identifier: Trespalacios, Florencia  (2022) The association of social support in families with a parent having bipolar disorder and substance use among offspring: A 10-year longitudinal study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD) are at higher risk for the development of mental disorders than the offspring of parents with no affective disorder (ONAD). In addition to genetic factors, childhood adversity and a stressful family environment are important risk factors for the OBD. Protective factors in parents, such as social support, may buffer the effects of stress on at-risk children. The present study tested whether parents’ social support and coping style attenuated the relationship between risk status (OBD vs ONAD) and symptoms of mental disorders in offspring. At time 1, when offspring were in middle childhood, parents underwent a diagnostic interview and completed measures of social support and coping style. Sixty nine OBD and 69 ONAD (68 female) between 13 and 29 years old completed a diagnostic interview approximately 10 years later (time 2). As predicted, parents’ social support satisfaction was associated with less substance use disorders (SUDs) symptoms in OBD, but not ONAD (Risk Status X Social Support Satisfaction; F(1, 132)=5.54, p=.02). Unexpectedly, the OBD whose parents reported a larger social network developed more anxiety and depression symptoms than ONAD (Risk Status X Network Size; F(1, 132)=6.24, p=.014). No effects of parents’ coping style were found. Among OBD, having parents with greater social support satisfaction and a smaller social network buffered their development of SUDs and depression and anxiety symptoms by early adulthood. Social support in these high-risk families might have an important protective function for their children’s development.


identifier: Hoq, Afazul Hoq  (2022) X-ray sensitivity and resolution of hybrid perovskite X-ray imaging detectors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
ABSTRACT
X-ray sensitivity and resolution of hybrid perovskite X-ray imaging detectors
Afazul Hoq
The flat panel detectors (FPD) are digital detectors that are utilized extensively in medical applications such as digital chest radiography and mammography. The detectors are subjected to electromagnetic radiation to produce digital images of human internal organs. The electromagnetic radiation (X-ray) generates electron-hole pair in the photoconductor layer. The photogenerated electron-hole pairs drift under the influence of an applied electric field and generate a photocurrent. The performance of detectors essentially depends upon the selection of photoconductors. Over the years, x-ray imaging detectors with a-Se are widely used because of its uniform deposition, moderate sensitivity, good image resolution, and considerably low dark current. However, the medical diagnostic applications of a-Se get restricted due to high ionization energy, relatively low absorption coefficient. The hybrid organic perovskite has ionization energy an order lower than a-Se, good absorption coefficient, and superior charge transport properties that make hybrid organic perovskite a suitable candidate to replace the commercially used a-Se detectors.
In this thesis, the sensitivity of hybrid organic perovskite-based detectors under different operation conditions has been critically analyzed. The change of sensitivity is not significant for single exposure medical diagnostic X-ray applications. However, the sensitivity of perovskite-based detectors starts to deteriorate due to repeated and large exposures. The electric field across the photoconductor thickness becomes non-uniform due to the accumulation of trapped charge carriers. The loss of carriers due to bimolecular recombination leads to a decline of charge collection efficiency which results in an overall reduction of sensitivity. A physics-based model has been implemented to analyze the x-ray sensitivity under repeated exposures and different operating conditions. The model included the coupled continuity, trapping rate, and Poisson’s and these equations are solved simultaneously. All possible recombination processes and traps are considered in the model with appropriate assumptions. The results of the model are compared with experimental values.  It is vital to investigate the loss of image resolution of a hybrid organic perovskite detector. The loss of image resolution of organic perovskite material is mainly due to k-fluorescence reabsorption, charge carrier trapping, and charge carrier diffusion.  A physics-based model has been used to study the reduction of the modulation transfer function for different spatial frequencies.  The work in this thesis identifies the main reasons for the ghosting effect under repeated exposures and the loss of image resolutions.


identifier: Sikender, Fauzia  (2022) The Main Types of Work Integrated Learning Programs, its Key Features, and its Stakeholders’ Responsibilities.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
The Main Types of Work Integrated Learning Programs, its Key Features, and its Stakeholders’ Responsibilities
Fauzia Sikender
Canada’s aging population, rapid technological change, and increase in demand for new labour in the workforce are contributing factors responsible for an increased demand for new workers and enhanced job fit for them (Fields et al., 2017).  Prior studies have documented the benefits of work integrated learning, in which students acquire knowledge outside the realm of the traditional classroom to enhance their job readiness skills. However, there is a gap in current literature on the types (nomenclature) of work integrated learning that enhance students’ job fit in different contexts.  The purpose of this integrative literature review is to identify the major definitions, key features, and stakeholder responsibilities of different types of work integrated learning. Applying a combination of deductive and inductive methodologies, this study identified 24 articles to answer the research questions.  The results suggest that there are four major types of work integrated learning; internships, “a form of experiential education that combines practical realities to students while reinforcing classroom lessons” (Barbarash, 2016, p.21).; cooperative education, “the integration of theory with practice within a purposefully designed curriculum ” (Rowe, 2018, p.144); apprenticeships, “a work placement where the student acquires the knowledge, skills, and behaviours required to be competent in a particular occupation, at the higher and degree level” (Crawford-Lee, 2016, p.324); and practica, “a pedagogical strategy adopted by colleges and universities to help students acquire essential career skills and enhance their career readiness” (Akpan, 2016, p.412). However, there is confusion in the terms since many of the definitions are similar in nature and can be used interchangeably, like internship and cooperative education. Key features of these programs include academic credit, renumeration, self-reflective activities, application of academic knowledge in a work environment, and feedback from supervisors and co-workers. Roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders involved tend to overlap with one another as employers and institutions are responsible for organizing and aligning work assignments respectively to meet the employers’ needs. Major challenges include ensuring there is a good fit between the work placement and the student’s area of study, ensuring student learning is linked to employers’ needs, and ensuring students learn to adapt to real life work experiences.  Clarity in the terms and definitions of work placement models by employers, students, and educational institutions would help reduce confusion and enhance students’ job readiness skills.


identifier: Smiley, Cherry  (2022) Not Sacred, Not Squaws: Indigenous Feminism Redefined.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Building on the work of second-wave radical feminist theorists from fields such as communication studies, sociology, history, and women’s studies; on the work of community-based and grassroots radical feminist theorists and activists; and by examining prostitution and the responses to this form of male violence against women, this dissertation proposes a female-centered theory of colonization and subsequently of decolonizing feminism. Incorporating first-hand prostitution research done in New Zealand and across Canada and by questioning my own uncritical acceptance of the historical social and political status of Indigenous women in Canada, critically looking at the roles of culture and tradition in the oppression of Indigenous women, and by building a decolonizing feminist methodology in the process, this work troubles the very concepts of “colonization” and “feminism” as we currently understand them. Building on over a decade of work as part of the women’s liberation movement, Not Sacred, Not Squaws redefines colonization and situates decolonizing feminism as a distinct and foundational— as opposed to separate and different— component of the women’s liberation movement.


identifier: Dakour, Mohamad  (2022) Multihazard Performance-Based Assessment of Multi-Storey Steel Braced Frame Buildings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Seismic codes have evolved to the point that allows integrating Structural System Reliability of buildings into the seismic analysis by limiting the building damage under earthquake input, while keeping a reasonable margin of safety. However, wind design following the major international standards, including the National Building Code of Canada, remains prescriptive and overall conservative.
Current wind design uses the first significant yielding of a structural member as a strength limit state and does not explore nonlinearity beyond the design level, neither accounts for the inherent system overstrength. In other words, it does not explore the wind response of the lateral force resisting system (LFRS) from yielding to the system’s failure mechanism. For a building located in a seismic region, the LFRS has well-detailed ductile fusses that are allowed to yield under seismic loads and dissipate energy through hysteresis but are required to respond elastically under wind load. Further, the return period for the seismic and wind loads are not compatible in the building codes; hence, at design level, the seismic hazard is associated to 2500-year return period and the wind hazard (ultimate limit state) to 500-year return period.
This research presents a multihazard assessment of two multi-storey concentrically braced frame (CBF) buildings located in Montreal, Quebec, where both wind and earthquake load are critical. The collapse margin safety under earthquake load is conducted according to FEMA P695 (2009) procedure and the wind reliability criterion is verified as per the ASCE PBWD (2019) pre-standard methodology.
In this study, the nonlinear dynamic response of the LFRSs of studied buildings was analyzed to different seismic and wind hazard levels using two-dimensional numerical models developed in the OpenSees framework. Then, these models were independently subjected to a set of seven artificial ground motions and aerodynamic data derived from the Tokyo Polytechnic University (TPU) aerodynamic database. Using data from seismic and wind Incremental Dynamic Analyses (IDA), the fragility curves were constructed and the failure mechanisms of multi-storey Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF) under wind and earthquake was identified. The progressive development of dynamic response from yielding to collapse is also discussed.
The study concluded that more flexibility could be permitted to wind design by accounting for the inherent structural overstrength and limited ductility, while challenging aspects may still arise due to inherent differences between earthquake and wind loads.


