identifier: Struck, Hans Jordane  (2015) A Season for the Ages: The Dialectics of Continuity and Change in the Life Course of Amateur Hockey Players in Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis employs a dialectic of continuity and change to examine the ways in which adult amateur hockey players in Montreal account for, and represent, the effects of aging. The findings are based on fieldwork conducted with three amateur hockey teams over the 2013-2014 winter season. The thesis explores what amateur hockey means to participants throughout their life course and how that meaning shifts with age. Examining how hockey fits into everyday life at different points in the life course of players reveals how participants understand their present age, and the aging process. This thesis considers both the socio-cultural and embodied aspects of the game in exploring how players sustain their engagement in hockey over time in the face of competing domestic and work commitments as well as their own aging bodies.


identifier: Browne, Pierson  (2015) Jumping the Gap: Indie Labour and the Imagined Indie Community.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Due to the recent proliferation of free-to-use, professional-quality development tools, crowdsourced fundraising, and the ascendency of digital distribution platforms, ‘indie’ digital game developers are emerging on an unprecedented scale. Based on ethnographic research conducted at indie accelerator Execution Labs from January to June of 2015, this thesis explores how indie developers frame risk, creativity, success, and failure in relation to the communities they are a part of. The first three chapters highlight useful concepts from Gina Neff’s ‘Venture Labour’ (2012), describe Execution Labs from the researcher’s perspective, and detail the researcher’s approach to collaborative embedded ethnography, respectively. The fourth chapter is dedicated to two related purposes: the first part will posit that communities of indie developers and indie fans share a common creative discourse, and thus constitute what Benedict Anderson has termed an ‘Imagined Community’ (2006). The latter portion of the chapter will explore how Newgrounds.com facilitated discourses about digital games and Macromedia Flash, and how the resultant imagined communities have influenced contemporary indie identity and development practice. The final chapter opens by proposing a definition of ‘indie labour’: a creative, communitarian strategy with which indie developers manage the risks they face. It will then consider the stories of those who performed indie labour as part of Execution Labs. This thesis will conclude by ruminating on potential future avenues of study and ongoing issues that hinder indie development’s potential as an open and accessible praxis.


identifier: Weraikat, Dua  (2015) Coordination Mechanisms for Sustainable Supply Chain Management in Pharmaceutical Industry.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the human environmental problems resulting from industrial manufacturing activities have affected pharmaceutical supply chain management. Governments have imposed legislations and policies on producers to tackle the medications recovery process. Besides, customers social pressure plays a major role in determining corporate sustainable strategies and performance measures. Creative and proactive approaches are therefore necessary to reduce the introduction of pharmaceutical wastes to the environment and to improve the sustainability of the value chain.
In this dissertation, we propose different coordination mechanisms for sustainable pharmaceutical value chains inspired by traditional supply chains coordination mechanisms. For this purpose, a real case study for a generic pharmaceutical company, Generic PharmaX, is considered. We first focus on the reverse supply chain activities in order to reduce medication leftovers at customer sites. We develop a negotiation-based mechanism by the aid of a linear mathematical model to reflect the relationship between the supply chain entities. Results show that up to 28% more products could be collected if companies coordinate their operations efficiently. Moreover, the proposed coordination approaches leads to a win-win situation for the reverse supply chain entities, where each effort is rewarded.
Next, we explore the role of providing incentives to customers in order to facilitate leftover returns and improve the sustainability for the pharmaceutical reverse supply chain. Coordination model is therefore presented between the producer and third-party logistics companies, responsible for collecting unwanted medications from customer zones. A technique is also proposed to share the expected saving between the supply chain entities. The experimental results indicate that introducing incentives to customers could decrease the amount of leftovers from 18% up to 6.5%. Furthermore, having a proper coordination with 3PL companies, in addition to customer incentives, could guarantee a full medication recovery.
Finally, we focus on the inventory control management activities of the value chain. The effect of implementing a Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) system on minimizing the quantity of expired medications at customer zones is investigated. Results reveal that implementing the VMI system could improve the sustainability of the supply chain. More precisely, the amount of expired medications could reach zero against the current 18% expiration rate of shipped items. Some insights to guide the supply chain entities through the VMI implementation are also provided.


identifier: Hu, Weiluo  (2015) An Exploratory Study Examining Fear Appeals in Print Advertisements: A Comparison between China and Canada.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis compares the fear appeal usage frequency differences between Chinese and Canadian magazine advertisements. Through comparing the Canadian and Chinese fear appeal magazine ads, the author wants to try to find some features for academic fear appeal research and for marketing practice, such as, to which kind of industries the fear appeals are intensively applied, which types of fear appeals (social, physical, economy, and self-esteem) are mostly used in each country, and what kind of the information is most often used in each country. It is surprising to realize that “text” is the most frequent fear appeal, perceived threat, rewards, efficiency and cost carrier in these two countries’ magazine ads. The second half of the research questions and hypotheses are proposed based on the Protection Motivation Model. The paper discusses the different use frequency of perceived threat, perceived rewards, perceived efficiency and perceived costs found in Chinese and Canadian magazine ads. The findings reveal Canadian fear appeal ads use more both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards; Chinese and Canadian ads both focus on expressing protective behavior in two perceived rewards.


identifier: Guo, Chaoqing  (2015) Exploring the Role of Perceived Word-of-Mouth Source Credibility and Brand Involvement in Online Negative Word-of-Mouth: An examination of Outcomes and Processes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research studies the role of Perceived Word-of-Mouth Source Credibility and Brand Involvement in the process of online negative Word-of-Mouth spreading, and this research also examines the behavioral and non-behavioral outcomes of online negative Word-of-Mouth. This research also looks at the process of online negative Word-of-Mouth spreading. This article uses two-way ANOVAs to examine the interaction effects of Perceived Word-of-Mouth Source Credibility and Brand Involvement on the Perceived Usefulness of negative Word-of-Mouth, and uses the Baron and Kenny’s method to test the mediation effect of Perceived Usefulness of negative Word-of-Mouth on the relationship of Perceived WOM Credibility and Brand Involvement’s interaction effect with behavioral and non-behavioral outcomes. This research has economic significance and can help brand managers evaluate the Processes and Outcomes of the Online Negative Word-of-Mouth and the importance of Perceived Word-of-Mouth Source Credibility and Brand Involvement.


identifier: Shooner, Stephanie  (2015) Community phylogenetics of forest trees along an elevational gradient in the eastern Himalayan region of northeast India.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Large-scale environmental gradients have been invaluable for unravelling the processes shaping the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity. Gradients provide a natural setting to test theories about species diversity and distributions within a landscape with changing biotic and abiotic interactions. Elevational gradients are particularly useful because they often have an extensive climatic range within a constricted geographic region. Arunachal Pradesh is the northeastern-most province in India, located on the southern face of the eastern Himalayas. This region is considered a biodiversity “hotspot”, with an estimated 6000 flowering plant species of which 30-40% are endemic. For this thesis, I analyzed tree communities in plots distributed throughout the province using both species and phylogenetic diversity indices. I explored shifts in community structure across elevation and space as well as the biotic and abiotic forces influencing species assembly throughout the landscape. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity decreased with increasing elevation, as theory predicts. However, species relatedness did not show a clear pattern with elevation. Nonetheless, by exploring beta-diversity (both taxonomic and phylogenetic), I was able to show a strong effect of environmental filtering with elevation. Environmental filtering is generally associated with species clustering on the phylogeny, where co-occurring species in a community are more closely related than expected by chance. Here, however, I suggest that forest community structure is driven by filtering on glacial relicts, resulting in random or over-dispersed community assemblages. These patterns point to possible regions for conservation priority that may provide refugia for species threatened by current warming trends.


identifier: Miraghaie, Seyedeh Maryam  (2015) Sadeq Hedayat traducteur de la Métamorphose de Kafka par le truchement d’A. Vialatte – Culture et traduction en Iran au XXe siècle.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The 20th century Iranian writer and translator Sadeq Hedayat played a key role in the modernization of contemporary Persian literature. Engaged in political struggles, he used translation to transmit the novelties of world literature to the Iranian literary space. Our reflection on the social trajectory of Hedayat lies within the purview of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theorization adapted for translation. We consider the socio-cultural situation of Iran in the twentieth century, and attempt to demonstrate the impact of Hedayat’s habitus on the transfer of the illusio of Kafka’s Metamorphosis in Persian translation.
To define our study, we present a contrastive analysis of the French and Persian translations. The modifications made by Hedayat allow us to perceive the vision he had of Kafka. These changes contribute to transform the illusio of the German text and to give it a different illusio in translation. Disparities in Persian add to this semantic shift, and as a result readers of the Persian translation do not undergo the same fictional experience as their French-speaking counterparts. In this regard, we note that it is the fictional literary illusio which is excluded from Iranian culture, independent of the disparities observed between the translation and Kafka’s novella in German. In conclusion, we propose that beyond the modifications of the translation in Persian, it is the absence of the Persian literary field and the rejection of any fictional illusio which constitute the source of dependence and absence of autonomy that is Persian culture at the time of Sadeq Hedayat.


