identifier: Sugiarto, Marilyn  (2017) A Rhizomatic Reimagining of Nintendo’s Hardware and Software History.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Since 1985, the American video game market and its consumers have acknowledged the significance of Nintendo on the broader development of the industry; however, the place of Nintendo in the North American history primarily focuses on the company’s most successful hardware in their catalogue. This study takes a multidisciplinary approach to reconceptualise the popularized history of Nintendo and challenge the positivistic narrative that privileges the most profitable innovations. While the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Wii are influential hardware creations worthy of their dedicated literature, the generalized history of interim consoles lacks necessary critical analysis; and formal literature on the company tends to discuss failed consoles in relation to their popularized predecessors or successors. Inspired by Deleuzoguattarian theory, Nintendo’s creative ideology of lateral thinking and repurposing of outdated technology is examined through a temporal synthesis of deterritorialized and reterritorialized innovative design. This theoretical framework takes consideration of the connectivity and flows of ideas in an experimental milieu, rather than focusing on their most profitable developments. Perceiving the video game industry and Nintendo, within a rhizomatic space, informs a different perspective of Nintendo’s hardware and software history. Overall, this reconceptualization of Nintendo allows for an alternative understanding of the video game industry as a rhizomatic network of creative and experimental thought, which can emphasize a non-linear approach to the history of video game products.


identifier: Gao, Mengchan  (2017) A Self-determination Approach to Understanding Employees' Innovative Work Behavior.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Drawing on the insights from self-determination theory, this study explored the psychological mechanism of employees’ innovative work behavior and examined whether this psychological mechanism is universal or cultural value specific. Specifically, I investigated how the three basic psychological needs influence employees’ innovative work behavior, taking cultural values measured at the individual level into consideration. The current study was conducted at two large Chinese medical equipment and supply companies using survey methodology. A sample of 284 employees was obtained from both R&D and functional departments. Results showed that satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs are respectively positively related to employees’ innovative work behavior. Second, a positive relationship between autonomous motivation and innovative work behavior was found. In addition, my empirical research also provided evidence that autonomous motivation partially mediates the relationship between satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs and innovative work behavior. In terms of the influences of individual cultural values, I found that power distance orientation negatively moderates the positive relationship between autonomous motivation and innovative work behavior. More specifically, the indirect effects of satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs on innovative work behavior through autonomous motivation are weakened when employees’ power distance orientation is high. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.


identifier: Tan, Suo  (2017) Roles of Perception in Engineering Design – A Theoretical Foundation to Improve Designer’s Performance.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Engineering design is a complex decision-making process which frames the transition from an engineering problem to a final product, to meet a set of requirements. During this process, perception is inevitably involved. Perception, a term originated from psychology, referring to a process where a person arrives at an interpretation of his/her sensory experience about the surroundings, has been involved in a broad scope in engineering design, e.g., understanding a design problem, comprehending customers requirements, conceptualizing design thoughts, organizing and managing resources, and evaluating alternative solutions. To study the engineering process from the perception’s perspective, a theoretical model has been proposed. In this model, workload, skill, knowledge, and affect are chosen as major factors. Based on the model and the Environment-Based Design methodology, methods are proposed to quantify designer’s perception and performance at conceptual design stage. Experimental studies have been conducted to validate the proposed model. As a result, the model serves well as a phase-based quantification tool for designer’s perception and performance. In addition, a significant positive correlation has been found between one’s perception and performance. Furthermore, the model implies a foundation to improve one’s performance for engineering design.


identifier: Khawasik, Ola  (2017) Distinct under-ice bacterial communities in seasonally ice-covered northern lakes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Many northern lakes are seasonally ice-covered and it was traditionally thought that microbial communities and processes lay dormant under the ice due to cold temperature and low light levels. In this study, we investigated the spatial patterns of bacterial communities during ice-covered and ice-free periods in three limnologically distinct Canadian lakes using 16S rRNA gene sequencing approaches. Multivariate analyses of community similarity grouped samples first by lake, then by season, demonstrating that community composition was distinct during the ice-covered and ice-free periods and suggesting differences in metabolic strategies of populations living under the ice. 16S rRNA sequences from Verrucomicrobia and Planctomycetes, as well as the methylotrophic LD28 bacteria, were often abundant during ice cover. However, only a small fraction of bacterial taxa were commonly associated with ice-covered conditions across all lakes, suggesting that local lake conditions play a more important role than regional climate conditions in structuring bacterial communities in seasonally ice-covered northern lakes. These preliminary findings will guide further metagenomics-enabled research into the metabolic diversity of these important microbial communities.


identifier: Ross, Margaux  (2017) A Resource-Oriented and Relationship Based Music Therapy Approach for Persons Living with Dementia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research was to make a case for how a wide range of needs of persons living with dementia can be addressed within a person-centered music therapy approach that emphasizes therapeutic relationship as a core component. Philosophical inquiry was used to explore models of music therapy that either currently emphasize or have the potential to emphasize person-centred, relationship-based care for the dementia population. A review of the literature revealed that although current models do exist, there is a lack of publications in recent years to support their use. An emergent music therapy approach, Resource-Oriented Music Therapy (Rolvsjord, 2010), was selected for reconceptualization within a dementia care context. To assess the suitability of this approach, medical literature was reviewed to determine the physical, psychological/emotional, and social needs of persons living with dementia. The key concepts of Resource-Oriented Music Therapy were reviewed to formulate an argument for how this music therapy approach can suitably address each domain of need for the dementia population. Implications for further research on how person-centred, relationship-based music therapy approaches may be applied to dementia care, implications for how current music therapy professionals may adapt their practice to provide care within this framework, as well as implications for advocacy of the dementia population presented by this research are explored. This philosophical inquiry may serve as a resource for clinicians, researchers, and students toward enhancing awareness and understanding of how a person-centred, relationship-based approach may be beneficial to their work with persons living with dementia.


identifier: Ray, Sujoy  (2017) Collaborative Planning and Event Monitoring Over Supply Chain Network.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

format: text other other

abstract: The shifting paradigm of supply chain management is manifesting increasing reliance on automated collaborative planning and event monitoring through information-bounded interaction across organizations. An end-to-end support for the course of actions is turning vital in faster incident response and proactive decision making. Many current platforms exhibit limitations to handle supply chain planning and monitoring in decentralized setting where participants may divide their responsibilities and share computational load of the solution generation. In this thesis, we investigate modeling and solution generation techniques for shared commodity delivery planning and event monitoring problems in a collaborative setting. In particular, we first elaborate a new model of Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP) to jointly serve customer demands using multiple vehicles followed by a heuristic technique to search near-optimal solutions for such problem instances. Secondly, we propose two distributed mechanisms, namely: Passive Learning and Active Negotiation, to find near-optimal MDVRP solutions while executing the heuristic algorithm at the participant's side. Thirdly, we illustrate a collaboration mechanism to cost-effectively deploy execution monitors over supply chain network in order to collect in-field plan execution data. Finally, we describe a distributed approach to collaboratively monitor associations among recent events from an incoming stream of plan execution data. Experimental results over known datasets demonstrate the efficiency of the approaches to handle medium and large problem instances. The work has also produced considerable knowledge on the collaborative transportation planning and execution event monitoring.


identifier: Ravinder Kumar, Ravinder  (2017) The Effect of Collaborative Learning on Enhancing Student Achievement : A Meta-Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the effect of collaborative learning on student achievement. The sample of the study consisted of 20 representative studies involving 2434 participants selected from an extensive literature search based on the use of collaborative activities in a formal education setting cutting across multiple grade levels and subject domains. Analysis of representative studies (k = 28) yielded a moderately weighted average effect size of 0.26. A mixed effects model was used for the analysis of the moderators of effect size. The research design was not significant across true and quasi- designs. Two groups – high collaboration (Experimental condition) and no or less collaboration (control condition) – were compared to measure the effect of collaborative learning on the dependent variable of student achievement. The analyses of moderator variables were not significant or suffered from a lack of statistical power (i.e., grade levels). Implications for the use of the collaborative learning are discussed, and recommendations for future researchers are suggested along with the limitation and conclusions.