identifier: Hadaeghnia, Milad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1098-2285 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1098-2285>  (2022) DESIGN AND PREPARATION OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE GRAPHENE NANOCOMPOSITES BASED ON PA6/POE.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Polymer blending is commonly used to engineer materials with favorable properties. Due to the low entropy of mixing, in most cases, polymer blending results in a phase-separated morphology which governs the ultimate properties. Nanoparticles can significantly alter the phase morphology even at low contents. In the case of droplet-matrix morphology, the addition of nanoparticles can cause refinement, produce large and irregular domains, or even induce a co-continuous morphology. By employing a proper strategy of mixing for a particular system it is possible to manipulate the morphology and achieve desired properties. In this study, I investigate the impact of graphene particles on the phase morphology and mechanical and electrical properties of polyamide 6/ polyolefin elastomer blends. It is shown that a wide range of properties can be obtained by changing the composition and the localization of graphene. Inducing a co-continuous morphology at low graphene host phase content results in unique mechanical and electrical properties. The mechanism of graphene-induced co-continuity was further investigated by changing the rheological properties of the POE and the addition of compatibilizer. I found that the final phase morphology is governed by the structural features of the graphene network structure which in turn is dependent on the self-assembly of graphene particles.
The graphene 3D structure and phase morphology are not stable and evolve during annealing. Rheological and morphological characterization were employed to track the evolution of microstructure and correlate the relationship between self-similar graphene 3D structure and phase morphology. It is revealed that the graphene content and annealing time have the same impact on the rheological and electrical properties.


identifier: Ouellette, Pierre-Marc  (2022) Corps dialectiques : recherche chorégraphique autour d’une esthétique de l’ambivalence.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Corps dialectiques : recherche chorégraphique autour d’une esthétique de l’ambivalence, par Pierre-Marc Ouellette

Ce mémoire-création a pour origine une envie de créer malgré un sentiment d’inquiétude faisant obstacle à cette envie. J’ai interprété cette contradiction comme une ambivalence à créer. Dans une démarche interdisciplinaire alliant histoire de l’art et chorégraphie, et en compagnie des interprètes participant à l’étude, je tente de comprendre ce mouvement contradictoire. Pour y arriver, je modélise mon processus créatif à l’aide du concept de l’image dialectique de Walter Benjamin, étudié chez Georges Didi-Huberman. En outre, je propose de réfléchir à ma démarche créative à partir de l’idée d’un Corps dialectique.

Cette étude a pour cadre théorique la philosophie de Jacques Rancière, dont les notions de régime esthétique des arts et d’œuvre d’art autonome ont aidé à situer la démarche de création en regard des forces esthétiques et politiques qui la façonnent. Au fil de l’étude, l’idée d’un Corps dialectique se pensera dans la rencontre entre un sentiment d’ambivalence face à l’acte de créer et des outils conceptuels issus de divers domaines d’études (interdisciplinarité, histoire de l’art, philosophie et esthétique). L’étude s’inspire également de différentes démarches artistiques, et d’une collaboration créative avec l’artiste visuelle Manon De Pauw dans l’utilisation d’un dispositif lumineux, permettant d’activer un jeu formel avec l’ombre, et dans l’abord d’une approche performative en chorégraphie.

Cette recherche-création est de nature qualitative. Elle s’inscrit dans une démarche heuristique et use d’instruments de cueillettes de données d’inspiration ethnographique. À la fin du terrain, j’ai interviewé les interprètes participant à l’étude, tandis que je me suis prêté à une entrevue en entretien d’explicitation. La démarche réflexive s’est construite à partir d’un croisement entre les outils conceptuels, les données recueillies sur le terrain de la création et dans les entretiens, et par la méthode de l’Analyse en mode écriture.

Les résultats de la recherche mettent en lumière différentes stratégies créatives qui animent le processus de création chorégraphique par l’exploration de doubles mouvements et l’adjonction de différents modes compositionnels de la chorégraphie. Plus loin, la recherche m’a fait découvrir un principe créatif basé dans le dédoublement, ou une forme de dépersonnalisation, également perçue par les participants. En outre, les résultats ouvrent à un raffinement du modèle du Corps dialectique. Quant à la présence des ombres et de la pénombre, activées par le dispositif lumineux, elles suscitent une discussion sur les attaches sociopolitiques de ma démarche dans une critique de l’omniprésence de la lumière des appareils à écrans dans le monde actuel, et de son incidence sur notre liberté d’action. Or, puisque ce projet de recherche ne fait pas une démonstration directe d’un engagement politique, je propose d’inscrire ma démarche dans une autre ambivalence : celle d’une tension entre les domaines esthétique et politique, pensée à partir de la définition de l’œuvre d’art autonome chez le philosophe Jacques Rancière.


identifier: Saxena, Aprajita  (2022) Perspectives of Indian Music Therapists on the State of Music Therapy as a Profession in Mumbai, India: A Narrative Inquiry.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the experiences of music therapists from Mumbai, India providing professional music therapy services to a clinical population intersected by class, caste, and gender. Three participants from Mumbai were interviewed to study both pre-determined themes based on the current literature and emerging themes that unfolded in each of the participants individual narratives. The following were the four primary themes that are discussed in the study: (a) caste, class, and gender; (b) professional challenges; (c) benefits of practicing music therapy in Mumbai; and (d) vision for the profession in India. Results revealed the various challenges, benefits, and scope for policy enhancement within the existing music therapy profession in India. The findings also raised important questions about equity, access, awareness, funding, and advocacy of music therapy in India. Finally, this study hopes to support the formulation of a standardized music therapy practice in India and increase the much-needed representation of diverse voices in the global music therapy landscape. Information on limitations of the inquiry as well as potential implications and areas for future research are addressed.


identifier: Kirbizakis, Eftyhios ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5512-261X <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5512-261X>  (2021) The development of COIN-seq: A method to explore molecular synergy through combinatorial interventions in breast cancer.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that has been extensively profiled by high throughput technologies and can be classified into different subtypes. However, the underlying causes of subtype differentiation remain unclear. Traditional experimental approaches to understand causality in breast cancer subtype differentiation are limited. This is due to the correlative nature of the data produced from profiling biological systems without perturbations, the use of low throughput single gene or gene product perturbation systems, and the time and resource bottleneck associated with traditional experimental approaches. To address these problems, we designed and implemented COIN-seq, a pooled COmbinatorial INtervention sequencing (COIN-seq) screen. COIN-seq combines single cell RNA sequencing and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based genetic interventions to perform massively parallel multi-locus gene perturbations. I contribute to the development of COIN-seq by aiding in the design and implementation of the different components involved with the system. In this thesis, we begin by describing the background information on breast cancer and the biological targets. We then explore the different technologies COIN-seq is predicated upon as well as the overall design and implementation of the system. Lastly, we discuss the successes and failures involved in this development process. Although a full implementation of this method was not achieved here, the successes and failures reported in this thesis can nevertheless serve as a guide for future development.


identifier: Ahmadi, Ali  (2022) AI-Based Mode of Transportation and Destination Classification and Prediction in Origin-Destination Surveys.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Travel patterns and mode choice depend on individual socio-economic attributes that need better understanding. As a result, deciding which features to investigate is a challenge in data analysis.
This study investigates people's activities and trips to explore the correlation between individual and household socio-economic attributes, neighbourhood socioeconomic level and land use, and the choice of mode of transportation to access destinations in the city of Montreal. The study found that the land-use characteristics of Montreal and the shapes of its residents' travel patterns impact the design and implementation of public transportation projects throughout the census agglomeration of Montreal. These transportation infrastructure influences people's commuting behaviour patterns. How to predict these patterns using historical data and existing master plans is a major goal of this work. Machine learning and deep learning algorithms were used to predict trip destination and mode of transportation.
Numerous factors influence a person's travel pattern, including their age, residence location, and purpose of the trip. The most critical attributes were detected based on feature extraction methods and correlations between features were analyzed using a correlation heat map. This allowed to determine the most significant features to predict the trip's destination and mode of transportation.
Three most recent versions (2008-2013-2018) of the Montreal Origin-Destination (OD) data were used. Furthermore, a comparison between the accuracy of several well-known algorithms, such as decision trees, random forests, SVMs, and feedforward neural networks, was conducted. Comparing different results yielded from different algorithms shows that neural networks outperform all the other algorithms in terms of accuracy in predicting both modes of transportation and destination (78 percent in mode choice and 68.7 percent in destination). Therefore, it was used to predict the future trip pattern of the year 2023.
Moreover, this study proposes a Bayesian network to forecast the entire trip patterns for Montreal in 2023. This network is used to create a scaled-down version of OD2023. For this purpose, both OD and census data were used for the past 15 years. Different characteristics of trip patterns in each year were plotted. The Bayesian network captured and modelled how the trips changed over time.
This study provides a baseline for developing an application to extract critical statistical information about trip patterns on a neighbourhood scale in Montreal. Finally, the foundations for an application to extract critical statistical information about various trip patterns in various Montreal neighbourhoods were created.
This section combined various datasets from different years, including Census, land
use, and OD survey data. This application displays the extracted data in various plots and tables.