identifier: Chen, Han  (2015) New Approaches for Two-Dimensional DOA Estimation of Coherent and Noncircular Signals with Acoustic Vector-sensor Array.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis is mainly concerned with the two-dimensional direction of arrival (2D-DOA) estimation using acoustic vector-sensor array for coherent signals and noncircular signals.
As for coherent signals, the thesis proposes two algorithms, namely, a 2D-DOA estimation algorithm with acoustic vector-sensor array using a single snapshot, and an improved 2D-DOA estimation algorithm of coherent signals. In the first algorithm, only a single snapshot is employed to estimate the 2D-DOA, and the second is an improved algorithm based on the method of Palanisamy et al. Compared to the existing algorithm, the proposed algorithm has the following advantages: (1) lower computational complexity, (2) better estimation performance, and (3) acquiring automatically-paired 2D-DOA estimates.
As for noncircular signals, we propose real-valued space PM and ESPRIT algorithms for 2D-DOA estimation using arbitrarily spaced acoustic vector-sensor array. By exploiting the noncircularity of incoming signals to increase the amount of effective data, the proposed algorithms can provide a better 2D-DOA estimation performance with fewer snapshots, which means a relatively lower sample rate can be used in practical implementations. Compared with the traditional PM and ESPRIT, the proposed algorithms provide better estimation performance while having similar computational complexity. Furthermore, the proposed algorithms are suitable for arbitrary arrays and yield paired azimuth and elevation angle estimates without requiring extra computationally expensive pairing operations.


identifier: Richard, Bruno  (2015) The contribution of psychophysical spatial frequency channels to the discrimination of broadband contrast.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The design and function of the human visual system is thought to have been shaped by the environment and tasks humans have performed throughout evolution and experience. Thus, it is important to establish the association between the properties of natural scenes and the responses of the visual system to these features at a behaviourally relevant level (e.g., psychophysically). A relevant property of natural scenes - which human observers are sensitive to - is the slope of the orientation averaged Fourier amplitude spectrum (α). It characterizes the decrease in amplitude as a function of spatial frequency (1/fα), and has an average value of 1.0 (on logarithmic axes) in natural scenes. The process of detecting a change in α is thought to stem from the activity of one or more spatial frequency channels, but their exact contribution remains to be defined. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to assess the contribution of spatial frequency channels to the detection, and discrimination, of a change in α. We first set out to obtain psychophysical evidence that α discrimination thresholds were dependent on the spatial frequency content of noise stimuli with 1/f amplitude spectra. Our results showed that while all spatial frequency channels contribute to α discrimination, the channel(s) of most influence seem to correlate in peak spatial frequency to the dominant perceptual scale of the noise image. While the contribution of low spatial frequency channels discrimination of steep αs was evident from our data, the influence of higher spatial frequency channels to the discrimination of shallower αs was not. In an attempt to better isolate the role of high spatial frequency channels, we attempted to modulate their activity with trans-cranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and change α discrimination thresholds. However, while this technique is capable of modulating channels to alter contrast detection, we found tDCS to be an ill-suited technique to alter the response characteristics of channels under suprathreshold conditions (i.e., broadband noise discrimination). As a final effort to isolate the contribution of spatial frequency channels to the discrimination of broadband contrast, we used a classification image paradigm to understand how different spatial frequencies contribute to the identification of a change in α. Interestingly, this method revealed task dependent contributions of spatial frequency channels to the discrimination of α. The identification of α is specific to α, in that increments and decrements in contrast in specific spatial frequency bands signal for particular αs, while the identification of a change in α (i.e., discrimination) was not specific to α. Regardless of the reference α, observers used an increment in contrast in low spatial frequency bands and decrement of contrast in higher spatial frequency bands to identify the odd stimulus. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the discrimination of α is unspecific to α. Observers to rely on differences in contrast between low and high spatial frequency bands to detect a change in α, but may not be particularly tuned to certain α values as has previously been argued.


identifier: Sanei Bajgiran, Omid  (2015) Integrated tactical planning in the lumber supply chain under demand and supply uncertainty.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Lumber supply chain includes forests as suppliers, sawmills as production sites, distribution centers, and different types of customers. In this industry, the raw materials are logs that are shipped from forest contractors to sawmills. Logs are then sawn to green/finished lumbers in sawmills and are distributed to the lumber market through different channels. Unlike a traditional manufacturing industry, the lumber industry is characterized by a divergent product structure with the highly heterogeneous nature of its raw material (logs). Moreover, predicting the exact amount of the product demand and the availability of logs in the forest is impossible in this industry. Thus, considering random demand and supply in the lumber supply chain planning is essential.

Integrated tactical planning in a supply chain incorporates the synchronized planning of procurement, production, distribution and sale activities in order to ensure that the customer demand is satisfied by the right product at the right time. Briefly, in this dissertation, we aim at developing integrated planning tools in lumber supply chains for making decisions in harvesting, material procurement, production, distribution, and sale activities in order to obtain a maximum robust profit and service level in the presence of uncertainty in the log supply and product demand. In order to gain the latter objectives, we can categorize this research into three phases. In the first phase, we investigate the integrated annual planning of harvesting, procurement, production, distribution, and sale activities in the lumber supply chain in a deterministic context. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model. The proposed model is applied on a real-size case study, which leads to a large-scale MIP model that cannot be solved by commercial solvers in a reasonable time. Consequently, we propose a Lagrangian Relaxation based heuristic algorithm in order to solve the latter MIP model. While improving significantly the convergence, the proposed algorithm also guarantees the feasibility of the converged solution.

In the second phase, the uncertainty is incorporated in the lumber supply chain tactical planning problems. Thus, we propose a multi-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming (MS-MIP) model to address this problem. Due to the complexity of solving the latter MS-MIP model with commercial solvers or relevant solution methodologies in the literature, we develop a Hybrid Scenario Cluster Decomposition (HSCD) heuristic algorithm which is also amenable to parallelization. This algorithm decomposes the original scenario tree into a set of smaller sub-trees. Hence, the MS-MIP model is decomposed into smaller sub-models that are coordinated by Lagrangian terms in their objective functions. By embedding an ad-hoc heuristic and a Variable Fixing algorithm into the HSCD algorithm, we considerably improve its convergence and propose an implementable solution in a reasonable CPU time.

Finally, due to the computational complexity of multi-stage stochastic programming approach, we confine our formulation to the robust optimization method. Hence, at the third phase of this research, we propose a robust planning model formulated based on cardinality-constrained method. The latter provides some insights into the adjustment of the level of robustness of the proposed plan over the planning horizon and protection against uncertainty. An extensive set of experiments based on Monte-Carlo simulation is also conducted in order to better validate the proposed robust optimization approach applied on the harvesting planning in lumber supply chains.


identifier: Vazquez, Ana  (2015) Model Checking Commitment-Governed Compositions of Web Services.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
We propose a new approach towards verifying compositions of web services using model checking. In order to perform such a verification, we transform the web service composition into a Multi-Agent System (MAS) model where the process in charge of the composition and the participating services are represented by agents. We model the behavior of the resulting MAS using the extended Interpreted Systems Programming Language (ISPL+), the dedicated language of the MCMAS+ model checker for MAS. We use commitments between agents to regulate and reason about messages between composite web services. The properties against which the compositions are verified are expressed in the Computation Tree Logic of Commitments (CTLC), an extension of the branching logic CTL that supports commitment modalities.

We describe BPEL2ISPL+, a tool we developed to perform the automatic transformation from the web service composition described in Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) into a verifiable MAS  model described in ISPL+. The BPEL2ISPL+ tool is applied to a concrete BPEL web service composition and its accurate representation in ISPL+ is obtained. The CTLC properties used to verify the compositions regulated by commitments are represented along with the agents abstracting the participating web services. The MCMAS+ model checker is used to verify the model against these properties, providing thus a new approach to model check agent-based web service compositions governed by commitments.


identifier: Serrano Vazquez, Irene  (2015) Participatory Practices and Journalism: The Impact of User-Generated Content in Making News.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Given the new possibilities for internet users creation of media content, this dissertation investigates the repercussions of these non-professional media production activities in journalism. More specifically, this dissertation is an ethnographic analysis of the effects of different participatory practices in newswork. Drawing from theories on the sociology of news production and Brun’s conceptualization of produsage, it examines how journalists of three Spanish news organizations deal, in their daily routines, with user-generated content (UGC) created within and outside of the domain of these news outlets. Using the industrial construction of audiences as a theoretical framework, this research also deals with the implications of journalists’ integration of UGC in the process of making news for their views about their audiences’ roles. In addition, this dissertation explores how the participatory practices held by audience members have impacted journalists’ understandings of their function as gatekeepers. In analysing these matters, I have employed a triangulation of methods: newsroom observations, in-depth interviews with 33 journalists, and textual analysis of news media homepages.

