with improved flexural strength; the testing showed that the main retrofit objectives were achieved. The nonlinear numerical macro-model was able to simulate the monotonic and cyclic behaviour of the wall panels tested under cyclic loading.


identifier: Othman, Mohammed  (2012) Integrating Worker differences into Workforce Planning.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In today’s global and competitive market, manufacturing companies are working hard to improve their production system performance. Most companies develop production systems that can help in quality improvement, cost reduction and throughput time reduction. Manufacturing systems typically consist of different elements including production methods, machines, processes, control and information systems. Human issues are an important part of manufacturing systems, yet most companies do not pay sufficient attention to them. The majority of a company’s improvement comes when the right workers with the right skills, behaviors and capacities are deployed appropriately throughout a company. Developing an integrated workforce planning system that incorporates the human being is a challenging problem. To achieve this goal, a multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is developed to determine the amount of hiring, firing, training, overtime for each worker type and the amount of the break for each worker. This thesis considers a workforce planning model including human aspects such as skills, training, workers’ personalities, capacity, motivation, learning rates, and fatigue and recovery levels. This model helps to minimize the hiring, firing, training and overtime costs, minimize the number of fired workers with high performance, minimize the break time and minimize the average worker’s fatigue level. The results indicate that the worker differences should be considered in workforce scheduling to generate realistic plans with minimum costs. This thesis also investigates the effects of human fatigue and recovery rates, and human learning rates on the performance of the production systems. Moreover, a decision support system (DSS) based on the proposed model is introduced using the Excel-LINGO software interfacing feature. It is shown that considering both technical and human factors together can reduce the costs in manufacturing systems and ensure the safety of the workers.


identifier: Peters, Matthew  (2012) Novel chloroplast membranes are involved in protein synthesis and protein import for the biogenesis of the photosynthetic thylakoid membranes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The cytological organization of de novo photosystem II biogenesis in chloroplasts was examined using a unique technique of cellular subfractionation. The cellular subfractions were biochemically examined for three chloroplast membrane compartments. The results revealed membranes that are specialized in the synthesis of photosystem II proteins that are encoded by the chloroplast genome and synthesized by bacterial-like ribosomes within this semiautonomous organelle. Furthermore, a novel class of envelope membrane was identified which has a higher density than envelope membrane that was previously described. The localization of newly synthesized proteins and lipids after cellular subfractionation were also determined. Similarly, intermediates of chlorophyll synthesis were localized in the cellular subfractions, and it was confirmed that they are not only localized to the envelope membrane. The results reveal novel membranes that are involved in the synthesis of chloroplast genome-encoded subunits of photosystem II and the import of chloroplast proteins from the cytosol. They also contribute to the current realization in the field that organelles are highly compartmentalized and that certain compartments are specialized in biogenesis processes.


identifier: McKenzie, Allegra  (2012) Cinema L'Amour.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Cinema L'Amour

abstract: Cinema L’Amour is a novella about escape explored through my characters’ obsession with the legendary escape artist Harry Houdini. Cinema L'Amour is set in a Montreal theatre of the same name, where Houdini is rumoured to have been performing when he received a fatal blow to his abdomen in 1926. Once a vibrant vaudeville theatre but currently a porn cinema, Cinema L'Amour is the centre of this novella; it is where the characters come to know one another and Houdini, and it is where the present meets, and mixes with, the past. Cinema L'Amour achieves temporal depth through the characters' engagement with Houdini and through the two parallel story lines—one historical, one present-day—that structure the novella. The contemporary story line is about a group of characters who plan a Houdini tribute show on the anniversary of his death, while the second story line is an account—sometimes factual, sometimes imagined—of Houdini.  All of the characters are escaping something in Cinema L’Amour, whether physical restraints in the form of ropes and chains, or emotional impediments, like memories or fear.


identifier: Mantis, Irene  (2012) Mutual Touch during Mother-Infant Face-to-Face Still-Face Interactions: Influences of Interaction Period and Infant Birth Status.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Contact behaviours such as touch, have been shown to be influential channels of nonverbal communication between mothers and infants. While existing research has examined the communicative roles of maternal or infant touch in isolation, mutual touch, whereby touching behaviours occur simultaneously between mothers and their infants, has yet to be examined.
The present study was designed to investigate mutual touch during face-to-face interactions between mothers and their 5 ½ -month-old full-term (n = 40), very low birth weight/preterm (VLBW/preterm; n = 40) infants, and infants at psychosocial risk (n = 41).
Objectives were to examine: (1) how the quantitative and qualitative aspects of touch employed by mothers and their infants varied across the normal periods of the still-face (SF) procedure and how these were associated with risk status, and (2) the association between co-touch and the quality of the mother-child relationship.
Mutual touch was systematically coded using the Co-Touch Scale (Mantis, Ng, Stack, 2010). Interactions were found to largely consist of mutual contact and mutual touch, highlighting that active co-touching is pervasive during mother-infant interactions. Consistent with the literature, while the SF period did not negatively affect the amount of mutual touch engaged in for mothers and their full-term infants and mothers and their infants at psychosocial risk, it did for mothers and their VLBW/preterm infants. Together, results illuminate how both mothers and infants participate in shaping and co-regulating their
interactions through the use of touch and underscore the contribution of examining the impact of birth status on mutual touch.


