identifier: Corran, Charlotte  (2020) Anxiety sensitivity, drinking motives, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use and problems: A prospective state-trait analysis among emerging adults.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Alcohol use and problems increase during adolescence and peek in early adulthood. Tension reduction theories suggest that those high in anxiety sensitivity (AS) may be at risk for misusing alcohol for its anxiolytic effects. Cognitive theories point to drinking motives and alcohol expectancies as explanatory mechanisms of this risk pathway. The goal of the current study was to examine AS risk for prospective alcohol misuse, as explained by an unfolding cognitive process, among those transitioning out of ‘Collège d’enseignement general et professionnel’ (CEGEP). We hypothesized that AS, drinking for coping motives, tension reduction alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use and problems would be positively associated (across three time-points) at the ‘trait level’. Further, we hypothesized that AS would lead to a bidirectional and positive association between alcohol cognitions and outcomes at the ‘state level’. CEGEP students in their final year of study (N = 193 at baseline) completed 3 online questionnaires at 6-month intervals (third time point post-graduation). Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test measurement invariance of constructs (all but AS) across 3 time points, and state-trait modeling was used for hypothesis testing. Consistent with hypotheses, at the trait level, drinking motives and alcohol expectancies were positively associated, and alcohol problems were positively associated with drinking motives and sociability/liquid courage expectancies. At the state level, (1) AS was positively associated with cope motives, (2) positive expectancies were positively associated, and (3) enhancement motives were positively associated with sociability/liquid courage expectancies. The results suggest that AS is a risk factor for coping-motivated drinking, and that there is interplay between motives and expectancies that needs to be considered in understanding alcohol risk pathways in emerging adults.


identifier: Effati, Meysam  (2020) Energy-Efficient Trajectory Planning for Skid-Steer Rovers.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
A skid-steer rover’s power consumption is highly dependent on the turning radius of its path. For example, a point turn consumes a lot of power compared to a straight-line motion. Thus, in path planning for this kind of rover, turning radius is a factor that should be considered explicitly.
Based on the literature, there is a lack of analytical approach for finding energy-optimal paths for skid-steer rovers. This thesis addresses this problem for such rovers, specifically on obstacle-free hard ground. The equivalency theorem in this thesis indicates that, when using a popular power model for skid-steer rovers on hard ground, all minimum-energy solutions follow the same path irrespective of velocity constraints that may or may not be imposed. This non-intuitive result stems from the fact that with this model of the system the total energy is fully parametrized by the geometry of the path alone. It is shown that one can choose velocity constraints to enforce constant power consumption, thus transforming the energy-optimal problem to an equivalent time-optimal problem. Existing theory, built upon the basis of Pontryagin’s minimum principle to find the extremals for time-optimal trajectories for a rigid body, can then be used to solve the problem. Accordingly, the extremal paths are obtained for the energy-efficient path planning problem. As there is a finite number of extremals, they are enumerated to find the minimum-energy path for a particular example.
Moreover, the analysis identifies that the turns in optimal paths (aside from a small number of special cases called whirls) are to be circular arcs of a particular turning radius, R′, equal to half of a skid-steer rover’s slip track. R′ is the turning radius at which the inner wheels of a skid-steer rover are not commanded to turn, and its description and the identification of its paramount importance in energy-optimal path planning are investigated. Experiments with a Husky UGV rover validate the energy-optimality of using R′ turns.
Furthermore, a practical velocity constraint for skid-steer rovers is proposed that maintains constant forward velocity above R’ and constant angular velocity below it. Also, in separate but related work, it is shown that almost always equal “friction requirement” can be used to obtain optimal traction forces for a common and practical type of 4-wheel rover.


identifier: Bretholz, Ruth  (2020) Arts Entrepreneurship and the Importance of Shared Spaces.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Traditionally, arts education has been focused on theory and technique rather than on the practical application of skills. Many artists do not possess the entrepreneurial skills needed to work in their field. This research draws to light the difficulties of practicing art in urban centres and the need for alternative models of education.  Akin Collective, a for-profit arts organisation based in Toronto, Canada, and its sister organisation Akin Projects, a nonprofit, are two such initiatives that have emerged and work together to address this issue. This thesis employs the case study method to provide an in-depth analysis of Akin’s model of arts entrepreneurship education (Yin, 2014). Akin offers affordable studio spaces, professional development workshops and art-based programming. Non-traditional education and informal learning are explored. This research hopes to inform and educate. It is through collaboration and not competition that we grow. Akin embodies that ethos.


identifier: Rehman, Faiz Ur  (2020) Extension and Implementation of Look-ahead Supervisory Control with Buffering.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The Supervisory Control Theory of Discrete Event Systems (DES) provides procedures to design supervisors to control plants
modeled as DES. The computed supervisor issues control commands to ensure design specifications, such as safety constraints, are met. In the supervisor design process, the plant and design specification models are used to obtain the supervisor in the form of a DES. In this approach, the control commands are
effectively pre-calculated before implementation; thus the approach is known as Offline Supervisor Design. The challenge associated with this method is that it requires large onboard memory for supervisor (due to typically large DES models involved). Such large memory is not available on embedded systems.
In order to make the implementation of supervisory control feasible for embedded systems, an approach is proposed in the literature where at any given time, supervisory commands are computed on-the-fly based on models for plant and specifications covering a small window into the future (i.e., lookahead window). This method needs a significantly smaller onboard memory. As a result, however, frequent control command computation is needed. This could pose a implementation challenge since control commands must be computed after every new event in the plant. Sometimes two (or more) consecutive events could occur in rapid succession in the plant and there may not be enough time to compute control commands. To mitigate this problem, an approach has been proposed called Lookahead Supervision with Buffering in which commands are computed and buffered in
advance for a window.
This thesis makes contributions to the underlying theory of lookahead policy with buffering. Specifically it proposes a method to use the timed model of the plant to compute the timing information of event sequences. This timing information is used in choosing the buffer size and was previously obtained experimentally. The thesis also develops a method for computing plant and specification models over the loakahead window that is suited for computer coding.
The thesis also implements the lookahead supervision with command buffering. To study the feasibility of implementation and the complexity of proposed controller in detail, a two-degree-of-freedom solar tracker equipped is used as plant. The goal is to generate supervisory commands for maneuvering the solar tracker to find a bright light source for charging battery. For implementation, all supervisory control algorithms are written in C language for faster computation time. Look-ahead policy with command buffering is designed and implemented. In several tests, the supervisor successfully calculates on-line the control commands in a timely fashion and maneuvers the solar tracker to the bright source while respecting design specifications. The experimental results show that the timing information calculated with the proposed method based on timed model match the actual plant behavior. Furthermore, the experiments demonstrate that the length of command buffer (as design parameter) can be used to achieve a compromise between onboard memory requirement and computational power.


identifier: Rabey, Tyler  (2020) Double Mental Discounting: Reward Points.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Previous research has shown that when receiving a promotional credit (e.g., a gift card with a primary purchase), consumers mentally deduct the value of the promotion from the cost both when receiving the promotional credit, and when redeeming it, resulting in lower perceived costs than what was truly spent (Cheng & Cryder, 2018). The authors refer to this as “double mental discounting”, which occurred with promotional credit in the form of dollars, but not points. In two between-subjects design experiments, this research broadens our understanding of double mental discounting. Study 1 of this research partially replicates the findings of Cheng & Cryder (2018) and further investigates complexity of the points program as potential moderator to double mental discounting. Study 2 investigates how the payment transparency of the payment method (e.g., cash = high, credit card = low) and the promotion salience of the promotional credit method (e.g., gift card = high, account credit in points = low) affect double mental discounting. Study 1 did not find statistical evidence that complexity moderates double mental discounting, but the findings offer partial support for the theory. Study 2 found that paying with cash decreases double mental discounting compared to paying by credit card, and that receiving a gift card feels more like a discount during the initial purchase, but also more like a payment when being redeemed towards a subsequent purchase. This paper contributes to marketing theory and body of literature regarding price promotions, mental accounting, coupling, and double mental discounting, and puts forth strategic recommendations for the use of promotional credit and customer loyalty programs in the marketplace. The discussion of this research concludes with limitations, and future research ideas.


identifier: Meza Valdez, Aurelio  (2020) Sound Works: Prototyping a Digital Audio Repository for Sound Poetics in Mexico.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation reflects on the prototyping process carried out for creating and developing the PoéticaSonora’s digital audio repository, focused on storing, editorializing and disseminating works of sound art and poetry readings produced or recorded in Mexico since 1960. While describing the theoretical, technical, and methodological implications at stake in the design, deployment, and refactoring of the PoéticaSonora prototype (PSP), this dissertation speculates on how experimentation and a hands-on approach to sound recordings are essential for advancing fieldwork-based research in the humanities, particularly literary criticism. The notions of voice, inscription, and instrumentality, discussed in depth throughout this work, are essential for constructing a sound-oriented approach to poetry and sound art with the aid of digital tools such as the ones offered by the PSP.
After a brief panorama reviewing the many artistic scenes and genres that are present in the PSP, the Introduction frames the project’s importance for both gathering and discerning artistic tendencies in Mexico that have not been properly analyzed by text-oriented approaches to literary criticism. Chapter 1 proposes a decolonial approach on how to establish a duly horizontal dialogue around digital audio repositories in Canada and Mexico. It also delineates the necessary conditions met by PoéticaSonora to design a workflow respecting the features of artistic communities, cultural institutions, and private collectors who contribute to the PSP. After a close analysis to the prototype’s data schema and its design, deployment, and refactoring phases, Chapter 2 discusses how the restraints of database management systems both affected and modified the theoretical and methodological approach followed by the PoéticaSonora team. Chapter 3 focuses on a case study of how women vocal artists in Mexico City use and share sample-looping techniques among each other, as an example of how fieldwork contributed to fix problems in the data schema discussed in Chapter 2, such as the distinction between individual artists and collectives, between singing and reciting voice, and in the use of instruments, apart from their own voices. The epilogue discusses the necessary steps to develop the PoéticaSonora Beta version, as well as to host it in a definitive server with all the institutional, administrative, and political implications this will have on the project as a whole.


