identifier: Huang, Xiaoxi  (2009) Modeling and analysis of a semi-active magneto-rheological damper suspension seat and controller synthesis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Whole body vibration in operational vehicles can cause serious musculo-skeletal disorders among the exposed workers. Consequently, considerable efforts have been made to protect vehicle operators from potentially harmful vibration. This thesis was aimed at the development of a semi-active suspension seat equipped with a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid damper. A damper controller was synthesized to minimize the vibration transmitted to the seated body and the frequency of end-stop impacts, which is known to induce high intensity vibration or shock motions to the seated occupant. A suspension seat was modeled by considering the kinematic non-linearity due to the cross-linkages and the damper link, while the cushion characteristics were linearized about the operating preload. The force-velocity properties of the MR damper were modeled by piecewise polynomial functions of applied current on the basis of the laboratory-measured data. The kineto-dynamic model of the suspension seat was thoroughly validated using the laboratory-measured responses under harmonic excitations in the 0.5 to 10Hz range. The performance characteristics of the passive suspension seat model were evaluated under different vehicular excitations in terms of frequency-weighted rms acceleration, vibration dose value (VDV), seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT) and VDV ratio. These performance characteristics are also evaluated under amplified vehicular excitations in order to investigate the frequency as well as the potential suppression of end-stop impacts.  The controller synthesis was realized in two stages: (1) attenuation of continuous vibration; and (2) suppression of end-stop impacts. Two different algorithms were explored in the first stage synthesis, which included a sky-hook control algorithm and a relative states feedback control algorithm. Each algorithm was further utilized in two different control current modulations. The performance potentials of each control synthesis were investigated using the 2 MATLAB Simulink platform under harmonic, transient, and random vehicular excitations in terms of SEAT and VDV ratio. One controller design (overall best suited for implementations) was subsequently implemented in a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test platform coupled with a MR-fluid damper mounted on an electro-hydraulic actuator that was linked to the HIL simulation platform. The semi-active suspension seat performance characteristics were further evaluated under different excitations using the selected control scheme. The results showed that the selected control scheme yielded SEAT and VDV ratio reductions in the 5 to 30% range depending upon the nature of excitations. The implementation of the second-stage controller, which was tested only by simulations, entirely eliminated the occurrence of end-stop impacts at nominal vibration level and attenuated the end-stop impact severity of three times amplified excitations by up to 10% . The results further suggested that the use of MR-fluid damper in suspension seat was most beneficial to city buses and class I earth moving vehicles amongst the selected inputs.


identifier: Iqbal, Md Ferdous  (2009) Application of magneto-rheological dampers to control dynamic response of buildings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Earthquakes usually cause huge casualty due to the ground shaking and also due to the failure of built infrastructure such as buildings and bridges. Therefore, it is necessary to control the response of these structures to avoid collapse during earthquake. At present, various control technology is available. Among them semi-active control devices using Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid dampers are promising because of their stability and low power requirement. In this research, performance of three different models of MR dampers, namely RD-1005-3, SD-1000 and MRD-9000 is studied by integrating them into different building structures subjected to different earthquake forces. Here, the dampers and the structures are modeled numerically using the finite element method. It is found that all of the dampers are capable of controlling the response of building frames for different earthquakes. Damper performance is also investigated from the energy point of view. It is found that dampers have the capability of increasing the energy dissipation capacity of a structure without changing the structural properties such as stiffness. It is also found that this type of damper is able to provide some protection even if power supply systems fail during dynamic excitation, which is very common during earthquake. A detailed investigation is carried out to find the optimum location of dampers in simple building frames. It is observed that the performance of the dampers is highly sensitive to the location. Therefore it is very important to investigate the performance of damper before application in a real structure.


identifier: McMaster, Jenny  (2009) Museums as communal spaces.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Museums as communal spaces

abstract: This thesis asks the questions "How does the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' outreach program make its collection relevant and accessible to members of local communities," and "How does the MMFA's outreach program effect these community members' relationship to the Museum?" This study is informed by Douglas Worts' call to establish meaningful and responsive communication between museums and the diverse and emerging cultural realities of their local communities. It is also informed by Nicholas Bourriaud's "relational aesthetic" in which artworks are judged based upon the inter-human relations which they represent, produce or prompt. The chosen methodology is "educational criticism" which involves describing, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating everyday school activity in order to understand it more fully. Data was collected through a series of observations and interviews with museum staff, community workers and participants.


identifier: Gareau, Paul  (2009) Unveiling the Army of Mary : a gendered analysis of a conservative Catholic Marian devotional organization.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Army of Mary is a conservative Catholic Marian devotional organization that centres its religious identity on the Virgin Mary, the Catholic Eucharist, and Papal primacy. However, this group was recently excommunicated from the church for the heterodox ideas of their charismatic foundress, Marie-Paule Giguère, who claims to be the incarnation of the Virgin Mary. Though causing a decisive break with the church, this revelation has aided the Army of Mary in their continued existence by becoming the foundation of their theological and eschatological worldview.  The main purpose of this thesis is to question and elaborate upon how someone like Marie-Paule, a woman mired in a conservative socio-religious and moral framework, is able to gamer modes of gendered agency that allow her to act in ways that emphasize her rather distinctive ethical convictions and religious worldview. This research will demonstrate how Marie-Paule is able to navigate the fine line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy by subscribing to a conservative and patriarchal moral outlook that favours traditionalist views of women's roles and behaviours, while engaging the unambiguous power offered tacitly through the social and symbolic gendered role of motherhood. Hence, through the notion of motherhood, Marie-Paule and the Army of Mary are successfully able to negotiate their particular eschatological worldview without undermining their conservative ideals of Catholic tradition and gendered morality.


identifier: Abbasy, Farzaan  (2009) Thermal conductivity of mine backfill.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Thermal conductivity of mine backfill

abstract: Energy conservation is a national strategy for every country. To avoid shortage of energy and high prices, the green sustainable energy resources have become the center of attention. Mining as a prominent industry in Canada consumes a huge amount of energy, so any reduction in energy consumption would result in higher production and profit. In 2005, Hassani of McGill University proposed the use of mine stopes as the heat exchange area for the production of low temperature geothermal energy, since the extraction of ore/ rocks and the backfilling is a part of normal mining operation, then the very low cost associated with the implementation of such system, will make it very viable for mining industry. This work is in collaboration with energy research team of professor Hassani of McGill University (EMERG). This is a part of an overall research program on low temperature geothermal energy from mines. The research was focused primarily on investigating and obtaining a range values for thermal conductivity of different mine backfills, as well as the effect of some of the associated physical parameters. More than 800 samples and 2000 measurements were done on different backfills with different physical properties. This preliminary investigation indicates that pulp density, binder consumption, curing time, and sodium silicate content have negligible to slight influence on the thermal conductivity of backfill. However parameters such as saturation, and to a lesser extent porosity and the thermal conductivity of the inert material, have more significant influence.


identifier: Enginsal, Munir Alp  (2009) Applications of FRP in reinforcing and strengthening concrete masonry beams.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: An experimental and analytical study is conducted in order to investigate the flexural behaviour of masonry beams when reinforced or strengthened with Fibre- Reinforced Polymers (FRP) composite materials. Nine reinforced masonry beams with 4.0 m and 2.4 m clear spans were constructed to be tested under four point bending setup. The beams were subjected to increasing monotonic load up to failure, and then unloaded. Two beams have two courses of hollow concrete masonry units, and the remaining seven beams have three courses. Three masonry beams were reinforced using conventional steel rebars two of which were considered as the control specimens, while the remaining beam strengthened using two layers of Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) sheets that were externally bonded to both sides of the beam. The remaining six beams were internally reinforced using Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) rods with different reinforcement ratios. Beams were detailed to have sufficient shear reinforcement such that they do not fail in shear. Comparisons were conducted between the GFRP-reinforced and steel-reinforced control beams as well as CFRP-strengthened and steel-reinforced control beam of the flexural capacity, deformation and strains of the tested specimens. Using the acquired data from the experimental and analytical studies, effectiveness of GFRP rods as internal reinforcement for concrete masonry beams as well as the effectiveness CFRP sheets for strengthening steel-reinforced concrete masonry beams are demonstrated.


identifier: Li, Jing  (2009) Multiple-filtering-process for the edge detection of high-dynamic-range Images.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Edge detection is a basic image processing operation usually used in the first stage of the complex image processing systems, such as restoration, and its quality has a direct effect on the performance of the systems. The extraction of correct edges from a noise-contaminated image or an image with severe deformation is a challenging task. The objective of the work of this thesis is to develop an edge detection method to extract effectively edge signals from the images with the edge information seriously damaged while being acquired in high dynamic range (HDR) scenes.  To achieve the objective, an edge detection method based on a multiple-high-pass-filtering process scheme has been proposed. Each of the filtering processes is designed to suit one of the signal deformation conditions, and is applied to the entire input image, instead of the designated regions, in order to spare the computation of image segmentation. A fusion process is then performed to merge the gradient maps generated by the multiple filtering processes into one. A detection procedure has been designed for a typical case of HDR images acquired with three different kinds of deformations due to the non-ideal characteristics of acquisition device. Based on the study of the characteristics, three high-pass filtering processes are designed to generate gradient signals with different modulations. A simple selection algorithm is developed for an easy fusion process. The results of the simulation with different types of HDR images have shown that, compared to some of most commonly used detection processes, the proposed one leads to a better quality of edge signals from severely deformed HDR images.