Keywords: collaborative learning, meta-analysis, student achievement


identifier: Zhang, Bixuan  (2017) Institutional Investor Heterogeneity and the Information Content of Dividends.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Based on Amihud and Li's (2006) and DeAngelo, DeAngelo, and Skinner's (2004) findings on the "disappearing dividends" phenomenon documented by Fama and French (2001), we examine the relation between institutional holdings and information content of dividends across different payer groups. We find that the increase of institutional holdings mainly contribute to firms' declining information content of dividend change announcements, and this effect is stronger and concentrated in bottom payers. Furthermore, the change of holdings owned by institutional investors with different incentive to monitor a firm's governance has distinct effects on the decline of information content across top and bottom payers. Our results indicate that for top payers, only the increase of ownership held by motivated monitors is negatively associated with the information content of dividends. On the contrary, the information content conveyed by dividends in bottom payers is sensitive to all kinds of institutional holdings, including that are generally regarded as unconcerned about firms' governance.


identifier: Hobbis, Geoffrey G.A.  (2017) A Technographic Anthropology of Mobile Phone Adoption in the Lau Lagoon, Malaita, Solomon Islands.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis explores the experiences of villagers in the rural Lau Lagoon, Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, as they adopt mobile phones. I discuss how the adoption of mobile phone technology affects and is affected by existing information-communication technologies; how and to what extent Lau adoption of mobile phones is circumscribed by the marginal place of the Lau in globalized capitalist economies; and I elaborate on the main controversies that surround the adoption and use of mobile phones, local conceptualizations of how digital technologies work, their morality, what they are meant to be used for and for what they are not to be used. Specifically, I focus on the two primary functions of mobile phones in Gwou’ulu: the mobile phone as (1) telephone and (2) as movie-watching device.
Theoretically, I rework approaches to technography for an investigation of digital technology and media consumption with a focus on mobile phones—in 2014 of the approximate 250 adults living in Gwou’ulu, 100 owned a personal mobile phone and many more shared a mobile phone. Technography, or ethnographies of technology, offers a strategic multi-disciplinary combination that examines the historical, economic, political, religious, environmental and material conditions that constitute the realm of possibilities that constrain but also facilitate particular sets of choices made by individuals in response to the adoption of new technologies such as mobile phones. My methods for data collection are a combination of participant observation and open ended interviews on individual mobile phone usage.
My findings show village life in a transition period of technological and social digitization. They highlight how, in the Lau Lagoon, mobile phones shift information-communication technologies (ICTs) from the public to the private realm and how an individualized consumption of mobile phones fuels uncertainties as to if and how mobile phones, as telephone or as movie-watching devices, transform social relationships among village residents as well as relationships between villagers and their urban relatives. I argue that mobile phones and their diverse functions—from telephony to movie player to calculator—are best described as super-compositional objects because they encompass and agitate so many of the social relationships and cultural values that are otherwise the defining features of a particular group of peoples in a particular place.


identifier: Saad, Ranya Essmat  (2017) Performative Photographic Narratives: Stories of Egyptian Jewish Diaspora and Egypt’s Lost Cosmopolitan Identity.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of my research is to investigate how photography informs the ways we perform storytelling and self-reflections of diaspora as a lived experience emerged from wars and contradicting political ideologies. The Egyptian Jewish diaspora was the result of series of wars between Egypt and Israel from 1948 to 1973. Through an ambiguous perspective of diaspora, I am representing my story in diaspora as a Canadian immigrant with Egyptian roots comparing my experience with those of my research participants, two Egyptian-Canadian Jews who fled Egypt during the nationalism wave and after the Suez Canal War in 1956. In a Deleuzian sense of multiplicity, I am examining the ways video-recorded interviews create unfolded images of the narration process that links the narrators’ geographic presence to memories of lived experiences and personal identity, and invite the viewers to become part of the process. Photographed self-portraits are self-representations that are analyzed through understanding the intersectionality of the body, mind, and soul. Our stories highlight shades of relatedness that emphasize cultural hybridity and multiculturalism as a means of understanding the complexity of humans identity and life experiences. I describe a rhizomatic learning experience that brings holistic education into community practice as a method that foregrounds social and cultural transmission and transformation as the process of self-realization and becoming other.


identifier: Liu, Qian  (2017) The Joint Impact of Industry Structure And Financial Distress On Corporate Risk Management: An Empirical Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: While in risk management literature, there are many studies indicating that industry structure and financial distress have effects on corporate hedging behavior individually, their joint impact, however, has never been examined. This thesis presents the first-ever empirical research investigating the joint influence of industry structure and financial distress costs upon corporate risk management by examining 396 companies in the U.S. manufacturing industries with 2-digit SIC codes from 20 to 39 over the period from 2010 to 2015. According to their financial status and the measurement of industry structure, the 396 companies are divided into 4 groups: financially unconstrained-competitive industry, financially constrained-competitive industry, financially unconstrained-concentrated industry, and financially constrained-concentrated industry. The results suggest that industry structure and financial distress have a significant combined effect only on the financially constrained companies in competitive manufacturing industries.


identifier: Mahdavi, Soheila  (2017) Thermal Cycling of Out‐Of‐Autoclave Thermosetting Composite Materials.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites have been widely used in space industries for manufacturing of spacecraft structures, satellite‐panels and antennas. Composite materials in space undergo harsh environmental conditions. One of the most environmental effects during the life of a satellite antenna is thermal cycling during which the composite endures a large temperature difference between −196°C and +180°C, depending on operational condition. On the other hand, composite structures for space applications are often cured in an autoclave to achieve the required space grade quality which is limited and expensive. Therefore, fabrication of large structures using out‐of‐autoclave (OOA) with the same performance as autoclave with lower costs is of interest of many industries. Composite parts cured inside an oven have higher void content than the ones cured in the autoclave. This thesis aims to study the effect of thermal cycling on the mechanical and thermal properties of flat laminates made of unidirectional (UD) and woven fabric OOA materials as well as a sandwich panel. A toughened epoxy prepreg reinforced by carbon fibers was used to manufacture flat laminates by the hand layup and cured inside the oven. Coupon samples were cut and subjected to different number of thermal cycles (30, 60, 100, 150, 200, 350) by dipping into the liquid nitrogen (−196°C) and then transferring to the oven (+140°C). Afterwards, different material properties were measured including: interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) in three-point bending, viscoelastic properties (loss and storage modulus and tan δ) and glass transition temperature (Tg) in DMA, and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in TMA. Besides, optical microscope was utilized to identify damages within the resin. It was identified that the thermal cycling can affect the examined properties by two competing factors: (i) excessive cross-linking in polymer chain due to post-curing at high temperature; (ii) micro-cracks formation due to the induced thermal stresses as a result of matrix/fiber CTE mismatch. It was found that the thermal cycling can cause microcrack formation and propagation around the voids in the laminate and affect its properties.


identifier: Moazzeni, Shahaboddin  (2017) Energy-Efficient Wake-up Receivers for 915-MHz ISM Band Applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Wake-up receiver (WuRx) is a well-known approach for optimizing the latency and power consumption of ultra-low power transceivers in wireless sensor nodes.
Tuned RF (TRF) or Envelope Detection architecture is an appropriate topology for short-range Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications, where achieving a very high sensitivity is not a priority. However, the demand for an improved sensitivity gets emphasized for longer transmission ranges. Regardless of the application, considering the existing trade-off between the power and sensitivity, design techniques and novel architectures are usually employed to optimize the power-sensitivity product. Moreover, considering the negative impact of higher data rate on the sensitivity, the energy-sensitivity product can be a more reasonable figure of merit when comparing WuRx designs.
In this thesis, the RF-subsampling architecture has been combined with the TRF receiver architecture as a first approach for improving the power-sensitivity product. The overall power consumption is reduced as a result of employing the subsampling topology with a low-frequency local oscillator (LO). Post layout simulations show that the proposed WuRx draws only 56 μA from a 0.5 V supply and exhibits an input sensitivity of -70 dBm for a data rate of 100 kbps. The chip occupies an area of 0.15 mm2 and is fabricated with TSMC 90nm CMOS technology.
Another major contribution of this work is to propose and implement a novel dual-mode ultra-low-power WuRx based on the subsampling topology, which not only reduces the overall power consumption but also optimizes the energy-sensitivity product of the receiver. During the typical mode of operation known as the Monitoring (MO) mode, the start frame bits are received at a rate of as low as 10 kbps. Having received the true preamble bits in the MO mode, the remaining wake-up pattern bits are received at a higher rate of 200 kbps during the Identifier (ID) mode. By lowering the gain of the front-end amplifier in the MO mode, the power dissipation is reduced, which in turn causes an increase in the overall noise figure of the receiver. However, adequate sensitivity and hence an optimized energy-sensitivity product is maintained by intentionally lowering the data rate as well as the detection bandwidth of the receiver in the MO mode.
The proposed wake-up receiver has been designed and fabricated in IBM 130 nm technology with a core size of about 0.2 mm2 for the target frequency range of 902-928 MHz. The measured results show that the proposed dual-mode receiver achieves a sensitivity of -78.5 dBm and -75 dBm while dissipating an average power of 16.4 µW and 22.9 µW during MO and ID modes, respectively.


identifier: Zimmer, Thibault  (2017) Finding Identity: Marginalized Teens and Their Allies Creating Alternatives and Possibilities for Educational Change Through Stories and Art as Pedagogic Actions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this Master’s thesis, I looked at an alternative program as part of a Montreal inner-city high school, and explored through the use of narratives, both textual and visual, the participant’s situations as disenfranchised students, teachers and administrators. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, a total of six participants, including myself collectively became active agents of social change by employing reflexive approaches to this research in order to foster a sense of advocacy.
In so doing, I gained a researcher a new and better understanding of alternative programming in the public educational system, and the role of the arts within it. Finally, in using letter writing as creative form, I engaged participants to think critically about their identities as students, teachers, and researchers, thus democratizing the notion of pedagogy and public curriculum.