This dissertation concludes that UGC are relevant materials whose use raises significant issues for journalists. Moreover, this study argues that different approaches and ways of dealing with UGC mark news organizations’ understandings of the practice of journalism as well as their definitions of professional ideologies. In regard to the audiences, this research has found that audiences currently play a relevant role once a news story has already been published, since they hold the power of acting as proof-readers, fact-checkers, and quality controllers, questioning journalists’ decisions at different levels. Lastly, this dissertation indicates that despite these changes, most journalists still believe that they are the final gatekeepers of information. However, even if journalists feel they are still in charge of deciding what news is, they may fear audiences more than they used to. These results add new layers of complexity to previous studies, proposing that since the life cycle of news seems to occur through a two-step process (before and after a news story has been published), future researchers should consider extending their analysis beyond the newsroom.


identifier: Robins, Alison  (2015) On the Cooking Stove and Other Stories.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: On the Cooking Stove and Other Stories

abstract: On the Cooking Stove is the literal English translation of the European, pre-Holocaust Yiddish folksong, Oifen Pripitchik. The lyrics tell of a rabbi teaching his students the Torah, hinting at the old Yiddish expression: “the history of the Jews is written in tears.” These narratives explore the ways in which the past permeates the present. They are about the lingering effects of WWII on Jewish culture. Generations have been moulded by this period of time, therefore so has the understanding of family, love and death. The narrator of these stories, Gabrielle, confronts a point in her life where moving forward seems impossible without taking a step back and considering how the past has come to inform the identity of her family members. She searches for ways to understand, repair, or figuratively resurrect parts of her loved ones that she sees as damaged. Some of these narratives experiment with magic realism. All of these narratives have the common theme of the difficulty of letting go.


identifier: LeBlanc, Michelle  (2015) Can in-situ experience compensate for hatchery-deprivation? Enhancing post-stocking survival of juvenile Atlantic salmon.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) exhibit maladaptive behaviour when stocked into natural streams
following one generation in a hatchery setting, reducing post-stocking survival. These behavioural
patterns are commonly attributed to ‘hatchery selection’, where maladaptive phenotypes arise from the
inadvertent selection of behavioural traits, lack of experience caused by captivity, or a combination of
both.  ‘Life skills training’, in which hatchery-reared fish are conditioned to exhibit appropriate
behaviour responses, may increase post-stocking survival.
A semi-natural field experiment, using in-situ mesh enclosures, compared wild-caught juvenile salmon to
hatchery-reared counterparts from the same population. Fish were observed for antipredator, foraging,
and territorial defense responses. Results showed no significant differences between wild and hatchery
raised fish, although behaviour was significantly different between years.  Overall, week long trials were
insufficient in separating significant differences between strains, indicating one generation in captivity
may not create major behavioural separation between wild and hatchery fish from the same population,
or that more than one week is required for differences to become apparent. Behavioural response
training protocols are suggested for hatchery raised experientially deprived fish destined for stocking.


identifier: Khalili, Mina  (2015) Monitoring and Improving Managed Security Services inside a Security Operation Center.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Nowadays, small to medium sized companies, which usually cannot afford hiring dedicated security experts, are interested in benefiting from Managed Security Services (MSS) provided by third party Security Operation Centers (SOC) to tackle network-wide threats. Accordingly, the performance of the SOC is becoming more and more important to the service providers in order to optimize their resources and compete in the global market. Security specialists in a SOC, called analysts, have an important role to analyze suspicious machine-generated alerts to see whether they are real attacks. How to monitor and improve the performance of analysts inside a SOC is a critical issue that most service providers need to address. In this paper, by observing workflows of a real-world SOC, a tool consisting of three different modules is designed for monitoring analysts' activities, analysis performance measurement, and performing simulation scenarios. The tool empowers managers to evaluate the SOC's performance which helps them to conform to Service-Level Agreement (SLA) regarding required response time to security incidents, and see the need for improvement. Moreover, the designed tool is strengthened by a background service module to provide feedback about anomalies or informative issues for security analysts in the SOC. Three case studies have been conducted based on real data collected from the operational SOC, and simulation results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the different modules of the designed tool in improving the SOC performance.


identifier: Aghayan, Mehrnegar  (2015) Laser Surface Texturing of Multicrystalline Silicon to Reduce Solar Weighted Reflectance.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Increase in the global demand for energy, has put a lot of pressure on natural resources such as gas and oil that are predicted to be diminished in not too distant future. Global warming which is the consequence of burning fossil fuels is an alarming issue as well. Solar cells that can transform the clean and abundant solar energy into electricity have shown to be one of the promising solutions for supplying the energy demand which is the number one problem that we face today. However, efficiency along with costs associated with the material and fabrication of solar cells should be improved in order to make them a practical alternative to the fossil fuels. Silicon (Si) has proven to be the most dominant semiconductor used in optoelectronic devices. It is the second abundant element on the earth, which results in its lower production costs compared to other semiconductors. Furthermore, based on Shockley–Queisser limit calculations, maximum efficiency of a single junction solar cell occurs with a band gap of 1.34eV therefore, Si having a band gap of 1.12eV is highly recommended to produce maximum efficiency of a solar cell. Since solar technology is still not cost-effective and efficient enough to compete with the fossil fuels, researchers are investigating new methods to overcome the mentioned limitations.
In this work, multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) which is less expensive compared to the single crystalline silicon (sc-Si), is textured with nanosecond laser; not only to decrease the optical loses due to reflection from the surface but also to increase the absorption by increasing the optical path length of the light. Texturing was performed on the mc-Si surface and the effect of laser fluence, spot overlap percentage, and number of scans on the Solar Weighted Reflectance (SWR) as well as surface morphology of mc-Si was studied. Statistical analysis was implemented to identify the most efficient laser parameters to reduce SWR and it was found that increase in average surface roughness (Ra) and depth decreases the SWR. Ra and depth were measured by means of scanning electron microscopy and optical interferometry.
The experiments were done both in ambient air as well in acetone confinement and a comparison was made in terms of Ra, depth and SWR. The technique of acetone-assisted laser texturing takes the advantage of bubble formation, which results in a debris free microfabrication where depth and consequently SWR is improved. Results validated the correlation of the higher number of pulses with the increased depth and Ra when texturing was conducted in acetone.
In order to understand if depth or Ra plays the major role in SWR reduction, a regression analysis was performed, and the results indicated that the increase in depth plays more significant role in reduction of SWR compared to increase in Ra. Finally, an attempt was made to fabricate the P-N junction and the electrodes with both textured and untextured mc-Si wafer surfaces. From the I-V characterization of these devices, it was seen that untextured wafer as well as wafers textured at 0% overlap produced output power.
Solutions are presented to improve the electrical properties of the fabricated cells that might be implemented in the future works.


identifier: Briqech, Zouhair  (2015) Design and Implementation of High Gain 60 GHz Antennas for Imaging/Detection Systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recently, millimeter wave (MMW) imaging detection systems are drawing attention for their relative safety and detection of concealed objects.  Such systems use safe non-ionizing radiation and have great potential to be used in several applications such as security scanning and medical screening. Antenna probes, which enhance system performance and increase image resolution contrast, are primarily used in MMW imaging sensors. The unlicensed 60 GHz band is a promising band, due to its wide bandwidth, about 7 GHz (57 - 64 GHz), and lack of cost. However, at 60 GHz the propagation loss is relatively high, creating design challenges for operating this band in MMW screening. A high gain, low profile, affordable, and efficient probe is essential for such applications at 60 GHz.
This thesis’s focus is on design and implementation of high gain MMW probes to optimize the performance of detection/imaging systems. First, single-element broadside radiation microstrip antennas and novel probes of endfire tapered slot high efficient antennas are presented. Second, a 57-64 GHz, 1 × 16-element beam steering antenna array with a low-cost piezoelectric transducer controlled phase shifter is presented. Then, a mechanical scanner is designed specifically to test proposed antenna probes utilizing low-power 60 GHz active monostatic transceivers. The results for utilizing proposed 60 GHz probes show success in detecting and identifying concealed weapons and explosives in liquids or plastics.
As part of the first research theme, a 60 GHz circular patch-fed high gain dielectric lens antenna is presented, where the prototype’s measured impedance bandwidth reaches 3 GHz and a gain of 20 dB. A low cost, 60 GHz printed Yagi antenna array was designed, optimized, fabricated and tested. New models of the antipodal Fermi tapered slot antenna (AFTSA) with a novel sine corrugated (SC) shape are designed, and their measured results are validated with simulated ones. The AFTSA-SC produces a broadband and high efficiency pattern with the capacity for high directivity for all ISM-band. Another new contribution is a novel dual-polarized design for AFTSA-CS, using a single feed with a pair of linearly polarized antennas aligned orthogonally in a cross-shape. Furthermore, a novel 60 GHz single feed circularly polarized (CP) AFTSA-SC is modeled to radiate in the right-hand circularly polarized antenna (RHCP). A RHCP axial ratio bandwidth of < 3dB is maintained from 59 to 63 GHz. In addition, a high gain, low cost 60 GHz Multi Sin-Corrugations AFTSA loaded with a grooved spherical lens and in the form of three elements to operate as the beam steering antenna is presented. These probes show a return loss reduction and sidelobes and backlobe suppression and are optimized for a 20 dB or higher gain and radiation efficiency of ~90% at 60 GHz.
	The second research theme is implementing a 1 × 16-element beam steering antenna array with a low-cost piezoelectric transducer (PET) controlled phase shifter. A power divider with a triangular feed which reduces discontinuity from feed lines corners is introduced. A 1 × 16-element array is fabricated using 60 GHz AFTSA-SC antenna elements and showed symmetric E-plane and H-plane radiation patterns. The feed network design is surrounded by electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures to reduce surface waves and coupling between feed lines. The design of a circularly polarized 1 × 16-element beam steering phased array with and without EBG structures also investigated.
A target detection investigation was carried out utilizing the proposed 60GHz antennas and their detection results are compared to those of V-band standard gain horn (SGH). System setup and signal pre-processing principle are introduced. The multi-corrugated MCAFTSA-SC probe is evaluated with the imaging/detection system for weapons and liquids concealed by clothing, plywood, and plastics. Results show that these items are detectable in clear 2D image resolution. It is believed that the 60 GHz imaging/detection system results using the developed probes show potential of detecting threatening objects through screening of materials and public.