identifier: Yan, HaiTao  (2009) The thermo-catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons : hybrid cartalyst configuration and the phenomena of hydrogen spill-over.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Light olefins and diolefins such as ethylene, propylene, butenes and 1,3-butadiene are considered as the backbone of the petrochemical industry. They are precursors of numerous plastic materials, synthetic fibers, and rubbers. In recent years, the thermo catalytic cracking (TCC) process has been developed in our lab with the objective to selectively produce light olefins, particularly ethylene and propylene, from liquid hydrocarbon feedstocks such as petroleum naphtha and gas oils. With the continuous decline of conventional oil reserves, heavy petroleum feedstocks become essential alternatives for commercial petroleum products. However, the preliminary catalytic results in the TCC of heavy feedstock have indicated insufficient on-stream long-term stability and a high selectivity to polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are usually considered as precursors for coke.  In this dissertation, hybrid catalysts have been developed and studied with the goal of resolving the problems of stability of catalyst activity and selectivity. Several active metal species (such as Ni, Re, Ru) have been loaded on the co-catalyst component surface. These metal species are able to produce very active hydrogen species, in virtue of its steam-reforming activity, and to spill them over to the acidic sites of the main catalyst component. These hydrogen species, once transferred (or "spilt over") onto the surface of the main cracking catalyst component, might interact with the reaction intermediate being adsorbed on the acidic sites. This resulted in a decreased formation of coke precursors, and consequently, catalyst deactivation was significantly retarded. The results obtained from cracking tests on both petroleum feedstocks and model molecules indicated that the spilt-over hydrogen species had significant effects on heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks, such as vacuum gas oil, and they could affect the reaction intermediates only when the latter were formed on the external surface of microporous ZSM-5 zeolite particles. Moreover, data of the most recent work show that it is necessary to choose the ZSM-5 zeolite (that is the cracking component of the hybrid catalyst) that has a high density of acid sites; however, its acid strength should be relatively mild in order to achieve a high total conversion and a high propylene/ethylene product ratio. These mild acid sites also lead to lower coke deposition and a lighter nature of coke thus improving the cleaning action of the hydrogen spilt-over species.


identifier: Ali Zadeh, Davoud Mohammad  (2009) A new method of temporal phase shifting using principle of stroboscopy for characterizing microstructures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Temporal Phase Shifting Interferometry is the most common method for characterization of surface, profile and displacement properties of micro devices. Common methods of phase shifting require PZT based devices that have inherent errors due to non-linearity. To avoid these errors during phase shifting, a new phase shifting technique is presented in this work. A detailed analysis of the temporal phase shifting technique was performed and an optimized methodology for phase shifting was also established. This technique utilizes the advantage of stroboscopic interferometry to create phase shifted images without requiring any component for phase shifting. The feasibility of the proposed method of phase shifting was demonstrated using the developed Acoustic-Optic Modulated Stroboscopic Interferometer (AOMSI) on simple 1D and 2D micro structures designed specifically for this purpose.  The proposed method was used for surface profiling and static characterization of the microstructures. Experiments were performed on microcantilevers in order to extract the curvature of the device due to residual stress on it. The same device was tested under a commercial surface profiler with 1Å resolution and the results were found to be in good agreement with the results from the proposed technique. Static characterization was performed to identify the tip deflection and profile variation of the microcantilever in response to various DC voltages. A capacitor-based cantilever was tested under varied electrostatic loads and the deflection of the cantilever was extracted using the proposed method. The deflection of the cantilever was predicted using a theoretical model based on energy method. Static characterization results from the proposed technique were found to be in good agreement with the predicted results.  To extend the applicability of this technique without affecting the spatial resolution for micro devices larger than the field of view of the interferometer, stitching method was proposed and three different stitching configurations were also presented. The same device was tested in full-field of view under the commercial profiler. Good agreement between the result of presented stitching methods and commercial profiler demonstrates the reliability of the presented methods for stitching large structures.


identifier: Melchin, Gregory  (2009) The call to renewal : religion in the rhetoric of Barack Obama.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Barack Obama, like many American presidents, uses religious language extensively in his rhetoric. In order to communicate his ideas, Obama draws upon the rhetoric of his predecessors, the Civil Rights Movement, and his own personal experience. Using the thought of Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur as a guide, this thesis provides an analysis of Obama's rhetoric, placing it within the context of the religious- political belief systems of "American civil religion" and African-American Christian political theology. Obama makes reference to the founding documents of the country and "traditional American values" in order to further the argument that the "change" promised in his campaign amounts to a renewal of American society along the lines of the deepest ideals of the country's founding.


identifier: Esfahani Fard, Mitra  (2009) Effects of fabrication parameters on porous silicon structure with some potential applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Porous silicon (PS) is a sponge-like structure of silicon with a high surface to volume ratio and properties that distinguish it from bulk silicon. The structure is suitable for many applications such as biosensors, optoelectronic, drug delivery and solar cell devices. Although there are many reports available in the literature regarding the PS and its application but there is no work done systematically to investigate the fabrication of the PS for various applications. In this work we are investigating the PS production under various fabrication conditions. This work produces instructions to fabricate PS structures for any specific application. We have used electrochemical technique to fabricate samples of PS and undertaken studies the effects of several physical parameters like, materials doping level, light illumination, etching time, applied electric current and silicon surface defects, and chemical parameters like, impurities, and PH factor of the electrolyte during the PS preparation. In order to investigate the effect of silicon surface defects some textured surfaces of silicon samples were prepared by anisotropic etching of silicon in TMAH prior to their electrochemical etching in HF solutions. Structures were characterized using SEM, AFM and Raman spectroscopy.  For the first time, fabricated pyramidal porous silicon was used to prepare granular metallic films using electrodeposition techniques.  We have also used the pyramidal porous structures to fabricate a miniaturized gas ionization sensor (GIS). GIS works based on measuring the breakdown voltages for various gases. The sensor was fabricated using a parallel plate model having PS as one of the electrodes.


identifier: Nijjar, Rami  (2009) Automatic information processing and stress in the natural environment : an emotion-modulated startle response study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Positive interpersonal relationships are integral to individuals' mental health and well being. Biases in the automatic processing of threatening social stimuli has been suggested as one mechanism that puts people at risk for greater dysfunction in interpersonal realms. The present study sought to explore this relationship using the emotion-modulated startle paradigm, a well-validated measure of automatic processing and defensive motivational system activation. Three separate objectives were addressed: (1) whether angry and happy facial images would differentially modulate the eye-blink startle response, (2) whether the emotion-modulated startle response to angry faces predicts the experience of chronic stress and stressful life events (SLEs) in the natural environment, as determined by the UCLA Chronic and Episodic Life Stress Interview, and (3) whether the relationship between the emotion-modulated startle response and indices of stress is moderated by depression scores. Results indicate that those who exhibit greater startle magnitude to angry faces also experience greater chronic stress and SLEs in non-interpersonal realms. Furthermore, depression and startle magnitude were seen to interact in the prediction of non-interpersonal stress such that high startle was predictive of stress in those with low depression scores. This study is among the first to demonstrate a relationship between psychophysiological measures of attention and the experience of stress in the natural environment, opening up avenues for future investigation.


identifier: Quirouette, Marianne  (2009) Homeless remote reporting : creating a link.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: It has been reported in the academic literature that the homeless experience a disproportionately high level of victimization and that reports are rarely made to the police, even in cases of repeat victimizations. In the context of Edinburgh's Homeless Remote Reporting project (HRR), service providers are formally trained to act as an official access point to the police, thus creating a link between a marginalized population and the justice system. The present study's main objective is to investigate whether HRR can effectively challenge neoliberal notions of citizenship and support social inclusivity by encouraging homeless individuals to access the justice system as full citizens. Informed by thirty two in-depth interviews, this study investigates what stakeholders see as a) the strengths and weaknesses of HRR and b) the factors that either support or impede the goals of HRR. The interview data suggests that while the conceptual goals of Homeless Remote Reporting are met, serious weaknesses - such as the project's lack of monitoring and publicity - are likely to prevent Homeless Remote Reporting from being available to the maximum number homeless victims. I have found that while there are weaknesses and the number of Remote Reports has been low, stakeholders find it to be a good addition to existing services for the homeless.