identifier: Holowka, Eileen Mary  (2017) circuits.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: circuits

abstract: circuits is a narrative Twine Game that explores the act of remembering, witnessing, and narrativizing sexual trauma in a time when conversations about what constitutes sexual trauma, how to talk about it, and which discursive communities have a stake in this discussion are particularly prominent in media, classrooms, and art. Through poetry and photography, circuits looks specifically at an individual’s experiences with sexual trauma in order to explore how the act of writing sexual trauma is negated and rehashed through institutions, on media platforms, and in courtrooms. circuits’ fragmented and cyclical construction reflects the chaos of remembering and repeating trauma. As the story winds around itself, the artificial photos develop, constructing a body as well as a narrative, and suggesting that trauma narratives are not just repetitive, but regenerative. The title of this project, circuits, reflects the interwoven process of narrating one’s own trauma through the body, media, and institutions, as well as the power in and difficulties of reconciling one’s experiences with the trauma of others. Circuits weaves together many conflicting themes including self-identification and self-harm, archival obsessions and erasure, censorship and hyper-publicity, truth and facts, submissiveness and authority, to create an interconnected map of experiences that the reader/player must navigate. My goal in publishing circuits online is to explore how interactive platforms such as Twine can not only make a story more accessible, but allow for new methods of storytelling. This paper copy of circuits is intended to only be read in addition to the digital version.


identifier: Bubic, Renata  (2017) The Various Moderators in the Relationship Between Consumer Perceived Value and Online Repurchasing Behaviour.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Consumer’s perceived value is an important factor in online purchasing intention. A consumer’s gender, age, and shopping motives contribute to his or her perceived value. It is projected that online shopping will account for 11 percent of all retail sales by 2018. Attracting online consumers is imperative to online retail success, and as such new services (i.e., same-day delivery and the ability to try the product before being charged) to increase the consumer’s online shopping experience have developed. This study will replicate that of Fang et al., (2016) which demonstrated the moderating effects of gender, age, and shopping motive on perceived value, but will further the literature to include how new services impact these moderating factors. This study will offer practical implications to online retailers to see if these services could improve their businesses.


identifier: Saad, Mina Edward Fahmy  (2017) A Systematic Literature Review of Music Therapy Assessments for Persons Living with Dementia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT
Although several articles have been written on music therapy assessment in geriatric contexts and specifically for persons living with dementia, it seems that intake assessments are not being conducted in consistent ways and that music interventions are not being integrated into the multidisciplinary care plans of persons living with dementia. In order to lay the foundation for creating a more standardized approach to initial music therapy assessment processes for persons living with dementia, it is important to identify and better understand the assessment processes and tools that exist to date. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify and describe music therapy assessment tools and/or processes for PLWD.


identifier: Macoretta, Nicole  (2017) Learning in the Third Age: A Look into the Community Art Studio.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This qualitative study investigated the perception of learning by third age participants at an unprogrammed community art studio (Timm-Bottos, 1995) in Montreal known as an ‘art hive’ (Timm-Bottos, 2012). Third agers are defined as participants between the ages of 55-75 (Laslett, 1989), and participation is defined as making art. A case study research design was used, and 11 participants in the third age at the art hive known as ‘La Ruche d’Art: St Henri’ were interviewed about their learning experiences. Emergent themes suggested learning was heavily influenced by the structure and facilitation, as well as the social aspect of the art hive. Perceived learning included instrumental skills such as artistic skills, techniques, and social skills. Embodied and transformative learning experiences included learning how to freely express oneself, learning essential meanings and life lessons, learning new or broadened perspectives, and learning the healing power of art making. Learning was perceived to occur simultaneously by observing others and through self-initiated and directed processes. Many of the reported learning experiences were perceived as transformational, and led to experiences of personal growth, empowerment and profound fulfillment. This study points to many implications for the art hives and other community art studios to have a significant impact on the well-being of aging populations, as they offer opportunities for participants to express themselves creatively, build self-efficacy and autonomy, as well as feel welcomed to belong to an inclusive, loving community.


identifier: Wood, Shea M.  (2017) Witnessing Stories: The Transformative Impact of Witnessing Performed Lived Experience Within the Context of Family Life Education.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This study examined how theatre and performances based on lived experience can be used as a tool within family life education (FLE) and foster transformative learning in the witness. FLE is a type of adult education that aims to provide individuals and families with knowledge, skills, and resources to assist them in living healthy lives and addressing the challenges that affect families throughout the lifespan. Transformation can be initiated in FLE programs when the learning methodologies encourage personal, critical reflection and emotional engagement. Therefore the goal of this research was to explore the elements that could be included in performances based on lived experience to evoke emotion and foster personal/critical reflection in the witness.
This qualitative research utilized a grounded theory approach to collect and systematically analyze data to construct theory grounded in the data. Specifically, this study involved presenting a performance piece based on the lived experience of being a child in a family struggling with alcoholism, and collecting data from the witnesses in order to gain insight into the human experience of witnessing this performance piece based on lived experience, and the elements of the performance that witnesses identified as important and useful in fostering transformation. The results of this study generated recommendations for the creation of performances to be used within adult learning, applications to the context of FLE, and possibilities for future research.


identifier: Rodriguez Burbano, Diana Consuelo  (2017) Development of CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ Persistent and NIR Photo-Stimulated Nanophosphors.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Persistent luminescent nanophosphors are nano-sized materials that have recently come into the limelight and have attracted attention as potential fluorescent imaging probes due to their attractive optical properties.  The synthesis and characterization of red persistent luminescent CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors were investigated. These nanophosphors are capable of energy storage due to presence of electron trap sites. This provides a new approach of avoiding exposure of biological tissue to high-energy irradiation and eliminating the generation autofluorescence since these nanophosphors are charged ex vivo with UV irradiation. Once injected in the body, in vivo images can be acquired by detection of the red persistent luminescence originating from the shallow traps present in the nanophosphor. After the persistent luminescence has subsided, energy stored in deeper traps can be released upon near infrared light (NIR) irradiation, resulting in a red photo-stimulated emission.

With the goal to develop CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ persistent and NIR photo-stimulated nanophosphors, synthesis and characterization of the optical properties of CaS nanoparticles and CaS:Eu2+ and CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors were carried out.  The nature of the electron trap sites and the trapping and de-trapping mechanisms were studied by wavelength resolved thermally stimulated luminescence. In addition, the generation of strong red light emission following NIR excitation of the CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors is demonstrated. This basic understanding is primordial in the development of a new nano-sized photonic materials in the field of biomedical luminescent probes for applications in bioimaging.

The integration of the CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors as an optical bioimaging probe is limited by the hygroscopic character of the CaS nano host. Consequently, different surface modification strategies were studied to render the CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors water dispersible and at the same time prevent hydrolization. Among the surface modification strategies studied, the grafting of a silica shell, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), was chosen to carry out preliminary in vivo fluorescence optical imaging experiments using TEOS-CaS:Eu2+/Dy3+ nanophosphors as the luminescent probes.


identifier: Gosselin, Marc-André  (2017) Understanding the influence basic service and value-added service usage has on customer churn in Pay-TV subscription services.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Similarly to other North-American markets, new digital services and alternatives to the traditional pay-TV service are proliferating while the Canadian pay-TV industry is witnessing persistent subscriber losses. In an attempt to support changing viewing behaviors, generate more value and protect the subscriber base, pay-TV operators are extending their core TV service using value-added services (VAS). However, whether or not VAS successfully contributes to reducing subscriber attrition is unknown for academics and operators alike. Using survival analysis, the research examines VAS usage and churn behaviors for 11 647 pay-TV customers over a 12-month period. The results show that VAS users are not systematically less likely to churn and their churn behavior largely depends on usage frequency and usage patterns. Customers with constant or increasing usage frequency are less likely to churn than non VAS users and heaviest users appear to exhibit the greatest level of risk. Results also show that beneficial effects of VAS are generated by free services while payable VAS actually increases customers’ risk. These findings show that churn prediction models need to look beyond the core service and examine actual behavioral usage statistics for both the core service and value-added services. From a managerial perspective, the results confirm that service extensions do indeed generate value and operators can further reduce customer attrition by maximizing VAS adoption. However, the results also show operators need to maintain and stimulate usage to preserve the beneficial effect of VAS and better understand the drivers that increase service switching behaviors.


identifier: Cotter, Elise  (2017) Being Canadian: Formulating and Branding a National Identity.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In 2017, Canada will celebrate 150 years of Confederation. Like the 1967 Centennial celebration, the upcoming commemoration can be viewed as a nation-building exercise and an opportunity to redefine or refine Canadian identity. At the centre of the commemoration will be the way the celebration is branded, and at the centre of the branding will be the logo. Within the last 50 years, nation branding has emerged as a prominent marketing phenomenon for both the private and public sectors in many countries across the world. Nation branding, as defined by Melissa Aronczyk in Branding the Nation, refers to the use of traditional advertisement techniques and strategies in making national culture into a marketable and monetizable entity. Using the Centennial and Sesquicentennial celebrations as case studies, I deconstruct the notion of “Canadian identity” as a brand, noting the cultural context, political mandate and constructed narratives surrounding the celebrations.  A chapter on the Centennial celebration will consist of a Barthesian examination of 1967’s logo, speeches and celebratory events. The Sesquicentennial celebration chapter will focus on the themes and speeches of Canada 150, exploring the rhetorical and visual strategies used in service of governmental nation branding projects.