This research is meant to serve as a summary of previous studies as well as a reference for future research.


identifier: Munoz Gonzalez, Natalia Melisa  (2022) Remixing Class Mobility: Social Class, Culture, and Colombian Influencers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text video

abstract: Across various social media platforms, millions around the world interact with influencers who they find relatable and authentic. This research-creation project delves into the Colombian influencer landscape through the lens of social class and class mobility. Through a participatory creation workshop, it explores the following research questions: What are the class markers that workshop participants recognize in influencer content and how do they affect their understanding of social class, and class mobility? How do the workshop participants judge authenticity and relatability when approaching an influencer from a social class perspective? And how can participatory creation workshops be used as a research tool to learn and offer new insights on the relationship between social class and influencer media consumption? The project employed a multi-methodological approach to answering these questions. With a group of five participants ages 18 to 21, I conducted an online survey, a workshop, and the collective creation of social media posts. In these posts, the social class narratives of the group of influencers of study have been altered, remixed, to question what it is that we see when we see class in social media and how audiences and influencers navigate authenticity when influencers are on an upwardly mobile trajectory.


identifier: Grant, Kyle R.  (2022) Mountains as Climate Change Refugia in the Tropical Dry Forests of Central India: Inference from Phylogenetic Diversity and Structure.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The tropical dry forests of central India are drought-prone communities that experience frequent wildfire and anthropogenic disturbances due to agricultural activity. We analysed patterns in the species diversity and phylogenetic structure of 117 tree species assemblages distributed across a ~230 m to ~940 m elevational gradient within the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. We explore how these axes of diversity varied with elevation, precipitation, temperature, and climatic stress and infer possible assembly structuring mechanisms. Species richness, phylogenetic diversity (PD), and basal area were all positively correlated with elevation, which trended towards cooler temperatures, higher precipitation, and lower Chave’s E—a measure of environmental stress that compounds temperature and precipitation variability with drought intensity. High elevation assemblages tended to be phylogenetically dispersed, while the strength of dispersion diminished as plots became drier and more stressful (Chave’s E). Phylogenetic turnover was strongest across gradients in elevation, followed by stress and precipitation. Our findings indicate that precipitation deficits along with increased temperature and precipitation seasonality at low elevations may act as a selective filter on plant lineages by imposing physiological constraints on species. High elevation sites may thus provide a refuge for tree species maladapted to the harsh drought conditions present throughout low elevations in the Central Indian landscape. We suggest that high elevation habitats may become increasingly important as refugia for species if current climate warming trends continue.


identifier: Sarang, Nima  (2022) Road Extraction from High-Resolution Satellite Imagery using Deep Reinforcement Learning.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as one of the most promising and powerful techniques in deep learning. Despite its success, there have been very few practical applications of RL in computer vision tasks, where supervised learning is most dominant. In this thesis, we reformulate Road Extraction from Satellite Imagery as an RL problem. We aim to address some of the challenges of supervised learning methods and open the door for future works. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time RL has been successfully applied to the complex real-world problem of road extraction, where the challenges are partially-observable, large-scale environments, and long time horizons. First, we design an environment, an action space, and a reward function that fully captures the problem as a partially observable Markov decision process. We propose a novel neural network architecture that captures the multi-modality in the input data. Then, we propose methods to address the challenges that come with the long time horizon aspect of the environment, and optimize and improve the policy efficiently. Due to the large-scale nature of the problem, we employ self-supervised representation learning to reduce the computational cost and increase the performance of the policy. We present experiments on satellite images of fifteen cities that demonstrate comparable performance to state-of-the-art methods.


identifier: Puch, Laura, Weladji, Robert B., Holand, Øystein and Kumpula, Jouko  (2022) The Content of Reindeer Male Vocalisations: Acoustic Cues to Age and Weight.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

creator:
Puch, Laura
Weladji, Robert B.
Holand, Øystein
Kumpula, Jouko

abstract: Acoustic signals are widely used by animals for communication and the regulation of interactions. Moreover, some acoustic parameters of animal vocalisations have been shown to reliably indicate male quality and play a role in mate and rival assessment. For example, in some deer species, formant frequencies act as cues to body size, and lower formant values and spacing are selected by females in a mate choice context. Reindeer possess a peculiar vocal tract anatomy involving a laryngeal air sac which probably acts as an additional filter, making it a candidate species for novel investigations in the field of bioacoustics. We investigated whether some acoustic parameters were good indicators of age and body weight (used as an index for body size). We did this by performing acoustic analyses using recordings collected from a semi-domesticated reindeer population in northern Finland. This study first highlights the complexity of acoustic parameter extraction from reindeer male vocalisations, likely due to the presence of the laryngeal air sac. We found age of subadult males (aged 2.5-4.5 years) to be negatively correlated with formant F3 and formant spacing, suggesting that their vocalisations convey information on the caller’s age. Formant frequencies were not affected by male body weight, suggesting they may not provide information on male size in our population. In contrast, we found that heavier males had a lower formant spacing. It is thus probably a key acoustic parameter in mate and rival assessment as it gives an honest indication on male body weight. We discuss the importance of reliable acoustic cues to size and quality indices in sexual selection contexts. However, it is highly likely that reindeer males and females rely on other signals as well, such as visual and olfactory cues, to gain information on male attributes. We suggest that further investigation is needed to better understand how the laryngeal air sac affects vocal production.


identifier: Jois, Prabhakara Subramanya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1625-9493 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1625-9493>  (2022) Radiomics in Medical Imaging with Application to Surgical Innovation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Modern surgery today has greatly improved healthcare due to technological advancements in medical imaging. It has fostered a culture of innovation that has progressed with continuous and incremental changes towards curing patients’ ailments. With evidence-based assessments gaining prominence in modern surgery, Radiomics has become crucial to resolving problems through the integration of the best scientific data with the correct clinical expertise. As a quantitative approach to medical imaging, Radiomics uses mathematical analysis to improve the data made available to clinicians, which greatly influences their decision-making ability. In this thesis, we focus on two applications: pelvic bone segmentation from CT data for designing patient-specific customizable pessaries; and quantitative assessment of breast morphology, for reconstructive breast surgeries.

For pelvic bone segmentation, we investigate several encoder-decoder network configurations trained on limited data and use histogram based features from Radiomics to take a data-centric view towards the problem and boost the model performance on completely unseen data through histogram specification. Then we evaluate the performance on two publicly available CT datasets.

For assessment of breast morphology, we propose a novel metric for quantifying the overall dissimilarity between two breast mounds, called VIMA, by using shape and size based features from iso-contours. The methodology was experimented on 3D scans of artificial breasts and found to be highly useful in an intra-operative setting for aiding surgeons during aesthetic breast surgeries.


identifier: Gharaati, Sadaf ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4956-9068 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4956-9068>  (2022) Identification of the Most Important Factors Driving Watermain Failure.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: As essential infrastructure, water distribution systems provide water to the vital needs of individuals, businesses, and industries. Watermain failure jeopardizes water systems' ability to deliver clean water safely. The main target of this study was to identify the most influential factors on watermain failure across Canada. Dimensionality reduction approaches were applied to watermain data from thirteen Canadian cities, Barrie, Calgary, Region of Durham, Halifax, Kitchener, Region of Markham, Region of Waterloo, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Vancouver, Victoria, Waterloo, and Winnipeg. While previous studies have focused on small datasets of a few cities at a time, the present study compares various factors in different networks with different characteristics. Multiple physical, historical, protection, operational, and environmental factors were compared. Two target attributes were defined, current rate of failure and break status. A correlation analysis was applied to each city to identify the relationships between different attributes and the targets. Four dimensionality reduction approaches were employed to evaluate the impacts of different factors on the targets and identify the most important factors The four approaches are Factor Analysis of Mixed Data (FAMD), Categorical PCA (CATPCA), Random Forest Recursive Feature Elimination (RF-RFECV), and Extreme Gradient Boosting Recursive Feature Elimination (XGBOOST-RFECV). Results indicate CATPCA is more reliable than other approaches. Furthermore, protection activities were found to be more important than physical and historical attributes in most utilities. Thus, the collection of protection data should be prioritized for utilities with higher rates of protection activities, especially if they have already collected data on fundamental physical and historical attributes. While few utilities collect data on environmental, operational, and certain physical factors such as roughness, dead-end, restrained, and pipe depth, these were also found to be important and should be further investigated. These findings create the foundation for a new data collection framework for predicting main breaks.


identifier: Minzhulina, Anna  (2022) The Sketch Method: An Analysis Of Hand-Drawn Sketches’ Role In The Preliminary Production Stage Of Editorial Cover Design.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
What is old is new again: sketch method’s impact on the cover and editorial designs within contemporary magazine publishing.