identifier: Hebiba, AlaaEldin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0353-5513 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0353-5513>  (2020) Wind-Wise Automated Decision Support Tool for Tower Crane type selection and location.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Extreme wind speeds pose a serious threat to tower crane stability. Out-of-service wind loads trigger moments that may lead to overturning of a tower crane. Even if the tower crane is anchored to the ground, its structural integrity can be compromised by strong winds since the pressure exerted by the latter can lead to excessive deflections of the mast (which may be a main cause for collapse of the entire structure). Paradoxically, although strong winds have been linked to some catastrophic failures of tower cranes, their effect is often overlooked from a construction management perspective when the models for these cranes are selected during construction planning. Moreover, tower crane location and resources supply locations selection both significantly influence the tower crane model designation and subsequently the overall productivity of the project. This paper proposes a methodology which is consisting of (i) twofold mathematical distance-based-optimization technique encompassing the crane capacity (represented as the lifted moments) and hook operation time to analyze the tower crane site layout combinatorial optimization (determining the optimal crane and the corresponding material supply locations) therefore, facilitating selecting the tower crane model through the lifting critical radius. This optimization gives practitioners the option to explore the effect of different sets of constraints on productivity and overall lifting moments. In this respect, the planning team can choose to favor faster crane operations (i.e., a tighter schedule of crane operations), or they may opt to minimize the lifting-moment, choosing a more conservative crane capacity model to mitigate total cost (ii) a static wind analysis to investigate the efficiency of the tower crane model selected to withstand extreme wind speeds against overturning (through grounding bearing pressures reactions) and mast excessive deformation (compared to allowable deflection constraints). The proposed methodology is applied on a large-scale construction site with 514 crane and material supply location and the selected tower crane model resistance against maximum potential wind speed is examined and ballast base dimensions are determined. Additionally, a case study from the existing literature is investigated as a small-scale construction site and more improved site layout optimization is generated. Finally, a well-known-real-world crane accident is analyzed to validate the performance of the proposed wind static analysis method.


identifier: Zhang, Ge  (2020) Reactive Multidentate Block Copolymer Stabilization to Develop Thermoreversible Self-healable Hybrid Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Self-healable crosslinked thermosets can prevent catastrophic failure and extend their lifetime due to their ability to recover the material properties after physical damages. A promising method to develop effective self-healable networks in repeating events is intrinsic self-healing that involves the utilization of mainly dynamic covalent linkages. Most of intrinsic self-healable networks have been designed with soft polymers to achieve rapid void-filling ability at low temperatures; however, they exhibit weak mechanical properties. The current and advanced development of intrinsic self-healable networks requires the balance of toughness and flexibility.
My Masters’ thesis research has focused on the investigation of a new platform that allows for the development of heterogeneous thermoreversible networks. The platform centers on the exploration of reactive multidentate block copolymer (rMDBC) strategy to stabilize nanomaterials, particularly carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The rMDBC is designed with a pendant pyrene block that can bind to CNT surfaces through physical - interactions. A reactive furfuryl block can react with a polymaleimide to form thermally-reversible networks through dynamic Diels-Alder (DA)/retro-DA (rDA) chemistry. The formed rMDBC/CNT colloids are acted as multiple crosslinkers for macromolecular engineering approach to form a robust heterogeneous network in which CNTs are covalently integrated, thus leading to uniform distribution of CNTs in self-healable networks. Taking advantage of characteristics of polyurethane (PU) including shape memory and hydrogen bonding, the developed materials exhibit robust self-healability and potentially enhanced mechanical property and conductivity.


identifier: Quinn, Brendan  (2020) Exploring Narrative Processing and Persuasion of Advertisements: Differences Across Communication Media.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Recent work has investigated the mechanisms underlying narrative advertisements’ persuasive powers. Another body of research has investigated the ways that consumers interact with stimuli and narratives across different communication media. However, prior research has generalized findings across media without empirically testing these generalizations. This work seeks to clarify the role of media in narrative processing of advertisements. It validates that narrative transportation, retrospective reflection and narrative engagement mediate the formation of brand attitudes by narrative advertisements across media. The roles of cognitive load, imagery generation, emotional and cognitive involvement are assessed for brands ranging across product categories and prior familiarity. The results of this research provide theoretical contributions to narrative processing, narrative persuasion and advertising bodies of literature. Limitations, future research ideas and managerial implications conclude the discussion of this research.


identifier: Nizar, Firdous ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4297-671X <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4297-671X>  (2020) Retracing Spatial Design Processes: Developing a Pedagogical Tool for Architecture.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Over the recent decades, contemporary architecture and its design processes have witnessed rapid digitization - owing to the advent of Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) tools. However, these tools for the architectural discipline have yet to holistically accommodate the intuitive, “messy” and collaborative nature of its ideation processes. These creative processes of architecture students and novice practitioners have either been flattened or neglected while enforcing conventional CAAD tools with inflexible interfaces. However, students can benefit from experiential learning in design studios with tools that support and facilitate their reflective design processes. These tools could intuitively assist in brainstorming design concepts from inspirational stimuli while simultaneously documenting these thought processes and ideas through interactive design databases. Hence, given the continued adaptation of the architecture discipline with digital design strategies, tools that help in dynamically recording and tracing the evolution of design thinking and making processes can help better validate and reflect on their corresponding conceptual designs.
This research is an investigation into the ongoing gap in the interactive documentation of the ideation processes in architecture education such that they could promote reflective design learning among architecture students while generating ideas for the built. This gap is attributed to the various challenges and limitations of existing CAAD tools such as the rigidity of their interfaces and lack of holistic support for collaborative design works. The research explores a digital design tool for students and novice practitioners that has the ability: (1) to record and trace the concepts and design ideas generated during creative brainstorming sessions, (2) to provoke reflective design thinking and making through proposed design modes and, (3) to facilitate collective contribution to these designs. Through experimentation with these criteria, the proposed tool is investigated for its potential to bridge the gap in reflectively communicating and collaborating on design proposals during the conceptual design phases in architecture education and practice.


identifier: Yang, Chen  (2020) The impact of investors’ mood on house transaction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Buying a house is a highly subjective decision which can be easily affected by investors’ mood. This paper studies the weather-based indicators of mood impact on the negotiation between buyers and sellers. Motivated by previous studies, I use cloud cover as the proxy for mood. Utilizing weather housing transaction data in Montreal from 2013 October to 2017 December, I find that high cloud cover will increase the difference between listing price and transaction price. Furthermore, it will prolong the days a transaction takes. Besides, this study finds a nonlinear relationship between cloud cover and transaction price, cloud cover and transaction period, and cloud cover and price difference between listing and transaction. At last, this study finds a weak connection between cloud cover and whether sellers decrease their listing price.


identifier: Qiu, Yetaotao  (2020) Three Essays on Corporate Disclosure and Information Externalities.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This dissertation includes three essays on corporate disclosure and information externalities. In the first essay, I examine the disclosure behavior of rival firms identified by an Initial Public Offering (IPO) candidate during the IPO quiet period when the IPO candidate is restricted in its communication. I find that the tone of disclosures made by identified rivals becomes more positive during the quiet period, and reverses after the quiet period ends. The strategic disclosure behavior is mainly driven by identified rivals’ concerns over product market competition. I also find that this behavior hurts the IPO candidate and benefits the identified rivals. In the second essay, I investigate the relations between IPO firms’ peer choice and peer information environment. I find that IPO firms tend to select peer companies with a better information environment, and this effect is more pronounced for IPO firms with greater information uncertainties. I also find support that peer information environment is positively associated with upward offering price revision, post-offering analyst coverage, and negatively associated with the number of amendment filings. Overall, this essay shows that IPO firms can make use of the externalities of peer information to facilitate their initial public offerings. In the third essay, I switch my focus from intra-industry relations to supply chain relations. More specifically, I study the effects of layoff announcements by customers on the valuation and operating performance of their supply chain partners. I find that suppliers experience a negative stock price reaction around their major customers’ layoff announcements. The negative price effect is exacerbated when industry rivals of layoff-announcing customers also suffer from negative intra-industry contagion effects. Moreover, these supply chain spillover effects are asymmetric, with only “bad news” layoff announcements causing significant value implications for suppliers, but not “good news” announcements. Supplier firms also reduce their investment in and sales dependence on layoff-announcing customers in subsequent years.