identifier: Moran, Daniel  (2017) Mindfulness and the Music Therapist: An Approach to Self-Care.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text audio audio audio audio audio

abstract: Although self-care is important for helping professionals, there is limited practical information on how music therapists might address this issue. The purpose of this heuristic self-inquiry was to examine insights that emerged when a newly-certified music therapist, also enrolled in a Master’s music therapy training program, engaged in reflective and experiential self-inquiries during a mindfulness meditation training. Results revealed three overarching categories: exploring mindfulness meditation, identifying stressors in personal and professional life, and positive experiences through mindfulness meditation. Each category contained subcategories explicated through insights, personal journal quotes, and music improvisation excerpts that emerged during the self-inquiries. A creative synthesis, representing the researcher’s transformation throughout the research process, is presented in the form of an original mindfulness meditation song. The researcher believes that the insights gained throughout the research process have not only been beneficial in terms of his own self-care, but will also have ongoing positive impacts on his music therapy practice. He also hopes that this research will have relevance for music therapy students and professionals who are looking for optimal ways to address their own self-care needs.  Implications for music therapy research, practice, and training are discussed.


identifier: Li, Bin  (2017) Overestimation of others’ willingness to pay – An investigation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This project focuses on consumers’ overestimation of others’ willingness to pay, a topic of theoretical importance as well as managerial importance. Previous research has found that consumers often overestimate others’ willingness to pay, and that this effect can be found in a variety of circumstances. The underlying reasons behind this effect are, however, not well understood. We conducted seven studies to test the leading proposed explanations – namely, perceptions of others’ consumer spending self-control capabilities and perceptions of others’ affluence – and also considered moderating factors such as product type – hedonic/ utilitarian, and ethical/conventional products. Overall, our research contributes to the pricing literature by adding to the limited number of studies that have so far addressed this issue. Our findings replicate some earlier ones, and also provide insight into the mechanism through which overestimation occurs. Pricing practitioners should also benefit from our findings as they will be able to calibrate themselves better so as to minimize overestimation, and generate sales while charging the optimal price in the conduction of an appropriate marketing strategy.


identifier: Akiror, Jemimah Connie  (2017) Rotational Core Losses in Hydro Generators.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Accurate estimation of core losses in hydro generators is invaluable as it has implications of monetary value to both machine designers and utilities. For machine designers to meet the maximum acceptable total loss design targets, accurate loss estimation techniques are important to avoid the penalty of the extra losses generated. On the other hand, increase in the demand for electricity requires utilities to increase the output of their hydro generators as an alternative to building new stations, which is a more cost efficient option. Therefore, accurate prediction of core losses and their distribution, as part of the uprate studies, is key for any proposed uprate to determine the machine’s hot spots and core capability. This will permit the increase in machine rating without compromising its life time.
This study is towards an accurate quantification of core losses and their distribution in hydro generators stators for uprate studies. The emphasis is on understanding the distribution of rotational flux in the generator stator core, rotational core loss measurements in lamination steel, and core loss estimation including both the rotational and non-sinusoidal flux density components. This entails 2D electromagnetic finite element modelling, validation and simulation of hydro generators, which are subsequently used for the analysis.
The distribution of rotational flux was found to be dependent on the stator dimensions and material BH curve operating point. Moreover, the associated rotational core losses resulted in a non-uniform distribution of losses in the stator, with higher localized losses at the back of the tooth. This new distribution of core losses is important in the thermal modelling to determine the distribution of hotspots in the machine.
In this work, the numerical analysis provides an understanding of what is happening in the machine beyond the current measurement capability in the real machine. The experimental measurements performed also support the numerical results in the loss estimation.


identifier: Hunt, John Kenneth C.  (2017) The Manhattan Project.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: The Manhattan Project

abstract: The Manhattan Project is a book of lyric poetry that chronicles the discovery of nuclear energy and its subsequent use as both a weapon and a fuel source. The book is grounded in the aesthetic positionality contained in scholar Joyelle McSweeney’s concept of the ‘necropastoral’, a  liminal zone where disparate spaces, such as the classical `urban` and `pastoral`, become blurred. The Manhattan Project examines the enduring impossibility of sufficiently responding to the continuing repercussions of the nuclear age and its post-nuclear contaminants through a kind of `resurrection` of lyric meditation, further mutated by both formal constraints and conceptual frameworks.


identifier: Rabeigholami, Atefeh  (2016) The Problems of Translating Erotic Texts in Post-Revolutionary Iran.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis shows that erotic texts are translated in post-revolution Iran, which is an ideological country ruled by a religious government. Even though censorship is an influential factor, it does not lead to a systematic ban of foreign novels containing erotic material from the country’s book market. My study demonstrates how Persian translators cope with censorship when translating erotic texts from English and French and how they are resourceful in finding various strategies in order to have their translations published. It also analyzes other key factors that influence the translation process of erotic content, for instance, significant linguistic and cultural differences as well as the ideology of the translator.


identifier: Mousavi, Seyyed Ebrahim  (2017) Modeling struvite precipitation in a batch reactor using a population balance model in a 3-D computational fluid dynamic (CFD) framework.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Discharge of significant amounts of phosphate from nutrient-rich wastewater is problematic considering the potential risk for contamination of groundwater and eutrophication of recipient water bodies. On the other hand, phosphorus is a limited, non-renewable resource with total reserves that may be depleted in the near future. As a result, phosphorus recovery is receiving increased attention as an environmental concern. The recovery of phosphorus using a precipitation technique is one proven solution for this issue. In this work, the precipitation of Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate (Struvite) as an alternative method for the recovery of phosphorous is modeled in a batch stirred tank reactor. The aim of this work is to link Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with Population Balance Modeling (PBM) to develop a 3-D CFD model that can predict the Crystal Size Distribution (CSD) of struvite. In the simulation, the CFD flow field was solved through a Eulerian multiphase approach and RNG k-ɛ turbulence model, using a commercial CFD package, ANSYS Fluent 17.1. The population balance equation was solved using the discrete method, implementing 25 different size classes. The size-independent growth rate as a function of the supersaturation index (SI) was employed in the model through User Defined Function (UDF). A series of experiments were conducted utilizing synthetic wastewater in a stirred tank reactor agitated with a Rushton impeller to confirm the simulation results. The model successfully predicted the variation in crystal size distribution as well as SI values over the experiment time period.


identifier: Tavassoli, Nasim  (2017) The development of prosocial behaviours between siblings: Instrumental helping, sharing, comforting, and protecting.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the development of prosocial behaviors between siblings in a naturalistic setting over a period of two years. This study examined (1) behavioral cues indicating siblings’ needs, (2) responses to siblings’ manifestations of need, and (3) engagement or failure to engage in prosocial behaviors. A total of 40 families with two children were observed in their homes at two time points; when they were 2- and 4-years and then 4- and 6-years of age. Siblings’ interactions were coded for 180 minutes at each time point. Overall, children often failed to express their needs explicitly and consequently, parents intervened frequently to clarify children’s ambiguous manifestations of need, although the children’s helping behavior did not depend on parental intervention. Children’s expressions of need changed over time and varied between siblings. Moreover, some behavioral cues such as nonverbal request and negative emotionality appeared to be more persuasive to siblings, as they elicited prosociality more than other cues. As children got older, they more often addressed implicit cues. Children engaged in helping and sharing more than comforting and protecting, and the theorized association between types of behavioral cues and children’s engagement in different forms of prosocial behavior was found. Children’s engagement in sharing was found to depend on its cost, as well as the ownership status of the contested resource. Overall, the findings illuminate how prosociality develops between siblings. Implications for parents and educators are discussed in terms of possible ways in which this development might be facilitated.


identifier: Rivard, Alexandre B.  (2017) Plus ça change…: The Effects of Nationalism and Electoral Competition on Immigration and Integration Policy Proposals in Quebec, 1976-2014.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This work is a comprehensive study of immigration and integration policy proposals made by the Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ) through the 11 elections that took place from 1976-2016. Where the PLQ is a federalist provincial party, the PQ is the PLQ’s primary opponent and represents the province’s sovereignist ambitions. However, this work posits that the PLQ and PQ propose similar immigration and integration policy proposals. Where one might expect to see a stark contrast between the parties’ proposed ethnocultural diversity management policies, we see periods of significant convergence—both parties, in fact, propose similar policies as a whole. Furthermore, this work examines the impact that nationalism and electoral competition maintained over the parties’ policy proposals. Simply put, this work argues that nationalism is incredibly important for both parties but both parties largely proposed inclusive and pluralist ethnocultural diversity management proposals. The theory of brokerage politics has been applied in order to explain this convergence, in effect demonstrating that the parties converge on this policy area in order to appeal to the greatest number of voters as possible by fundamentally limiting the ideological differences between the two parties.