identifier: Aviram, Tal  (2009) Having goals or having purpose? : differential associations with age and quality of life in older adulthood.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study presents longitudinal (N = 155) analyses examining relations between goal purpose, health-related control strategies, goal adjustment capacities, and physical health in older adults. Participants were asked to report their 10 most important goals across three data collection waves and their levels of goal purpose were measured across time. In addition, participants were asked to indicate whether they experience any of 17 chronic health problems or different functional limitations over the 4-year span of the study. In support of my hypotheses, goal purpose had remained stable with age and across time, while the number of goals (i.e., approach goals) displayed a significant decline. Furthermore, this study has found that it is goal purpose, and not having goals, that predicted changes in physical health in this population. Finally, the study's results suggest that the different self-regulation processes (i.e., health-related control strategies and goal reengagement) were able to predict changes in physical health in older adulthood through their association with goal purpose. It also appears that goal purpose statistically mediated the association between self-regulation processes and physical health. These findings imply that goal purpose can play an adaptive role in later life such as preventing negative changes in physical health. The implications for the pursuit of purposeful goals in old age are discussed.


identifier: Orr, Sarah  (2009) We are creatures who are looking for the Extraordinary : the presence of the Dreamtime in a Shamanic community in urban Quebec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the way in which Shamanism is being lived within a particular community in the outskirts of Montreal. The focus for the members of this collective is on the Dreamtime and finding commonality through story telling techniques. The many collaborators speak of having chosen this family and committing to living according to the teachings of Okwaho, the Shaman of the community. Many of their stories and perspectives have been included in this thesis as it has been a collaborative project. Shamanism in this thesis is concerned with how members of this family are connected to their environment and to each other. This thesis explores how a sense of family can be created around common interests and based in life style choices. One of the tools used to make sense of these relationships is the Medicine Wheel. The thesis will elaborate on ways in which the Medicine Wheel allows for multiple perspectives to co-exist within a family setting. A rich local vocabulary of relevant terms are discussed throughout this thesis related to the Dreamtime and the Medicine Wheel. The way in which language is used by this community is of particular interest. The author of this thesis has chosen to live Shamanically for the past 8 years as a part of this family and as a student of Okwaho.


identifier: Panetta, Robert James  (2009) Molecular and isotopic characterization of organic matter in the St. Lawrence Estuary.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Sources and processing of carbon in the hypoxic St. Lawrence Estuary are investigated via a coupled bulk (stable carbon isotope and elemental quantitative) and molecular (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and lignin phenols) approach. In order to analyze the stable carbon isotope ratio of dissolved organic carbon (e 13 C DOC ), a novel method was developed. coupling a total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer allowing the routine analysis of e 13 C DOC in marine waters. Bulk analyses of five pools of carbon (sedimentary, pore-water dissolved organic, water column dissolved inorganic and organic, and particulate organic) distributed through the estuarine transition zone are analyzed to gain further insight into the spatial variability of carbon source(s) and cycling in the system. with particular insight gleaned into the water column. The system identifies with other non-anthropogenically perturbed systems by all indicators, despite its proximity to major industrial centers and one of the historically heaviest polluted watersheds in North America. The extensive elemental and isotopic analyses of five pools of carbon show; (1) a clear spatial shift in trophic state between with Upper estuarine net heterotrophy and primary production resulting in lower Estuarine net autotrophy; (2) the dissolved and particulate organic pools do share sources, but appear decoupled because physical mixing outpaces transfer; (3) approximately 90 % of primary produced particulate carbon and nitrogen is consumed prior to sedimentary deposition in the Lower Estuary; (4) stable isotopes indicate the export of riverine dissolved organic carbon is more efficient than estuarine systems from lower latitudes perhaps making similarly located estuaries important sources of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon to the world's oceans; (5) the benthic nepheloid layer may be a site of microbial activity in the hypoxic Lower Estuary; and (6) isotopic fractionation between pore water dissolved organic carbon and sedimentary organic carbon implies compositionally-driven in situ sedimentary fractionation. To better understand estuarine processes, directed experiments investigating the role of UV oxidation coupled to microbial respiration and particle dynamics should be conducted in the future. To better understand where and how carbon is consumed in the hypoxic zone the role of benthic layer cyanobacteria should be a primary focus.


identifier: Fewster, Jeremy  (2009) Suburban squatters : new imaginings on Kolkata's Eastern Fringe.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Despite vast amounts of research on urban poverty in developing nations, scant attention has been paid to the social processes by which newly formed slum communities' move from being mere collections of displaced people, to moral entities that stake claims associated with citizenship. This study seeks to fill that gap by asking: How to slum dwellers living on the outskirts of Kolkata discursively and ideologically construct their community within the context of the development state? Through interviews, observations, participation on local festivals and library research, my research shows how squatters recast traditional notions of kinship obligations, caste duties, and religious identities, in ways that attempted to forge discursive and moral links between themselves and other social groups. Through an imaginative process, where past experiences are cognitively re-worked in order to understand the present and plan for the future, these squatters are in the process of creating new "moral communities" that seek to reorganize urban social relations in a more inclusive direction. Because the idioms through which slum-dwellers couch their discourse and action are traditional, many observers, academic or otherwise, too easily dismiss of their consciousness as backwards, and out of step with modern times. Therefore the present study will move us towards a way of understanding these processes that account for the subtle semantic shifts that displacement gives rise to, the underlying social critiques that these shifts call forth, and the vernacular forms of modernity that are being created in slums, both in India, and around the world.


identifier: Cuccia, Lidia  (2009) Latin morphosyntax evolution from 200 BC. to 1000 AD: was Hrotsvitha able to imitate Terence successfully?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim, a German nun who lived at the end of the tenth century, wrote six plays explicitly saying that she was trying to imitate the style of the Roman playwright Terence who lived during the II nd century B.C.  Language evolved dramatically during the twelve centuries that separate the lives of the two writers. In fact, a variety of descendant languages was sprouting up all over Europe as a consequence of the process of fragmentation of the mother tongue into the Romance languages that was already well on its way by 476 A.D.  One of the biggest changes undergone by the language during this process is the restriction of word order which during the Latin era seems to have enjoyed a great degree of freedom but with the time became more restricted in its possibilities. By the end of the VIII th century, the declension system had collapsed into only two cases (Nominative and Accusative) doubtlessly playing a role in restricting the word order freedom.  In this thesis, I concentrate on Hrotsvitha's Callimachus and on Terence's Andria to explore and compare thoroughly the word order of some elements of the sentence, mainly the possessive adjective-head noun relationship, the ut - verb relationship in subordinated clauses, and the patterns used with the infinitives. I take into account the structure of the Romance languages to underline the direction the language was taking and to draw my conclusions. To complete my study I focus on the general organization of plays, the colloquialisms and the adverbial expressions (which are much reduced in Hrotsvitha's Callimachus ), as a sign of the restrictions that confronted the writers of Medieval Latin when they attempted to imitate the street language of Archaic and Classical times.


identifier: Simard, Melissa R  (2009) Home is where the heart is : a study on the links between physiological emotion regulation, maternal emotion socialization and aggression.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Deficits in emotion regulation (ER) have been suggested as an underlying cause of persistent aggression problems in children. This study examined whether maternal emotion socialization (ES) strategies had differential impacts on aggression depending on children's physiological capacity for ER. A total of 61 children between the ages of 4 to 7 years and their mothers were included in this work. Children's regulatory physiology, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), was assessed while they engaged in relaxing activities, an anger induction task, and a delay of gratification task. Measures of maternal ES were gathered with questionnaires and observations of mother-child interactions during a clean-up task. Children's and mothers' reports of aggression were gathered with a newly designed Me Not Me task and the Child Behavior Checklist, respectively. The main goal of this study was to explore whether physiological regulation moderated links between ES and aggression; it was expected that there would be stronger links between ES and aggression for children with poorer physiological regulation. Findings supported previous works suggesting that adaptive physiological regulation is supported by RSA withdrawal in mild challenge situations. Children were more aggressive when they displayed low RSA withdrawal in affectively and behaviourally challenging situations. There was some indication that this was especially true for children who also experienced unsupportive ES from their mothers, suggesting that extrinsic influences may have more of an impact when internal regulatory resources are weaker. Supportive responses to children's emotions may therefore be crucial for those who have poorer physiological regulation


identifier: Li, Peng  (2009) OFCDM systems over fading channels.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: OFCDM systems over fading channels

abstract: Along with the fast growing demand of information exchange, telecommunication systems are required to provide fast and reliable service to high-data-rate applications such as video conference, real-time broadcasting, and on-line gaming. In downlink transmission, orthogonal frequency and code division multiplexing (OFCDM) has been an attractive technique for high-data-rate applications. With two-dimensional spreading, in both time domain and frequency domain, OFCDM achieves diversity gains in multiuser scenarios. Moreover, the adjustable spreading factors (SF) give OFCDM systems the flexibility in transmission rate and diversity gain.  In this thesis, we focus on the downlink of OFCDM communication systems. The performance of OFCDM systems is investigated over Ricean fading channels with Rayleigh fading as special case. Code division multiple access (CDMA) technique is used to support multiuser communications, where users can transmit at the same time using the same frequency with the help of code sequences. We compare different combining methods that are employed to achieve diversity gain. Moreover, channel correlation is examined to see its effect on the system performance.  We also propose to combine multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) techniques, specifically space-time block coding (STBC), with OFCDM systems. By adding spatial diversity, a MIMO system can provide more reliable transmission compared to a single-input and single-output (SISO) system. The space-time scheme used in our study is Alamouti scheme [1], which employs N = 2 and M antennas at the transmitter side and receiver side respectively. In the thesis, we explain the system structure, transmission and detection methods, and system performance of such MIMO-OFCDM systems.  In our study, the expressions of system bit error rate (BER) are considered under the condition that no multi-code interference (MCI) is present. The accuracy of the BER expressions is verified when compared with the simulated ones for both SISO and MIMO-OFCDM systems with different combining methods. These comparisons are carried over different channels and with different system parameters to explore the benefits of OFCDM based systems. Both analytical and simulation results show the large diversity gains achieved when incorporating STBC with OFCDM.