Keywords: Disclosure; Product market competition; IPO quiet period; Identified rivals; Information externalities; Peer information environment; Corporate layoffs, Supply chain relations; Stock market return


identifier: Jalabi, Amina  (2020) A Long Night: An Animated Documentary as a Tool to Represent Difficult Knowledge in Public Spaces: Transforming Compassion into Action.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text video

abstract:
A Long Night: An Animated Documentary as a Tool to Represent Difficult Knowledge
in Public Spaces: Transforming Compassion into Action
A Long Night is a 12-minute animated documentary that draws on oral narrative and uses metaphor and symbolism to explore difficult stories of illness, hunger, and torture endured by three Syrian former political prisoners who survived captivity and are now residents of Montreal. For this work of research-creation, I recruited the three narrators through my connections in the Syrian Canadian community and conducted oral history interviews to collect testimonies in the context of the Syrian political history. While the content can be challenging, A Long Night emphasizes the courage of the speakers and the importance of taking action, where possible, against injustice.
Using the framework of difficult knowledge and Foucault’s power and knowledge duality, the film references historical trauma and interprets difficult narrative while exploring its benefits in shaping a new historical consciousness that has been silenced for decades. The film A Long Night is a research-creation project that focuses on adopting strategies to guide its audience to transform their compassion into action while simultaneously being a cultural product that is easy to disseminate through social media and other accessible platforms.
Overall, feedback collected from the audience suggests that the medium of animated documentary is effective at communicating difficult narratives, such as systematic torture and mass violence. Furthermore, it can do so without alienating the audience, and may prompt positive action.


identifier: Carrière, Georges-Étienne  (2020) Of Socialite Spaces: Identity, Autobiography, and Performativity in Brooke Astor’s Interiors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The publishing and display of celebrity homes and their lifestyles have been objects of fascination for many readers and viewers alike since the late nineteenth century. Often suggesting a narrative rather than a documentary approach, these displays tend to represent a dual depiction of self-expression as a form of material autobiography and an ideal stage set to perform private lives commensurate with their public persona. By featuring her interiors primarily created in collaboration with the legendary interior decorators Sister Parish and Albert Hadley through the pages of Architectural Digest, House & Garden, Vogue, and other magazines as backgrounds to her hectic public life, the legendary philanthropist, socialite, and author Brooke Astor used this media tradition to reflect her identity, taste, and biography but also her public activities as director of the Vincent Astor Foundation, a charity built on her late husband’s immense fortune with the prospect of alleviating human misery in New York City. As the foundation’s director, she centered its activities around causes close to her heart and the city’s wellbeing on cultural, social, educational, economic, and environmental grounds, rendering her interiors, private self, and public self as deeply interlinked entities.
Following a social and gender performativity, biography and literary criticism, and design and cultural history informed framework, this research argues that her interiors were a form of public relation that importantly linked her personal interests and life story to her public activities as a philanthropist, and represented spaces for the creation, control, and staging of her public persona and narratives as material autobiographies. By focusing on the case study of this singular woman commissioner and celebrity, this thesis grapples with issues of agency, domesticity, performativity, biography, gender, and authorship within interior design and their complex interplays in celebrities’ homes.


identifier: Giannis, Irene  (2020) Changes in Purpose in Life and Low-Grade Chronic Inflammation Across Older Adulthood.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Older adults often experience an increase in low-grade chronic inflammation. Purpose in life could act as a potential protective factor as it has been linked with beneficial health outcomes, including lower levels of chronic inflammation. Purpose in life may exert part of its adaptive function by promoting engagement and persistence in goal pursuit. During older adulthood, however, when many people experience an increase in intractable stressors, declining resources, and unattainable goals, the adaptive function of purpose could become reduced. To test this possibility, the current study examined whether the association between inter- and intra-individual differences in purpose in life and chronic inflammation differed across older adulthood. The study assessed four waves of data among 129 older adults (63-91 years old) across six years. Results from hierarchical linear models demonstrated that within-person increases in purpose in life predicted reduced levels of chronic inflammation in early old age (coefficient = -.017, p < .01), but not in advanced old age (coefficient = .002, p = .67). Between-person differences in purpose were not related to chronic inflammation. These results suggest that greater within-person increases in purpose in life may protect health-relevant physiological processes particularly in early old age but may become less effective in advanced old age.


identifier: Manning-Dahan, Tyler  (2020) Applying Kernel Change Point Detection To Financial Markets.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The widespread use of computers in everyday living has created a newfound reliance on data systems to support the decisions people make. From wristwatches that monitor your health to fridges that notify users of potential problems, data is constantly being streamed to help users make more informed choices. Because the data has im- mediate importance to users, techniques that analyse live data quickly and efficiently are necessary. One such group of methods are online change point detection methods. Online change point detection is concerned with identifying statistical change points in a datastream as they occur, as quickly as possible.

The focus for this thesis is on online kernel change point detection methods. Combining kernel two-sample testing and classic change point algorithms, kernel change point methods provide a robust, non-parametric way to measure changes in probability distributions on a variety of datasets and applications. We compare several kernel change point algorithms on several synthetic datasets across a range of measurements that assess online performance. We also provide a novel way to select the kernel bandwidth hyperparameter that adapts to the data in an online fashion.

Additionally, we take a look at the intraday market liquidity changes of several financial markets. We focus on futures instruments of different asset classes from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Data is sampled for the first four months of 2020 during which the world fell into an economic recession due to a global pandemic. An online kernel change point detection algorithm is applied to detect changes in the market liquidity distribution that are indicative of important macroeconomic events.


identifier: Farah, Noun  (2020) Metal-Induced Fluorescence Quenching in Carbon Dots for Sensing Applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Overexposure to metals can induce adverse health and environmental effects, thus monitoring metal concentrations is crucial. While current detection techniques are highly sensitive, they come at elevated costs, which limit their global use. As such, cheap and accessible sensors, providing both sensitivity and selectivity, are in high demand. With high surface area-to-volume ratios, tunable fluorescence and surface chemistries, nanoparticles are under investigation for development as metal sensors. However, many challenges exist including photobleaching, toxicity and a lack of selectivity.
Owing to their low cytotoxicity, water-dispersibility and photostability, carbon dots have emerged as interesting alternatives. These amorphous carbon-based particles are ~10 nm in diameter and mainly composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. While they have been investigated in metal sensing applications, the focus remains primarily on the application rather than the fundamental understanding of the mechanism of carbon dot-metal interactions in solution.
In this work, we study the synthesis of carbon dots using several cheap and accessible precursors resulting in a surface decorated with functional groups such as amines, carboxylic acids and thiols. Following extensive purification protocols aimed at removing impurities that could bind to metal cations, we evaluate how these surface groups impact metal-carbon dot interactions. We demonstrate that some of our systems evidence sensitivity to Pb2+ and Hg2+ and exploit our knowledge of charge density and hard-and-soft acid-base theory to explain these findings and the underlying mechanism. This work provides a better understanding of metal-carbon dot interactions, which can allow us to design more sensitive and selective optical probes.


identifier: Caldwell, Warren  (2020) Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Is an Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Moderator of the Negative Interpersonal Consequences of Brooding Rumination.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This dissertation examined the moderating role of self-regulatory capacity, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), in mitigating the negative interpersonal consequences of rumination. Interpersonal emotion regulation theory suggests that the social context in which intrapersonal emotion regulation strategies are enacted will impact the outcomes of those strategies. Within this frame, RSA was examined as both an intrapersonal and interpersonal moderator of the negative interpersonal impact of rumination. In manuscript 1, it was found that greater rumination and lower RSA were associated with worse interpersonal outcomes, including more negative interpersonal behaviors, impaired support mobilization, and interpersonal stress. Therefore, the hypothesis that RSA acts as an intrapersonal regulatory factor associated with the negative interpersonal consequences of ruminating was supported. In manuscript 2, the association of rumination with marital conflict was attenuated when the romantic partner had higher RSA. Here, the reciprocal hypothesis was supported, in that romantic partners with greater self-regulatory capacity reduced the negative interpersonal impact of rumination within romantic relationships. Together, the findings suggest that rumination negatively impacts the social environment, that the social environment modulates the negative interpersonal consequences of rumination, and that greater RSA acts as both an intrapersonal and interpersonal moderator of these effects.