identifier: Riven, Levi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6261-082X <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6261-082X>  (2017) The Metalinguistic Buffer Effect: When Language Comprehension is Good but Linguistic Judgment is Only "Good Enough".  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Native speakers occasionally report incorrect interpretations of language inputs. For instance, when presented with implausible passive sentences, such as "The dog was bitten by the man", participants sometimes report incorrectly that the dog is the agent of the sentence (Ferreira, 2003). According to the good-enough approach, this error occurs because the language comprehension system sometimes relies on rapid heuristics in favour of structure to determine the meaning of a sentence. This thesis tested the hypothesis that the passive misinterpretation effect is not an error of comprehension, but arises only after interpretation, when participants formulate a thematic judgment of the sentence. It was hypothesized that such thematic judgments involve metalinguistic thinking that can be decoupled from language comprehension processes. This thesis reports the results of two research manuscripts designed to test this hypothesis. In both manuscripts, the methodology involved comparisons of L1 and L2 speakers in single and dual task conditions, which required participants to either report the agents of aurally presented sentences (single task), or to do so while also maintaining six digits in WM (dual task). Because L2 comprehension is more dependent on metalinguistic knowledge than L1 comprehension (Paradis, 2004), it was hypothesized that language status would modulate thematic judgment errors. In Manuscript 1 (Chapter 2), I report the results of two between-subject experiments—one single task and one dual task—which showed that indeed language status modulated the effect. In the single task experiment, there was no difference between L1 and L2 groups. However, in a dual task experiment, the L2 group performed better on the language component of the task (thematic assignment) and worse on the WM component of the task (digit recall). This illustrated that attention allocation to language inputs (at the expense of other tasks) may buttress thematic judgment. In Manuscript 2 (Chapter 4), I report the results of a within-subjects experiment with bilinguals designed to stabilize attention allocation to the different task components, and better isolate the language processing mechanisms that differentiate L1-versus-L2 performance. The data provided evidence for a dissociation between semantic composition and metalinguistic processing in the form of a language-by-load crossover interaction. Bilinguals were better at retrieving the agents of passive sentences in their L2 in the single task condition, but were worse in their L2 in the dual task condition. The pattern suggested that thematic judgments are supported by metalinguistic processes. L2 performance is better in the single task condition because L2 comprehension entails higher initial engagement of metalinguistic representations. In contrast, L1 comprehension depends on implicit semantic compositional processing, which engenders switch costs associated with initiating metalinguistic judgments after interpretation. Critically, because metalinguistic processing is dependent on the control system, the WM load in the dual task condition interfered selectively with L2 comprehension. Thus, L2 performance declined precipitously, while L1 processing remained stable. I conclude that in a native language, “good-enough” heuristics bias metalinguistic conceptualizations of thematic roles post interpretation, and that the underlying semantic composition of passive sentences is fully and faithfully achieved upon an initial analysis by the linguistic system.


identifier: Timm-Bottos, Anna  (2017) Seeing the Potential: A Canadian Creative Reuse Centre Case-Study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis includes practical information on existing models of creative reuse centres across Canada, and identified key themes that reflect a centre’s success which may serve as an adaptable roadmap for communities interested in developing their own creative reuse centre. The key themes of Putting people first, building relationships and seeing the potential asks us to hear the needs of the community and offer places for people of all abilities, backgrounds and demographics to see abundance of materials that are already in thee world, be inspired to create with them and feel gratitude for the others who have kept them out of the waste stream for us.


identifier: Sciuto, Dana-Marie  (2017) Mystery Ink: A Teacher Self-Study of a Tattoo Art Education Project.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This project examines the role of the educator involved in a student-centred, art-based project aimed to increase learning and engagement for at-risk youth in a rural high school. Specifically, a tattoo parlour business in an alternative classroom for at-risk youth was designed, implemented, and studied. In conducting the project, the researcher sought to establish how theory can drive a practical, hands-on project that can be integrated into an alternative classroom setting. This self-study project is inspired by the researcher’s personal educational history and a desire to approach learning from a different angle than that imposed by standardized curriculum and evaluation. It begins with the premise that at-risk youth, who are not served by the mainstream learning path, require a curriculum that targets their interests and motivates them to stay in school. An important corollary to art education, engagement, and at-risk youth is the importance of play in the learning process. The results are examined using Lassonde (2009) and Samaras (2011) self-study methodology and the final outcome of the project includes a teaching portfolio that provides clear instructions for other art educators or alternative educators who wish to incorporate the project into their schools.


identifier: Tickner-Broadhurst, Sandra  (2017) A Philosophical Inquiry into Music Therapy, Adult Day Centers, and Serious Mental Illness.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT

Philosophical Inquiry into Music Therapy, Adult Day Centers, and Serious Mental Illness.
Sandra Tickner-Broadhurst
Music therapy is a discipline which has shown to be effective in empirical studies when its interventions are used in psychiatric hospital units or specialized psychiatric settings to: (a) enhance global well-being, (b) improve psycho-social functioning, (c) diminish anxiety, (d) decrease stress, and (e) support validation. The purpose of this inquiry stemmed from the author’s assumption that music therapy may also assist older adults with serious mental illness experience a successful integration into an Adult Day Center. The research design used a philosophical inquiry methodology to investigate and develop an argument to support and present the potential roles of music therapy in assisting the target population make the transition/integration into the community service provider of an Adult Day Center. Development of the argument involved an investigation and analysis of the role of music therapy’s potential as an essential first-line intervention towards facilitating a successful integration experience. Analysis of the literature demonstrated the efficacy of music therapy to enhance socialization, communication, recovery and well-being for adults with serious mental illness within psychiatric hospitals, day hospitals, community settings, and demonstrated the possibility of similar interventions in an Adult Day Center. The results revealed the potential for music therapy to be effective in the Adult Day Center setting to decrease: (a) the risks of isolation, and (b) the multi-faces of stigmatization, bias, and prejudice. Music therapy’s potential for addressing non-adherence to health care services for older individuals with serious mental illness looks promising however, the current evidence is inconclusive thereby indicating need for further research. The conclusion addresses the limitations of the study, gaps in the literature, the author’s interpretations of the inquiry, and presents potential future questions for practice and research in music therapy in Adult Day Centers.


identifier: Valdovinos Rodriguez, Salvador Edmundo  (2016) A Comparative Study of Research-For-Design: Teaching and Learning in two undergraduate Graphic Design Programs in Canada and Mexico.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This research focuses on effective ways to teach and learn research-for-design, looking for creative ways to do research and contribute to the field of design education. This study has examined the pedagogical practices of educators engaged with research-for-design and how students learn research skills. The challenge was to determine how to explore current education and draw connections between teaching and learning, and how to identify best practices that contribute to the advancement of design education. The review of theories of graphic design education, design processes, and research in the design process has supported the methodology of an international comparative education research between two undergraduate graphic design programs one in Canada at Concordia University and one in Mexico at the University of San Luis Potosi, through focused interviews to students and educators.
Participants have stated that graphic designers connect people to people, objects and ideas as a dynamic interface. The programs showed differences coming from the art and design streams but both have validated functional and aesthetic dimensions of design. The interviews have shown how designers do research-for-design through observation, questioning, comprehensive thinking, iterative, informal and intuitive processes, collaboration and empathy. Educational strategies should develop questioning and critical thinking, comprehensive and sustainable views, interdisciplinary and collaborative practices, self-develop and interaction with clients, users and stakeholders. In the results, some of the concepts that may improve education of research are: an institutional design methodology, the connection between theory and practice, motivation and engagement of students, balance between creation and research, collaboration among educators, real-world experiences, and effective use of mock-ups.  The application of the outcomes of this study in my practice is helping students to understand their role as designers in the community and to develop their potential in design practice.


identifier: Dufresne, Marieke-Noëlle  (2017) Deux langues, un pays : analyse des stratégies de traduction d’un discours de John A. Macdonald sur la Confédération canadienne.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: La communication bilingue représente un défi depuis le tout début de la cohabitation de deux nations sur le territoire que nous appelons aujourd’hui le Canada. Depuis lors, la traduction constitue un moyen permettant aux chefs politiques de s’adresser aux populations francophones et anglophones qu’ils gouvernent. Le présent travail compare le discours sur la Confédération canadienne que John A. Macdonald a prononcé en anglais en 1865 et sa version traduite, qui a été publiée dans divers journaux francophones cette même année. À l’aide des stratégies de traduction catégorisées par Andrew Chesterman, du concept d’habitus emprunté à Pierre Bourdieu et de la notion de Skopos avancée par Christiane Nord, nous examinons la manière dont la version française du discours de Macdonald a été rendue. Nous relevons des différences entre les deux versions du discours et nous les expliquons en tenant compte des facteurs par lesquels les populations du Haut-Canada et du Bas-Canada se distinguent l’une de l’autre. Nous constatons que l’habitus du peuple francophone a été pris en compte par le traducteur dans le but de convaincre cette population des bienfaits de la Confédération. Notre étude illustre la manière dont les choix, parfois subtils, d’ordre syntaxique, grammatical, sémantique et pragmatique influent sur la traduction d’un discours politique en vue d’en augmenter la réception par la population francophone.