identifier: Huang, He  (2015) Binary Code Reuse Detection for Reverse Engineering and Malware Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Code reuse detection is a key technique in reverse engineering. However, existing source code similarity comparison techniques are not applicable to binary code. Moreover, compilers have made this problem even more difficult due to the fact that different assembly code and control flow structures can be generated by the compilers even when implementing the same functionality. To address this problem, we present a fuzzy matching approach to compare two functions. We first obtain our initial mapping between basic blocks by leveraging the concept of longest common subsequence on the basic block level and execution path level. Then, we extend the achieved mapping using neighborhood exploration. To make our approach applicable to large data sets, we designed an effective filtering process using Minhashing and locality-sensitive hashing.
Based on the approach proposed in this thesis, we implemented a tool named BinSequence. We conducted extensive experiments to test BinSequence in terms of performance, accuracy, and scalability. Our results suggest that, given a large assembly code repository with millions of functions, BinSequence is efficient and can attain high quality similarity ranking of assembly functions with an accuracy above 90% within seconds.
We also present several practical use cases including patch analysis, malware analysis, and bug search. In the use case for patch analysis, we utilized BinSequence to compare the unpatched and patched versions of the same binary, to reveal the vulnerability information and the details of the patch. For this use case, a Windows system driver (HTTP.sys) which contains a recently published critical vulnerability is used. For the malware analysis use case, we utilized BinSequence to identify reused components or already analyzed parts in malware so that the human analyst can focus on those new functionality to save time and effort. In this use case, two infamous malware, Zeus and Citadel, are analyzed. Finally, in the bug search use case, we utilized BinSequence to identify vulnerable functions in software caused by copying and pasting or sharing buggy source code. In this case, we succeeded in using BinSequence to identify a bug from Firefox. Together, these use cases demonstrate that our tool is both efficient and effective when applied to real-world scenarios.
We also compared BinSequence with three state of the art tools: Diaphora, PatchDiff2 and BinDiff. Experiment results show that BinSequence can achieve the best accuracy when compared with these tools.


identifier: Siddique, Muhammad Umair  (2015) Formal Analysis of Geometrical Optics using Theorem Proving.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Geometrical optics is a classical theory of Physics which describes  the light propagation in the form of rays and beams.
One of its main advantages is efficient and scalable formalism for the modeling and analysis of a variety of optical
systems which are used in ubiquitous applications including telecommunication, medicine and biomedical devices.
Traditionally, the modeling and analysis of optical systems have been carried out by paper-and-pencil based proofs and
numerical algorithms. However, these techniques cannot provide perfectly accurate results due to the risk of human
error  and inherent incompleteness of numerical algorithms. In this thesis, we propose a higher-order logic theorem
proving based framework to analyze optical systems. The main advantages of  this framework are the  expressiveness
of higher-order logic and the soundness of  theorem proving systems which provide unrivaled analysis accuracy.
In particular, this thesis  provides the higher-order logic formalization of  geometrical optics including the notion of
light rays, beams and optical systems. This allows us to develop a comprehensive analysis support for optical resonators,
optical imaging  and Quasi-optical systems. This thesis also facilitates the verification of some of the most  interesting
optical system properties like stability, chaotic map generation,  beam transformation and mode analysis. We use this
infrastructure to build a library of commonly used optical components such as lenses, mirrors and optical cavities.
In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach, we conduct the formal analysis of some
real-world optical systems, e.g., an ophthalmic device for eye, a Fabry-P\'{e}rot resonator,  an optical
phase-conjugated ring resonator and a receiver module of the APEX telescope. All the above mentioned work is
carried out  in the HOL Light theorem prover.


identifier: Magnier, Laurent  (2015) Measurement, Analysis, and Modeling of Non-Isothermal Low-Velocity Displacement Ventilation Jets.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Displacement Ventilation (DV) is an air distribution method recognized to enhance indoor air quality, while having a great potential for energy savings, due to stratification, higher supply air temperature and opportunity of free cooling. A frequent complaint associated with displacement ventilation is however the draft discomfort caused by the colder air movement at foot level, and the local discomfort due to an excessive temperature difference between head and ankle. Insufficient information is currently available regarding the variations of temperature and velocity inside a DV jet. Correlation models also need to be developed to report the variation of air speed in the jet.
In this thesis, the DV jet is analyzed in depth through, first, experimental measurements and, then, the development of correlation models. Measurements are performed in an environmental chamber to study the DV jet coming from two different wall-mounted DV diffusers, for different supply conditions. The variations of air speed and temperature in the longitudinal, transversal, and horizontal planes are measured and analyzed. The thermal characteristics are discussed in terms of local thermal comfort. In the second part of the thesis, the experimental data are analyzed towards developing new models for the distribution of air speed and temperature in the air jets. A new mathematical model is proposed for the variation of air speed in the secondary zone of the jet, as well as a new model is suggested for the vertical air speed profile. The variation of the thickness of the DV jet is also studied.  A new mathematical is model is proposed to account for the variation of minimal air temperature in the jet. The variations of air speed and temperature in the transversal direction are also discussed. Finally, the contributions are summarized and future work is proposed.


identifier: Oyekanmi, Tolulope Peter  (2015) A Context-aware Healthcare Architecture For The Elderly.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In order to provide dependable healthcare services for the elderly, it is necessary to have a patient-centric
healthcare architecture in which context-aware healthcare services can be provided at any time and anywhere.
Such a service automation has the virtues to overcome the disadvantages arising from the disabilities that
are inherent in the elderly population, physically challenged, and those who live in remote areas. In order
that patients trust the healthcare services provided by the system, the creation of healthcare services must
be founded on accurate personalized health model of patients, and must be delivered by experts through
dependable medical devices and secure channels. Motivated by this goal, this thesis proposes a layered
health model that can be personalized to meet the privacy requirements of a patient, and constructs a
context-aware healthcare architecture in which healthcare services for each patient is specialized based on
personalized health models, health contexts, and emerging health situations. A prototype implementation
of the architecture is validated for Hypertension and Dementia case studies.


identifier: AL-Saqqar, Faisal  (2015) Analyzing the Interaction between Knowledge and Social Commitments in Multi-Agent Systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Both knowledge and social commitments in Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) have long been under research independently, especially for agent communication. Plenty of work has been carried out to define their semantics. However, in concrete applications such as business settings and web-based applications, agents should reason about their knowledge and their social commitments at the same time, particularly when they are engaged in conversations. In fact, studying the interaction between knowledge and social commitments is still in its beginnings. Therefore, in this thesis, we aim to provide a practical and formal framework that analyzes the interaction between knowledge and communicative social commitments in MASs from the semantics, model checking, complexity, soundness and completeness perspectives.

To investigate such an interaction, we, first, combine CTLK (an extension of computation Tree Logic (CTL) with modality for reasoning about knowledge) and CTLC (an extension of CTL with modalities for reasoning about commitments and their fulfillments) in one new logic named CTLKC. By so doing, we identify some paradoxes in the new logic showing that simply combining current versions of commitment and knowledge logics results in a language of logic that violates some fundamental intuitions. Consequently, we propose CTLKC+, a new consistent logic of knowledge and commitments that fixes the identified paradoxes and allows us to reason about social commitments and knowledge simultaneously in a consistent manner. Second, we use correspondence theory for modal logics to prove the soundness and completeness of CTLKC+. To do so, we develop a set of reasoning postulates in CTLKC+ and correspond them to certain classes of frames. The existence of such correspondence allows us to prove that the logic generated by any subset of these postulates is sound and complete, with respect to the models that are based on the corresponding frames. Third, we address the problem of model checking CTLKC+ by transforming it to the problem of model checking GCTL∗ (a generalized version of Extended Computation Tree Logic (CTL∗) with action formulas) and ARCTL (the combination of CTL with action formulas) in order to respectively use the CWB-NC automata-based model checker and the extended NuSMV symbolic model checker. Moreover, we prove that the transformation techniques are sound. Fourth, we analyze the complexity of the proposed model checking techniques. The results of this analysis reveal that the complexity of our transformation procedures is PSPACE-complete for local concurrent programs with respect to the size of these programs and the length of the formula being checked. From the time perspective, we prove that the complexity of the proposed approaches is P-complete with regard to the size of the model and length of the formula. Finally, we implement our model checking approaches and report some experimental results by verifying the well-known NetBell payment protocol against some desirable properties.