identifier: Malekzadeh, Parvin  (2020) Multiple Model Bayesian Estimation for BLE-based Localization and RL-based Decision Support of Autonomous Agents.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
With the rapid emergence of Internet of Things (IoT), we are more and more surrounded by smart connected devices (agents) with integrated sensing, processing, and communication capabilities. In particular, IoT-based positioning has become of primary importance for providing advanced Location-based Services (LBSs) in indoor environments. Several LBSs have been developed recently such as navigation assistance in hospitals, localization/tracking in smart buildings, and providing assistive services via autonomous agents collectively act as an Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT). The focus of the thesis is on the following two research topics when it comes to autonomous agents providing LBSs in indoor environments: (i) Self-Localization, which is the autonomous agent’s ability to obtain knowledge of its own location, and; (ii) Localized Decision Support System, which refers to an autonomous agent’s ability to perform optimal actions towards
achieving pre-defined objectives. With regards to Item (i), the thesis develops innovative localization solutions based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), referred to Bluetooth Smart. Given unavailability of Global Positioning System (GPS) in indoor environments, BLE has attracted considerable attention
due to its low cost, low energy consumption, and widespread availability in smart hand-held devices. Because of multipath fading and fluctuations in the indoor environment, however, BLE-based localization approaches fail to achieve high accuracies. To address these challenges, different linear and non-linear Bayesian-based estimation frameworks are proposed in this thesis. Among which, the thesis proposes a novel Multiple-Model and BLE-based tracking framework, referred to as the STUPEFY. The proposed STUPEFY framework uses set-valued information and is designed
by coupling a non-linear Bayesian-based estimation model (Box Particle Filter) with fingerprinting-based methodologies to improve the overall localization accuracy. With regards to the Item (ii), there has been an increasing surge of interest on development of advanced Reinforcement Learning (RL) systems. The objective is development of intelligent approaches to learn optimal control policies directly from smart agents’ interactions with the environment. In this regard, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) provide an attractive modeling mechanism to approximate the value function using sample transitions. DNN-based solutions, however, suffer from high sensitivity to parameter selection, are prone to overfitting, and are not very sample efficient. As a remedy to the aforementioned problems, the thesis proposes an innovative Multiple-Model Kalman Temporal Difference (MM-KTD) framework, which adapts the parameters of the filter using the observed states and rewards. Moreover, an active learning method is proposed to enhance the sampling efficiency of the
overall system. The proposed MM-KTD framework can learn the optimal policy with significantly reduced number of samples as compared to its DNN-based counterparts.


identifier: Larin, Eli  (2020) Fourth Wave Feminism, Shadow Feminism, and the Explicit Body in the Performances of Kate Durbin, Ann Hirsch and Faith Holland.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract

Fourth Wave Feminism, Shadow Feminism, and the Explicit Body in the Performances of Kate Durbin, Ann Hirsch and Faith Holland
Eli Larin

This thesis explores fourth-wave feminist art through the critical analysis of three performance-based works in the 2015 online independent exhibition Body Anxiety: Kate Durbin's performance Hello, Selfie!, Faith Holland's Lick Suck Screen 2, and Ann Hirsch's video dance party just us girls. I argue that these works speak to four common characteristics of fourth-wave feminism, starting with the dominant use of social media and commonly accessible technology. In all the performances we also see the continuation of the strategies and themes of cyberfeminism, as well as a focus on the apparatus that is central to post-internet art. Both have influenced fourth-wave feminism, a new wave of feminism which is to be understood from within an alternative narrative of waves that is linked to an affective temporality determined by a specific socio-economical context. Another characteristic of fourth-wave feminist art is a critical engagement with “shadow feminism” (antisocial feminism), which queer theorist Jack Halberstam argues provides alternative tools of resistance through negative actions such as failure and refusal. Finally, fourth-wave feminist art is largely influenced by its relation to Internet pornography, the pornification of culture, and the rise of porn studies, which artists Durbin, Hirsch and Holland mediate through the use of the “explicit body” in digital spaces, a concept introduced by Rebecca Schneider to discuss earlier explicit feminist performances of the 1970-1990s. In the discussed artworks, all three artists use the explicit body to gain agency from the binary model of a gendered (male or female) gaze.


identifier: Dubé, Joëlle  (2020) Poor Magic and the Temporal Emergency.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Poor Magic and the Temporal Emergency

abstract: This thesis investigates the anxiety-filled artwork Poor Magic (2017) by the Montréal-based artist Jon Rafman, as presented at the National Gallery for the Sobey Art Award exhibition. Rather than understanding Rafman’s artwork within its contemporary artistic context, this thesis instead situates Poor Magic in a constellation of philosophical concepts and considerations. Interested in the intricate ramifications of the anxiety produced by the artwork, the thesis begins by unveiling the anxiety-inducing elusiveness of death and the equally anxiety producing uncontrollability of technology – not only in the way Rafman uses them, but in their ontological structures. The focus then shifts around the outcomes of Poor Magic. Read from the standpoint of presentism, Poor Magic has the capacity to rescue us into the emergency of short-termism, rather than from it – here relying on contemporary continental philosopher Santiago Zabala’s theory. By putting forth the shortcomings of presentism and of commonly used coping mechanisms, Poor Magic makes us question and face up to the temporal emergency we are currently in.


identifier: Vu, Nhat Linh  (2020) Some Fluctuation Results Related to Draw-down Times for Spectrally Negative Levy processes And On Estimation of Entropy and residual Entropy for Nonnegative Random Variable.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Part I
 In this thesis, we first introduce and review some fluctuation theory of Levy processes, especially for general spectrally negative Levy processes and for spectrally negative Levy taxed processes. Then we consider a more realistic model by introducing draw-down time, which is  the first time a process falls below a predetermined draw-down level which is a function of the running maximum. Particularly, we present the expressions for the classical two-sided exit problems for these processes with draw-down times in terms of scale functions. We also find the expressions for the discounted present values of tax payments with draw-down time in place of ruin time. Finally, we obtain the expression of the occupation times for the general spectrally negative Levy processes to spend in draw-down interval killed on either exiting a fix upper level or a draw-down lower level.

Part II
Entropy has become more and more essential in statistics and machine learning. A large number of its applications can be found in data transmission, cryptography, signal processing, network theory, bio-informatics, and so on. Therefore, the question of entropy estimation comes naturally. Generally, if we consider the entropy of a random variable knowing that it has survived up to time $t$, then it is defined as the residual entropy. In this thesis we focus on entropy and residual entropy estimation for nonnegative random variable. We first present a quick review on properties of popular existing estimators. Then we propose some candidates for entropy and residual entropy estimator along with simulation study and comparison among estimators.


identifier: Salari, Soheyla  (2020) Farm Animal Welfare Policies: Comparing Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis explores animal welfare policies that impact farm animals in the provinces of Quebec,
Ontario, and British Columbia. It crafts the Animal Welfare Policy (AWP) concept and
uses three provincial policy cases to conduct a comparative exercise and identify patterns. These
cases are the Stratégie québécoise de santé et de bien-être des animaux, the 2012 voluntary
collaboration agreement between the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
and the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, and British Columbia’s 2015 integration of the Dairy Code of
Practice as regulation under the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Differences are
observed in some characteristics mostly related to policy implementation, and it is proposed that
distinct historical provincial development can lend explanatory weight in this area. It is also
proposed that the similarities observed in all three provinces, namely the dominance of vested
producer interests in policy-making, a lack of accountability by these interests, and a general
policy approach of marginal incrementalism, can be at least partially explained by the pervasive phenomena
of agricultural exceptionalism and corporatism in Canada. Access to information challenges are also highlighted and inform potential avenues for future research.


identifier: Marceau, Jeanne Voizard  (2020) Digital Anxieties: Affect and Technological Governance in the Works of Cécile B. Evans and Ryan Trecartin.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis considers the shifting relationships between affect, governance, and technology, by examining two contemporary video installations: What the Heart Wants (2016) by Belgian-American artist Cécile B. Evans (b. 1983), and Roamie View: History Enhancements (2010) by American artist Ryan Trecartin (b. 1981). I argue that these works allow viewers to better conceptualize the media and socio-political environments surrounding them by drawing attention to contemporary affective experiences and to digital anxieties such as confusion, competition, fatigue, and performativity. What the Heart Wants presents digital infrastructures as affective and woven within modern intimacies, ultimately critiquing the notion of a programmed sociality. Roamie View: History Enhancements hyperbolizes info-glut and conjures an understanding of contemporary cognition as affective, and of the performativity of neoliberal networked subjects. In both works, I also examine the artists’ approaches to representation and identity. In different ways, these works fulfill technological governance in its totality, and through these intensifications, shatter common assumptions about networked life. Evans presents a world reduced to a controlling, confused, and anxious digital system, while Trecartin’s characters, living with cameras 24/7, lose their bearings and are caught in endless loops of performance. Both works come to question and document the seamless integration of platform technologies as “companion systems” (James Williams) of users’ affective lives. By examining the relationship between technology and emotions, these artists recognize the socio-political qualities of emotions, and their inextricable ties to history. This allows viewers to better see the potent influence of digital systems on affect, and to engage in a politics of emotions.


identifier: Brookes, Brent  (2020) Neutral and adaptive drivers of genomic change in introduced brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations revealed by pooled whole-genome re-sequencing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Understanding the drivers of successful species invasions is important for conserving native biodiversity and for mitigating the economic impacts of introduced species. However, whole genome resolution investigations of the underlying contributions of neutral and adaptive genetic variation to successful colonization in introduced populations are rare. Increased propagule pressure should result in greater neutral genetic variation, while environmental differences should elicit selective pressures on introduced populations, potentially supporting greater adaptive genetic variation. We investigated neutral and adaptive variation among nine introduced brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations using whole-genome sequencing (28,490,618 SNPs based on pool-seq). The populations inhabit different, isolated lakes in western Canada and descend from a common source, with an average of ~19 (range of 7-41) generations since introduction. We found no evidence of bottleneck events nor strong evidence of purifying selection, and little support that varying propagule pressure or differences in local environments shaped neutral genetic variation. Putative outlier analysis revealed non-convergent patterns of adaptive differentiation among lakes with minimal outlier loci (0.001%-0.15%) which did not correspond with tested environmental variables, despite conditions that should facilitate stronger adaptive differentiation (e.g. abiotic and biotic environmental differences, propagule pressure differences). Our whole genome sequencing analysis provides an example of an introduction success not strongly influenced by genetic variation and suggests that observed differentiation among introduced salmonid populations can be idiosyncratic, population-specific, or stochastic.