identifier: Cardinal, Philippe  (2009) Contemporary ethnographic translation of traditional Aboriginal narrative : textualizations of the Northern Tutchone story of crow.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is designed as an encounter between translation studies and ethnography. It demonstrates how a cross-fertilization between those two disciplines can be achieved for the benefit of both. If several of the research methods employed to gather the data analysed are those currently used by translation studies specialists investigating all manner of translation, others, such as field research, are typical of ethnography. And while some of the theoretical framework upon which the thesis builds its argumentation is essentially that of translation studies, translation theories formulated by practitioners of anthropology have not been ignored.  The thesis takes the form of a case study. Its object of inquiry is an ethnographer's recording of the telling of an age-old narrative by an Aboriginal elder in his own Northern Tutchone language, and the subsequent translation, textualization and publication of this narrative into English and into French. It establishes why and how this elder and this ethnographer agreed to collaborate to transform this traditional narrative into two learned publications.  The central question that the thesis asks is this: How did a combination of linguistic, social, cultural, historical, institutional and political constraints operate on each state of the text of this traditional Tutchone story cycle to make it such as we find it in the published books? Manifestations of those limiting factors are identified and their effects are assessed in each state of the text as well as in the paratext of the forewords and afterwords of the English and French publications. Such restrictions are moreover shown not to be confined to this particular case since analogous forces are demonstrated to have similarly informed other recent Yukon ethnographic encounters


identifier: Zhou, Biru  (2009) The roles of child temperament and parenting in predicting child compliance during toddlerhood.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Distinctive forms of child compliance, child temperament and parenting styles (i.e., autonomy supportive parenting and power assertive parenting) were examined in two contexts: the parental request context and the prohibition context. Sixty-seven parent-child dyads participated in this two year longitudinal study. Children first participated while they were two-years-old (Wave 1), and participated again one year later (Wave 2). Autonomy supportive parenting was positively associated with wholehearted committed compliance by the child during the request context at both Wave 1 and 2. Parental use of power assertion was negatively related to committed compliance by the child at Wave 1 and 2 in both the request and prohibition contexts. Moderate to large effect sizes were found for power assertion across contexts, highlighting its influential effect on child compliance. The interactions between power assertion and both aspects of child temperament in the two contexts further demonstrated the evidence that power assertion has a detrimental effect on child committed compliance.


identifier: Islam, Tania  (2009) A heuristic approach to network hardening using attack graphs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In defending against multi-step attacks, network hardening answers the following important question: Which vulnerabilities must be removed from a network in order to prevent attackers from compromising critical resources while minimizing the implied cost in terms of availability or administrative efforts. Existing approaches to network hardening derive a logic proposition to represent the negation of the attack goal in terms of initially satisfied security conditions. In the disjunctive normal form (DNF) of the logic proposition, each disjunction then provides a viable solution to network hardening. However, such solutions suffer from an exponential time complexity. In this thesis, we study heuristic methods for solving this important problem with reasonable complexity. We evaluate our proposed solutions through extensive experiments. The results show that our solution can achieve reasonably good network hardening results in significantly less time than the optimal solution would require. Also, for scenarios where additional cost constraints may render a perfectly secure network hardening solution impossible, we extend our heuristic methods to partial hardening solutions. Such solutions can provide best possible improvement in terms of security under given cost constraints.


identifier: Panagiotarakou, Eleni  (2009) Aristophanes' Acharnians : pursuing peace with an iambic Peitho.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The focus of this dissertation is the Acharnians , a play written in 425 BC by the comic playwright Aristophanes. This comedy, or trugodia as Aristophanes refers to it, was written in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War and revolves around the trials and tribulations of an Attic farmer named Dikaiopolis (Just Polis) in his quest for peace. Three main arguments are made in the course of this dissertation. The first is that the Acharnians is an anti-war/pro-peace play and not a pro-war or a neutral play. The second argument is that Dikaiopolis is a non-selfish, compassionate, conciliatory figure with a deep concern for the common good of his community. Dikaiopolis' deliberations about the war policies take place with Athens' well-being in mind. Dikaiopolis' preoccupation with his (seemingly) private welfare, I argue, is a dramatic, rhetorical ploy whose objective is to demonstrate that peace is preferable to war. My third argument is that Aristophanes had a clear intention in writing this play; the persuasion of the rural voting population, or, at the very least, the historical Acharnians, to the side of the "peace party". According to Dikaiopolis' political philosophy, the road to peace lies in a sustainable society which engages in just relations with other states. Part of that justice entails, among other things, not meddling into the affairs of other states.


identifier: Drury, Kate-Mills  (2009) Gender identity and well-being in early adolescence : exploring the roles of peer culture and the gender composition of the school context.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Research on gender development draws on two principal hypotheses: gender is a multi-dimensional construct and gender develops within social contexts. The present study examines the associations between gender identity, peer acceptance and self-worth across two contexts, single-sex (all-girls) and mixed-sex schools. The investigation examined whether peer relations mediate the association between gender identity and self-worth and whether type of school moderates the association between gender identity and peer relations. Early adolescents (N = 676, mean age = 10.13 years) rated their gender typicality, felt pressure to conform, social competence and self-worth and indicated which of their peers was a friend. We present competing theories, one favouring a stronger association between gender identity and peer acceptance for the girls in the all-girls schools, the other for the girls in the mixed-sex schools. We hypothesized that the associations between gender identity and peer acceptance would be higher for the boys as compared to girls in the mixed-sex schools. We expected our mediational model to be applicable to all groups. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used. Mediation was found in the case of the girls in the all-girls schools. Higher typicality was related to higher social competence in the all-girls schools while the inverse was true for the girls in the mixed-sex schools. This study provides further evidence for the conceptualization of gender within a social context. It highlights the importance of the association between gender identity and social competence, which has a strong impact on well-being.


identifier: Nekoovaght Motlagh, Pejman  (2009) An investigation on the influence of microwave energy on basic mechanical properties of hard rocks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Drilling and blasting is one of the most commonly used and convenient method for many mining and civil applications to break rocks, especially hard rocks. Because of many environmental, safety and productivity issues (i.e. Cycle time), the industry and contractors are looking for an alternative system of breaking of rocks. In underground rock breakage applications such as tunneling, continuous mechanical excavation method, normally with tunnel boring machines (TBMs) or road headers is becoming more popular and commonly used by contractors. One of the main disadvantages of such system is that, it cannot handle very hard rocks and uneconomical major disc or bit wear takes place. Today, novel explosive free rock breaking technologies (thermal, electrical, nuclear energy and microwave) are available and could be used on their own or assist mechanical conventional machines to be able to break harder rock material. This is possible because it is hoped that the microwave will reduce the strength of the rock prior to the impact of mechanical device.  Three main mechanical parameters of rocks such as compressive strength, tensile strength and abrasivity index value were used to highlight the influence of microwave on to the mechanical properties of rocks. Seven different rock types were prepared and tested.  Each individual specimen was exposed to the microwave energy in three power levels 800, 1250 and 3000 watts, within 0, 15, 30, 60, 120 and 240 seconds time of exposure. Different rocks due to their mineralogy behave differently when exposed to microwave energy. CERCHAR abrasivity index value of almost all samples shows reduction of about 30% as the power level of exposure increases. The tensile strength of certain samples reduces significantly as in basalt reduces of up to 80%. The unconfined compressive strength value of almost all samples reduces about 30% as well. The reduction of the strength and abrasivity of hard rock cause the penetration rate and the life time of cutter tools of a TBM to be increased by combining the microwave energy to the cutter head of the mechanical excavator.