identifier: Irimia, Vlad  (2017) Physical Risk-Taking, Digit Ratio, and Circulating Testosterone.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT

Risk-Taking, Digit Ratio and Circulating Testosterone
Vlad Irimia
Using evolutionary psychology as a theoretical framework, the paper argues that extreme sports act as a vehicle for men to display social status and genetic fitness to prospective mates. Despite lacking an apparent utilitarian outcome, the behavior of skydivers can be seen as a costly signal given that parachute jumping requires substantial courage, athleticism, coordination, mental fortitude, and a willingness to take risks, all of which are characteristics deemed attractive to the opposite sex. We explore the biological basis of physical risk-taking by measuring skydivers’ fluctuating testosterone levels and consequently, demonstrating an increase in their salivary testosterone concentrations following the act of parachuting. This hormonal change suggests that successfully engaging in a physical risk triggers an endocrinological response in men that is similar to the one triggered during competition. Testosterone is largely responsible for our species’ sexual dimorphism, entailing that testosterone may also be responsible for the colossally unbalanced sex ratio in extreme sport participation. Developmental testosterone exposure measured through two biomarkers (second-to-fourth digit ratio and facial width-to-height ratio) were also taken into account in relation to extreme sport engagement. Finally, a survey examining the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, Life History Theory as well as other psychological variables were included in the study. These scales are nomologically related to the theoretical foundation of the present research. A better understanding of what drives extreme sport engagement provides marketing practitioners and scholars a useful theoretical framework for understanding similar types of consumptions.


identifier: Tushar, Mosaddek Hossain Kamal  (2017) Intelligent Energy Management for Microgrids with Renewable Energy, Storage Systems, and Electric Vehicles.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The evolution of smart grid or smart microgrids represents a significant paradigm shift for future electrical power systems. Recent trends in microgrid systems include the integration of renewable energy sources (RES), energy storage systems (ESS), and plug-in electrical vehicles (PEV or EV). However, these integration trends bring with then new challenges for the design of intelligent control and management system. Traditional generation scheduling paradigms rely on the perfect prediction of future electricity supply and demand. They can no longer apply to a microgrid with intermittent renewable energy sources. To mitigate these problems, a massive and expensive energy storage can be deployed, which also need vast land area and sophisticated control and management. Electrical vehicles can be exploited as the alternative to the large and expensive storage. On the other hand, the use of electrical vehicles introduces new challenges due to their unpredictable presence in the microgrid. Furthermore, the utility and ancillary industries gradually adding sensors and power aware, intelligent functionality to home appliances for the efficient use of energy. Hence, the future smart microgrid stability and challenges are primarily dependent on the electricity consumption patterns of the home appliances, and EVs.  Recently, demand side management (DSM) has emerged as a useful method to control or manipulate the user demand for balancing the generation and consumption. Unfortunately, most of the existing DSM systems solve the problem partially either using ESS to store RES energy or RES and ESS to charging and discharging of electrical vehicles. Hence, in this thesis, we propose a centralized energy management system which jointly optimizes the consumption scheduling of electrical vehicles and home appliances to reduce the peak-hour demand and use of energy produced from the RESs. In the proposed system, EVs store energy when generation is high or during off-peak periods, and release it when the demand is high compared to the generation. The centralized system, however, is an offline method and unable to produce a solution for a large-scale microgrid. Further, the real-time implementation of the centralized solution requires continuous change and adjustment of the energy generation as well as load forecast in each time slot. Thereby, we develop a game theoretic mechanism design to analyze and to get an optimal solution for the above problem. In this case, the game increases the social benefit of the whole community and conversely minimizes each household's total electricity price. Our system delivers power to each customer based on their real-time needs; it does not consider pre-planned generation, therefore the energy cost, uncertainty, and instability increase in the production plant. To address these issues, we propose a two-fold decentralized real-time demand side management (RDCDSM) which in the first phase (planning phase) allows each customer to process the day ahead raw predicted demand to reduce the anticipated electricity cost by generating a flat curve for its forecasted future demand. Then, in the second stage (i.e., allocation phase), customers play another repeated game with mixed strategy to mitigate the deviation between the immediate real-time consumption and the day-ahead predicted one. To achieve this, customers exploit renewable energy and energy storage systems and decide optimal strategies for their charging/discharging, taking into account their operational constraints. RDCDSM will help the microgrid operator better deals with uncertainties in the system through better planning its day-ahead electricity generation and purchase, thus increasing the quality of power delivery to the customer. Now, it is envisioned that the presence of hundreds of microgrids (forms a microgrid network) in the energy system will gradually change the paradigms of century-old monopolized market into open, unbundled, and competitive market which accepts new supplier and admits marginal costs prices for the electricity.  To adapt this new market scenario, we formulate a mathematical model to share power among microgrids in a microgrid network and minimize the overall cost of the electricity which involves nonlinear, nonconvex marginal costs for generation and T&D expenses and losses for transporting electricity from a seller microgrid to a buyer microgrid.


identifier: ahmadpanah, Seyedpouyan  (2017) Numerical study of two-phase turbulent flow in hydraulic jumps.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Hydraulic jump is a rapidly varied flow phenomenon that the flow changes suddenly from supercritical to subcritical. Hydraulic jumps are frequently observed to exist in natural river channels, streams, coastal water, and man-made water conveyance systems. Because of a sudden transition of flow regime, hydraulic jumps result in complex flow structures, strong turbulence, and air entrainment. Accordingly, they are two-phase flow, with air being the gas phase and water being the liquid phase. Consequences of the occurrence of hydraulic jumps include: unwanted fluctuations in the water surface with unstable waves and rollers, undesirable erosion of channel sidewalls and channel bottom, and reduced efficiency for water conveyance systems. Thus, it is important to study various aspects of the phenomenon.
So far, knowledge of the phenomenon is incomplete. The main objective of this research is to improve our understanding of the complex flow structures and distributions of air entrainment in a hydraulic jump. Previously, both experimental and computational studies of the phenomenon have typically suffered a scale problem. The dimensions of the setup being used were unrealistically too small.
In this research, we took the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach, and simulated hydraulic jumps at relatively large and practical dimensions. This would help reduce artificial scale effects on the results. On the basis of Reynolds averaged continuity and momentum equations, CFD simulations of hydraulic jumps were performed for four different cases in terms of the approach flow Froude number Fr1, ranging from 3.1 to 5.1. The Reynolds number is high (between 577662 and 950347), which ensures turbulent flow conditions. The CFD model channel is discretized into 2,131,200 cells. The mesh has nearly uniform structures, with fine spatial resolutions of 2.5 mm. The volume of fluid method provides tracking of the free surface. The standard k-ε turbulence model provides turbulence closure.
For each of the simulation cases, we carried out analyses of time-averaged air volume fraction, time-averaged velocity, time- and depth-averaged (or double averaged) air volume fraction at a series of locations along the length of the model channel (Note that the terms air volume fraction and void fraction are used interchangeably in this thesis). We compared the CFD predictions of air volume fraction with available laboratory measurements. It is important to note that these measurements were made from laboratory experiments that corresponded to essentially the same values of Fr as this CFD study, but used a channel of smaller dimensions, in comparison to the CFD model channel. The CFD results of time-averaged air volume fraction are reasonable, when compared to the experimental data, except for the simulation case with Fr1 = 3.8. For all the four simulation cases, the predicted variations in air volume fraction show a trend in consistency with the experimental results. For the three simulation cases (with Fr1 = 3.1, 3.8 and 4.4), the time-averaged air volume fraction in the hydraulic jumps is larger at higher Reynolds number. However, for the simulation case with Fr1 = 5.1, it is smaller at higher Reynolds number. This implies that the amount of air being entrained into a hydraulic jump depends on not only Fr1 but also the depth of the approach flow. In future studies of the hydraulic jump phenomenon, one should consider using approach flow of realistically large dimensions at various values of Fr1, for realistic predictions of air entrainment in hydraulic jump rollers.


identifier: Al Salem, Aqeel Asaad  (2017) Managing Consistency and Consensus in Group Decision-Making with Incomplete Fuzzy Preference Relations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Group decision-making is a field of decision theory that has many strengths and benefits. It can solve and simplify the most complex and hard decision problems. In addition, it helps decision-makers know more about the problem under study and their preferences. Group decision-making is much harder and complex than individual decision-making since group members may have different preferences regarding the alternatives, making it difficult to reach a consensus.

In this thesis, we deal with three interrelated problems that decision-makers encounter during the process of arriving at a final decision. Our work addresses decision-making using preference relations. The first problem deals with incomplete reciprocal preference relations, where some of the preference degrees are missing. Ideally, the group members are able to provide preferences for all the alternatives, but sometimes they might not be able to discriminate between some of the alternatives, leading to missing values. Two methods are proposed to handle this problem. The first is based on a system of equations and the second relies on goal programming to estimate the missing information. The former is suitable to complete any incomplete preference relation with at least


identifier: Dubé, Bruno-Pierre ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9855-9499 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9855-9499>  (2016) Reliability of the determination of the ventilatory threshold in patients with COPD.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Purpose
The ventilatory threshold (VT) is a physiological turning point that can be used to guide for exercise prescription, as a tool to monitor response to an intervention and as a prognostic marker, but the presence of respiratory disease may limit the reliability of its measurement. This project aimed to determine the reliability of the assessment of the ventilatory threshold among human and computerized observers, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and controls.