identifier: obeid, yara  (2020) Earth Pressure on Walls Retaining Overconsolidated Collapsible Soils Subjected to Partial.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Collapsible soils are problematic soils that cover large parts of North and South America, Eastern Canada, Eastern Europe, China, Northern and Southern Africa, Russia and Egypt. Collapsible soils are identified as unsaturated soils that exhibit high strength when dry, but experience a drastic volume reduction when subjected to inundation. Due to today’s constant growth in construction and urban development, being exposed to these types of soils has become unavoidable. Collapsible soils are mainly challenging when exposed to water, which is usually the case in excavations where retaining walls are used. Therefore, this thesis focuses on analyzing the earth pressure acting on walls retaining collapsible soils subjected to partial inundation. The thesis will analyze the behavior of at-rest and passive earth pressure on walls retaining collapsible soils, with respect to the change in the degree of saturation, at variable values of over-consolidation ratio.
A 2-D finite element model was developed using the software “ABAQUS”, that incorporates the change in collapsible soils strength parameters when subjected to inundation. It employs the theory of unsaturated soil mechanics: including the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) and the variation in the soil’s strength parameters (angle of friction, cohesion and modulus of elasticity) with respect to matric suction. The thesis presents empirical formulae that can be used to estimate both the coefficient of at-rest and passive earth pressure of walls retaining collapsible soils, for a given collapse potential, over-consolidation ratio, and degree of saturation.


identifier: Pande, Karan  (2020) Single-Sensor DCM PFC Based Onboard Chargers for Low Voltage Electric Vehicles.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Grid-connected plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are considered as one of the most sustainable solutions to substantially reduce both the oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicles (EVs) are broadly categorized into low power EVs (48/72 V battery) and high power EVs (450/650 V battery). Low power EVs comprise two-wheelers, three-wheelers (rickshaws), golf carts, intra-logistics equipment and short-range EVs whereas high power EVs consist of passenger cars, trucks and electric buses. Charger, which is a power electronic converter, is an important component of EV infrastructures. These chargers consist of power converters to convert AC voltage (grid) to constant DC voltage (battery). The existing chargers are bulky, have high components’ count, complex control system and poor input power quality. Henceforth, to overcome these drawbacks, this thesis focuses on the onboard charging solutions (two-stage isolated and single-stage non-isolated) for the low voltage battery EVs. Power factor correction (PFC) is the fundamental component in the EV charger. Considering the specific boundaries of the continuous conduction mode (CCM) operation for AC-DC power conversion and their complexity, the proposed chargers are designed to operate in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and benefiting from the characteristics like built-in PFC, single sensor, simple control, easy implementation, inherent zero-current turn-on of the switches, and inherent zero diode reverse recovery losses. Proposed converters can operate for the wide input voltage range and the output voltage is controlled by a single sensor-based single voltage control loop making the control simple and easy to implement, and improves the system reliability and robustness.
This thesis studies and designs both single-stage non-isolated and two-stage isolated onboard battery chargers to charge a 48 V lead-acid battery pack. At first, a non-isolated single-stage single-cell buck-boost PFC AC-DC converter is studied and analyzed that offers reduced components’ count and is cost-effective, compact in size and illustrates high efficiency. While the DCM operation ensures unity power factor (UPF) operation at AC mains without the use of input voltage and current sensors. However, they employ high current rated semiconductor devices and the use of diode bridge rectifier suffers from higher conduction losses. To overcome these issues, a new front-end bridgeless AC-DC PFC topology is proposed and analyzed. With this new bridgeless front-end topology, the conduction losses are significantly reduced resulting in improved efficiency. The low voltage stress on the semiconductor devices are observed because of the voltage doubler configuration. Later, an isolated two-stage topology is proposed. The previously proposed bridgeless buck-boost derived PFC converter is employed followed by an isolated half-bridge  LLC resonant converter. Loss analysis is done to determine optimal DC-link voltage for the efficient operation of the proposed conversion. The converters' steady-state operation, DCM condition, and design equations are reported in detail. The small-signal models for all the proposed topologies using the average current injected equivalent circuit approach are developed, and detailed closed-loop controller design is illustrated. The simulation results from PSIM 11.1 software and the experimental results from proof-of-concept laboratory hardware prototypes are provided in order to validate the reported analysis, design, and performance.


identifier: Xu, Jie  (2020) Design and Investigation of High Speed and High Power InGaAs/InP One-Sided Junction Photodiodes.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Photodiodes convert optical signals into electrical signals and are widely used in optical fiber communication systems, photonics generation of millimeter-wave (MMW) and terahertz (THz) wave signals, radio-over-fiber wireless communication systems, etc. In these applications, photodiodes play a key role. Nowadays, the well known uni-travelling carrier photodiodes (UTC-PDs) have been widely used in the aforementioned applications since its first invention in 1997. Over the past two decades, the performance of UTC-PD and its derivatives has been improved continuously. However, the epitaxial layer structures become more and more complex.

To simplify the structure and improve the performance of photodiodes, a high-speed one-sided junction photodiode (OSJ-PD) with low junction capacitance is proposed for the first time. The OSJ-PD is proposed based on the structure of the InGaAs Shottky barrier photodiode (SB-PD) and UTC-PD. It has been demonstrated that the OSJ-PD has the characteristics of the simple epitaxial layer structure, high speed, high output power, and low junction capacitance. The OSJ-PD with 300 nm absorption layer thickness has achieved a bandwidth of 64 GHz (without considering the external circuit) and a photocurrent density of 2.4×105 A/cm2 under a 10 V bias voltage.

A modified InGaAs/InP one-sided junction photodiode (MOSJ-PD) is further presented for the first time. The MOSJ-PD is proposed from OSJ-PD by inserting a cliff layer into the absorption layer. Compared with the modified uni-travelling carrier photodiode (MUTC-PD), the MOSJ-PD has the advantages of simpler epitaxial layer structure and lower junction capacitance. In MOSJ-PD, the space charge effect at high light intensity is further suppressed. Thus, both 3-dB bandwidth and output current are improved simultaneously.

Based on the newly proposed OSJ-PD structure, an evanescently coupled one-sided junction waveguide photodiode (EC-OSJ-WGPD) is proposed and investigated numerically. The EC-OSJ-WGPD has a simple structure, while the characteristics of high speed and high output power are maintained. The designed EC-OSJ-WGPD with an absorption layer thickness of 350 nm achieves a bandwidth of 44.5 GHz (without considering the external circuit) and a responsivity of 0.98 A/W.

A unique equivalent circuit model (Circuit Model B), which combines the Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) and microwave circuit simulation, is adopted to analyze the frequency response of InGaAs/InP photodiode. This methodology demonstrates high accuracy in the frequency response analysis. The OSJ-PD and MOSJ-PD with a diameter of 5 µm achieve bandwidths of 119 and 120 GHz, which are 5.3% and 6.2% higher than the well known MUTC-PD. The EC-OSJ-WGPD achieves a bandwidth of 65.5 GHz.


identifier: Fairbank, Eloïse  (2020) “Social Hygge” and Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation in Children and Adolescents.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: There is robust evidence of the health-enhancing benefits of social relationships and support, especially for inflammatory processes. Most research is limited to adults. In children and adolescents, the social support literature focuses on individual sources of support (i.e., mother). An encompassing, comprehensive measure of support spanning a child’s entire social network may help to unify findings across developmental areas. The thesis aims were twofold: Part 1 explored a novel multidimensional conceptualization of social support named “social hygge”, and Part 2 tested the relation between social hygge and chronic low-grade inflammation in children and adolescents. Data from the population-based Quebec Child and Adolescent Health and Social (QCAHS) survey were analyzed. Youth aged 9, 13, and 16 years (N = 3613) and their parents answered questions about their social relationships and support. A subsample (n = 2204) provided a fasting blood draw that was assayed for C-reactive protein (CRP). Part 1 explored the psychometrics of three quantitative approaches: traditional, data-driven, and social hygge to derive principal components. Part 2 tested the relation between these derived components with CRP, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and smoking. All multidimensional social hygge scores were associated with lower CRP in adolescents (η2p = .003-.005); no association was found for children. Effect sizes were comparable to those previously reported in adults. Findings support a possible latent construct that more broadly encompasses social support, warmth, and feeling valued in children and adolescents. Recommendations for replication and future research are provided.


