identifier: Hamouda, Karim  (2016) VIBRATION TRANSMISSION CHARACTERISTICS AND GRIP STRENGTH PRESERVATION OF ANTI-VIBRATION GLOVES.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Exposure to hand-transmitted vibration (HTV) arising from operating hand-held power tools has been associated with various health consequences such as vascular, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders of the hand-arm system, which are collectively termed as hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). In order to decrease the effects of HTV, substantial efforts have been made to protect the operator from the vibrating tools and decrease the vibration exposure. One of the convenient means to isolate the hand from the vibrating tool handle is the anti-vibration (AV) glove. These gloves are constructed from different isolation materials, which are capable of reducing the vibration transmitted to the hands. Vibration isolation performance of AV gloves has been widely evaluated based on measurements of vibration transmitted to the palm of the hand following the method recommended in ISO 10819 (2013). The standard does not require the measurement of transmitted vibration at the fingers side, and consider similar vibration isolation performance of the gloves at the palm and the fingers. The standard also does not address the effect of AV gloves on the hand grip strength, which can be a reason for not wearing these gloves by tool operators. This dissertation seeks to develop a finger adapter capable of measuring the transmitted vibration to fingers and assess the AV gloves based on the integrated performance of vibration isolation at palm and fingers as well as the grip strength preservation.
Three different finger adapters (a steel ring, a split ring and a Velcro adapter), each instrumented with a tri-axial accelerometer, were developed and assessed to measure the vibration transmitted to the index and the middle fingers. The assessment of the three adapters showed that the Velcro adapter exhibit relatively lower inter-subject variability and yields resonably good agreements with the data reported in a recent study that measured fingers vibration using laser vibrometer. The effectiveness of the Velcro finger adapters was further explored through their ability of generating repeatable and reproducible vibration measurements. Good repeatability was observed from the vibration transmissibility measured during three trials perfromed with bare hand fingers. In the reproducibility tests, the subjects were asked to remove and reinstall the finger adapters between the trials. The assessment results showed that the obtained vibration transmissibility measurements were reproducible within each subject.
In order to enhance the understanding of fingers vibration, an investigation was conducted through measurements of vibration transmissibility of four different vibration reducing (VR) gloves at the middle phalanges of index and middle fingers using two Velcro finger adapters. Four male subjects participated in the measurements, which were conducted under the standardized vibration spectrum and the spectra of three different hand tools. Vibration transmissibility of the gloves were also measured at the palm using the standardized palm adapter. The frequency response functions (FRFs) of gloves at the index and middle fingers were utilized to estimate the vibration transmissibility of the gloves under different tool spectra. Only two gloves would be considered as AV gloves, although these showed fingers vibration amplification. The FRF method of estimating fingers vibration responses resulted in reliable prediction of the perfromance for different tools.
Furthermore, 12 male subjects participated for assessment of integrated performance of 12 different VR gloves in terms of vibration transmission performance at the palm and fingers, as well as the effect of gloves on the grip strength preservation. The grip strength magnitude was measured using the cylindrical handle utilized in the vibration transmissibility measurements. The overall vibration transmissibility of the gloves at the fingers were obtained using the frequency weighting recommended in the standard and the reported fingers weighting. All the gloves attenuated fingers vibration in the 10–200 Hz frequency range, with exception of only two gloves. At greater frequencies (>200Hz), majority of the gloves amplified the middle finger transmitted vibration, while only a few gloves showed vibration amplification at the index finger. The effect of different frequency weightings on the vibration isolation performance of gloves at the fingers was only evident in the high frequency range (200–1250Hz). Only four gloves passed the standardized screening criteria despite their vibration amplification at the fingers. All the gloves resulted in reduced hand grip strength with only one exception.


identifier: Fitch, Sebastien  (2016) Critiques, Credits and Credibility: Assessment Practices in Higher Education Studio Art Courses.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
The purpose of this dissertation is to add to the understanding of the pedagogy of post-secondary studio art education – presently a mostly un-theorized teaching tradition – by examining how instructors go about the problematic exercise of assessing their students. Focussing on group critiques held during undergraduate studio classes, this research takes the form of an interpretive multiple case study involving a total of fifteen studio art instructors from six public North American post-secondary institutions.
This research is of pedagogical value for both current and future instructors in terms of the discussions it opens regarding assessment practices in studio instruction, as well as the variety of approaches to studio critiques that are described within. More importantly, however, what this dissertation demonstrates is that the state of art assessment is just as vague, confusing and generally chaotic as anecdotal evidence and general public perception would indicate. In particular, the studio critique is singled out as distinctly problematic, and this despite its signature pedagogical status according to both instructors as well as the field literature. The effectiveness of the critique is undermined by a number of assumptions, most importantly that of the efficacy of its place in the process of student assessment. The data discussed within these pages demonstrates that not only is the critique a singularly ineffective venue for assessment, but this very approach to the critique neglects the key objective of studio instruction – and instruction in general – namely student learning.
It is precisely from the point of view of student learning that this dissertation advances the notion of the MetaCritique; essentially, an approach to the critique that shifts the focus from assessment to that of self-reflective learning, and from the students’ artwork to the student themselves. By doing so, learning objectives which are otherwise questionably attributed to the process of critiques as they are currently conducted are more concretely and effectively addressed, as well as being made explicit to students.