identifier: Dagher, Gaby  (2015) Secure Protocols for Privacy-preserving Data Outsourcing, Integration, and Auditing.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
As the amount of data available from a wide range of domains has increased tremendously in recent years, the demand for data sharing and integration has also risen. The cloud computing paradigm provides great flexibility to data owners with respect to computation and storage capabilities, which makes it a suitable platform for them to share their data. Outsourcing person-specific data to the cloud, however, imposes serious concerns about the confidentiality of the outsourced data, the privacy of the individuals referenced in the data, as well as the confidentiality of the queries processed over the data. Data integration is another form of data sharing, where data owners jointly perform the integration process, and the resulting dataset is shared between them. Integrating related data from different sources enables individuals, businesses, organizations and government agencies to perform better data analysis, make better informed decisions, and provide better services. Designing distributed, secure, and privacy-preserving protocols for integrating person-specific data, however, poses several challenges, including how to prevent each party from inferring sensitive information about individuals during the execution of the protocol, how to guarantee an effective level of privacy on the released data while maintaining utility for data mining, and how to support public auditing such that anyone at any time can verify that the integration was executed correctly and no participants deviated from the protocol.
In this thesis, we address the aforementioned concerns by presenting secure protocols for privacy-preserving data outsourcing, integration and auditing. First, we propose a secure cloud-based data outsourcing and query processing framework that simultaneously preserves the confidentiality of the data and the query requests, while providing differential privacy guarantees on the query results. Second, we propose a publicly verifiable protocol for integrating person-specific data from multiple data owners, while providing differential privacy guarantees and maintaining an effective level of utility on the released data for the purpose of data mining. Next, we propose a privacy-preserving multi-party protocol for high-dimensional data mashup with guaranteed LKC-privacy on the output data.
Finally, we apply the theory to the real world problem of solvency in Bitcoin. More specifically, we propose a privacy-preserving and publicly verifiable cryptographic proof of solvency scheme for Bitcoin exchanges such that no information is revealed about the exchange's customer holdings, the value of the exchange's total holdings is kept secret, and multiple exchanges performing the same proof of solvency can contemporaneously prove they are not colluding.


identifier: Gunter, Amy-Lee  (2015) Design of a Horizontal Axis Open-Centre Tidal Stream Turbine using Computational Fluid Dynamics.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Tidal energy is one of the most promising emerging renewable energy sources which remains largely untapped, due primarily to the challenges of submerged operation within sensitive marine environments. Extracting kinetic energy from dense and energetic flow streams which vary in height, reverse flow direction roughly twice a day and carry sediment as well as marine life requires a unique application of engineering knowledge. A variety of tidal turbine technologies have been developed in response, although as yet the industry is far from mature and there remains great potential for improvement. The research presented in this study introduces a new type of turbine design which has been developed specifically to address the issue of balancing marine friendly technology with efficient energy harvest. This is accomplished through the use of an open-centre concept which houses the blades between the hub and shroud, thus minimizing the risk of blade tip impact and providing free passage through the central aperture.
In this study several iterations of the design are tested using the methods of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), each one featuring a different helical blade geometry of varying length and twist angle. A numerical model of the new design is presented in which the energy generation potential is assessed by measuring the amount of torque produced by a stationary blade placed in a steady flow. The torque is calculated by determining the pressure force acting on each blade surface and the resulting moment generated about the rotation axis of the turbine. This method allows for a great number of geometries to be tested under simulated turbine operating conditions, without requiring a prohibitive amount of computational resources. The initial assessment of this new type of turbine is promising, indicating that certain blade geometries produce a greater amount of torque than a model of the conventional open-centre turbine developed by OpenHydro.


identifier: Bastien, Diane  (2015) Methodology for Enhancing Solar Energy Utilization in Solaria and Greenhouses.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Solaria and greenhouses may provide many benefits, such as collecting solar heat and providing an environment where people and plants can thrive. The aim of this work is to enhance the solar energy utilization in solaria and greenhouses by improving the design and control of their fenestration and thermal energy storage (TES) systems.

This work is focusing on two aspects: first, to maximize the solar radiation collection, and secondly, to make effective use of the collected heat by designing appropriate TES systems. These two aspects are inherently linked and must be considered together, since improving only one of them in isolation cannot satisfactorily improve the overall performance.

Designing energy efficient fenestration systems in heating dominated climates calls for a high solar transmittance and thermal resistance. However, increasing the thermal resistance generally happens to the detriment of the solar transmittance, which complicates the design process. To address this issue, a methodology has been developed, which allows the comparison of different fenestration systems (including exterior and/or interior shades) on a diagram that shows their annual net energy gains for a given façade and climate.

A new strategy for improving the control of shades has been developed, based on maximizing the total heat flow through fenestration systems. This control algorithm was shown to reduce heating requirements and improve thermal comfort. By following the proposed methodology and control method for fenestration systems, the indoor operative temperature can be significantly increased; TES systems are thus essential for reducing temperature fluctuations. The design of passive TES systems in solaria and greenhouses has been studied with two complementary modelling approaches: frequency response (FR) and finite difference (FD). The FR model is used during typical short design periods for analyzing the TES sensitivity to different design variables. The FD model is used for annual performance evaluation using real weather data for two Canadian cities and years. A methodology based on the FR model is proposed and design recommendations are provided. If was found that increasing the TES thickness from 0.1 m to 1 m can raise the minimum operative temperature by 3 to 5 °C in unheated solaria and it is recommended to select a TES with a minimal thickness of 0.2 m for reducing temperature swings.


identifier: MacKinnon, Stephanie  (2015) When the going gets tough, context gets going: Exception word reading via self-teaching.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
When the going gets tough, context gets going: Exception word reading via self-teaching
Stephanie MacKinnon
Many English words fail to conform to typical grapheme-to-phoneme conversion patterns and are therefore deemed exceptions; this makes decoding and spelling difficult for novice readers. This study evaluated the effects of practicing regular and exception words in context and in isolation on reading and spelling accuracy. Students in Grade 2 (N=30) participated in a within subject design. They read 66 different items from three word categories: regular/short, regular/long, and exception. Half of the words were read in context, the other half were read in isolation. No feedback was provided. Training took place over 10 trials, followed by a spelling test. Reading retention followed one week after training. Results showed that training in context boosted reading accuracy initially for short words and throughout training for exception words, but no effect of context was found for long words. Spelling outcomes showed gains in all word categories for both conditions, suggesting that reading practice supports modest levels of spelling improvement. In sum, for young learners reading in context without feedback was most beneficial for exception words.


identifier: Kingsley, Sarah  (2015) Who am I? Deconstructing the Emotional Experiences of Novice Teachers’ Identity Construction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The rising rate of teacher attrition within the first five years of entry into the profession has initiated inquiries of new educators’ working conditions, perspectives, and identities (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Conway, 2006; Jalongo & Heider, 2006; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013; Scherff, 2008). This qualitative study considers an area that is relatively unexplored, that is, the connection between emotions and identity, by examining one central question: How are emotions embedded in the identity construction of novice teachers? Two participants were involved in this investigation over the course of their first year of teaching. They engaged in exploratory discussions in three focus group interviews during which they shared personal accounts and individual perspectives. They also produced three written reflections, which allowed them to explore their experiences more introspectively. Findings from this study support the existing literature in two areas: firstly, the workplace acted as a site for fulfillment and vulnerability, and secondly, contextual factors affected both emotions and identities (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Nias, 1996; Rippon & Martin, 2006; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013). However, contrary to the work of Schutz and Lee (2014) and Zembylas (2005), emotions and identity did not have a reciprocal relationship. Emotions informed the identities of both participants, but their identities did not inform their emotions. With negative emotions being reported 1.5 times as often as positive emotions, these findings raise concerns about the emotional preparedness of novice teachers. The results from this study suggest the need to address emotional preparedness in university teacher education programs and to integrate emotional awareness and coping strategies into induction models.


identifier: Kinch, Matthew  (2015) Crown-Aboriginal Relations in Resource Development: An Analysis of Institutional Incentives and Constraints in the Reconciliation of Aboriginal Interests.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The advancement of a constructive Aboriginal agenda in the form of rights-based litigation since the recognition and affirmation of Aboriginal and treaty rights in the Constitution Act, 1982 has led to the creation of the legal doctrine of the duty to consult and accommodate. As a discipline on Crown decision-making, the legal doctrine of the duty to consult and accommodate presents a prospective pathway for the reconciliation of Crown and Aboriginal interests in resource development. While maintaining promise as a framework to provide for the full and fair consideration of Aboriginal interests in regulatory reviews, administrative decision-makers representing the Crown have made the management of legal liabilities the principal policy objective of consultation and accommodation. As a result, there is minimal incentive for administrative decision-makers to deviate from highly legalistic interpretations of common law. This standard operating procedure is steadily reinforced, as the Crown, able to efficiently reduce the risk of litigation by First Nations, permits projects without consideration of the continued and incremental diminishment of Aboriginal interests in lands and resources. The purpose of this thesis is to deconstruct processes of consultation and accommodation embedded in environmental assessment processes associated with major resource projects as a means to identify institutional arrangements that promote and provide for the full and fair consideration of Aboriginal interests in Crown decision-making.