identifier: Rasouli, Farinaz  (2020) A Framework for Prediction in a Fog-Based Tactile Internet Architecture for Remote Phobia Treatment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Tactile Internet, as the next generation of the Internet, aims to transmit the modality of touch in addition to conventional audiovisual signals, thus transforming today’s content-delivery into skill-set delivery networks, which promises ultra-low latency and ultra reliability. Besides voice and data communication driving the design of the current Internet, Tactile Internet enables haptic communications by incorporating 5G networks and edge computing. A novel use-case of immersive, low-latency Tactile Internet applications is haptic-enabled Virtual Reality (VR), where an extremely low latency of less than 50 ms is required, which gives way to the so-called Remote Phobia treatment via VR. It is a greenfield in the telehealth domain with the goal of replicating normal therapy sessions with distant therapists and patients, thereby standing as a cost-efficient and time-saving solution.
In this thesis, we consider a recently proposed fog-based haptic-enabled VR system for remote treatment of animal phobia consisting of three main components: (1) therapist-side fog domain, (2) core network, and (3) patient-side fog domain. The patient and therapist domains are located in different fog domains, where their communication takes place through the core network. The therapist tries to cure the phobic patient remotely via a shared haptic virtual reality environment. However, certain haptic sensation messages associated with hand movements might not be reached in time, even in the most reliable networks. In this thesis, a prediction model is proposed to address the problem of excessive packet latency as well as packet loss, which may result in quality-of-experience (QoE) degradation. We aim to use machine learning to decouple the impact of excessive latency and extreme packet loss from the user experience perspective. For which, we propose a predictive framework called Edge Tactile Learner (ETL). Our proposed fog-based framework is responsible for predicting the zones touched by the therapist’s hand, then delivering it immediately to the patient-side fog domain if needed. The proposed ETL builds a model based on Weighted K-Nearest Neighbors (WKNN) to predict the zones touched by the therapist in a VR phobia treatment system. The simulation results indicate that our proposed predictive framework is instrumental in providing accurate and real-time haptic predictions to the patient-side fog domain. This increases patient’s immersion and synchronization between multiple senses such as audio, visual and haptic sensory, which leads to higher user Quality of Experience (QoE).


identifier: Qin, Ruize  (2020) What Drives Corporation Litigation Risk of Chinese Firms?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper explores whether ownership characteristics, qualified foreign institutional investors, geographic distance between the firm’s headquarter and its largest institutional investors, and the legal environment a firm operates in affect a firm’s litigation risk in China. Using a comprehensive sample of publicly listed firms and a subsample of sued firms from 2009 to 2018, we employ logit regression to examine our hypotheses. We find that state ownership, foreign institutional investors, and the legal environment have a strong influence on a firm’s risk of being sued. We also find negative coefficients for long-term institutional investors' ownership and positive coefficients for the distance between the firm and its largest long-term institutional investors, but both coefficients are insignificant. Our findings provide important insights into the role of active versus passive monitoring in the Chinese market and their effects on a firm’s likelihood to be ousted for alleged fraud.


identifier: Afrasiabi, Seyedeh Nazanin  (2020) Investigations of LC Filter Unbalance in an Inverter-Fed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) are usually controlled using two-level inverters. The output voltage of the inverter is in the form of the switching pulses between the positive DC-bus voltage and the negative DC-bus voltage. Such voltage waveforms have several adverse effects on the motor. These include, higher stress on winding insulation, higher eddy current losses and acoustic noise. Thus, to overcome these problems, different types of filters, typically LC-filters are used between the inverter and motor terminals to smooth the pulse width modulation (PWM) output voltages of the motor drives. Theoretically, the inductance and capacitance used for the filters are considered identical in each phase. However, in a practical scenario, it is difficult to have identical filter elements for all three phases. This non-ideal condition of filter elements amongst the three phases is considered as filter unbalance. This thesis investigates the impacts of filter unbalance on the PMSM drive system. Specifically, a comprehensive model of the motor drive system considering filter unbalance is proposed and developed at first. With the developed model, conventional field oriented control (FOC) is implemented to investigate the impact of this filter unbalance. A range of filter parameter variation and the corresponding impact on the motor drive including the motor current, torque and speed ripples is then studied in detail. Thereafter, the results obtained from the proposed model are validated through both circuit simulations and experimental tests.
Based on the investigation results, this thesis will discuss the allowable parameter variation in the LC filters to limit the motor performance deterioration within the required bounds, which will be beneficial to engineering practice in motor drive area. In addition, this investigation shows that a conventional FOC with proportional integral (PI) controller might not be capable of mitigating the negative impact on the motor due to filter unbalance, for example,
the negative sequence current. Therefore, this thesis implemented an adaptive proportional resonant (PR) controller to address negative sequence current and the corresponding impacts. A detailed mathematical framework to develop this proposed controller will also be presented in the thesis. Finally, the proposed adaptive PR controller is extensively evaluated on a laboratory PMSM drive system under different operating conditions.


identifier: Lagota, Kelvin  (2019) Green function and self-adjoint Laplacians on polyhedral surfaces.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Using Roelcke's formula for the Green function, we explicitly construct a basis in the kernel of the adjoint Laplacian on a compact polyhedral surface X and compute the S-matrix of X at the zero value of the spectral parameter. We apply these results to study various self-adjoint extensions of a symmetric Laplacian on a compact polyhedral surface of genus two with a single conical point. It turns out that the behaviour of the S-matrix at the zero value of the spectral parameter is sensitive to the geometry of the polyhedron.


identifier: Evdikias, Gregory  (2020) Characterization and regulation of biosynthetic gene clusters in Aspergillus niger.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Fungi produce a broad range of secondary metabolites with various bioactivities that have allowed them to be used as antibiotics and pharmaceutical drugs. The genes encoding secondary metabolites are commonly organized contiguously into biosynthetic gene clusters. The close spacing of functionally related genes facilitates the identification of multiple parts of a secondary metabolite pathway, its regulation, and provides the possibility of discovering novel bioactive compounds.
However, (i) the function of each genes within biosynthetic gene cluster is often not well defined, (ii) the regulation of gene clusters is very complex and, so far, remains mostly uncharacterized.
Herein, three Aspergillus niger gene clusters were investigated. The transcriptional regulation of two clusters thought to be involved in malformins production and one unknown cluster not associated with any metabolites, was studied. The overexpression of transcription factors and knocked out of backbone enzymes were done by gene replacement. The production of malformins and others secondary metabolites was assessed by comparative metabolomics and transcriptomics using mass spectrometry and RNA-sequencing, respectively.


identifier: Patel, Keyurbhai Hasmukhbhai  (2020) The Sense of Logging in the Linux Kernel.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Logging is an important activity in software engineering. Developers use log data for a variety of tasks including debugging, performance analysis, detection of anomalies, and so on. Despite the importance of this data, the practice of logging still suffers from the lack of common guidelines and best practices. Recently, there have been studies that investigate the practice of logging in C/C++ and Java open-source systems. In this thesis, we complement these studies by presenting the first empirical study aimed at understanding the practice of software logging in the Linux kernel, which is perhaps the most elaborate open source development project in the computer industry. We achieve this by analysing the evolution history of the Linux kernel with a focus on three main aspects: the pervasiveness of logging code, the type of changes made to logging statements, and the rationale behind these changes. Our findings show that logging is pervasive as 3.73% of the Linux kernel source is logging code. We also found that 72.36% of the total number of files in the Linux kernel have at least one logging statement, while only 26.12% of functions are logged. Similar to other studies, the if-block gets the lion's share with 57% of the total number of logging statements. However, the distribution of logging statements across the Linux kernel subsystems and their components vary significantly with no apparent reason, suggesting that developers use different criteria when logging. We also observed that the use of logging has been gradually declining in recent years with a reduction of 9.27% from version v4.3 to version v5.3. This may be due to the availability of other alternatives to logging such as the use of tracing (a more structured form of logging) and other dynamic analysis techniques. By manually investigating 900 commits that aim to fix or improve logging code, we found that the majority of changes are to fix spelling/grammar mistakes, fix incorrect log levels, and upgrade logging code to use new logging functions to improve the precision and consistency of log output. Based on these findings, we propose many recommendations such as the use of static analysis tools to detect defective logging code at commit-time, use of automatic spell/grammar checkers, adoption of common writing styles for log messages, a systematic review of logging code, and guidance on the use of log levels. We believe that these recommendations can serve as the basis for developing common logging guidelines, as well as better logging processes, tools, and techniques.


identifier: Kim, Jeannie Kyungjin  (2020) Korean Chaekgeori Paintings: A Research-Creation Approach to Intercultural Art Education and Heuristic Thinking.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This heuristic research-creation thesis paper considers and analyzes how the process of producing a series of work using Asian watercolours and contemporary approaches to chaekgeori – a Korean ‘oriental painting’ genre from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897) can be translated to an intercultural art education approach. This genre depicts a Korean scholar’s tools, books, and foreign objects and continues to interest contemporary artists to this day due to its occasional use of Western painterly devices such as tromp l’œil and chiaroscuro. My body of work will conceptually depict notions of ‘cultural translation,’ ‘third-space’ and interculturality as an art education approach that respects diverse traditions and cultures.
 The objective of this study is to understand the ways in which we make art by experimenting with Asian watercolours technically (applying layers, blending, focusing on detail) as well as conceptually using the chaekgeori painting genre. I support my prediction that my Canadian upbringing will intermingle with my Korean heritage as I implement traditional Korean techniques through the paintings produced. I also present contemporary artists from South Korea who work with ‘oriental painting’ such as Kyung-Min Nam who depicts Korean scholars’ studies and Western artists’ studios. Through this studio-based project, I convey as a Korean-Canadian artist-educator that (1) the act of creation and practice is just as, if not more, important than the final outcome and (2) pushing boundaries of tradition results in an intercultural approach to art education that highlights the significance of heuristic thinking and learning through a hybrid practice of mediums and practices.