In today’s content-saturated, fast-paced technological era, something as traditional as freehand sketching during design production could feel both pointless and redundant. When it comes to sketching, art directors and designers often claim they do it. But how frequently do they really practice it in the post-Adobe Creative Suite era? Today, designers enjoy an abundance of software to accelerate and aid the design process. These time-saving techniques result in poorly identified design problems, incorrectly identified goals and subgoals, skipped steps, missed details, and eventually, low quality and repetitive outcomes.
	In contrast, the freehand sketch method is open-ended, playful, and collaborative, and it offers a different approach to the design process. That is why, in the current environment of social media, global expansion, and remote work, the freehand sketch method is more relevant than ever as a visual communication tool for those designers who are driven by creativity and high-quality design production. Additionally, the key aspects of the sketch method are represented in technologically developed and developing applications like Figma, Miro, and Microsoft Teams, where the “torch” of the design is passed from one participant in the process to another.
	What are the unique qualities of the sketches that ensure relevance in modern-day graphic design and magazine publishing? Moreover, what do the unique characteristics of the sketch method mean for the further development of long-distance online communication and collaboration? This paper will present research on this topic, as well as examining my personal practice and insightful findings from the practices of other noted Canadian creators. For this thesis, the researcher designed a questionnaire centred around participants’ professional practice and how that practice may include the sketch method. Next, they asked multiple participants to participate; out of which 15 agreed to answer the questionnaire and send it back and have their answers analyzed and presented here. There was no involvement of any incentive. The researcher distributed the questionnaire amongst a diverse group of creators representing both genders and multiple ages via email message. Foremost the researcher asked the creators with whom they collaborated previously as an art director or whose perspective on the subject they felt would be the most insightful. The answers were compared and analyzed for commonalities and differences. The result is mostly in our perception of what we consider the sketch method, yet similarities find their way in the practical approach and step-by-step use of the sketch during the design process. Many participants have the same sketchy approach when they start the design problem solving, but most all gradually, through digital manipulation, come to the desired result.
	This professional design-related self-study research is based on Donald Schön’s concept of the reflective practitioner—the idea that a professional (in this case, a practicing art director) develops a unique set of skills and insights during active professional practice in response to the challenges that routinely arise during that practice. The sketch method is the subject of this study, as well as a form of narrative through which the study of oneself is accomplished, by which conversations are initiated, and from which knowledge is drawn.
	This research does not come to any conclusion on which type of design process is right or wrong. Nor is it an attempt to derive an algorithm for design-related problem solving. Instead, it offers a glimpse primarily into my sketchbook and its journal-like characteristics (sketches, notes, memories, narratives, correspondence, and schematics). This is designed to prompt further theoretical and practical exploration on the subject of sketching and related topics. This research is a reflection-on-action, which makes it abstract and metacognitive.
	During this self-exploratory journey, the process will be retraced and thoroughly analyzed, from the final layouts and cover designs and working backward to the early “study sketches” (Goldschmidt, 1991, p. 139). The qualities and characteristics of the freehand sketch method will be outlined. In my view, and as shown by the research, these qualities and characteristics raises the outcome of the design process to a higher creative level. Finally, thoughts and findings will be exchanged and compared with the impressions and practices of a peer group, including art directors, photographers, writers, editors, and illustrators.
	This reflective study aims to produce theoretical and applied knowledge for educational and subsequently professional environments for better design practices by design practitioners at varying levels of competence (Gray & Siegel, 2014, p. 49). Of the six levels (updated from five) identified by Dreyfus, this research concerns novices, advanced beginners, and competent designers. This thesis also shares invaluable techniques and insights into the process of design practice and critical thinking, specifically cover design.


identifier: Salehi, Mehdi  (2022) An Analysis of Upgradeability, Oracles, and Stablecoins in the Ethereum Blockchain.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The Ethereum blockchain is a widely adopted global alternative to cloud computing platforms, currently used primarily for financial services. Given the large number of funds held by smart contracts and decentralized applications on top of Ethereum, there are profound security implications for both users and enterprise developers.
Over time, developers have brought more complex logic to Ethereum. For example, contracts often require access to valid, real-world data. In most cases, the system’s functionality and security are strongly dependent on the correctness and safeness of the data pushed to the blockchain. One topic of this thesis is an oracle system—infrastructure added to the blockchain to respond to this need. As contract code becomes more complex, it is increasingly likely that the code has bugs or vulnerabilities. Given smart contracts are immutable and tamper-proof, it seems impossible to upgrade a contract should a fix or patch be needed. Another topic of this thesis examines contract deployment patterns that enable and handle the upgradeability of smart contracts in Ethereum. Finally, the thesis also considers an application of oracle technology: payments made in stable currencies such as USD and not blockchain native currencies such as ETH, which are volatile in price. This thesis explains each topic in detail, evaluating the security risks of each, and examining any consequences for user trust and the degree of decentralization.


identifier: Rezaeitamijani, Maryam  (2022) Mature Fine Tailings Hydrocarbon Degradation and Biosurfactant Production Capacity by Indigenous Bacteria under an Anaerobic Environment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Bitumen extraction from oil sands has by-products which discharge to tailings ponds. The by-products called tailings, contains residual hydrocarbons. Also, mature fine tailings (MFT) at the bottom of the tailings ponds are exposed to oxygen depletion. Treatment of residual hydrocarbon leads to significant environmental concerns. Many chemical methods are used to degrade the residual hydrocarbons in addition to biodegradation by exogenous microorganisms and biosurfactant production. However, using the indigenous bacteria and the potential of biosurfactant production under anaerobic condition have been neglected. The objective of this research was to select indigenous bacteria with biosurfactant production potential under anaerobic condition and then add them to the MFT simulated environment to monitor bioremediation of the tailings.
At the first phase, 13 oil degrading indigenous bacteria were isolated from mature fine tailings of oil sands refineries under anaerobic condition. The type of 13 isolates were identified and examined to recognize which one of them could live under anaerobic condition. Seven isolates were grown on LB agar plates, 4 isolates on BH agar plates and 2 isolates on TSB agar plates. Biosurfactant production of isolates were monitored under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Also, their optical density, surface tension and biosurfactant production were monitored during the incubation. Eight isolated bacteria were facultative anaerobe or aerotolerant anaerobe which 7 of them could produce biosurfactant under anaerobic condition.
At the second phase of the research, MFT environment conditions were simulated in a SRT (with agitation) and anaerobic bottle (no agitation). Seven potential isolated bacteria which could produce biosurfactant under anaerobic condition, were added to the SRT and the anaerobic bottle to monitor the effect of bacteria to the MFT sample for 8 weeks. Results showed that the isolated bacteria degraded approximately 55% of residual hydrocarbon in the MFT and decrease the surface tension of saturated water from 68 mN/m to 45 mN/m under anaerobic condition. The population of bacteria showed satisfactory resistance in the anaerobic environment which indicates that the
iv
identified isolates can be used in the tailings management methods such as microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR).


identifier: Kazemimiraki, Ameneh  (2022) A Lightweight Anomaly Detection Approach in Large Logs Using Generalizable Automata.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis, we focus on the problem of detecting anomalies in large log data. Logs are generated at runtime and contain a wealth of information, useful for various software engineering tasks, including debugging, performance analysis, and fault diagnosis. Our anomaly detection approach is based on the multiresolution abnormal trace detection algorithm proposed in the literature. The algorithm exploits the causal relationship of events in large execution traces to build a model that represents the normal behaviour of a system using varying length n-grams and a generalizable automaton. The resulting model is later used to detect deviations from normalcy.
In this thesis, we investigate the application of this algorithm in detecting anomalies in log data. Logs and execution traces are different. Unlike traces, logs do not exhibit a causal relationship among their events, raising questions as to the effectiveness of automata to model log data for anomaly detection. Logs are unstructured data and hence require the use of parsing and abstraction techniques.
We propose a process, called LogAutomata, which uses the multiresolution abnormal trace detection algorithm as its primary mechanism. When applying LogAutomata to a large log file generated from the execution of Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), we show that the multiresolution algorithm can be a very effective way to detect anomalies in log data.