identifier: Piano, Amanda  (2015) Mass Spectrometric Analyses of the Lipidomes of Quiescent and Non-Quiescent Cells Reveal that Certain Dietary, Pharmacological and Genetic Interventions Delay the Chronological Aging of the Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae by Altering Lipid Metabolism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Recent studies have revealed that different classes of lipids play essential roles in the intrinsically complex process of cellular aging. Although these roles of lipids is blurred by intricacy and complexity, the identification of mechanisms that link lipid metabolism to cellular aging is currently underway. The investigation of a cell’s entry into and progression through a differentiated quiescent state can provide a means of linking cell cycle regulation to aging. Using yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism, I explored how the major lipid classes phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylserine (PS), as well as mitochondria specific cardiolipin (CL) and major storage lipid triacylglycerol (TAG), are influenced during the aging process by various dietary, pharmacological and genetic interventions known to extend longevity. These interventions include a caloric restriction diet, lithocholic bile acid (LCA) and the tor1Δ mutation eliminating the key protein component of the pro-aging Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1) pathway. The quantitation of different lipid classes throughout the entire lifespan was accomplished by the mass spectrometric analysis of lipids found in quiescent and non-quiescent cell populations separated by centrifugation in a Percoll density gradient. My findings revealed that there are at least three different ways of delaying aging in yeast by differently altering lipid metabolism and transport in chronologically aging cells.


identifier: Mastronardi, Karina  (2016) Non-muscle Myosin Contractility in the Neuroblasts Influences Epidermal Morphogenesis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Tissue morphogenesis requires myosin-dependent events such as cell shape changes and migration to be coordinated between cells within a tissue, and/or with cells from other tissues. However, few studies have investigated the simultaneous morphogenesis of multiple tissues in vivo. We found that during C. elegans ventral enclosure, when epidermal cells collectively migrate to cover the ventral surface of the embryo, the underlying neuroblasts (neuronal precursor cells) also undergo morphogenesis. We found that myosin accumulates as foci along the junction-free edges of the ventral epidermal cells to form a ring, whose closure is myosin- dependent. We also observed the accumulation of myosin foci and the adhesion junction protein


identifier: Langari, Seied Mohammad  (2015) Enhanced Path Planning Method for Improving Safety and Productivity of Excavation Operations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Improving safety and productivity of earthwork operations is of paramount importance, especially in congested sites where collisions are more probable. Real-time Location Systems and Automated Machine Guidance and Control technologies are expected to improve both safety and productivity of earthwork operations by providing excavator operators a higher level of support regarding the path planning of excavators based on site conditions. However, in spite of the large number of studies related to automated path planning of excavators using well established algorithms from robotics, such as Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) and Probabilistic Roadmaps (PRM), these studies do not fully consider the engineering constrains of the equipment and do not result in smooth and optimal paths that can be applied in practice. This research aims to improve the path planning of excavators in a congested site where the speed of the algorithm and the quality of the path significantly influence the overall performance of the earthwork operations. The proposed method is implemented and tested in Unity 3D game engine environment for visualization and verification purposes. The efficiency of the proposed method in generating a collision-free path, which can ensure improved productivity, is verified both quantitatively and visually. The comparative results with other recent and modified versions of the RRT algorithm show that the proposed algorithm is able to find a higher quality path in a shorter time.


identifier: Tabatabaei Shafiei, Mahdieh  (2016) The Effect of Immune Cell Activation on Glycogen Storage in the Context of a Nutrient Rich Microenvironment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Lymphocytes of the immune system become activated in order to fight pathogens. Activated lymphocytes absorb more glucose due to their high-energy demand.  Glycogen is a branched polymer of glucose units that is formed in times of nutrient sufficiency and it is utilized in times of need. In the presence of high glucose, lymphocytes build up glycogen stores, but the fate of this content is not very well understood. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the presence of glycogen in activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and to investigate the impact of low nutrient levels on the glycogen content of these cells. This was achieved by isolation of PBMCs from human blood, followed by in-vitro activation of the cells by a general activator and a T cell-specific activator. Glycogen concentrations were measured through periodic acid Schiff’s staining (PAS) method and by using an enzymatic detection kit, in various time points. The role of glycogen in times of low nutrient availability was also examined. PBMC were found to contain glycogen by both methods. Upon stimulation of PBMCs with the general activator, there was an increase in glycogen formation in the activated lymphocytes as compared to the non-activated group using both techniques (p<0.05). The effect of T cell-specific activator was consistent with the effects of the general activator. This was confirmed through PAS staining and enzymatic detection kit techniques (p<0.05). Additionally, when the amount of nutrients was lowered, less glycogen was stored in PBMCs. This study demonstrated that activated PBMCs contain more glycogen stores as compared to non-activated cells. The excess glucose that is converted into glycogen may be used by the immune system when nutrients are low.


identifier: Aghasibeig, Maniya  (2015) Engineered Thermally Sprayed Electrodes for Hydrogen Production by Alkaline Water Electrolysis.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Alkaline water electrolysis is one of the most promising methods for producing high purity hydrogen to be used as a clean and renewable energy carrier. However, due to the high costs of the electrolysers in addition to high energy consumption of the electrolysis process, this method is still not used for large scale hydrogen production in industrial applications. The costs associated with the materials and energy loss of this technology can be reduced by decreasing the hydrogen evolution overpotentials by using durable and inexpensive electrocatalysts with high intrinsic activities and large active surface areas.
The main objective of this work is to manufacture cathode electrodes for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with modified surface structures and large effective areas, using different thermal spray techniques. For this purpose, new methodologies for manufacturing the electrodes are introduced while the surface morphology of the electrodes is designed and engineered by the coating processes. Nickel is used as electrode material as it shows high electrocatalytic activity, has high stability in alkaline solutions and is relatively inexpensive compared to noble metals with the best activities. Suspension plasma spray (SPS), high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and cold spray are introduced as novel methods for producing nickel electrodes for the HER. A combination of atmospheric and suspension plasma spray, with optimized parameters toward enhancement of the electrode surface area, is effectively used for development of multiscale electrode surface structures with micron and nanosized features. In addition, the surface texture of the electrodes is engineered by deposition of three-dimensional fin arrays by employing mesh screens when either the combined atmospheric and suspension plasma spray or HVOF processes were used. For these electrodes the surface area was mainly enhanced by deposition of the particles at normal and off-normal angles. The produced hierarchical multiscale electrode structures enhanced the electrocatalytic activity for the HER by increasing the accessibility of the electrode surface to the electrolyte besides facilitating the hydrogen bubble detachment. Finally, cold spray was used to manufacture the electrodes with large activities by peening of the electrode surface by the solid-state nickel particles during the deposition process. The activity of the electrodes was enhanced by increasing the surface defects and changing the electronic structure of the electrodes induced by the peening effect.


identifier: Belletête, Andréa  (2016) Le sociolecte pirate en traduction : le cas de Treasure Island de Robert Louis Stevenson.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Le sociolecte pirate en traduction : le cas de Treasure Island de Robert Louis Stevenson

Andréa Belletête

Ce mémoire consiste en une étude des traductions de l’anglais vers le français du sociolecte pirate tel que représenté dans l’oeuvre Treasure Island de Robert Louis Stevenson. Après avoir examiné le contexte social et historique dans lequel la piraterie s’est développée, je cherche à définir les pirates réels et imaginaires pour comprendre ceux que Stevenson a créés. À la suite de cette recherche, je procède à une analyse approfondie des composantes du sociolecte pirate de Treasure Island afin de comprendre l’importance des éléments véhiculés par un tel sociolecte. Puis, je discute des approches possibles pour traduire chacune des particularités langagières discutées. J’examine ensuite les stratégies adoptées par six traducteurs ayant produit six traductions différentes de Treasure Island. Finalement, je réalise moi-même une traduction de quelques extraits choisis démontrant différents aspects du sociolecte pirate dans le but de transmettre les éléments analysés.


identifier: Colannino, Daniela A.  (2016) Reading the Curriculum: How The Boy Who Lived Lives in Curriculum Theory.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Curriculum theory explores what and how we teach. Given its definition, it seems appropriate that teachers understand curriculum theory; however, this is not the case for all teachers. The purpose of the following qualitative analysis is to make curriculum theory more accessible and understandable to teachers through literature. Using a document analysis approach, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was analyzed in accordance with five curriculum theories, those of: John Dewey, Ralph Tyler, William Pinar, Elliot Eisner, and Ted Aoki. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how Harry Potter becomes an educational research tool that practicing teachers can use to better understand curriculum theory and how it applies to their classroom. This endorses Barone’s (1988, 2007) argument that works of fiction can serve as valuable education documents that teachers can use to better understand curriculum. Aspects of the theories were explained using characters, events, teaching practices, and symbols from the books. For example, the flawed objectives of Harry’s many Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers compared to his own objectives, illustrate Tyler’s insistence on the importance of clear, educational goals. Moreover, Aoki’s stance that teachers dwell in a tense zone between curriculum obligations and students’ individual needs is embodied through the complex character, Severus Snape.