identifier: Paré-Ruel, Marie-Pier  (2020) Specialized and Versatile Antisocial Behavioral Profiles in Preschoolers: Associations with the Persistence of Antisocial Behaviors from Preschool to Preadolescence.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Developmental psychologists have often demonstrated that childhood antisocial behaviors (ABs) are important precursors of offending. However, our ability to identify children with the worst prognoses for later behavioral problems remains limited. In adolescent and adult samples, offense specialization and versatility are reliable predictors of recidivism (i.e., persistence) or the lack thereof. Assuming that specialization and versatility arise during childhood, studying these patterns should prove informative regarding the persistence and transience of ABs in children. Accordingly, our objective was to determine whether subsets of preschoolers specialized in certain subtypes of ABs, with their proclivity predicting different rates of transitions into groups that presented ABs at later developmental stages. To assess the theoretical validity of the results pertaining to these subsets, we included parenting behaviors and children’s temperamental characteristics as predictors. The sample consisted of 525 children assessed at ages 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12. The study variables were measured via mother-rated questionnaires (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist, Parenting Dimensions Inventory). Through latent transition analysis, we derived latent profiles at each timepoint using four indicators: aggression, opposition, property violations, and status offenses. At Time 1, the analyses yielded normative, aggression specialists, property violations specialists, and severe generalists subsets. At Times 2 and 3, normative, non-aggressive generalists, and severe generalists subsets emerged. 89.5% of preschoolers classified as aggression specialists and severe generalists belonged to the non-aggressive or severe generalists subsets in preadolescence, while only 40% of property violations specialists did. Such results suggest that specialization modulates the persistence and transience of ABs during childhood. The association between the covariates and the latent profiles were in the expected directions, highlighting the theoretical validity of our findings. By shedding new light upon the subtypes of antisocial behaviors that likely distinguish persistent and transient developmental trajectories of ABs, results from the
present study enriched our understanding of the development of ABs in childhood and improved our ability to make accurate prognoses for children with behavioral problems.


identifier: Macina, Alexia  (2020) Carbon Dots as Heterogeneous Catalysts for the Sustainable Production of Biodiesel.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With rising global energy demands, fossil fuels are being consumed at their quickest rate yet. Overconsumption, unsustainable practices and environmental concerns have accelerated the search for alternative, renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources. One such promising source is biodiesel, which is formed through the transesterification of refined vegetable oils in the presence of methanol and a homogeneous catalyst such as sodium/potassium hydroxide. While the reaction is efficient, limitations associated with tedious purification coupled with the inability to reuse the catalyst have limited its global production and adoption. A variety of heterogeneous catalysts have been investigated as catalytically efficient alternatives yet their preparation often entails tedious synthetic procedures or the use of heavy metals, which can lead to metal leaching and increased purification costs. It is in this regard that carbon dots, a new member of the carbon nanomaterial family, has been be explored as a potential metal-free alternative. Carbon dots offer several advantages namely cost effective and facile preparation from accessible and sustainable precursors coupled with a tunable surface chemistry. In this work, carbon dots derived from glycine were synthesized using microwave and hydrothermal techniques. Their physico-chemical properties were characterized and their catalytic efficiency towards the transesterification reaction of canola oil was investigated resulting in biodiesel conversions > 95%. We investigated the mechanism of catalysis and we exploited our findings to design a carbon dot catalyst from precursors such as lignin and glycerol, the principle waste product of the biodiesel reaction. By rendering the production process cost effective and energetically favorable, while maintaining sustainable practices, biodiesel global adoption can increase and global energy demands may be met in an energy efficient, sustainable and financially feasible manner.


identifier: Henderson, Austin  (2020) Over the Rainbow, Beyond the Screen: Queer Legacies of The Wizard of Oz (1939) in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis investigates the presence of the film The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) in a selection of visual materials. Considered one of the most viewed and most influential motion pictures of all time, The Wizard of Oz has become a common focus in artistic production. To adequately evaluate this range of examples, this thesis is structured in three thematic sections of escape, transformation, and home. Contextualizing the film’s production, the first section considers the relationship between escape and cinema by dissecting the Hollywood industry and the desires of filmgoers in the 1930s. Analyzing queer-focused artworks and sociopolitical activist projects, the second section examines how the film has been unintentionally transformed by its reverence within queer (LGBTQ+) culture. For instance, The Deposition (2019) by Carl Grauer depicts the film’s characters in allyship with notable trans activists of the Stonewall Uprising, and American politicians are replaced with the film’s characters in posters produced by ACT UP New York (c. 1990s) that were used in protests during the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Engaging with concepts of home, the final section looks to works of art that support and challenge the film’s famous quotation, “there’s no place like home,” such as Ken Lum’s public installation of the same name (2000), and Suburban Legend (1999) by Julie Becker. Shared amongst the visual materials in this thesis is an active queering of The Wizard of Oz, or a non-normative interpretation of its cultural value. Borrowing scholarship from queer theory and film studies, this thesis demonstrates how a single film can perform as an effective cultural agent that is continually revisited and reconsidered through media that transcends the cinema screen.


identifier: Baratang Junio, Jennifer Anne  (2020) Lithocholic bile acid, an aging-delaying natural compound, alters the pattern of protein phosphorylation in quiescent and non-quiescent cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Our laboratory has previously used a high-throughput screening of commercial compound libraries to discover several natural chemicals that delay chronological aging of the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One of these chemicals is a lithocholic bile acid. We have previously shown that lithocholic acid delays yeast chronological aging by crossing the plasma membrane, accumulating in both mitochondrial membranes and remodeling lipid metabolism in mitochondria. The resulting changes in the mitochondrial membrane lipidome alter mitochondrial functionality and convert mitochondria into a signaling compartment. This signaling compartment modulates a distinct set of transcriptional factors that respond by eliciting specific changes in the transcription of many nuclear genes. The resulting changes in the cellular proteome create an aging-delaying cellular pattern because they affect many cellular processes, including an age-related death of quiescent and non-quiescent cell populations. All these aging-delaying changes that take place in yeast exposed to lithocholic acid suggest that this bile acid promotes a complex cascade of events affecting many other cellular processes. Regulated changes in reversible protein phosphorylation have been implicated in the control of many cellular processes. I sought to make a first step towards understanding how the regulated protein phosphorylation may delay yeast chronological aging in response to lithocholic acid treatment. To attain this objective, in studies described here, I used mass spectrometry-assisted proteomics to investigate possible changes in protein phosphorylation patterns within purified populations of quiescent and non-quiescent yeast cells treated with lithocholic acid. My findings indicate that lithocholic acid elicits specific changes in the protein phosphorylation pattern of quiescent and non-quiescent yeast cells.


identifier: Slobodchikova, Irina  (2020) Multi-Class Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Methods for Monitoring of Mycotoxins and Metabolites in Human Plasma for Exposure Studies.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that can pose a serious threat to human and animal health due to their toxicity. The assessment of human chronic exposure to mycotoxins requires reliable and highly sensitive multi-analyte assay(s) enabling simultaneous measurements of common toxicologically important mycotoxins and their metabolites in human plasma.
The first goal of the thesis was to develop sensitive liquid chromatography – high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) multi-mycotoxin method(s) for the detection and quantification of common toxicologically important mycotoxins frequently occurring in Canada and emerging mycotoxins of interest. Based on the results of extraction recoveries and chromatographic separation, two LC-HRMS methods were required to cover the full mycotoxin panel of interest. The first method combined liquid-liquid extraction with pentafluorophenyl reversed-phase LC-HRMS for the quantification of 17 mycotoxins, aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, zearalenone, 7-α-hydroxy-zearalenol (α-ZOL), 7-β-hydroxy-zearalenol, zearalanone, 7-α-hydroxy-zearalanol, 7-β-hydroxy-zearalanol, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol and fusarenon X. The method was validated using procedures described in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance for Industry Bioanalytical Method Validation. Lower limits of quantification (LLOQs) ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 ng/ml, except for nivalenol (3 ng/ml). The method (intra-day and inter-day) accuracy and precision ranged from 85.6% to 116.4% and from 1.6% to 15.6% RSD, respectively, excluding α-ZOL for which an accuracy of 72.9 % to 97.2% was observed. The second method covered ten mycotoxins, fumonisin B1, fumonisin B2, ochratoxin α (OTα), citrinin, ochratoxin A, beauvericin, enniatin A, enniatin A1 (ENNA1), enniatin B (ENNB) and enniatin B1, and combined methanol protein precipitation with C18 reversed-phase chromatography and polarity-switching LC-HRMS. LLOQs ranged from 1.25 to 4 ng/ml. Absolute recovery ranged from 86.6% to 127.7% in individual plasma samples. Significant matrix effects were observed for OTα (77.5%) in one out of ten individual plasma samples and fumonisins (134.8% to 167.8%), ENNB (69.7% to 79.4%) and ENNA (69.3% to 79.2%) in all individual plasma samples. The rest of the mycotoxins showed negligible matrix effects ranging from 87.2% to 112.2% in all lots of plasma tested.
Excellent LLOQs, negligible matrix effects and accurate quantitation capability of the first method coupled with the lower cost of analysis per sample make the method suitable for large-scale analysis of human plasma samples. The second method is also simple and low cost but requires additional modification to further improve LLOQs and reduce the matrix effect before full validation and implementation. Both methods are versatile and can be applied for retrospective analysis and other applications such as metabolism studies due to the use of HRMS and superior chromatographic separation. To show this capability, the first method was successfully applied for the in-depth metabolism studies of 17 mycotoxins. The method showed excellent suitability and advantages for the detection of various mycotoxin metabolites from Phase I metabolism and glucuronidation obtained from human microsomal incubations. Two ppm mass accuracy with internal mass calibration reduced the number of possible elemental formulas for a measured m/z value. Data-dependent acquisition in combination with collision-induced dissociation or higher energy collisional dissociation was used to ensure adequate fragmentation and to study the structure of the mycotoxin metabolites. The Compound Discoverer 2.1 software, which contains extensive libraries of common metabolic pathways and mass spectral libraries, was used to streamline the identification and the characterization of the metabolites. In total, 188 mycotoxin metabolites were generated, characterized and used to build an extensive in-house library of human mycotoxin metabolites. One hundred metabolites were reported for the first time, showing the power and sensitivity of the approach. For these 17 mycotoxins, 92 metabolites were previously described in literature, and among these known metabolites only four could not be generated using our approach. Currently, this is the most comprehensive LC-MS library of human mycotoxin metabolites.
In conclusion, both LC-MS methods and the in-house mycotoxin metabolite library will allow the monitoring of 27 mycotoxins and their 188 metabolites in large-scale biomonitoring studies. In the long-term, this will help to prioritize metabolites that should be routinely included during exposure monitoring studies and will provide important new data on mycotoxin exposure of the Canadian population.