identifier: Tashman, Deemah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3054-5445 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3054-5445>  (2022) Physical-Layer Security in Cognitive Radio Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The fifth-generation (5G) communications and beyond are expected to serve a huge number of devices and services. However, due to the fixed spectrum allocation policies, the need for cognitive radio networks (CRNs) has increased accordingly. CRNs have been proposed as a promising approach to address the problem of under-utilization and scarcity of the spectrum. In CRNs, secondary users (SUs) access the licensed spectrum of the primary users (PUs) using underlay, overlay, or interweave paradigms. SUs can access the spectrum band simultaneously with the PUs in underlay access mode provided that the SUs’ transmission power does not cause interference to the PUs’ communication. In this case, SUs should keep monitoring the interference level that the PU receiver can tolerate and adjust the transmission power accordingly. However, varying the transmission power may lead to some threats to the privacy of the information transfer of CRNs. Therefore, securing data transmission in an underlay CRN is a challenge that should be addressed. Physical-layer security (PLS) has recently emerged as a reliable method to protect the confidentiality of the SUs’ transmission against attacks, especially for the underlay model with no need for sharing security keys. Indeed, PLS has the advantage of safeguarding the data transmission without the necessity of adding enormous additional resources, specifically when there are massively connected devices.
Apart from the energy consumed by the various functions carried out by SUs, enhancing security consumes additional energy. Therefore, energy harvesting (EH) is adopted in our work to achieve both; energy efficiency and spectral efficiency. EH is a significant breakthrough for green communication, allowing the network nodes to reap energy from multiple sources to lengthen battery life. The energy from various sources, such as solar, wind, vibration, and radio frequency (RF) signals, can be obtained through the process of EH. This accumulated energy can be stored to be used for various processes, such as improving the users’ privacy and prolonging the energy-constrained devices’ battery life.
In this thesis, for the purpose of realistic modelling of signal transmission, we explicitly assume scenarios involving moving vehicles or nodes in networks that are densely surrounded by obstacles. Hence, we begin our investigations by studying the link performance under the impact of cascaded κ−μ fading channels. Moreover, using the approach of PLS, we address the privacy of several three-node wiretap system models, in which there are two legitimate devices communicating under the threat of eavesdroppers. We begin by a three-node wiretap system model operating over cascaded κ − μ fading channels and under worst-case assumptions. Moreover, assuming cascaded κ − μ distributions for all the links, we investigate the impact of these cascade levels, as well as the impact of multiple antennas employed at the eavesdropper on security. Additionally, the PLS is examined for two distinct eavesdropping scenarios: colluding and non-colluding eavesdroppers. Throughout the thesis, PLS is mainly evaluated through the secrecy outage probability (SOP), the probability of non-zero secrecy capacity (Pnzcr ), and the intercept probability (Pint).
Considering an underlay CRN operating over cascaded Rayleigh fading channel, with the presence of an eavesdropper, we explore the PLS for SUs in the network. This study is then extended to investigate the PLS of SUs in an underlay single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) CRN over cascaded κ-μ general fading channels with the presence of a multi-antenna eavesdropper. The impact of the constraint over the transmission power of the SU transmitter due to the underlay access mode is investigated. In addition, the effects of multiple antennas and cascade levels over security are well-explored.
In the second part of our thesis, we propose an underlay CRN, in which an SU transmitter communicates with an SU destination over cascaded κ-μ channels. The confidentiality of the shared information between SUs is threatened by an eavesdropper. Our major objective is to achieve a secured network, while at the same time improving the energy and spectrum efficiencies with practical modeling for signals’ propagation. Hence, we presume that the SU destination harvests energy from the SU transmitter. The harvested energy is used to produce jamming signals to be transmitted to mislead the eavesdropper. In this scenario, a comparison is made between an energy-harvesting eavesdropper and a non-energy harvesting one. Additionally, we present another scenario in which cooperative jamming is utilized as one of the means to boost security. In this system model, the users are assumed to communicate over cascaded Rayleigh channels. Moreover, two scenarios for the tapping capabilities of the eavesdroppers are presented; colluding and non-colluding eavesdroppers. This study is then extended for the case of non-colluding eavesdroppers, operating over cascaded κ-μ channels.
Finally, we investigate the reliability of the SUs and PUs while accessing the licensed bands using the overlay mode, while enhancing the energy efficiency via EH techniques. Hence, we
assume that multiple SUs are randomly distributed, in which one of the SUs is selected to harvest energy from the PUs’ messages. Then, utilizing the gathered energy, this SU combines its own
messages with the amplified PUs messages and forwards them to the destinations. Furthermore, we develop two optimization problems with the potential of maximizing the secondary users’ rate and the sum rate of both networks.


identifier: Ibrahim, Mohamed ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9689-0906 <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9689-0906>  (2022) Enabling Millimeter Wave Communications for Use Cases of 5G and Beyond Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The wide bandwidth requirements of the fifth generation (5G) and beyond networks are driving the move to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands where it can provide a huge increase in the available bandwidth. Increasing the bandwidth is an effective way to improve the channel capacity with limited power. Moreover, the short wavelengths of such bands enable massive number of antennas to be integrated together in small areas. With such massive number of antennas, narrow beamwidth beams can be obtained which in turn can improve the security. Furthermore, the massive number of antennas can help in mitigating the severe path-loss at mmWave frequencies, and realize high data rate communication at reasonable distances. Nevertheless, one of the main bottlenecks of mmWave communications is the signal blockage. This is due to weak diffraction ability and severe penetration losses by many common building materials such as brick, and mortar as well as the losses due to human bodies. Thus, user mobility and/or small movements of obstacles and reflectors cause rapid channel gain variations which leads to unreliable communication links.

The harsh propagation environment at such high frequencies makes it hard to provide a reliable service, hence, maintaining connectivity is one key design challenge in mmWave networks. Relays represent a promising approach to improve mmWave connectivity where they can redirect the signal to avoid the obstacles existing in the propagation environment. However, routing in mmWave networks is known to be a very challenging problem due to the inherent propagation characteristics of mmWave frequencies. Furthermore, inflexible routing technique may worsen network performance and increase scheduling overhead. As such, designing an appropriate transmission routing technique for each service is a crucial issue in mmWave networks. Indeed, multiple factors must be taken into account in the routing process, such as guaranteeing the robustness of network connectivity and providing high data rates.

In this thesis, we propose an analytical framework to investigate the network reliability of mmWave relaying systems for multi-hop transmissions. We also propose a flexible routing technique for mmWave networks, namely the $n^{\rm th}$ best routing technique. The performance of the proposed routing technique is investigated using tools from stochastic geometry. The obtained results provide useful insights on adjusting the signal noise ratio (SNR) threshold for decode and forward (DF) relay according to the order of the best relay, blockage and relay densities in order to improve spectral efficiency. We also propose a novel mathematical framework to investigate the performance of two appropriate routing techniques for mmWave networks, namely minimum hop count (MHC) and nearest LoS relay to the destination with MHC (NLR-MHC) to support wide range of use cases for 5G and beyond networks. Analytical models are provided to evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques using tools from stochastic geometry. In doing so, we model the distribution of hop count using phase-type distribution, and then we use this distribution to derive analytical results for the coverage probability and spectral efficiency. Capitalizing on the derived results, we introduce a comprehensive study of the effects of different system parameters on the performance of multi-hop mmWave systems. These findings provide important insights for designing multi-hop mmWave networks with better performance.

Furthermore, we adapt the proposed relay selection technique for IoT devices in mmWave relaying systems to prolong the IoT device’s battery life. The obtained results reveal the trade-off between the network connectivity and the energy consumption of IoT devices. Lastly, we have exploited the enormous bandwidth available in the mmWave band to support reliable fronthaul links for cell-free (CF) massive  multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). We provide a comprehensive investigation of different system parameters on the uplink (UL) performance of mmWave fronthaul-based CF mMIMO systems. Results reveal that increasing the access point (AP) density beyond a certain limit would not achieve further improvement in the UL data rates. Also, the higher number of antennas per AP may even cause UL data rates degradation.


identifier: Elhoushy, Salah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0962-8190 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0962-8190>  (2022) Cell-Free Massive MIMO: Challenges and Promising Solutions.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Along with its primary mission in fulfilling the communication needs of humans as well as intelligent machines, fifth generation (5G) and beyond networks will be a virtual fundamental component for all parts of life, society, and industries. These networks will pave the way towards realizing the individuals’ technological aspirations including holographic telepresence, e-Health, pervasive connectivity in smart environments, massive robotics, three-dimensional unmanned mobility, augmented reality, virtual reality, and internet of everything. This new era of applications brings unprecedented challenging demands to wireless network, such as high spectral efficiency, low-latency, high-reliable communication, and high energy efficiency. One of the major technological breakthroughs that has recently drawn the attention of researchers from academia and industry to cope with these unprecedented demands of wireless networks is the cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) systems. In CF mMIMO, a large number of spatially distributed access points are connected to a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU operates all APs as a single mMIMO network with no cell boundaries to serve a smaller number of users coherently on the same time-frequency resources. The system has shown substantial gains in improving the network performance from different perspectives, especially for cell-edge users, compared it other candidate technologies for 5G networks, \ie co-located mMIMO and small-cell (SC) systems. Nevertheless, the full picture of a practical scalable deployment of the system is not clear yet. In this thesis, we provide more in-depth investigations on the CF mMIMO performance under various practical system considerations. Also, we provide promising solutions to fully realize the potential of CF mMIMO in practical scenarios. In this regard, we focus on three vital practical challenges, namely hardware and channel impairments, malicious attacks, and limited-capacity fronthaul network.

Regarding the hardware and channel impairments, we analyze the CF mMIMO performance under such practical considerations and compare its performance with SC systems. In doing so, we consider that both APs and user equipment (UE)s are equipped with non-ideal hardware components. Also, we consider the Doppler shift effect as a source of channel impairments in dynamic environments with moving users. Then, we derive novel closed-form expressions for the downlink (DL) spectral efficiency of both systems under hardware distortions and Doppler shift effect. We reveal that the effect of non-ideal UEs is more prominent than the non-ideal APs. Also, while increasing the number of deployed non-ideal APs can limit the hardware distortion effect in CF mMIMO systems, this leads to an extra performance loss in SC systems. Besides, we show that the Doppler shift effect is more harsh in SC systems. In addition, the SC system operation is more suitable for low-velocity users, however, it is more beneficial to adopt CF mMIMO system for network operation under high-mobility conditions. Capitalizing on the latter, we propose a hybrid CF mMIMO/SC system that can significantly outperforms both CF mMIMO and SC systems by providing different mobility conditions with high data rates simultaneously.