identifier: Farag, Abdel Alim, Kamal  (2012) Cryptanalysis and Secure Implementation of Modern Cryptographic Algorithms.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Cryptanalytic attacks can be divided into two classes: pure mathematical attacks and Side Channel Attacks (SCAs). Pure mathematical attacks are traditional cryptanalytic techniques that rely on known or chosen input-output pairs of the cryptographic function and exploit the inner structure of the cipher to reveal the secret key information. On the other hand, in SCAs, it is assumed that attackers have some access to the cryptographic device and can gain some information from its physical implementation.
Cold-boot attack is a SCA which exploits the data remanence property of Random Access Memory (RAM) to retrieve its content which remains readable shortly  after its power has been removed. Fault analysis is another example of SCAs in which the attacker is assumed to be able to induce faults in the cryptographic device and observe the faulty output. Then, by careful inspection of faulty outputs, the attacker recovers the secret information, such as secret inner state or secret key. Scan-based Design-For-Test (DFT) is a widely deployed technique for testing hardware chips. Scan-based SCAs exploit the information obtained by analyzing the scanned data in order to retrieve secret information from cryptographic hardware devices that are designed with this testability feature.
In the first part of this work, we investigate the use of an off-the-shelf SAT solver, CryptoMinSat, to improve the key recovery of the Advance Encryption Standard (AES-128) key schedules from its corresponding decayed memory images which can be obtained using cold-boot attacks.
We also present a fault analysis on both NTRUEncrypt and NTRUSign cryptosystems. For this specific original instantiation of the NTRU encryption system with parameters $(N,p,q)$, our attack succeeds with probability $\approx 1-\frac{1}{p}$ and when the number of faulted coefficients is upper bounded by $t$, it requires $O((pN)^t)$ polynomial inversions in $\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z[x]/(x^{N}-1)$. We also investigate several techniques to strengthen hardware implementations of NTRUEncrypt against this class of attacks. For NTRUSign with parameters ($N$, $q=p^l$, $\mathcal{B}$, \emph{standard}, $\mathcal{N}$), when the attacker is able to skip the norm-bound signature checking step, our attack needs one fault to succeed with probability $\approx 1-\frac{1}{p}$ and requires $O((qN)^t)$ steps when the number of faulted polynomial coefficients is upper bounded by $t$. The attack is also applicable to NTRUSign utilizing the \emph{transpose} NTRU lattice but it requires double the number of fault injections. Different countermeasures against the proposed attack are also investigated.
Furthermore, we present a scan-based SCA on NTRUEncrypt hardware implementations that employ scan-based DFT techniques. Our attack determines the scan chain structure of the polynomial multiplication circuits used in the decryption algorithm which allows the cryptanalyst to efficiently retrieve the secret key.
Several key agreement schemes based on matrices were recently proposed.  For example, \'{A}lvarez \emph{et al.} proposed a scheme in which the secret key is obtained by multiplying powers of block upper triangular matrices whose elements are defined over $\mathbb{Z}_p$.  Climent \emph{et al.} identified the elements of the endomorphisms ring $End(\mathbb{Z}_p \times \mathbb{Z}_{p^2})$ with elements in a set, $E_p$, of matrices of size $2\times 2$, whose elements in the first row belong to $\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ and the elements in the second row belong to $\mathbb{Z}_{p^2}$. Keith Salvin presented a key exchange protocol using matrices in the general linear group, $GL(r,\mathbb{Z}_n)$, where $n$ is the product of two distinct large primes. The system is fully specified in the US patent number 7346162 issued in 2008. In the second part of this work, we present mathematical cryptanalytic attacks against these three schemes and show that they can be easily broken for all practical choices of their security parameters.


identifier: Harbicht, Andrew  (2012) Ecological correlates and long-term consequences of hatchery-wild hybridization.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Zhao, Guanchao  (2012) Study of Fire Smoke Filling in Building by Helium Smoke Tests.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
One of the commissioning methods for building fire management systems is hot smoke test, in which liquid fuel is burnt to generate a buoyant plume mixed with artificial tracer smoke to model a fire smoke. The method is costly and often causes safety concerns. This thesis proposes an alternative method of "helium smoke test", in which pure helium is supplied to create the buoyant plume. Helium smoke test does not involve burning fuel and it is therefore safer than hot smoke test. This study developed a theoretical model of helium plume, conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to model smoke filling process for helium smoke test, validated the CFD model by the experiments in a full-size and a sub-scale building model, and then applied it to simulations of fire smoke propagations in an actual building and a scaled road tunnel.