Methods
VT was identified from incremental exercise testing graphs of 115 subjects (23 controls and 23 in each COPD severity class) by two human observers and a computer analysis, using the V-slope method and the VEM. Agreement between observers for VO2 at VT (VO2VT) and heart rate at VT (HRVT) were evaluated using intra-class correlation (ICC) for humans and Passing-Bablok regression analysis (human vs computer).

Results
For humans, ICCs for VO2VT were higher in controls [0.98 (0.97-0.99) both with V-slope and with VEM] than in COPD patients [0.72 (0.60-0.81) with V-slope and 0.64 (0.50-0.74) with VEM]. Human and computerized values of VO2VT were interchangeable in controls, but not in COPD patients. FEV1 and peak-ventilation were independent predictors of a lesser reliability of VO2VT. Inter-observer differences in HRVT ranged from 2±1 beats/minute (controls) to 10±3 beats/minute (GOLD 4).

Conclusions
In COPD, the reliability of human estimation of VO2VT is less in than in controls and not interchangeable with a computerized analysis. This should be taken into account when using VT in the clinical and research settings.


identifier: Graves, Joan  (2017) The Artist Gaze: A Research-from-Creation Based Thesis on the Selfie and the Female Image.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A qualitative research-from-creation based thesis studying what possible generalizations may be found of the female gaze when the artist collaborates with the model in order to produce one single image. Using participants Esme, Kayley, Jess, Catherine, Steph, Deborah, Noelle, Marie- Josée and Caroline, the research was to answer the following question: through the study of the painted selfie, what new information may be revealed in order to understand and define the female gaze. The research consists of each participant providing the study with a selfie and the researcher/artist then using the selfies as each portrait’s reference of study. General themes retrieved from the analyzed data regard: the rendering of the female image, comparing the concepts of a male gaze with a female gaze, the practice of selfies, and how the self compares to the media’s fabricated standards for society. Conclusions drawn from the study suggest the reform of the male gaze concept, a reflection placed upon how the self relates to society, and how art and education may facilitate critical thinking using the concept of the gaze. Rather than the gaze being defined by gender, the research suggests the gaze be defined by how the gaze functions: consumer gaze versus an observer gaze.


identifier: Biot-Pelletier, Damien  (2017) Historical Contingency and Compensatory Evolution Constrain the Path of Evolution in a Genome Shuffling Experiment with Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

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abstract: The research reported in this thesis builds on an evolutionary engineering experiment (Pinel 2011) that yielded strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae tolerant to a lignocellulosic hydrolysate. A highly tolerant strain was later characterized by whole genome and transcriptome sequencing (Pinel 2015). The evolutionary trajectories of mutations identified by sequencing were probed by whole population amplicon sequencing, while their significance to the phenotype was assessed by genotyping of additional mutants. Results of this work suggested that our survey of mutations selected during evolutionary engineering was partial. I therefore hypothesized that a complete survey of mutational diversity by whole population genome sequencing would further refine our understanding of lignocellulosic hydrolysate tolerance in S. cerevisiae. I further conjectured that extending this survey to several time points would reveal some of the fundamental evolutionary mechanisms that shape the outcomes of genome shuffling experiments. In parallel, I hypothesized that phenotypic testing of reverse engineered point mutants would identify mutations responsible for lignocellulosic hydrolysate tolerance in our strains of S. cerevisiae. My data revealed that a stong founder effect and prevalent genetic hitchhiking during genome shuffling lead to the domination of compensatory patterns during evolution. Bias introduced by historical contingency lead to the selection of few genuinely beneficial mutations. In the specific context of lignocellulosic hydrolysate tolerance, mutations in genes NRG1 and GSH1, conferring tolerance to acetic acid, oxidative, and potentially other stresses most prominently enhanced the phenotype.


identifier: Pourabadehei, Mehdi  (2017) Resuspension of Sediment, a New Technique For Remediation of Contaminated Sediment in Shallow Harbours.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Shallow harbours with contaminated sediments are subjected to the risk of uncontrolled resuspension of sediment, which could remobilize weakly bound heavy metals into overlying water and pose a potential risk to aquatic ecosystem. Remediation of sediments in these areas cannot be performed by conventional in situ and ex situ remediation methods. Alternatively, the resuspension technique was introduced to address these issues. The concept of the resuspension method is that finer sediments have a greater tendency to adsorb the contamination due to their specific surface area and ionic attraction. Therefore, finer particles were targeted for removal from the aquatic environment by a suspension mechanism in a confined water column. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of the resuspension technique as a new approach for remediation of contaminated sediment and a viable option to reduce the risk of remobilization of pollutants in harbours. The results indicated that the resuspension technique could successfully reduce the total concentration of contaminants (i.e. Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb) in almost all samples below the probable effect level with no significant change in the overlying water quality. Precisely, by removing just 4% of contaminated sediment in this method, the contamination intensity of Cd and Pb (as the main pollutants) was reduced by 26 and 28 percent and for the rest of the contaminants returned to the non-polluted level. Removal efficiency of heavy metals was positive with a minimum 17.6% for Co and a maximum for
25.9% for Zn. The results of the sequential extraction test (SET) also illustrated that the contaminant removal efficiency could be drastically enhanced for metals in sediment with a higher enrichment factor. Principal component analysis, performed on the data sets from the SET results, implied the significance of the anthropogenic factor in contaminating the sediments in the study area. Removal of contaminants from sediment through this method could also reduce the risk of mobility and availability of metals under changing environmental conditions. No chemical substances were employed in the resuspension method. Subsequently, less destruction can be caused in the aquatic ecosystem.


identifier: Joseph, Shereen  (2016) Communicating science policy controversies: How the fields of science journalism, science and politics interact through the lens of Bourdieu’s conceptual triad.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Science controversies and how they play out in the media can affect national policy. Examining how these debates are communicated sheds light on the underlying motivations of certain players that have a stake in the outcome. Looking at the communication of science policy controversies gives us a glimpse into the alliances or oppositions between these players. This thesis examined how three key fields – politics, science and science journalism – interacted to shape how selected science policy controversies are communicated. This examination allows us to situate the stance of science journalists relative to the fields of science and politics, and gain better insight into their motivations when participating in the debate on science policy controversies. Three examples of science policy controversies are investigated. The first two examples (the implementation of a national science policy and the application of an environmental policy) are culled from the Science Forum, which is a journal published in the 1970s. This historical example of Canadian national science policy debates is employed to situate the third more contemporary example of science policy controversy – the ‘muzzling’ of government scientists. Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual triad of practice, habitus and social fields is used as a historicized methodological tool to map the social interactions found in the science policy controversies examined. This theoretical approach also provides a deeper analysis of the patterns of interaction that emerged.


identifier: Gentile, Jordan  (2017) Can’t Have Politics without the Party: The relationship between public opinion and the elections to the European Parliament.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
The objective of this thesis is two-fold: first, to determine how parties get elected to the
European Parliament (EP); second, how they vote, once in power. I compare two founding
member states (France and the Netherlands) to two newer ones (Poland and Hungary). In order
to investigate the degree of disconnection between public opinion and the votes of these
countries’ delegates, I measure the former through the so-called Eurobarometer surveys. I count
the bills voted on, broken down by political party for the time between May 2014 and March
2016.


identifier: Conrad, Ryan  (2017) Reviving the Queer Political Imagination: Affect, Archives, and Anti-Normativity.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Through investigating three cultural archives spanning the last three decades, this dissertation elucidates the causes and dynamics of the sharp conservative turn in gay and lesbian politics in the United States beginning in the 1990s, as well as the significance of this conservative turn for present-day queer political projects. While many argue that growing supremacy of the ideology of neoliberalism is a root cause of such political reorientations, this hypothesis remains woefully inadequate. By examining queer activist AIDS art and its changing metaphors from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and examining how battles over sexual orientation-inclusive non-discrimination law were felt and understood by citizen journalists working in the gay and lesbian press from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, this dissertation accounts for the nonconscious emergence of collective moods and shared minoritarian affects that have narrowed the queer political imagination. This research is informed by theoretical frameworks provided by Raymond Williams (structures of feeling), Deborah Gould (emotional habitus), Jonathan Flatley (affective mapping), and José Muñoz (utopian longing), all of which foreground an analysis of affect as integral to an understanding of history, subjectivity, and the political. Lastly, this dissertation examines the work of Against Equality, a group I co-founded, as a site of resistance that reinvigorates and expands the queer political imagination in the present political moment.