Towards a further improvement in the CF mMIMO performance under high mobility scenarios, we propose a novel framework to limit the performance degradation due to the Doppler shift effect. To this end, we derive novel expressions for tight lower bound of the average DL and uplink (UL) data rates. Capitalizing on the derived analytical results, we provide an analytical framework that optimizes the frame length to minimize the Doppler shift effect on DL and UL data rates according to some criterion. Our results reveal that the optimal frame lengths for maximizing the DL and UL data rates are different and depend mainly on the users' velocities. Besides, adapting the frame length according to the velocity conditions significantly limits the Doppler shift effect, compared to applying a fixed frame length.

To empower the CF mMIMO systems with secure transmission against malicious attacks, we propose two different approaches that significantly increases the achievable secrecy rates. In the first approach, we introduce a novel secure DL transmission technique that efficiently limits the eavesdropper (Eve) capability in decoding the transmitted signals to legitimate users. Differently, in the second approach, we adopt the distinctive features of Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS)s to limit the information leakage towards the Eve.

Regarding the impact of limited capacity of wired-based fronthaul links, we drive the achievable DL data rates assuming two different CF mMIMO system operations, namely, distributed and centralized system operations. APs and CPU are the responsible entities for carrying out the signal processing functionalities in the distributed and centralized system operations, respectively. We show that the impact of limited capacity fronthaul links is more prominent on the centralized system operation. In addition, while the distributed system operation is more preferable under low capacities of fronthaul links, the centralized counterpart attains superior performance at high capacities of fronthaul links. Furthermore, considering the distributed and centralized system operations, and towards a practical and scalable operation of CF mMIMO systems, we propose a wireless-based fronthaul network for CF mMIMO systems under three different operations, namely, microwave-based, mmWave-based, and hybrid mmWave/microwave. Our results show that the integration between the centralized operation and the hybrid-based fronthaul network provides the highest DL data rates when APs are empowered with signal decoding capabilities. However, integrating the distributed operation with the microwave-based fronthaul network achieves ultimate performance when APs are not supported with decoding capabilities.


identifier: Shirdastian, Hamid  (2022) Three Essays on Big Data Analytics in Marketing.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis investigates how the immense amount of real-time and retrospective data can contribute to marketing theories and practices in branding, advertising, and communications.
In the first essay, brand management in social media is studied due to its vast potential as well as the companies’ interests in utilizing it for branding purposes. More specifically, the research examines the sentiments toward a brand, via brand authenticity, to identify both the reasons for positive or negative sentiments on social media and its polarity. Practically speaking, while firms need insights about users’ sentiment towards their brand, knowing just that it is a simple positive or negative sentiment does not provide them with enough information. They might ask themselves why users like us or what the reason is behind the negative sentiment. Using three qualitative studies, along with the latent semantic analysis (LSA) and the support vector machine (SVM), the findings illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure of brand authenticity sentiment analysis to predict both the brand authenticity dimensions and their level of sentiment.
The second essay is concerned with the immense amount of locational and destination-based data for advertising purposes. That comes from the fact that more and more apps have access to users’ locations and destinations. As the context, the sharing economy is selected to test if a ridesharing app, i.e. Uber, can alter one’s destination by providing relevant destination-based ads. Examining construal levels (i.e. spatial distance and cultural distance) show the effects on the relationships between attitudes towards destination-based advertising and redemption of marketing incentives as well as app reuse intention. Two experimental mock apps that mimic a well-known ridesharing app in North America are used. The findings provide implications for the construal level theory, the theory of planned behavior, and how practitioners can use it to alter planned behavior, i.e. planned destinations.
The third essay is also in the context of the sharing economy. Building on the speech act theory, the sale description impact on consumers’ social cognitions of service providers is investigated to find how they could be used to generate new content. Findings suggest the role of linguistic concreteness, service provider type, and sentiment analysis on the perceived level of warmth and competence of the service providers. Using two text mining methods (frequency analysis and modified LDA), the differences between the four kinds of property descriptions and their hosts are explained. Then, the findings are employed to better train the Natural language generation (NLG) algorithm. This shows how Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM), as well as cleaned input, could help service providers generate more engaging content to communicate their service.
The research findings on each of these streams could contribute to several theories and facilitate further inquiries into big data analytics in marketing. This research also provides marketing practitioners with reliable and valid theories, models and decision support systems to gain insights and propose appropriate strategies to strengthen their firm.


identifier: Rabiei, Mohammadreza  (2022) Finite element simulation and reliability assessment of mode-I and mode-II delamination testing of composite laminates.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: During recent decades, the use of composite laminates has been increasing due to their desirable characteristics such as high stiffness, high strength, low density, corrosion resistance, and fatigue life. Delamination, as the most common failure in composite laminates, occurs due to the degradation of stiffness and interlaminar strength of composite materials. In the present study, numerical simulation and analysis of the Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) and the End Notched Flexure (ENF) tests are carried out using the Cohesive Zone Modeling (CZM) approach and the Finite Element Modelling and Analysis using the software ANSYS®. The results obtained are verified using relevant works in the literature. There are certain sources of uncertainty in the ply material properties, manufacturing, property measurement, and testing of composite laminates, which should be considered in the delamination testing and the design process. To this end, first, a parametric study is carried out to determine the influences of material and geometric properties together with the stacking sequence of the composite laminate specimens for the DCB and ENF tests and their variabilities on the mode-I and mode-II fracture toughnesses and their variabilities. Second, a probabilistic study is conducted to determine the non-deterministic characteristics such as the second-moment information of the mode-I and mode-II energy release rates and the probability of delamination growth in mode-I and mode-II in the DCB and ENF tests, respectively. Next, the sensitivity analysis is conducted to specify a ranking of important random variables for both the DCB and ENF tests. The reliability assessment is conducted using the First-Order Second-Moment (FOSM) method, histogram sampling, First-Order Reliability Method (FORM), Second-Order Reliability Method (SORM), Monte Carlo Sampling (MCS), and importance sampling using associated software Rtx®. Based on the parametric analyses, it is established that the variabilities of the thickness, length, and longitudinal elastic modulus of the DCB and ENF test specimens have the most significant effects on the variabilities of the mode-I and mode-II fracture toughnesses. Based on the reliability analysis it is shown that the probabilities of mode-I delamination growth in the DCB test and mode-II delamination growth in the ENF test, are 50.27% and 49.51%, respectively.


identifier: Task, Caroline  (2022) Women’s Leadership in the Sports Industry.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Sports have proven to have multiple benefits for the development of both girls and boys. Accessibility and the resources available to young girls and women to participate in sports is often inadequate in comparison to that available for their male counterparts. Female leadership within the workforce is increasing yet the male dominated sports industry seems to be stagnant in following this societal trend. The purpose of this exploratory study was to highlight and examine the barriers faced by men compared to women in achieving leadership positions in sports management and coaching. Using an interview method, the experiences of eleven participants within the sports industry were explored. Participants were comprised of U SPORTS and RSEQ (Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec) leaders and included six head coaches, two young assistant coaches and three athletic directors (totaling five men and six women). It is evident that women in the industry experience more barriers to achieving leadership positions. Six themes emerged, with additional sub-themes exposed. The six main themes uncovered were mentorship, role models, experience in sports, staying true to oneself, barriers and solutions. The results highlight the need and importance to invest time and money in women’s sports and the need to educate various stakeholders on the value and benefits that come with sports participation. In addition, it is crucial that those holding top rank positions (majority men) provide opportunities for women and allow these appointees to truly be their authentic selves while functioning in leadership positions.


identifier: Chase, KC  (2022) Phenotypic Rescue of a Nonsense Mutation in TRAPPC11 using Translational Read-through Inducing Drugs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The TRAPP family of complexes are multisubunit tethering complexes that function in membrane trafficking. There are two TRAPP complexes that have been identified in humans: TRAPP II and TRAPP III. TrappC11 is a protein found in the TRAPP III complex and has been demonstrated to play a role in membrane trafficking, autophagy, glycosylation, and Golgi morphology. Individuals with mutations in this gene display phenotypes including developmental delay, epilepsy, cerebral atrophy, muscular dystrophy, skeletal abnormalities, and hepatomegaly. Drug induced read-through of nonsense codons could be a method of treating individuals with nonsense mutations in TRAPPC11 that result in a nonsense codon. Translational read-through inducing drugs (TRIDs) are small molecule drugs, such as Ataluren and Amlexanox, that function to suppress nonsense codons. This project aims to study the potential read-through efficacy of Ataluren and Amlexanox on fibroblasts derived from an individual with a compound heterozygous mutation where one allele has a nonsense mutation. The other TRAPPC11 patient presented in this paper is used as a comparison, as this patient does not have a nonsense mutation and therefore should not benefit from treatment with TRIDs. Results show treatment with Ataluren or Amlexanox improves various cellular functions in the patient with a nonsense mutation. It is noteworthy that Ataluren is approved for use in the UK and Amlexanox was used in the past in the USA for other human conditions. Further work aims to build upon the preliminary results observed thus far.