identifier: He, Yang  (2016) Examining the Effect of Social Media Communication on Brand Equity Creation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research examines the effects of social media communication on brand equity creation. It focuses on the differential effects of firm-generated content versus user-generated content on consumer-based brand equity dimensions (brand awareness, associations, and image), brand attitude, and purchase intentions in a social media context, and investigates the moderating role of brand type (i.e., hedonic or utilitarian brand). Results of a study involving adult consumers suggest that firm-generated content positively and significantly relates to brand awareness, brand associations and brand image, whereas user-generated content positively and significantly relates to brand associations and brand image. The moderation results did not support expected effects. This research sheds new lights in the online marketing literature and social media marketing practice.


identifier: Li, Qian Ying  (2015) Bimodal Upconverting Nanoparticles for MRI and Optical Imaging.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Integrating multiple functionalities into individual nanoscale materials is of tremendous importance in biomedicine, since this would expand the capabilities of nanoscale materials to perform multiple tasks. Here, fluorescence optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are combined within the same nanoparticle based material. NaYF4: Tm3+, Yb3+, showed NIR to NIR upconversion, giving deep tissue penetration, which is an advantage in medical imaging. Their lanthanide ions (Tm3+/Yb3+) derived optical properties in the near infrared region of the spectrum, where tissue is maximally transparent. Multimodal properties may be imparted to NaYF4: Tm3+, Yb3+ via the functionalization of gadonium-tetraazacyclododecanetetraacetic acid (Gd-DOTA), a commercially available MRI contrast agent. Gd-DOTA was covalently bonded to the surface of the silica coated UCNPs using the click reaction. This imaging probe may be used for both MRI and fluorescent imaging.
Another approach to achieve bimodalities is by doping Gd3+ ions into the systems of UCNPs, which provides both magnetic and optical properties.  Ultra-small NaGdF4, Tm3+, Yb3+ of 5 nm was chosen since it is an excellent T1 contrast agent. The surface chemistry of nanoparticles has direct impact on its physiochemical properties. Therefore, it is aimed to design  nanoparticle based blood pool contrast agent for disease diagnostics, which involved the functionalization the polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer on the ultra-small UCNPs.  Here we report the design and characterization of bimodal contrast agent, PEG coated ultra-small NaGdF4, Tm3+, Yb3+.


identifier: Wan, Peiyi  (2015) Corporate governance mechanisms and the cost of capital: evidence from Canadian firms.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper investigates the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on the cost of capital of Canadian firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the 2008 financial crisis. Since the end of the crisis, the cost of capital has fallen for Canadian firms. Insider ownership, board size, and CEO duality are found to be negatively related to the cost of capital. In contrast, institutional ownership is shown to be positively related to the cost of capital. Most examined governance mechanisms have differential impacts on firms across industries and regions in Canada. In Canadian mining firms, which have a higher cost of capital than firms in other industries, insider ownership is negatively associated with the cost of capital. In the transportation industry, both institutional ownership and insider ownership are positively related to the cost of capital. Firms domiciled in Quebec have a lower cost of capital that reflects its industrial structure.


identifier: Grieve, Margaret  (2016) Transforming Knowledge Hierarchies and Educating for Freedom: Incorporating Diverse Texts in Elementary Literacy Curriculum.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis I examine the potential of the intersections of critical pedagogy, new literacy studies and examples of qualitative ethnographic research of non-print based texts to transform elementary school literacy programs, educate for freedom, and allow more diverse voices and ways of knowing to be incorporated into the curriculum. I ask (a) Can an expanded understanding of “text” transform the literacy curriculum to allow students to develop and share their voices, be heard and to also learn from multiple perspectives? And (b) Can an expanded understanding of “text” contribute to the incorporation of a diversity of activities and experiences into elementary school literacy programs? With my theoretical foundation in Critical Pedagogy, I argue that western ways of knowing and the autonomous model of literacy are placed in a hierarchy above different ways of knowing and the recognition and application of the ideological model of literacy and multiliteracies. Furthermore, I argue for expanding our understanding of text to help transform hierarchical constructions of knowledge. I review literature in qualitative ethnographic research that demonstrates the use of non-print based texts for diverse multicultural education and I develop a framework to organize these diverse texts. Bringing together key elements from each of the theories I then begin to work towards a curriculum framework, including identifying foundational principles and offering strategies for how to practice teaching with diverse texts. The benefits for students, especially elementary aged children, and teachers are highlighted, as well as the challenges and future directions.
Keywords: critical pedagogy, multiliteracies, texts, voice, elementary literacy, curriculum design.


identifier: Ghazihesami, Rouzbeh  (2015) Assessment of numerical modelling for steady state jet impingement cooling in different geometries.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, the suitability of CFD to evaluate and predict physical phenomena in lieu of experimental work in a jet impingement application is assessed. Previous experimental work looked at the effectiveness of different geometries in improving jet impingement cooling. This work was used to construct a numerical model of two of the geometries each running at three different Reynolds numbers. First a turbulence model is selected based on a simple 2D axisymmetric jet impingement case. The k-ω SST model produced the most accurate results and was thus selected. The model was then used to simulate jet impingement in both a basic flatplate and a corrugated geometry. The corrugated geometry was expected to improve cooling performance. The trend was seen in the numerical results, particularly at higher velocities and at the most downstream jets. The trend replicates that of the experimental results, with negligible impact of the corrugations before the 3-4th jet.


identifier: Badawieh, Ammar  (2016) Investigation of the Mobility and Extraction Potential of Vanadium and Coupled Metals (Nickel and Lead) in Oily Sludge Matrix under Electrokinetic Conditions.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Ammar Badawieh, Ph.D.
Concordia University, 2015

Abstract
Oily sludge is a viscous complex mix of hydrocarbons, water, metals, and suspended fine solids. This by-product’s persistent toxic composition poses serious environmental concerns, making its containment one of the biggest challenges facing petroleum industries. The main objective of this research was to monitor and trace target heavy metals (with particular focus on vanadium) mobilized in a petroleum sludge matrix under electrokinetic conditions. This exploratory study would facilitate furthering reclamation procedures, and presents the prospect of converting oily sludge into high quality added-value products. The research was carried out in three experimental and analytical phases. Phase 1 consisted of the formulation of adequate Upstream/Downstream petroleum waste, where three target metals, namely vanadium, lead and nickel were considered. In Phase 2, electrokinetic (EK) technology was used to separate valuable oily sludge components, and mobilize metals. A series of EK cells containing sole and mixed metals permitted investigating the synergistic and antagonistic effects of the three target metals (V, Ni, and Pb). Phase 3 focused on behaviour and mobility of metals in the separated matrices. In this phase, a combination of procedures including, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis, and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) were applied simultaneously. Rheological tests confirmed electro-demulsification and phase separation in oily sludge matrices. Furthermore, Ethylenediamine-Tetraacetate acid (EDTA), and Diisooctyldithiophosphini acid (Cyanex 301) were compared in the metal supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process in order to enhance metals’ extraction from the oily sludge matrix. The results obtained in this research provide insight into the mobility of target heavy metals (V, Ni, and Pb) in an oily sludge matrix under EK treatment. Furthermore, vanadium was found to be an accelerator for the separation of oily sludge components under EK conditions. The results demonstrated excellent vertical and horizontal electro-separation of phases in the upstream cells. In the downstream oily sludge, the presence of non-polar solvents affected the separation process. However, in both upstream and downstream cells, metal mobility created interesting scenarios, such that metals accumulated in the specific areas of the matrix. This mapping of metals would permit on their further removal. This research leads to development of a new oily sludge management system (EK-SEF-Cyanex 301), which would not only help in the reclamation of sludge, but may also create a stream of revenue from the recovery of metals (particularly vanadium).


identifier: Shi, Shan  (2015) High-Dimensional Behavior of Some Multivariate Two-Sample Tests.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: It is a difficult problem to test the equality of distribution of two independent p-dimensional (p>1) samples (of sizes m and n, say) in a nonparametric framework. It is not only because we need deal with issues such as tractability of the null distribution of test-statistics but also the fact that the latter are rarely distribution-free. Several notable nonparametric tests for comparing multivariate distributions  are the multivariate runs test of Friedman and Rafsky (1979), the nearest-neighbour test of Henze (1988) and the inter-point distance-based test of Baringhaus and Franz (BF) (2004). Biswas and Ghosh (BG) (2014) recently have shown that in a high dimension, low sample-size (HDLSS) scenario, i.e. where p goes to infinity but m, n are small or fixed, all the tests mentioned do not perform well. However, the BG-test is shown to be consistent in the case of HDLSS. In this work, we study the asymptotic behaviours of BF and BG tests when m, n and p go to infinity and min(m, n) = o(p). Our results reveal when these tests are expected to work well and when they are not. Results are illustrated by simulated data.