identifier: Rahnamaei, Mohammad  (2009) Robust decentralized supervisory control of discrete-event systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis we study robust supervisory control of discrete event systems in two different settings. First, we consider the problem of synthesizing a set of decentralized supervisors when the precise model of the plant is not known, but it is known that it is among a finite set of plant models. To tackle this problem, we form the union of all possible behaviors and construct an appropriate specification, from the given set of specifications, and solve the conventional decentralized supervisory control associated with it. We also prove that the given robust problem has a solution if and only if this conventional decentralized supervisory control problem has a solution. In another setting, we investigate the problem of synthesizing a set of communicating supervisors in the presence of delay in communication channels, and call it Unbounded Communication Delay Robust Supervisory Control problem (UCDR-SC problem). In this problem, We assume that delay is unbounded but it is finite, meaning that any message sent from a local supervisor will be received by any other local supervisors after a finite but unknown delay. To solve this problem, we redefine the supervisory decision making rules, introduce a new language property called unbounded-communication-delay-robust (UCDR), and present a set of conditions on the specification of the problem. We also show that the new class of languages that is the solution to this problem has some interesting relations with other observational languages.


identifier: Willet, Jennifer  (2009) (RE)embodying biotechnology : towards the democratization of biotechnology through embodied art practices.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Contemporary discourse surrounding biotechnology places great emphasis on digital metaphors in describing the biological sciences. In these discourses it is as if mankind's 'cumulative' technology - computation - performs the ultimate science, the dominion of man over nature through the application of numeric code to living organism. This general application of computational models to instances of biotechnology provides a sterilizing affect, removing all that is wet, bloody, unruly, and animal, from mass imaginations of the biotech future. As I argue this vision of biotechnology (as it is presented to non-specialists) may serve to nullify public engagement in the complex ethical dilemmas that arise from engaging in technologies of the body.  (RE)embodying Biotechnology focuses. on reuniting notions of embodiment with the language, analysis, practice, and representation of contemporary biotechnologies. With a social and political mandate that advocates informed public discourse, (RE)embodying Biotechnology complicates, rather than simplify our understanding of the biotech field. Methodologically, I propose artistic means for non-specialists to engage in biotechnology as an embodied practice through the mobilization of a 'critical participatory methodology'. (RE)embodying Biotechnology is a research I creation thesis; comprised of the documentation of a body of work and a text that reflects on how artistic engagement in the biotechnological field may allow for non-specialists to engage critically with evolving biotechnologies.


identifier: Cree, Duncan  (2009) Production and characterization of three-dimensional, cellular, Metal-filled ceramics.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research focuses on the infiltration of two porous structures. In the first, two different silicon sources were used to infiltrate structures derived from different Canadian pine, beech and maple species for the production of silicon carbide (SiC). This allows the use of a precursor structure that is already available, thus saving time, energy and cost of manufacturing. Carbonized wood species measuring 15 mm x 11 mm x 13 mm were used as precursors for the production of silicon carbide (SiC) using two silicon sources (sol and powder) in order to produce a porous SiC structure mimicking that of wood. The liquid sol was vacuum infiltrated into the pyrolyzed wood species, dried and reacted at 1575 °C under a 70 L/h flow of argon. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed SiC grains formed on the interior of the tracheid walls and a high density of SiC whiskers were discovered in certain tracheids of pine and vessels of beech and maple. Both cyclic and repeated infiltration processes were undertaken. In addition, infiltration of carbonized pine wood with molten silicon was carried out in order to obtain a porous SiC structure. Infiltration was based on capillary forces within the preform and the infiltration depth was measured. Optical microscope, SEM, EDS and XRD were used for microstructure characterization and phase identification.  In the second part of this work, a liquid A356 aluminum alloy was infiltrated into a porous silicon carbide foam structure. Three dimensional silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic foams were employed as reinforcement for producing an aluminum alloy metal matrix composite with potential as a base plate material in electronic packaging. These are commonly manufactured with aluminum/silicon carbide (Al/SiC) particulate materials, nickel-iron and copper alloys. A base plate provides mechanical strength to the integrated circuit design, as well as aids in transfering the heat from the chip to the heat sink. Packaging base plate materials are required to have low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), high thermal conductivity, and low density. A356 aluminum alloy was vacuum infiltrated into a 100 PPI (pores per inch), silicon carbide (SiC) foam network, at 775°C using an in-house built apparatus. It has been shown that this metal matrix composite has similar properties to traditional packaging materials with the added benefit of a lower density. CTE and thermal conductivity are within the range of commercially available materials, with porosity levels of 7%, using this method. Flexural strength and Young's modulus of the composite provide reasonable values as a result of the low reinforcement concentration employed. Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the fractured surfaces of the Charpy, flexural strength and compression tests. In the Charpy and flexural strength samples, the A356 aluminum-silicon alloy matrix shows signs of mixed fracture; cleavage regions and some dimpling. In the network structure, the majority of the failure is from SiC layers debonding from the aluminum matrix with some SiC layer peeling (inter-delamination). Compressive loading showed internal damage in the form of failed SiC struts. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis did not detect any brittle aluminum carbide at the Al/SiC interface. The Rule of Mixtures (ROM) is used for a first rough estimate of certain mechanical and thermal properties


identifier: García-Bravo, William  (2009) Cultural diversity, multiculturalism and new paradigms in public education in Columbia.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: An interdisciplinary theoretical framework drawing from political science, sociology, anthropology, education and social psychology, is the approach used to examine the social context in which educational policies are decided in Colombia. Chapter 1 introduces the approach of Hermeneutical Deconstructive Interpretation, a relatively new tradition of inquiry, taking into account the human agency of the researcher in reading a text. Therefore, this dissertation reflects a certain level of subjectivity, metalanguage, power of representation of official texts and human agency of the author.  Chapter 2 examines the historical context of Colombian legislation, in relation to other Latin American countries, with their ethnic and native centered tendencies to interpret cultural diversity, gradually moving away from intercultural paradigms towards multiculturalism, in the public education sector.  Chapter 3 is devoted to a close reading of the 1991 Colombian Constitution as well as related texts in order to describe the situation in Colombia related to cultural diversity issues and their manifestation in educational policy making.  Chapter 4 examines and critiques the current situation in the public education system in Colombia from several angles, in particular the negative effect of an intercultural approach, which is dysfunctional in the attempts of Colombians to build a unified vision for the country, where all groups are well represented in the State structure on an equal basis, and individual rights are respected.  Chapter 5 aims to encourage the opening of a new era of deliberations at the societal level about the potential of a multicultural approach as found in the work of two Canadian authors, Will Kymlicka and Charles Taylor, thus meeting the goal of this thesis to offer a multicultural perspective in enriching the current interpretative framework of cultural diversity as applied to the case of Colombia.  Throughout the dissertation, it is noted that the Colombian Constitution of 1991 can be read as opening spaces to encourage Colombian academics, practitioners and policy makers to move towards a multicultural framework for institutional renewal, including education policy, structures and curricula. The absence and paucity of research and publications in this respect is noted with regret


identifier: Steenbergen, Candis  (2009) Passing on feminism.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

title: Passing on feminism

abstract: "Passing on Feminism" examines generational discourses that have circulated around North American feminisms since the turn of the twentieth century but particularly from the early 1970S until 2008. It reflects upon the ways relationships between feminists and feminist histories and theories have been represented by and reproduced through the use of generational frames and wave metaphors, and critiques these frameworks in terms of what is ultimately passed on via their use. Chapter One considers generational discourses as affective narratives steeped in often competing understandings of what it means to pass on feminism. The second chapter locates these discourses within a broader context of what constitutes "legitimate" feminist history and historiography, while Chapter Three delineates feminisms' "problem of generations" as one constructed in multiple spheres simultaneously: the personal, the scholarly, and the public. Chapter Four analyzes thirty-eight years of generational discourses as disseminated by The Globe and Mail , noting the repetition of news frames used to discuss feminisms from 1970 to the present time, while the final chapter contrasts that data by bringing over-looked feminist discourses to light. Together, these chapters articulate generational debates as struggles over not only what has already been passed down , but also about what the association between feminisms' past, present and future conveys; raising the question, of course, of which feminisms ultimately count and which ones get passed over in the process.