identifier: Raiche-Moyyen, Justin  (2017) Expression, Purification and Characterization of Enzymes Involved in the Activation of Aromatic Ring Compounds in Aspergillus niger.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In microbial degradation of hydroxy-aromatic compounds, preparation of the ring for cleavage is a crucial step.  Two enzymes types involved in this are hydroxylases  and decarboxylases.  Hydroxylases introduce an oxygen atom into the aromatic ring while decarboxylases remove a carboxyl group.  Bacteria and fungi are known to elaborate these types of enzymes but fungal forms have so-far received relatively little attention.
	A. niger is a fungus which has been shown previously to grow on salicylate, benzoate, and several other aromatics1.  The A. niger genome has many genes annotated as coding for aromatic hydroxylases and some decarboxylases: fifteen such genes were chosen for recombinant expression in E. coli.  Of these, four corresponding hydroxylases were successfully expressed, purified, and characterized according to substrate specificity, cofactor requirement and quaternary structure.  These proteins, all FAD-containing, comprise a true salicylate hydroxylase, two salicylate hydroxylase-like enzymes, and a hydroxylase active on p-cresol, resorcinol, and hydroquinone.  While the first enzyme is likely to be involved in metabolism of salicylate, the functions of the two salicylate hydroxylase-like enzymes are unclear, as is the function of the p-cresol active enzyme.  A fifth enzyme, 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate decarboxylase, was also successfully expressed in E. coli and purified.  Although its properties were similar to those previously reported for the enzyme isolated from A. niger 2,3,4, the pH optimum appeared to be somewhat higher. In addition, it was found that this enzyme could catalyze the reverse reaction, carboxylation of catechol, and that after treatment with a mixture of chelators Ca2+ appeared to stimulate the activity


identifier: Chen, Xu  (2017) Collocation Methods for Nonlinear Parabolic Partial Differential Equations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we present an implementation of a novel collocation method for solving nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) based on triangle meshes. The temporal partial derivative is discretized using the implicit Euler-backward ﬁnite difference scheme. The spatial domain of the PDEs discussed in this thesis is two-dimensional. The domain is ﬁrst triangulated and then reﬁned into appropriately sized triangular elements by the Rivara algorithm. The solution is approximated by piecewise polynomials in the elements. The polynomial in each element is requiredtosatisfythePDEatcollocationpointsoftheelementandkeepacertaindegreeofcontinuity with the polynomials in the neighboring elements via matching points. Nested dissection is used recursively, from the elements up to the entire domain, to merge all pairs of sibling sub-regions for eliminating the variables at the matching points on the common sides shared by the merged sub-regions. Then by applying global boundary conditions, we solve for the solution values at the boundary points of the entire domain. The solutions at the boundary points of the domain are backsubstituted to solve the variables at the matching points of the sub-regions. This back-substitution is repeated until every element is reached. The accuracy of the solution is affected by the time step, granularity of the subdivision, the number and location of matching points, and the number and location of collocation points. Increasing the number of matching points or collocation points does not always improve the accuracy. Instead, it may cause singularity. We have given several layouts of speciﬁc numbers of collocation and matching points which bring high accuracy. Our solution visualization algorithm directly renders mathematical surfaces instead of any approximation of them. Thus each pixel of the rendered surfaces exactly reﬂects the corresponding fragment on the mathematical surfaces.


identifier: Keyvan Ghazvini, Farshad  (2017) Modelling of a Hybrid MAC Protocol for M2M Communications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications is one of the enabling technologies for connecting massive number of devices to the Internet of Things (IoT). M2M communications have different characteristics than human-to-human (H2H) communications. In this work, we propose a scalable, hybrid MAC protocol that will satisfy user quality-of-service (QoS) requirements.
We model both periodic and nonperiodic traffic. The proposed MAC protocol organizes transmissions into superframes consisting of a number of frames. A machine is assumed to generate a one or zero packet per its period. The machines have been divided into several types according to their packet generation probabilities. The generated packets are classified into different traffic classes according to their tolerance to packet losses and served by a subframe. Further, each subframe is divided into two sub-periods one serving contention and the other reserved traffic of that traffic class. We formulated an optimization problem that minimizes frame length subject to QoS user requirements. Then, we derived packet loss probability for each class as well as total packet loss probability for the optimization. Formulation resulted in a nonlinear optimization problem, but numerical results show that an LP approximation provides a nearly optimal solution.
	The work also considered the proposed protocol under user mobility. The packet arrival process under user mobility has been derived. Then the performance of the protocol has been evaluated with the contention service under this arrival process. The contention service with and without packet losses have been considered. A priority queueing mechanism also has been studied for M2M communication. The results of this thesis may be useful in the design of M2M communication system.


identifier: Bélanger, Alexandre  (2017) On the control and automation of a novel membrane electro-bioreactor (MEBR).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The membrane electro-bioreactor (MEBR) has demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of wastewater, where superior quality of the effluent was achieved. The MEBR is a compact hybrid unit that uses several processes, such as activated sludge, membrane filtration, and electrokinetic phenomena. The objective of this study was to improve the treatment of wastewater by monitoring and controlling MEBR processes on-line, which was accomplished by implementing an automation system. As the complexity of the processes increase in the treatment wastewater, it is difficult to their guarantee performance; the automation system maintained the wastewater treatment to satisfactory performance.
Automation of the system was accomplished through control algorithms using on-line instrumentation of critical parameters such as: dissolved oxygen, aeration, and water levels. The MEBR system demonstrated removal of carbon and nutrients (phosphorus, and nitrogen) for water recovery. Automated aeration ensured biological treatment without excessive aeration, fluctuating low dissolved oxygen concentrations allowed for simultaneous aerobic and anoxic conditions without inhibiting biological treatment. Automated electrokinetic improved nutrient removal with reduced energy consumption, also biological treatment was not inhibited. Electrokinetic demonstrated even lower than previously observed energy consumption. A user interface was implemented to allow on-site monitoring of the processes as well as allow adjustment of process parameters. Having a completely automated MEBR allowed this novel wastewater treatment system to be implemented in a remote location, as a decentralized system, in order to simulate an effective wastewater treatment system which may be applied to improve the quality of life for the secluded population of northern Canada and Quebec.


identifier: Bergsma, Emily  (2017) “Canadian Reject”: Melvin Charney’s Design for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 70.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is a study of Melvin Charney’s competition entry for the Canadian Government Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. As the competition was held in early 1967, this thesis looks at how Charney’s pavilion design for a future Expo was in fact a response to the architectural impact of Expo 67 on his hometown of Montreal. Charney’s Expo 70 pavilion design was emblematic of ‘megastructure’ design – a movement in avant-garde architecture in the 1960s that drew from new technological advancements to create flexible, complex architectural systems. In this thesis, I argue that Charney was drawn to megastructure design because it seemed to present a resolution to contradictory objectives within his architectural practice. Focusing on Charney’s practice in the 1960s and drawing from his critical writings on architecture published during this time, this thesis examines how Charney’s conception of megastructure design was a celebration of modern technologies and industrial systems that offered a means of preserving vernacular building methods, while also serving as a critique of architectural and political institutions.


identifier: Buzzetti, Juan  (2017) Street Network Morphologies: On the Characterization and Quantification of Street Systems. A Case Study in Montréal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study aims at understanding the spatial dynamics of the street system in residential sectors of Montréal. Different periods of development have produced street networks displaying a diversity of characteristics and configurations. Yet all these different pieces are spatially interconnected implying that they are part of a functional whole. In the course of the historical evolution of the city the new pieces of the network are connected to pre-existing rural roads from which they often stem. However, while responding to a set of internal functional rules and technical requirements, the street system does not deploy in autarchy. Rather, it is integrated within a broader spatial framework comprised of natural and human-made features such as the hydrographic system, the topography, the agricultural allotment system and in more recent times, of components of technical systems such as canals, railroads and high-capacity transportation infrastructure. By delving into the differing street networks geometries as well as into the barriers and boundaries that spatial discontinuities, the project sets about identifying the “parts” in order to understand their inner characteristics as well as the modalities of their articulation to the “whole.” We hence define neighbourhoods as areas predominantly residential which exhibit some degree of internal homogeneity in regards to block geometry, street network configuration and refer to these areas as “morphological neighbourhood areas,” or simply, MNAs. A variety of quantitativea and qualitative methods are mobilized with the purpose of delimiting MNAs in the Island of Montréal. Subsequently, with MNAs as our unit of reference, a classification of urban neighbourhoods is proposed based on quantifiable spatial properties of the urban tissue, which include attributes pertaining local street network geometries, and part-to-whole topological relationships.


identifier: altidor cespedes, suze-andree  (2017) a spiritual perspective on musical improvisation: a music therapist's heuristic journey.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the music therapist’s personal experience of music improvisations when these were performed with a spiritual intention. The main goal was to gain insight into her personal connections to music and spirituality, and better understand their implications in her role as a music therapist. The research process included 14 improvisation sessions of one hour each, which took place over a period of two weeks. The data collection procedure was performed according to Moustakas’ heuristic methodology, and was based on the music therapist’s improvisation recordings and reflexive journals. Three main themes were revealed: the significance of spiritual holding in the process of musical improvisation, authentic musical expression as a path to self-discovery, and the growth towards a positive and integrated sense of self as a result of combining musical expression and spirituality. The inquiry was summarized with a creative synthesis which took the form of a narrative description of the music therapist’s research experience. In conclusion, personal and professional implications of the results were discussed. Limitations of the study and areas for future research were also identified.