identifier: Hou, Danlin  (2021) A New Bayesian Inference Calibration Platform for Building Energy and Environment Predictions.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Buildings account for nearly 40% of total global energy consumption. It is predicted that by 2050 the combined energy consumptions of the residential and commercial sectors will have increased to 22% of the world's total delivered energy. Moreover, requirements for indoor health, safety, thermal comfort, and air quality have become more demanding due to more intensive and frequent extreme climate events, such as heatwaves and cold waves. Such issues have become challenging for the building energy and environment field, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Computer simulations play a crucial role in achieving a safe, healthy, comfortable, and sustainable indoor environment. As an integral step in the development of the building models, model calibration can significantly affect simulation results, model accuracy, and model-based decision-making. Conventional calibration methods, however, are often deterministic. As a result, the uncertainties that have been investigated for a building computer model, and those from the inputs have not been given adequate attention and are thus worth studying in more depth.
Bayesian Inference is one of the most effective approaches to calibrating computer models with uncertainties. Several studies have explored its application in building energy modeling, but a comprehensive application in the general field of building energy and environment has not been adequate. This thesis started with a comprehensive literature review of Bayesian Inference calibration focusing on building energy modeling. Then, a systematic Bayesian calibration workflow and a new platform were developed. As well as a general study of its application for the predictions of building energy performance, the thesis investigated how to use the platform to calibrate thermal models of buildings and indoor air quality models. To solve the issue of the computing cost of Bayesian Inference, another calibration and prediction method, Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF), was proposed and applied to the estimation of ventilation performance and predictions of free cooling load. The conclusion includes a summary of the contributions of this thesis and suggestions for future work.


identifier: Leier, Elizabeth  (2022) "Inevitable, Undesirable and Threatening": Uncovering State Representations of Climate Migrants in Canada and Australia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The expression “climate migrant” is increasingly used by policy makers, journalists and scholars to discuss the human impacts of climate change – with some authors evoking apocalyptic scenarios of mass displacement. Climate migration is frequently presented as a future or conditional phenomenon that will impact a variety of actors. States are foremost among these actors as they play a decisive role in legitimizing forms of migration. States decide who is permitted to enter and who is excluded from their territories. As both Canada and Australia have been tipped as potential strategic destinations for the resettlement of climate migrants, their respective governments have begun to discuss the political implications of climate migration. The term “climate migrants” is, however, ill-defined and empirically unsubstantiated. Moreover, it has been mobilized to evoke different meanings, often reflecting colonial and neocolonial biases. In other words, the use of the term reflects political undertones. Understanding how countries use the term is significant as it offers insights on these undertones. By engaging in a thick reading of state publications on climate migrants, I find that Canada and Australia represent climate migrants as an inevitable, undesirable and threatening consequence of climate change. Furthermore, I situate this representation within a broader hegemonic discourse on climate migration and human mobilities that views migrants as (racialized) “others” threatening to destabilize the Global North.


identifier: El Haber, Elie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5575-7671 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5575-7671>  (2022) Latency and Reliability Aware Edge Computation Offloading in 5G Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Empowered by recent technological advances and driven by the ever-growing population density and needs, the conception of 5G has opened up the expectations of what mobile networks are capable of to heights never seen before, promising to unleash a myriad of new business practices and paving the way for a surging number of user equipments to carry out novel service operations. The advent of 5G and networks beyond will hence enable the vision of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart city with its ubiquitous and heterogeneous use cases belonging to various verticals operating on a common underlying infrastructure, such as smart healthcare, autonomous driving, and smart manufacturing, while imposing extreme unprecedented Quality of Service (QoS) requirements in terms of latency and reliability among others. Due to the necessity of those modern services such as traffic coordination, industrial processes, and mission critical applications to perform heavy workload computations on the collected input, IoT devices such as cameras, sensors, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), which have limited energy and processing capabilities are put under an unusual strain to seamlessly carry out the required service computations. While offloading the devices' workload to cloud data centers with Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) remains a possible alternative which also brings about a high computation reliability, the latency incurred from this approach would prevent from satisfying the services' QoS requirements, in addition to elevating the load in the network core and backhaul, rendering MCC an inadequate solution for handling the 5G services' required computations. In light of this development, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) has been proposed as a cutting edge technology for realizing a low-latency computation offloading by bringing the cloud to the vicinity of end-user devices as processing units co-located within base stations leveraging the virtualization technique. Although it promises to satisfy the stringent latency service requirements, realizing the edge-cloud solution is coupled with various challenges, such as the edge servers' restricted capacity, their reduced processing reliability, the IoT devices' limited offloading energy, the wireless offloading channels' often weak quality, the difficulty to adapt to dynamic environment changes and to under-served networks, and the Network Operators (NOs)' cost-efficiency concerns. In light of those conditions, the NOs are consequently looking to devise efficient innovative computation offloading schemes through leveraging novel technologies and architectures for guaranteeing the seamless provisioning of modern services with their stringent latency and reliability QoS requirements, while ensuring the effective utilization of the various network and devices' available resources. Leveraging a hierarchical arrangement of MEC with second-tier edge servers co-located within aggregation nodes and macro-cells can expand the edge network's capability, while utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provision the MEC service via UAV-mounted cloudlets can increase the availability, flexibility, and scalability of the computation offloading solution. Moreover, aiding the MEC system with UAVs and Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) can improve the computation offloading performance by enhancing the wireless communication channels' conditions. By effectively leveraging those novel technologies while tackling their challenges, the edge-cloud paradigm will bring about a tremendous advancement to 5G networks and beyond, opening the door to enabling all sorts of modern and futuristic services.

In this dissertation, we attempt to address key challenges linked to realizing the vision of a low-latency and high-reliability edge computation offloading in modern networks while exploring the aid of multiple 5G network technologies. Towards that end, we provide novel contributions related to the allocation of network and devices' resources as well as the optimization of other offloading parameters, and thereby efficiently utilizing the underlying infrastructure such as to enable energy and cost-efficient computation offloading schemes, by leveraging several customized solutions and optimization techniques. In particular, we first tackle the computation offloading problem considering a multi-tier MEC with a deployed second-tier edge-cloud, where we optimize its use through proposed low-complexity algorithms, such as to achieve an energy and cost-efficient solution that guarantees the services' latency requirements. Due to the significant advantage of operating MEC in heterogeneous networks, we extend the scenario to a network of small-cells with the second-tier edge server being co-located within the macro-cell which can be reached through a wireless backhaul, where we optimize the macro-cell server use along with the other offloading parameters through a proposed customized algorithm based on the Successive Convex Approximation (SCA) technique. Then, given the UAVs' considerable ability in expanding the capabilities of cellular networks and MEC systems, we study the latency and reliability aware optimized positioning and use of UAV-mounted cloudlets for computation offloading through two planning and operational problems while considering tasks redundancy, and propose customized solutions for solving those problems. Finally, given the IRSs' ability to also enhance the channel conditions through the tuning of their passive reflecting elements, we extend the latency and reliability aware study to a scenario of an IRS-aided MEC system considering both a single-user and multi-user OFDMA cases, where we explore the optimized IRSs' use in order to reveal their role in reducing the UEs' offloading consumption energy and saving the network resources, through proposed customized solutions based on the SCA approach and the SDR technique.


identifier: Dayanandan, Arun ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4254-2356 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4254-2356>  (2022) Effects of Elevated Predation Risk on Female Mate Selection and Maternal Effects in Trinidadian guppies.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Predation carries a number of non-consumptive i.e. non-lethal behavioural effects over daily, seasonal, yearly, and generational time scales through which population-level changes in innate antipredator behaviour can occur. Two proposed ways through which these changes may occur are by (1) shaping female mate selection decision-making behaviours to reduce the risk of a predation event, and (2) by improving offspring fitness through anticipatory maternal effects on offspring antipredator behaviour. While changes in antipredator behaviour under these conditions have been noted under acute and long-term risk, similar studies looking at populations reared under short-term elevated background predation risk are lacking. In this thesis, I looked at the impact of elevated predation risk over a period of several days on the reproductive behaviours of female Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and their offspring. In my first experiment, I exposed adult female guppies to intermediate and elevated ambient short-term predation risk and predicted that female guppies would reduce their preference for brightly coloured males and exhibit increased antipredator behaviours. I tested this by measuring the guppy’s latency to enter, sexual activity, time spent with the blue male, and sampling frequency. I found no evidence of intermediate and elevated ambient short-term predation risk affecting female mate preference nor antipredator behaviours. In the second experiment, I examined the impact of elevated maternal predation risk on the antipredator behaviour of Trinidadian guppy offspring. I did this by exposing pregnant female guppies to elevated predation risk and subsequently measuring the antipredator behaviours of their offspring. I predicted that offspring of female guppies under elevated predation risk would exhibit increased dispersal, exploratory behaviour, and neophobic predator-avoidance behaviour. I tested this by measuring offspring response to a novel odour, total distance travelled, mean velocity, number of darts, average acceleration of darts, and time spent paused. I found no evidence of elevated predation risk affecting offspring antipredator responses nor inducing neophobia. Overall, the results of the female mate selection experiment and the anticipatory maternal effects experiment did not provide evidence of elevated predation risk over short-term time frames altering reproductive behaviour in Trinidadian guppies. My results stand in contrast to similar research on wild fish populations and thus additional research is needed to understand the role of short-term predation risk on Trinidadian guppy reproductive behaviours.


identifier: Okaf, Abdanaser ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3267-1944 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3267-1944>  (2022) Impact of Blockages on Mobile Users in 5G Millimeter-Wave Cellular Systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The fifth-generation (5G), now being developed for use in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency bands, would enhance the Quality of Service (QoS) for the Mobile User (MU) in the near future. Despite the advantages of using mm-wave communications that are attained through the large bandwidth available in this band, it suffers from high penetration loss and low diffraction, which causes very high signal attenuation in free space. The signal's attenuation can also be due to the blockages, such as buildings, human presence, vehicles, etc. As a result, the signal propagation path could be interrupted by those blockages causing significant fluctuation in the handover (HO) probability. Thus, the foreseen mm-wave communication gains are achieved at the expense of varying HO probability. Therefore, the impact of blockages on the HO probability for a user with mobility is a crucial performance factor that needs to be analyzed and addressed in mm-wave cellular communication systems. This thesis analyzes the impact of different types of blockages on the HO probability for a MU with mobility in the 5G mm-wave cellular network, and it shows how blockages affect the resource allocation in mm-wave cellular system.