identifier: Porter, Jeremy Graham  (2009) On a conjecture for the distributions of primes associated with elliptic curves.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: For an elliptic curve E and fixed integer r , Lang and Trotter have conjectured an asymptotic estimate for the number of primes p {600} x such that the trace of Frobenius a p ( E ) = r . Using similar heuristic reasoning, Koblitz has conjectured an asymptotic estimate for the number of primes p {600} x such that the order of the group of points of E over the finite field [Special characters omitted.] is also prime. These estimates have been proven correct for elliptic curves "on average"; however, beyond this the conjectures both remain open.  In this thesis, we combine the condition of Lang and Trotter with that of Koblitz to conjecture an asymptotic for the number of primes p {600} x such that both


identifier: Gaba, Radu  (2009) On fontaine sheaves.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

title: On fontaine sheaves

abstract: In this thesis we focus our research on constructing two new types of Fontaine sheaves, [Special characters omitted.] and A max in the third chapter and the fourth one respectively and in proving some of their main properties, most important the localization over small affines. This pair of new sheaves plays a crucial role in generalizing a comparison isomorphism theorem of Faltings for the ramified case.  In the first chapter we introduce the concept of p -adic Galois representation and provide and analyze some examples.  The second chapter is an overview of the Fontaine Theory. We define the concept of semi-linear representation and study the period rings introduced by Fontaine while understanding their importance in classifying the p -adic Galois representations


identifier: Hesham., Kamel Ibrahim  (2009) Design optimization of vehicle structures for crashworthiness improvement.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The complicated nature of the physical crash processes of complex vehicle structures makes design optimization for crashworthiness a very challenging task. Moreover, large scale and highly nonlinear nature of crashworthiness simulations of vehicle structure make it impractical to conduct direct optimization on the full nonlinear model of the structure. The main objective of the thesis is to present a systematic and practical methodology to conduct vehicle crashworthiness design optimization efficiently at early stages of design. The thesis includes four main parts. In the first part, an efficient and practical methodology for design optimization of vehicle structures under frontal impact for crashworthiness improvement is presented. The proposed methodology is based on identifying the main vehicle structural part contributing most to the total amount of impact energy absorbed in the whole vehicle structure. The computationally efficient surrogate model of expensive nonlinear finite element simulation of this major vehicle part is developed and then integrated with gradient based optimization algorithm to maximize its absorbed impact energy while guarding against increase in its weight. In the second part, a methodology for deriving the important relation between minimum structural weight and maximum impact energy is presented. The proposed methodology is based on the principle of the Pareto front and multiobjective optimization. The methodology enables the designer to evaluate the crashworthiness performance of any suggested design easily and effectively. Moreover, the methodology provides different optimum designs from which the designer can easily select the optimum design variables to improve the performance of the initial design. In the third part, the crashworthiness behavior of simple thin walled structures and vehicle structural components made of magnesium due to its light weight is examined and a new methodology for material design optimization is presented. The proposed methodology adds material type as design variables to formal size design variables. Direct optimization using the genetic algorithm is conducted to find the optimum material combination and part's thicknesses to improve the crashworthiness performance of the vehicle structure. Finally in the fourth part, the effect of imperfection on crush elements performance is studied. Different imperfection configurations are proposed to improve the crashworthiness performance of crush elements. The genetic algorithm is directly combined with nonlinear finite elements models to search for optimum imperfection values. The results show that the crashworthiness performance of crush elements can be greatly improved through introduction of proper imperfection. Using the proposed methodologies, the current research presents a fundamental and systematic study to conduct design optimization of vehicle structures practically and efficiently.


identifier: Mohammadi Ahani, Reza  (2009) Salt scaling resistance : the effect of curing and one-week presaturation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In cold climates de-icing salts (NaCl, CaCl 2 ) are regularly used to prevent the freezing of water on the horizontal surface of concrete structures like roadways and walkways which results in salt scaling, one of the major durability issues of the concrete.  In this experimental research, the effect of one-week pre-saturation and three curing methods (standard 14-day moist curing, three-day curing, and the usage of a curing compound) on salt scaling resistance was studied in three concrete types including the plain concrete and concretes made with fly ash and slag at 25% and 35% cement replacement, respectively. Two salt scaling test methods used in this research included ASTM C 672/C 672M and its proposed replacement method (one-week presaturation).  One-week pre-saturation was observed to improve the salt scaling resistance of the plain concrete and slag concrete while decreasing the resistance of fly ash concrete.  The application of the curing compound resulted in lower salt scaling resistance than the standard 14-day moist curing method in fly ash and slag concretes and higher resistance in the plain concrete. The three-day moist curing method showed higher resistance than the standard 14-day moist curing method in fly ash concrete, lower resistance in slag concrete, and similar resistance in the plain concrete.  The concrete made with slag showed the highest salt scaling resistance in accordance with ASTM C 672 and its proposed replacement method followed by the plain concrete followed by the concrete made with fly ash.


identifier: Zakikhani, Sepideh  (2009) Structural health monitoring using wireless sensors and damage detection of civil infrastructures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Mahmoud, Muhammad Adel Ahmed  (2009) Productivity analysis of horizontal directional drilling.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The National Research Council of Canada reported that rehabilitation of municipal water systems between 1997 and 2012 would cost $28 billion (NRC, 2004). With the rapid increase of new installations, the need for replacement and repair of pipe utilities and also the demand for trenchless excavation methods, increase. This must be done with minimum disruption to public. One alternative to reduce disruption is to use horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for new pipe installation scenarios. Consequently, contractors, engineers, and decision makers are facing continuous challenges regarding to estimation of execution time and cost of new pipe installations, while using HDD. This is because productivity prediction and consequently the cost estimation of HDD involves a large number of objective and subjective factors that need to be considered. It is well known that prediction of both productivity and cost is an important process in establishing and employing management strategies for a construction operation. This calls for the need of developing a dedicated HDD productivity model that meets present day requirements of this area of construction industry.  There are two main objectives of the current research. The first objective is to identify the factors that affect productivity of HDD operations. The second objective is to develop a productivity prediction model for different soil conditions. To achieve these two objectives a thorough literature review was carried out. Thereafter, data on potential factors on productivity were collected from HDD experts across North America and abroad. Following data collection, the current research identified managerial, mechanical, environmental and pipe physical conditions parameters operating in three types of soils: clay, rock and sandy soils. Prior to model development, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used to classify and rank these factors according to their relative importance.  A neurofuzzy (NF) approach is employed to develop HDD productivity prediction model for pipe installation. The merits of this approach are that it decreases uncertainties in results, addresses non-linear relationships and deals well with imprecise and linguistic data. The following eight factors were finally selected as inputs of the model to be developed: operator/ crew skills, soil type, drilling rig capabilities, machine conditions, unseen buried obstacles, pipe diameter, pipe length and site weather and safety conditions. The model is validated using actual project data. The developed NF model showed average validation percent of 94.7%, 82.3% and 86.7%, for clay, rock and sand, respectively. The model is also used to produce productivity curves (production rate vs. influencing factors) for each soil type.  Finally, an automated user-friendly productivity prediction tool (HDD-PP) based on present NF model is developed to predict HDD productivity. This tool is coded in MatLab ® language using the graphical user interface tool (GUI). The tool was used to test a case study. It was proved to be helpful for contractors, consultants and HDD professionals in predicting execution time and to estimate cost of HDD projects during the preconstruction phase in the environment of imprecise and noisy inputs.


identifier: Tajallipour, Nima  (2009) Large eddy simulations for compressible turbulent jet flows.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Large Eddy Simulation is generally perceived as a very effective and highly promising method that can considerably improve our modeling of turbulent flows. Application of LES has considerably increased in the past decade among thermofluid scholars as well as within different industries. The main obstacles in further implementation of this method for engineering applications are its relatively high computational cost and also unavailability of well tuned and tested numerical tools and therefore there is a great interest in modification of available low order numerical tools which are computationally reasonable in order to use them for LES.  This dissertation is investigating the possibility of applying an available finite element/volume numerical code; used previously for RANS simulations of compressible flows, in order to carry out LES. In this work, a self-adaptive upwinding method, which is compatible with Roe's scheme and reduces the numerical dissipation of low order flux calculation on unstructured elements, is developed. At first, the proposed method is evaluated using channel flow stability test and decaying isotropic turbulence. The method is then used to numerically investigate a high Reynolds compressible turbulent free jet and compare the results with recently published set of experimental data. At the end, a hydrogen jet releasing from a high pressure reservoir is also numerically studied. During these simulations, the performance of the developed numerical tool for subsonic, sonic and supersonic flows at high Reynolds numbers will be extensively analyzed.


identifier: Ahmed, Shafique  (2009) Mining software repositories to support software evolution.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Software evolution represents a major phase in the development life cycle of software systems. In recent years, software evolution has been recognized as one of the most important and challenging areas in the field of software engineering. Studies even show that 65-80% of the system lifetime will be spent on maintenance and evolution activities. Software repositories, such as versioning and bug tracking systems are essential parts of various software maintenance activities. Given the often large amounts of information stored in these repositories, researchers have proposed to mine and analyze these large knowledge bases in order to study and support various aspects of the evolution of a software system. In this thesis, we introduce a common ontological representation to support the mining and analysis of software repositories. In addition to this common representation, we introduce the SVN-Ontologizer and Bugzilla-Ontologizer tools that provide automation for both data extraction from remote repositories and ontology populations. A case study is presented to illustrate the applicability of the present approach in supporting software maintainers during the analysis and mining of these software repositories