identifier: Karimian, Seyed Farzad  (2015) Failure Rate Prediction Models of Water Distribution Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The economic, social and environmental impacts of water main failures impose a great pressure on utility managers and municipalities to develop reliable rehabilitation/replacement plans. The Canadian Infrastructure Report Card 2012 stated that 15.4% of Canadian water distribution systems was in a “fair” to “very poor” condition with a replacement cost of CAD 25.9 billion. The “fair”, “poor” and “very poor” conditions represent the beginning of deterioration, nearing the end of useful life and no residual life expectancy, respectively. The majority of municipalities in Canada do not possess complete dataset of water distribution networks. The annual number of breaks or breakage rate of each pipe segment is known as one of the most important criteria in condition assessment of water pipelines. The main objective of this research is to develop a research framework that circumvent the limitations of existing studies by: 1) identifying the most critical factors affecting water pipe failure rates, 2) determining the best mathematical expression for predicting water pipeline failure rate 3) developing deterioration curves, and 4) deploying sensitivity analysis to recognize the effect of each input change on the breakage rate.
The proposed research framework utilizes Best Subset regression to recognize the most effective factors on water pipelines. Best-Subset Algorithm is a procedure to find the best combination of variables to predict the water pipe failure rate among all possible candidates. Once the process of critical factor selection is performed, selected variables are employed to predict the number of breaks of water pipes using Evolutionary Polynomial Regression (EPR). The EPR is an intuitive data mining technique performed in two stages: 1) the search for the best model using Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA), and 2) the parameter estimation for the model using Least Square Method. The predicted number of breaks, computed by EPR, is utilized to develop deterioration curves by applying Weibull distribution function. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to: 1) recognize the effect of changing each input on the failure rate, and 2) study the relationship between the selected inputs and the output.
The developed research framework is applied into two case studies to test its effectiveness. The case considers the water distribution networks in the City of Montréal, Canada and the City of Doha, Qatar. Physical factors, such as age, length, diameter and pipe material were identified as the most critical factors to affect the failure rate of pipes. The results indicate that the developed models successfully estimated the number of breaks for the City of Montreal and City of Doha with a maximum R-Squared of 89.35% and 96.27%, respectively. Also, it is tested by using 20% of each dataset and promising results were generated with a maximum R-Squared of 84.86% and 74.39% for dataset of Montreal and Doha respectively. This demonstrates the accuracy and robustness of the developed models in assessing and analyzing water distribution networks. The developed model is useful for municipalities and decision makers to prioritize the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and budget allocation of water distribution networks.


identifier: Fachkha, Claude  (2015) Darknet as a Source of Cyber Threat Intelligence: Investigating Distributed and Reflection Denial of Service Attacks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Cyberspace has become a massive battlefield between computer criminals and computer security experts. In addition, large-scale cyber attacks have enormously matured and became capable to generate, in a prompt manner, significant interruptions and damage to Internet resources and infrastructure. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are perhaps the most prominent and severe types of such large-scale cyber attacks. Furthermore, the existence of widely available encryption and anonymity techniques greatly increases the difficulty of the surveillance and investigation of cyber attacks. In this context, the availability of relevant cyber monitoring is of paramount importance. An effective approach to gather DoS cyber intelligence is to collect and analyze traffic destined to allocated, routable, yet unused Internet address space known as darknet. In this thesis, we leverage big darknet data to generate insights on various DoS events, namely, Distributed DoS (DDoS) and Distributed Reflection DoS (DRDoS) activities. First, we present a comprehensive survey of darknet. We primarily define and characterize darknet and indicate its alternative names. We further list other trap-based monitoring systems and compare them to darknet. In addition, we provide a taxonomy in relation to darknet technologies and identify research gaps that are related to three main darknet categories: deployment, traffic analysis, and visualization. Second, we characterize darknet data. Such information could generate indicators of cyber threat activity as well as provide in-depth understanding of the nature of its traffic. Particularly, we analyze darknet packets distribution, its used transport, network and application layer protocols and pinpoint its resolved domain names. Furthermore, we identify its IP classes and destination ports as well as geo-locate its source countries. We further investigate darknet-triggered threats. The aim is to explore darknet inferred threats and categorize their severities. Finally, we contribute by exploring the inter-correlation of such threats, by applying association rule mining techniques, to build threat association rules. Specifically, we generate clusters of threats that co-occur targeting a specific victim. Third, we propose a DDoS inference and forecasting model that aims at providing insights to organizations, security operators and emergency response teams during and after a DDoS attack. Specifically, this work strives to predict, within minutes, the attacks’ features, namely, intensity/rate (packets/sec) and size (estimated number of compromised machines/bots). The goal is to understand the future short-term trend of the ongoing DDoS attacks in terms of those
features and thus provide the capability to recognize the current as well as future similar situations and hence appropriately respond to the threat. Further, our work aims at investigating DDoS campaigns by proposing a clustering approach to infer various victims targeted by the same campaign and predicting related features. To
achieve our goal, our proposed approach leverages a number of time series and fluctuation analysis techniques, statistical methods and forecasting approaches. Fourth, we propose a novel approach to infer and characterize Internet-scale DRDoS attacks by leveraging the darknet space. Complementary to the pioneer work on inferring
DDoS activities using darknet, this work shows that we can extract DoS activities without relying on backscattered analysis. The aim of this work is to extract cyber security intelligence related to DRDoS activities such as intensity, rate and geographic location in addition to various network-layer and flow-based insights. To achieve this task, the proposed approach exploits certain DDoS parameters to detect the attacks and the expectation maximization and k-means clustering techniques in an attempt to identify campaigns of DRDoS attacks. Finally, we conclude this work by providing some discussions and pinpointing some future work.


identifier: Hostettler, Désirée  (2016) Journalism in Turkey and the Gezi Park Protest: Power and Agency in the Media Sphere.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis will examine the Turkish media during the Gezi Park protest in Turkey in the summer of 2013. What started out as a peaceful protest that began because of environmental reasons, spiraled into a larger protest against the government more generally. What was unusual about the protest, that makes Gezi Park an interesting object of study, is that the mainstream Turkish media completely ignored the protest, barely reported on it, or contributed to the dissemination of disinformation. The lack of coverage and disinformation that was spread within the Turkish media frustrated the public and social media ended up playing a central role in providing the Turkish people with updates. The lack of coverage within Turkish mainstream media was also in stark contrast to the coverage that did occur in international media and alternative media in Turkey.
This thesis investigates the reasons for the lack of coverage in Turkish mainstream media and whose legacy the media serves. It will examine what constrains and enables Turkish journalists, the role social media plays in a country where journalists face corporate and political restrictions, as well as the role international media and alternative media play in the media ecosystem. This research stems from semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists working in Turkey. As theoretical frameworks, this paper will mobilize Castells’ (2012) theory of communication power, as well as the theory of structuration (Giddens, 1984; Mosco, 2009).


identifier: Noce, Anthony A.  (2015) Long-Term Economic Growth: Modeling the Race between Energy and Technology and the Stratospheric Effects of Hydrogen as a General Purpose Energy Source.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents an alternative approach to modeling economic growth by constructing a biosphere-energy-technology (BET) model that incorporates energy, technology and entropy as distinct factors that generate transitional competitive equilibria.  Technological progress under BET models assumptions is limited by recognized and available energy sources/carriers, named general purpose energy sources (GPESs), and that the recognition of such sources affect choices in technological development. This thesis represents a first attempt at incorporating the biosphere, which can experience catastrophic bifurcations, into a model of economic growth. The BET model, which puts strict conditions on the idea that no innovative society need accept Malthusian diminishing returns, predicts that energy and technology are both required for sustained growth given some temporal relationship between them.

The main findings from the BET model are that pervasive technology shocks lead to large increases in consumption, but that technology alone will not sustain economic growth; and, that energy shocks cause permanent labour resource movements from the consumption sector to the energy knowledge sector. Energy shocks in the BET model result in an increase in consumption and utility; however, the effect of a particular energy source that gives rise to the energy shock depends on various parameters that embody institutional factors and policy.

Using hydrogen as a GPES candidate that can give rise to an energy shock, the effects of deuterated molecular hydrogen and deuterated methane on the kinetic rate constants for selected stratospheric radical reactions, including the rate of ozone destruction, were examined computationally. In the case of a tethered hydrogen economy, an increase in deuterated molecular hydrogen in the stratosphere may result in a marked change in the rate at which chlorine radical acts as a sink for H2 and can contribute to decreasing ozone concentrations. However, the kinetic isotope effect results for methane oxidation reactions imply that decreases in polar stratospheric clouds formation and decreased solid HCl are possible with a tethered hydrogen economy resulting in less ozone destruction. In sum, monodeuterated molecular hydrogen and methane may not contribute to appreciable stratospheric ozone loss and may even have a net positive effect.


identifier: Langford, Sasha J.  (2016) The Unsettled Subject: Territory and Ambivalence in the post-Photoconceptual Landscape.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis mobilizes a psychoanalytically-informed conception of landscape photography to inform a close semiotic reading of contemporary landscape photographic works produced in the years immediately surrounding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics by three British Columbia-based artists. These works, termed “post-photoconceptual,” serve to destabilize the spectatorial positions and mechanisms of subjectification delineated by historical forms of landscape associated with the imperial visual regimes European modernity and the settling of Canada, in turn provoking reflection on the unstable or “unsettled” territorial status of British Columbia’s post-imperial state.  As they apprehend “unresolved ambivalence” as a formal operation of landscape photography, the works of this study take as a starting place the task of bringing into visibility the role of representation in failing to rectify the internal contradictions of place and belonging of the landscape photograph, in turn suspending spectatorial possibilities for visual, territorial, and psychic mastery.