Based on the theory of ideal fire smoke plume, the theoretical model was developed to determine the flow rate of helium necessary to achieve the same buoyancy effect as that of the corresponding hot smoke test. An original method was developed in the CFD model, fire dynamics simulator (FDS), to track the smoke layer height based on species concentrations. The FDS model was validated by measured data in a full-size atrium in the literature. To better validate the theoretical and the FDS models of helium smoke test, experiments were conducted in a 1:26.5 sub-scale building model. The smoke was illuminated by laser sheet optics and clear smoke layer height was then recorded. Helium concentrations were measured by a helium analyzer. It is found that helium smoke test can predict smoke layer heights as reasonably well as the corresponding hot smoke test with various fire sizes. The applications of helium smoke test are demonstrated by the simulations in a full-size building test facility and a sub-scale road tunnel at the Institute for Research in Construction of National Research Council Canada (NRC-IRC).


identifier: Li, Yangtao  (2012) Arc-Length Parameterized NURBS Tool Path Generation and Velocity Profile Planning for Accurate 3-Axis Curve Milling.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In modern industrial CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining processes, the pursuing of higher accuracy and efficiency has always been one of the most important tasks to be discussed and studied. A lot of proposed algorithms are developed in order to optimize the machining performance in either of the above focused domains. Nevertheless, there is forever a trade-off between gaining less machining error and providing higher feed rate. As for machining a free-shaped curve (e.g., Bezier curves, B-splines and NURBS) in a three-dimensional space, a better manner to balance out the aforementioned trade-offs turns out to be even more critical and essential.
The conventional iterative function used for tool path generation could cause feed rate fluctuation during the actual machining, and it thus might lead to failure on constraining the error within the machining accuracy requirement. Another potential problem occurs when the machining process comes across into a relatively high curvature segment with the prescribed high feed rate, due to the machine axial acceleration limit, the machine may not be able to maintain the tool tip trajectory within the error tolerance. Therefore, a new approach to NURBS tool path generation for high feed rate machining is proposed. In this work, several criterions are set for checking the viability of the prescribed feed rate and adjusting it according to the actual shape of the objective curve and the capability of the machine. After the offline feed rate viability check and readjustment, a new iterative algorithm based on the arc-length re-parameterized NURBS function would be implemented to calculate the tool path in real-time.
By using this proposed method, the feed rate fluctuation is diminished and the overall efficiency of the machining process would have been optimized under the condition of accuracy guaranteed.


identifier: Kenny, Zachary  (2012) The Art Room: Reflecting on My Multiple Roles in the Creation of Art Educational Videos for Children.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research creation project uses the methodology of reflective practice as presented by Donald Schön (1983), with adaptations regarding the production of a creative project as proposed by Steven Scrivener (2000) and with the inclusion of active documentation as presented by Nancy De Freitas (2002).  As a reflective practitioner, I examine how the roles of artist, producer, researcher, teacher and entertainer contribute to the creation of art educational videos designed for children ages 9-12.  The project consists of three research cycles, each with the focus of producing a short, 10-20 minute, episode of The Art Room.


identifier: Campion, Josée  (2012) La fascination, la peur et le jeu du surnaturel dans l'imaginaire cinématographique et culturel américain contemporain.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Après avoir constaté la place significative du surnaturel dans les cultures cinématographique et populaire et, spécialement dans le cinéma d’horreur, des quinze dernières années aux États-Unis, nous avons entrepris dans cette thèse de faire la lumière sur la question suivante : pour quelles raisons et de quelles manières le surnaturel continue-t-il de nourrir et de stimuler l’imaginaire cinématographique et culturel américain contemporain ? Dans l’intention d’arriver à une compréhension globale du phénomène de fascination en question, nous l’avons cadré historiquement, culturellement, analytiquement et sociologiquement. Nos observations et nos analyses de films d’horreur récents sous l’angle d’approfondissements historique, culturel et sociologique nous ont permis de dégager d’abord trois formes distinctes, mais corrélatives dans la production cinématographique et culturelle du surnaturel et, ensuite, trois niveaux distincts, mais interactifs dans la réception de l’horreur surnaturelle au cinéma et dans la culture populaire. Nous croyons que cette conception élargie aux formes ludique, angoissée et fascinée du surnaturel ainsi qu’aux consommations ludique, culturelle et spirituelle soit d’une part à la hauteur de la complexité et de la portée du phénomène de fascination actuelle à son égard dans la société, la culture et la religion américaines et, d’autre part, soit en mesure de révéler quelques constats d’importance sur le pouvoir de l’imaginaire du surnaturel.