identifier: Zamani, Bahman  (2009) On verifying the use of a pattern language in model driven design.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis addresses the problem of verifying the application of a Pattern Language in a design that is built based upon the patterns of the language in a Model-Driven approach. Exploiting the ideas of compilers, we propose a process named Pattern Language Verifier (PLV). We argue that building a PLV for a given Pattern Language, requires the Structural, Syntactic, and Semantic rules of the language to be precisely defined. We present three formalisms for defining these three groups of rules. PLV is a profile-driven process and assumes that a UML Profile is already defined for the underlying Pattern Language.  PLV consists of four phases: Pattern Structural Verifier (PSV), Pattern Language Syntactic Verifier (PTV), Pattern Language Semantic Verifier (PMV), and Pattern Language Advisor (PLA). PSV verifies the structure of every single pattern used in the design model. PTV verifies the relationships between the detected patterns. PMV verifies the semantic aspects of the patterns. PLA reports the problems to the designer and guides him/her in fixing the errors.  For the case study, a group of enterprise architectural patterns is selected as the Pattern Language. The Structural, Syntactic, and Semantic rules of the language are defined using the proposed formalism, and a UML Profile is defined for the language. A PLV is designed and implemented as an integration into an open source modeling tool. The tool is then utilized in designing a sample web application: Online Student Registration System. The usefulness of the tool is represented by walkthrough scenarios that show finding the mistakes in the model and helping the designer repair the detected problems


identifier: Ahmed, Ashraf Fathy  (2009) Thermal insulation by heat resistant polymers.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Internal insulation in a solid rocket motor is a layer of heat-barrier material placed between the internal surface of the case and the propellant. The primary function of internal insulation is to prevent the rocket motor case from reaching temperatures that may endanger its structural integrity.  An extensive experimental and theoretical work in the development and characterization of asbestos-free rubbers for use as rocket motor insulators has been performed. The insulation is based on chopped carbon fiber and/or aramid fiber in the pulp form as fillers for Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM). The first aim of the research is to provide an understanding of the mechanism, the principle, and the process for making polymeric thermal insulants. The second aim is to produce thermal insulants based on polymers with different fillers having different compositions which are capable of working under extreme thermal conditions of 2760 °C (5000 °F). This is through an investigation on the processing, installation, physical, mechanical, thermal and ablative properties of these materials. A hybrid of chopped carbon fiber and Kevlar pulp filled EPDM has been shown to exhibit better thermal, mechanical, physical and ablative properties than its asbestos containing counterpart. Also the prediction of thermal conduction of multiphase thermal insulation composite materials was done using series, parallel, Maxwell Euken and effective medium theory models. Comparison with the measured values allows determining which model estimates best the thermal conductivity of composite insulation material. Development of a suitable optimization technique to reach the best parameters of the selected material was done by doing transient dynamic analysis to determine the response of these materials under a time-varying thermal load. A new type of insulation material using prepregs was developed for the first time. This consists of the development of the prepregs and their assembly to make insulant laminates. This laminate has been shown to exhibit better physical, mechanical, thermal and ablative properties than a hybrid of chopped carbon fiber and Kevlar pulp filled EPDM.


identifier: Shahnaz, Celia  (2009) New time-frequency domain pitch estimation methods for speed signals under low levels of SNR.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The major objective of this research is to develop novel pitch estimation methods capable of handling speech signals in practical situations where only noise-corrupted speech observations are available. With this objective in mind, the estimation task is carried out in two different approaches. In the first approach, the noisy speech observations are directly employed to develop two new time-frequency domain pitch estimation methods. These methods are based on extracting a pitch-harmonic and finding the corresponding harmonic number required for pitch estimation. Considering that voiced speech is the output of a vocal tract system driven by a sequence of pulses separated by the pitch period, in the second approach, instead of using the noisy speech directly for pitch estimation, an excitation-like signal (ELS) is first generated from the noisy speech or its noise- reduced version.  In the first approach, at first, a harmonic cosine autocorrelation (HCAC) model of clean speech in terms of its pitch-harmonics is introduced. In order to extract a pitch-harmonic, we propose an optimization technique based on least-squares fitting of the autocorrelation function (ACF) of the noisy speech to the HCAC model. By exploiting the extracted pitch-harmonic along with the fast Fourier transform (FFT) based power spectrum of noisy speech, we then deduce a harmonic measure and a harmonic-to-noise-power ratio (HNPR) to determine the desired harmonic number of the extracted pitch-harmonic. In the proposed optimization, an initial estimate of the pitch-harmonic is obtained from the maximum peak of the smoothed FFT power spectrum.  In addition to the HCAC model, where the cross-product terms of different harmonics are neglected, we derive a compact yet accurate harmonic sinusoidal autocorrelation (HSAC) model for clean speech signal. The new HSAC model is then used in the least-squares model-fitting optimization technique to extract a pitch-harmonic.  In the second approach, first, we develop a pitch estimation method by using an excitation-like signal (ELS) generated from the noisy speech. To this end, a technique is based on the principle of homomorphic deconvolution is proposed for extracting the vocal-tract system (VTS) parameters from the noisy speech, which are utilized to perform an inverse-filtering of the noisy speech to produce a residual signal (RS). In order to reduce the effect of noise on the RS, a noise-compensation scheme is introduced in the autocorrelation domain. The noise-compensated ACF of the RS is then employed to generate a squared Hilbert envelope (SHE) as the ELS of the voiced speech. With a view to further overcome the adverse effect of noise on the ELS, a new symmetric normalized magnitude difference function of the ELS is proposed for eventual pitch estimation.  Cepstrum has been widely used in speech signal processing but has limited capability of handling noise. One potential solution could be the introduction of a noise reduction block prior to pitch estimation based on the conventional cepstrum, a framework already available in many practical applications, such as mobile communication and hearing aids. Motivated by the advantages of the existing framework and considering the superiority of our ELS to the speech itself in providing clues for pitch information, we develop a cepstrum-based pitch estimation method by using the ELS obtained from the noise-reduced speech. For this purpose, we propose a noise subtraction scheme in frequency domain, which takes into account the possible cross-correlation between speech and noise and has advantages of noise being updated with time and adjusted at each frame. The enhanced speech thus obtained is utilized to extract the vocal-tract system (VTS) parameters via the homomorphic deconvolution technique. A residual signal (RS) is then produced by inverse-filtering the enhanced speech with the extracted VTS parameters. It is found that, unlike the previous ELS-based method, the squared Hilbert envelope (SHE) computed from the RS of the enhanced speech without noise compensation, is sufficient to represent an ELS. Finally, in order to tackle the undesirable effect of noise of the ELS at a very low SNR and overcome the limitation of the conventional cepstrum in handling different types of noises, a time-frequency domain pseudo cepstrum of the ELS of the enhanced speech, incorporating information of both magnitude and phase spectra of the ELS, is proposed for pitch estimation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


identifier: Hudon, Valérie  (2009) Study of the coadjoint orbits of the Poincare group in 2 + 1 dimensions and their coherent states.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The first main objective of this thesis is to study the orbit structure of the (2 + 1)-Poincare group R2,1 [Special characters omitted.] 2,1 {604} SO (2,1) by obtaining an explicit expression for the coadjoint action. From there, we compute and classify the coadjoint orbits. We obtain a degenerate orbit, the upper and lower sheet of the two-sheet hyperboloid, the upper and lower cone and the one-sheet hyperboloid. They appear as two-dimensional coadjoint orbits and, with their cotangent planes, as four-dimensional coadjoint orbits. We also confirm a link between the four-dimensional coadjoint orbits and the orbits of the action of SO (2, 1) on the dual of [Special characters omitted.] 2,1 .  The second main objective of this thesis is to use the information obtained about the structure to induce a representation and build the coherent states on two of the coadjoint orbits. We obtain coherent states on the hyperboloid for the principal section. The Galilean and the affine sections only allow us to get frames. On the cone, we obtain a family of coherent states for a generalized principal section and a frame for the basic section


identifier: Petts, Lindsay  (2009) Making connections : the construction of a drama therapy program fostering social skills for adolescents living with Asperger's syndrome.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Asperger's Syndrome is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder characterized by social dysfunction (APA, 2000, Elder et. al., 2006, Epp, 2008, Rogers, 2000). Children who have been diagnosed with this disorder have difficulty reading body language, facial expressions and tone of voice, use concrete language and often have deficits in regards to pragmatics. These defining characteristics often cause great difficulty in social interactions (Elder et. al., 2006, Tubbs, 2008). Studies illustrate however, that despite their social difficulties, adolescents living with Asperger's Syndrome still often experience loneliness and desire friendships (Muller, Schuler & Yates, 2008). Though many various therapies and techniques have been utilized to increase social skills and enhance positive peer relationships, there appears to be no research on the efficacy of the use of Drama Therapy with adolescents who have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. This research paper provides a literature review on Asperger's syndrome and social development, culminating with a proposal for a drama therapy program to be implemented into high schools, with the purpose of increasing the social skills and positive peer relationships of adolescents living with Asperger's Syndrome.