Firstly, we obtained the effect of a single static blockage with a fixed location in the 2-D plane on the HO probability for a MU moving radially away from the mm-wave base station (BS) at a certain speed. The mm-wave BSs, are assumed to be distributed according to a homogeneous Poisson Point Process (PPP). We considered the MU is moving at a uniform angle with a certain speed in the mm-wave cellular network. The results show that the blockage has a remarkable impact on the HO probability, depending significantly on its location and length, and MU direction and speed.

Secondly, we analyzed the impact of multiple static blockages, with a certain density, distributed according to PPP. The results show in this scenario that the density of the blockages plays a significant role in the HO probability for a user with mobility in a 5G mm-wave cellular system.

Thirdly, we presented an analysis of the impact of self-blockage on HO probability in 5G mm-wave cellular networks. As expected, the results showed that self-blockage has a notable effect on the HO probability. The results show that the HO probability where self-blockage is incorporated in the system is different from the HO probability in case no blockages are incorporated in the system model.

Fourthly, we analyzed the impact of dynamic blockages on the system's performance in the mm-wave cellular network. The blocking probability of the link between the mm-wave BS and the MU due to dynamic blockages is calculated. We consider blockages and mm-wave BSs are distributed according to PPP, while the MU is assumed to make a displacement from the origin to another position. The arrival process of the blockages crossing the link between the tagged mm-wave BS and the MU is assumed to be Poisson with a certain density. The blockage duration is assumed to be independent of the blockage arrival process with exponential distribution. The results showed that the blocking probability gets higher when the blockages are moving at a high speed, and the density of the blockages gets higher as well.

Fifthly, we apply a classical HO scheme in mm-wave cellular networks to show how blockages affect resource allocation. We apply an adjustment of the number of reserved channels reserved exclusively for the HO requests based on a predefined threshold of the probability of blocking HO calls, to ensure the requirement of the QoS and hence the resource allocation is managed efficiently.
The results show that a higher number of reserved channels is required to satisfy the minimum threshold of the blocking probability of HO calls. As a result, an optimized and balanced scheme between the blocking probability of HO calls and the blocking probability of originating calls in the mm-wave BS is required.

We conclude our research by providing the future plans of our research and the conclusion.


identifier: Salehpour, Benyamin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3058-3409 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3058-3409>  (2022) Thermal mass and thermal bridging effects on transient thermal performance of walls and energy performance of office buildings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The increased requirements of buildings to reduce energy use has highlighted the importance of accounting for all factors that influence energy use in buildings. Thermal performance of the walls, as part of the building envelope systems, can contribute to the overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of the buildings. In this research, effects of thermal mass and thermal bridges on transient thermal performance of walls were assessed. Specifically, the impact of different placements of material layers within wall assemblies on the transient thermal performance of the concrete-based walls, and the energy performance of an office building, were investigated. Three case study sinusoidal outside temperature profiles, representative of heating-dominated, cooling-dominated, and temperate climates, were considered for studying the thermal performance of the walls. It was concluded that placing the thermally massive component in the middle layer of walls led to the lowest amplitudes of heat fluxes and indoor surface temperatures, as well as the lowest decrement factor and the longest time required to reach quasi-steady state conditions. On the other hand, weather conditions of three cities, Montreal, Miami, and Denver, were taken into account for the assessment of energy performance of an office building. It was concluded that the wall whose thermally massive layers are exposed to the indoor and outdoor weather conditions had the best performance amongst the cases studied. The second part of this research was devoted to presenting a method for taking into consideration the effects of steel and wood studs, as the thermal bridging elements, on dynamic thermal behavior of the walls. Three sinusoidal outside temperature conditions were assumed, and thermal performances of two case study walls under these conditions were assessed: a steel stud wall and a wood-frame wall. It was concluded that the maximum deviation between the instantaneous surface heat fluxes of the original steel stud wall and those of the corresponding equivalent wall was less than 5% while the deviations were dependent on the climate conditions for the wood-frame wall case.


identifier: Chauvin, Alexandre  (2021) More than meets the ear: Investigating the impact of audiovisual speech cues and supportive sentence context during bilingual speech perception in noise in younger and older adults.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation investigates speech perception in noise in a first (L1) and second (L2) language, in both younger and older adults. The studies presented here used a sentence perception in noise task during which participants were asked to identify sentence terminal words across three different modalities (visual-only, auditory-only, audiovisual) and two levels of context (low context, moderate context). Furthermore, baseline perceptual load (i.e., L1, auditory-only, low context) was equated across participants.

Manuscript 1 investigated speech perception in noise in young adult English-French/French-English bilinguals. The results suggest that: 1) young adult bilinguals benefit from visual speech cues and sentence context in both of their languages, 2) the benefit of visual speech cues is proportionally greater in L2 compared to L1, and 3) there is a complex interplay between L2 experience and L2 performance during speech perception in noise.

Manuscript 2 contrasted bilingual speech perception in noise in younger and older English-French/French-English bilinguals. There were no age differences in performance, except for poorer lip-reading in older adults. Therefore, when baseline perceptual load is equated, younger and older bilinguals benefit from visual speech cues and sentence context to the same extent. Contrary to younger adults, older adults showed similar benefit from visual speech cues in L1 and L2, suggesting that bilinguals’ reliance on visual speech cues may decrease as they accumulate experience in L2.

Manuscript 3 examined bilinguals’ tendency to look at the speaker’s nose/mouth around the onset of sentence terminal words during speech perception in noise. Individuals looked at the speaker’s mouth more during audiovisual speech compared to auditory-only speech (i.e., when presented with a still face), but generally no age or language differences were observed. However, the proportion of time spent looking in L1 and L2 were generally positively correlated, suggesting a role of individual preferences/style rather than language experience during L2 speech perception in noise.
Overall, this dissertation contributes to the literature on the benefits of visual speech cues and supportive sentence context during speech perception in noise. Furthermore, the results constitute an early step in developing more comprehensive models of speech perception in noise which include diverse listeners.


identifier: Allan, Jamie  (2022) Constraints of background risk on space use and learning in Trinidadian guppies.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Predators affect prey populations by driving prey to adopt costly antipredator strategies. Spatial neophobia mitigates the risks of novel spaces by reducing space use and is inducible through exposure to short-term elevated background risk. We hypothesized that background risk influences the ability to learn safe refuge sites through decreased exploration of novel habitats; specifically, high risk constrains the ability to learn safe refuge sites. We conducted three experiments using shoals of five female guppies pre-exposed to high or low background risk. The shoals explored an eight-arm radial maze reinforced by different combinations of foraging patches, predator models, or empty arms, then were exposed to chemical alarm cue or distilled water without reinforcements. We found no evidence to support that background risk affects the speed or accuracy of the initial decision to flee following cue exposure. We saw an overall preference for arms that previously contained food over arms that were either empty or contained predator models, suggesting that prey learned safe areas. We also showed that fish given alarm cue entered predator arms more than those given distilled water, suggesting that an acute threat leads prey to make more mistakes. While there is no evidence that background risk affects space use and learning, our results indicate that guppies can learn and use safety information, while predation threats compromise their ability to use this information. Our study provides insight into the complexity of behavioural trade-offs. This has implications for conservation initiatives seeking to understand prey habitat selection.


identifier: Frank, Charlotte Esme  (2022) Residual.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Residual

abstract:
Residual consists of a collection of interwoven short stories and poems, and attempts to explore the ways in which we interact with spaces to which we do not belong. Each piece centers around a female character who finds herself in an uncomfortable situation in her personal life or at work, and seeks to explore the complex feelings that arise as women navigate the many roles they play. The stories which are set at temporary addresses and temporary places of work, revolve around characters who are conflicted in some way and ultimately prevented from taking their preferred course of actions. Like the poems, the stories explore situations in which something is expected of the protagonists that conflicts with the expectations they have of themselves. The poems are set in contained locations at temporary addresses, and touch upon themes of displacement, loneliness and imminent absence.
         In The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard posits that the home is the space for the solitary imagining which nourishes our creativity and well-being. The house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind” (6), he writes, adding that “a house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability” (17). In Residual, I’ve attempted to convey the experience of living outside of the stability Bachelard describes, and to ask how liminality affects our relationships, memories and understanding of ourselves.