identifier: Alizadeh, Pooyan  (2020) The Democratization of Public Space: Anti-Monumentalism Through an Augmented Reality Based Mobile App.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Nowadays, the role of monuments in public space is a matter of controversy around the world. While public space is being reshaped by social movements worldwide, digital rights to the city raise questions about physical spaces and address them through the digital realm. The purpose of this research-creation project is to examine the possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR) as a platform made for expression and speculation in public space. Critical and speculative design methods are used to foster engagement by examining the capacity of social and cultural movements to produce democracy in public space. Through this research-creation process, qualitative data is used to investigate the capabilities of Augmented Reality as a participatory medium, and Anti-monumentalism as a gradual response concerning the city and memories is explained. Consequently, each stage of this dissertation tries to unveil a particular aspect of the central phenomenon that could form a multifaceted online platform that amplifies the unheard voices of the city. In this framing, decision-making is no longer a one-way relationship, where information is produced and spread by responsible authorities but could be redefined more collaboratively through active engagement.


identifier: Babiker, Ibrahim  (2020) Dandelion Weed Detection and Recognition for a Weed Removal Robot.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Current research in agricultural weeding automation attempts to develop accurate methods of distinguishing between crop and weed. Consequently, the use of computer vision has become a cornerstone in these endeavours. Some recent methods employ pattern recognition techniques that involve hierarchical feature groupings. The application generally applies some form of machine learning. Furthermore, using convolutional neural networks (CNN), many techniques implement complex architectures that not only classify but also detect and locate objects. These detection problems generally involve datasets taken under artificial or controlled lighting conditions where foreground elements (i.e. weed and crop) are easily distinguishable from the background (usually soil) by virtue of their distinct hue and textures. Plant overlap is generally limited to being between foreground elements. The research in this thesis addresses the challenges overlooked by agricultural weeding by focusing on weeding in lawn grass with two distinct approaches. First, a pattern recognition methodology is developed to distinguish dandelion weed centers from grass using the morphological attributes of binary (black-and-white) regions. This method is tested in lab settings with both artificial weeds and grass. However, practical limitations include a fragile performance in real-world applications in the field and a heavy reliance on parameter calibration. Next, a machine-learning approach is developed to address the shortcomings of the prior approach as well as to deal with the challenges specific to weeding in a domestic setting. A five-step process involving CNN structures proves successful at accurately detecting dandelion weeds within grass and other lawn vegetation. Extensive tests have been carried out on a wide array of real work images and the results demonstrate that the developed algorithm can detect and recognize dandelions in the grass within a reasonable range of natural lighting conditions.


identifier: Nauss, Jillian  (2020) Homophobia, heteronormativity, & internalized homophobia: Queer emotion management in mainstream romantic comedies.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In many cases, movie audiences internalize the values they see expressed on-screen (Hall, 1997; Raley & Lucas, 2006; Sutherland & Feltey, 2013). For North American audiences, this often means internalizing heteronormative values (Benshoff & Griffin, 2006; Chung, 2007; Sutherland & Feltey, 2013). This does not mean queer characters are excluded from North American film and television, but when they are included, the queer community is presented from heteronormative perspectives (Chung, 2007; Raley & Lucas, 2006). Despite this, queer audiences watch these performances and may learn how others expect them to cope when facing similar struggles, conflicts, or intolerances (Chung, 2007; Raley & Lucas, 2006). While many studies examine the representation and reception of the queer community in media (e.g., Cooley & Burkholder, 2011; Raley & Lucas, 2006; Sink & Mastro, 2018), fewer studies investigate or recognize the role of emotions in queer discourse. To address this, the following study conducted a thematic decomposition analysis (e.g., Bower et al., 2002; Stenner, 1993; Wollett et al., 1998) of seven North American films that were cross-listed as both gay/lesbian and romantic comedies, and were produced and released between 1996 and 2018. In combination with the analysis and a symbolic interactionist approach to understanding emotions (e.g., Armon-Jones, 1988; Hochschild, 1983; Goffman, 1959; Scheff, 1977, 1988), I proposed five coping strategies used by queer film characters: humor, conforming, avoiding, ignoring, and accepting. While some characters are able to accept their sexual orientation despite intolerances, other characters struggle to overcome shame associated with their identity. While these films may validate the queer community by providing visibility, with only a few examples of pride, these same films suggest that there is an abundance of shame associated with being queer.


identifier: Castaneda-Delgado, Maria  (2020) Becoming-Artwork: Rethinking Agency and Performativity Through the Conservation History of Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis stems from the mainstream notion that art conservation is a practice that stabilizes objects with well-defined properties, and it argues that idea is complexified when conservation practices are studied attentively. By considering concepts from new materialism – specifically becoming, agency and performativity – this analysis looks closely at the long conservation history of Rembrandt van Rijn’s canonical painting The Night Watch (1642), to center on the ontological tensions between states of change and permanency in which the painting comes to be. With a focus on process and materiality, this thesis begins with a historiographical exploration of the object in conservation theories, ranging from a positivist understanding of the work of art as a single object with defined physical properties, to a more constructivist definition, where the art object is understood as a multiplicity of forces. The text proceeds to introduce The Night Watch as an entity that transits between temporal ontologies of change and permanency, thus destabilizing its identity as a single artwork, positing it, rather, as an entity in transition, a becoming-object. Framing Rembrandt’s painting as process poses the question of who and what agents co-produce this process. Agency is demonstrated to be distributed amongst the artist, the materials of the painting itself, the conservators, and the technologies used in preservation practices: all forces that interact and mobilize one another in the process of materialization of The Night Watch. Accounting for the boundaries of The Night Watch not as fixed, but as being materialized, forces us to account for the practices – repetitions of doings – that perform those boundaries in the first place. The research and conservation project of the painting, Operation Night Watch, currently ongoing at the Rijksmuseum, displays all these agencies at play at the museum’s gallery. Understanding artworks as process ultimately has consequences not only for how an artwork is perceived, as fixed and eternal, but also for conservation ethics.


identifier: Wong-Mersereau, Amelia  (2020) Performing the Bride: Sexuality and the Environment in Kong Ning’s Marriage Series.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines the public performance art practice of Beijing-based artist Kong Ning (b. 1958). Since 2013, Kong has been producing large-scale bridal gowns for an ongoing project she calls her “‘marriage series’ art performances.” Each dress in the series is made of a collection of symbolic materials: orange cones, 3M facemasks, eggs, plastic inflatables, leaves, even found detritus. She performs a peripatetic ritual in cities across the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and around the world. For the most part, these take place in front of significant monuments such as the Beijing National Stadium (2016) or more recently the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2017) and the Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (2018). Once on site, Kong embodies her role as the bride of the earth, marrying herself to the sky in an expression of love for the planet and environmental advocacy. This thesis argues that beyond reading her performances as acts of protest against environmental degradation, Kong asserts a unique proposition around human to nonhuman relationality. As a woman artist over the age of 60, she represents a marginalised identity which she places at the forefront in her performance art series. In this way, Kong expresses a radical form of relationality that intersects marriage and sexuality in a feminist ecological critique. To demonstrate my argument, I conduct an analysis of Kong’s Marry the Blue Sky (2014-2015) and 1,000 Egg World Earth Day Dress (2016) among other performances in the series, using theories of gender, sexuality, and ecofeminism. The many tensions around Kong’s performance practice, including the sociopolitical context of the PRC and its strict regulation of activist art, make for a compelling case study that is deeply relevant to contemporary discourses in the field of art history.


identifier: Zhang, Xilin  (2020) Corporate Governance and Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow in Acquisitions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study directly relates corporate governance to agency costs of free cash flow in acquisitions. We proxy for agency costs of free cash flow by two measures: free cash flows at the fiscal year-end prior to the acquisition announcement and the eventual use of internally generated funds to finance the transaction. We investigate four aspects of corporate governance: institutional investor monitoring, board monitoring, the presence of antitakeover provisions, and executive incentive strength. We find that the quality of corporate governance indirectly affects merger outcomes by mitigating the agency problem associated with the holding, rather than the use, of free cash flows.