identifier: Najjar-Khatirkolaei, Biglar  (2009) Radiation properties of a slotted elliptic cylinder coated by noconfocal chiral and other materials.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Wireless communications technology is one of the most rapidly growing fields. An antenna is a key element that makes wireless communications possible. One of the most popular antennas is the slot antenna which is widely used in many wireless systems. The characteristics of a slot antenna on a perfectly conducting elliptic cylinder coated by nonconfocal materials are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Fields interior and exterior to the slot antenna are found rigorously using the separation of variable technique. The analysis is carried out by expressing the fields in and around the cylinder in terms of Mathieu and modified Mathieu functions. The structure is fed with a line source or a plane wave. The unknown aperture fields on the slot are expressed in terms of Fourier series with unknown expansion coefficients. The expansion coefficients of the interior, aperture and exterior fields are found by enforcing the boundary conditions and employing the addition theorem and orthogonality properties of the Mathieu functions. The general formulations are expressed for the TM case. However, expressions of the eigenfunction expansions for the TE case are given, as well. Furthermore, efficient algorithms for calculating the Mathieu functions are developed using the software package MATLAB. The algorithm developed here for calculating the Mathieu function is compact, fast, and efficient, and compared well with other results in the literature.  The exact analytical formulation is used to generate accurate numerical results and studying the effects of different geometrical and materials parameters. Numerical results of the antenna gain, aperture conductance, and aperture voltage (in a receiving mode) are presented and discussed for different design parameters and for both the TM and TE cases. For verification of accuracy and validation of formulations and software program, numerical results for special cases are generated and very good agreement between theory and available data is obtained. The antenna radiation patterns and directivities are computed for different design parameters. The accuracy of the solution is also attested by comparing with HFSS, a commercial CAD package, simulation results. Prototypes of non-coated and dielectric-coated elliptic slot antennas are designed, fabricated, and tested.


identifier: Howlader, Tamanna  (2009) Wavelet-based noise reduction of cDNA microarray images.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The advent of microarray imaging technology has lead to enormous progress in the life sciences by allowing scientists to analyze the expression of thousands of genes at a time. For complementary DNA (cDNA) microarray experiments, the raw data are a pair of red and green channel images corresponding to the treatment and control samples. These images are contaminated by a high level of noise due to the numerous noise sources affecting the image formation. A major challenge of microarray image analysis is the extraction of accurate gene expression measurements from the noisy microarray images. A crucial step in this process is denoising, which consists of reducing the noise in the observed microarray images while preserving the signal information as much as possible. This thesis deals with the problem of developing novel methods for reducing noise in cDNA microarray images for accurate estimation of the gene expression levels.  Denoising methods based on the wavelet transform have shown significant success when applied to natural images. However, these methods are not very efficient for reducing noise in cDNA microarray images. An important reason for this is that existing methods are only capable of processing the red and green channel images separately. In doing so. they ignore the signal correlation as well as the noise correlation that exists between the wavelet coefficients of the two channels. The primary objective of this research is to design efficient wavelet-based noise reduction algorithms for cDNA microarray images that take into account these inter-channel dependencies by 'jointly' estimating the noise-free coefficients in both the channels. Denoising algorithms are developed using two types of wavelet transforms, namely, the frequently-used discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the complex wavelet transform (CWT). The main advantage of using the DWT for denoising is that this transform is computationally very efficient. In order to obtain a better denoising performance for microarray images, however, the CWT is preferred to DWT because the former has good directional selectivity properties that are necessary for better representation of the circular edges of spots. The linear minimum mean squared error and maximum a posteriori estimation techniques are used to develop bivariate estimators for the noise-free coefficients of the two images. These estimators are derived by utilizing appropriate joint probability density functions for the image coefficients as well as the noise coefficients of the two channels.  Extensive experimentations are carried out on a large set of cDNA microarray images to evaluate the performance of the proposed denoising methods as compared to the existing ones. Comparisons are made using standard metrics such as the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) for measuring the amount of noise removed from the pixels of the images, and the mean absolute error for measuring the accuracy of the estimated log-intensity ratios obtained from the denoised version of the images. Results indicate that the proposed denoising methods that are developed specifically for the microarray images do, indeed, lead to more accurate estimation of gene expression levels. Thus, it is expected that the proposed methods will play a significant role in improving the reliability of the results obtained from practical microarray experiments.


identifier: Aldalgamouni, Taimour  (2009) Optimal cross layer design for CDMA-SFBC wireless systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The demand for high speed reliable wireless services has been rapidly growing. Wireless networks have limited resources while wireless channels suffer from fading, interference and time variations. Furthermore, wireless applications have diverse end to end quality of service (QoS) requirements. The aforementioned challenges require the design of spectrally efficient transmission systems coupled with the collaboration of the different OSI layers i.e. cross layer design. To this end, we propose a code division multiple access (CDMA)-space frequency block coded (SFBC) systems for both uplink and downlink transmissions. The proposed systems exploit code, frequency and spatial diversities to improve reception. Furthermore, we derive closed form expressions for the average bit error rate of the proposed systems.  In this thesis, we also propose a cross layer resource allocation algorithm for star CDMA-SFBC wireless networks. The proposed resource allocation algorithm assigns base transceiver stations (BTS), antenna arrays and frequency bands to users based on their locations such that their pair wise channel cross correlation is minimized while each user is assigned channels with maximum coherence time. The cooperation between the medium access control (MAC) and physical layers as applied by the optimized resource allocation algorithm improves the bit error rate of the users and the spectral efficiency of the network.  A joint cross layer routing and resource allocation algorithm for multi radio CDMA-SFBC wireless mesh networks is also proposed in this thesis. The proposed cross layer algorithm assigns frequency bands to links to minimize the interference and channel estimation errors experienced by those links. Channel estimation errors are minimized by selecting channels with maximum coherence time. On top, the optimization algorithm routes network traffic such that the average end to end packet delay is minimized while avoiding links with high interference and short coherence time. The cooperation between physical, MAC and network layers as applied by the optimization algorithm provides noticeable improvements in average end to end packet delay and success rate


identifier: Ozturk, Alper Kursat  (2009) Vertex diffracted edge waves on a perfectly conducting plane angular sector.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The problem of electromagnetic scattering from a perfectly-conducting plane angular sector has been of interest for many years. An exact solution for this problem has been developed based on the separation of variables in sphero-conal coordinate system. In this solution, fields and currents are expressed in terms of scalar wave functions that are the solutions of a two parameter eigenvalue problem of two coupled spherical Lame differential equations and spherical Bessel functions. The resulting expressions are in the form of eigenfunction expansions. These expansions are slowly convergent and not suitable for high frequency scattering calculations. Despite their computational advantages, high-frequency modeling techniques fail to provide accurate results for many classes of problems. Lack of a vertex diffraction coefficient is a major factor that limits the accuracy of the high frequency diffraction techniques. Furthermore, the vertex-excited surface currents are strongly guided by the edges of the angular sector creating strong singularities on the current and charge densities. The singular behavior of the current density near the sharp edges of a scattering target is also known as the edge condition and should be modeled properly in numerical solutions to improve the accuracy.  In this thesis, numerical diffraction coefficients are derived for vertex-diffracted edge waves induced on an infinitely-thin, perfectly conducting semi-infinite plane angular sector. The diffraction coefficients are formulated to be used in a purely high-frequency modeling of a scattering problem. The current density on the surface of the plane angular sector is modeled using the physical theory of diffraction (PTD). The vertex-diffracted currents are defined as the difference between the exact and PTD currents. The difference current is then modeled as a wave traveling away from the corner with unknown amplitude and phase factors. The unknown coefficients for the vertex-diffracted currents are calculated by using a least squares fit approximation. The vertex-diffracted currents are successfully modeled even for very narrow angular sectors for arbitrary directions of incidence. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the substantial improvement provided by the vertex-diffracted currents to the accuracy of RCS patterns.  Another aspect of the research in this thesis is the development of higher-order basis functions for the Method of Moments (MoM) solution. A set of divergence-conforming basis functions was developed to model the singular behavior of the surface currents near the edges and corners of an infinitely-thin, perfectly-conducting polygonal flat plate. The basis functions are derived by imposing the edge and corner conditions on the first order basis functions. It is demonstrated that, even though the new basis functions are not highest order complete, they provide accurate results without incurring complexity in the analysis or additional computational requirements.


identifier: Gervais, Nicole  (2009) An examination of interpretive bias induction on cognitive and symptom variables associated with generalized anxiety disorder.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential causal role of interpretive bias in cognitive vulnerability to generalized anxiety disorder and its primary symptom, worry. An interpretive bias induction paradigm developed by Mathews and Macintosh (2000) was used to modify participants' interpretations of ambiguous scenarios. Sixty-nine (69) individuals were randomly assigned to either the negative induction group ( n = 35) or the positive induction group ( n =34). Following training, participants completed two measures of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a cognitive vulnerability factor implicated in worry, and an interview related to processes involved in worry. Among the two measures of IU, one was a self-report questionnaire measuring explicit beliefs about uncertainty, while the other was a computerized task designed to assess automatic threat associations related to uncertainty. It was hypothesized that compared to the positive induction group, the negative induction group would evidence: (1) more explicit negative beliefs about uncertainty, (2) stronger automatic associations related to uncertainty, and (3) higher levels of worry. Results revealed that interpretive bias was successfully induced, but did not lead to group differences on IU or worry. In contrast to previous studies (Mathews & Macintosh, 2000), no effect of the training on state anxiety was found. Potential explanations for the discrepant findings are discussed as well as treatment implications for interpretive bias modification during therapy.