identifier: Larin, Patrick André  (2016) CFD Based Synergistic Analysis of Wind Turbine for Roof Mounted Integration.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The increasing global demand for energy and environmental concerns have provoked a shift from exhaustible, fossil fuel based energy to renewable energy sources. It is clear that wind energy will play an important role in satisfying our current and future energy demands. In this paper, a horizontal configuration of a Savonius and cup type wind turbines are proposed to be mounted on the upstream edge of a building, in such a way that its low performance is improved by taking advantage of the flow acceleration generated by the edge of the building. The importance of integrated simulations which include both the building and the turbine is shown and it is also demonstrated that the individual calculations of the flow around the building and the turbine individually cannot be superposed. Following the validation of the methodology with experimental data, the performance of the Savonius wind turbines placed in the vicinity of the edge of the building top was calculated. The position, blade number, and circumferential length were then investigated when the turbine is mounted on a building. The objective is to better understand wind turbine behavior for low speed urban environments. The flow fields of conventional Savonius and cup type turbines were solved using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in 3D domains. The optimal configuration shows an improvement in the power coefficient from 0.043 to 0.24, representing an improvement of 450%. The improvement also demonstrates that although cup type blades show very poor performance in free stream flow, they perform well in the right environment.


identifier: Virone, Riccardo  (2016) Neoliberalism and the Current Educational Climate: The Effect on School Culture and At-Risk Students.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study is primarily concerned with uncovering the school culture proliferated by neoliberal education reforms, and the exploration of its effect on students who are at risk of academic failure. A theoretical approach was adopted for the study, which involved a thorough review of the past and current peer-reviewed research literature on neoliberalism, school culture and students who are at risk. In doing so, an overview of neoliberalism was provided, with a focus on examining the influence of the neoliberal process on Canada’s public education system. Additionally, the neoliberal influence on school culture was systematically outlined using Schoen and Teddlie’s (2008) four dimensions of school culture, which aimed to reveal how such a school culture affects the academic experiences of students at risk.  These dimensions are: Professional outlook; Organizational structure; Quality of the teaching environment and Student-centered focus.  Lastly, a comparison was drawn between Freire’s (1970) notion of “banking education” and today’s Canadian school culture in order to provide insight into the aspects of a neoliberal school culture that are not conducive to the fostering of a critical consciousness among students. The examination of the literature revealed that a school culture, entrenched with neoliberal values and objectives is unconducive to fostering positive academic experiences for students who are at risk of school failure.


identifier: Li, Zihui  (2016) How do regulations affect the probability of a financial crisis?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The topic of financial crises is popular in the financial literature and among regulators. Previous researchers have studied the causes of financial crises and have investigated the regulation responses in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 global crises. However, no one has yet focused on how much existing regulations or country-level governance affect the probability of financial crises occurring. This paper explores this important yet understudied topic. We also compare the differential effects of governance has on different economies, specifically, developed versus developing countries. Our empirical results suggest that the same factor can have opposite effects on different countries.


identifier: Hoque, Khaza Anuarul  (2016) Early Dependability Analysis of FPGA-Based Space Applications Using Formal Verification.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
SRAM-based FPGAs are increasingly attractive in the aerospace industry for their field programmability and low cost. Unfortunately, they suffer from cosmic radiation induced Single Event Effects (SEEs). In safety-critical applications, the dependability of the design is a prime concern since failures may have catastrophic consequences. Hence, an early analysis of dependability of such safety-critical applications will enable designers to develop systems that meet high dependability requirements, such as the DO-254 standard. In this thesis, we propose a high-level dependability and performability analysis methodology based on probabilistic model checking. Compared to the pen-and-pencil and discrete-event simulation approach, our methodology is more accurate due to the use of an automated formal verification technique. Moreover, compared to fault injection or beam testing, analysis at early design stages can guide designers to build more reliable designs reducing the overall cost and effort. The proposed methodology can perform three different types of analysis: evaluation of available design options, optimization of scrub intervals while satisfying its design assurance level requirements, and optimal partitioning of Triple-Modular Redundant (TMR) Systems. Such analysis can also guide designers to adopt proper mitigation technique(s), such as rescheduling, TMR, TMR with less frequent scrubs, or even can help to decide the number of TMR partitions for a given scrub intervals.

Starting from a high-level description of a system, based on the preferred analysis, a Markov model or Markov (reward) model is constructed from the extracted Control Data Flow Graph (CDFG) and the failure/mitigation parameters for the targeted FPGA. Such modeling and exhaustive analysis elaborated using a probabilistic model checking technique can capture all the failures and repairs possible (according to some general model) in the system within the radiation environment. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach, we present our quantitative analysis obtained from DSP benchmark circuits.


identifier: Oprea, Carmen Mihaela  (2016) New perspectives into art therapy approaches for clients with Alzheimer's disease, informed by neuroscience findings related to implicit memory rocesses. A theoretical study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The focus of this study is on how research on implicit memory preserved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can inform art therapy approaches for this population, and on the possibility of art therapy to use and stimulate implicit processes that are still available in this neuropathology. Therefore, this paper connects findings about implicit brain processes in AD, about types of brain stimulation during art-making process, and research data from art therapy for clients with AD.  The theoretical methodology based on literature review was an appropriate tool to explore this topic. Available implicit memory processes in AD – related to sensory processes, emotions, perceptual and procedural memory, implicit associative processes, and attention – were found to play a consistent role in art therapy for those suffering of AD. The comparison led to findings that, besides clients’ changes in artistic expression due to cognitive loss in AD, art therapy can rely on implicit processes and has a great potential in offering multisensory and motor-sensory stimulation, enhancing attention and associative functions, regulating emotions, reducing anxiety, stimulating skill learning, and improving the overall well-being. This study could offer a background of understanding on how art therapy is using implicit brain processes and could provide directions for future research.


identifier: Bertrand, Adrien  (2016) View-based 3D Objects Recognition with Expectation Propagation Learning.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we present an improvement on the Expectation Propagation learning framework, specifically various enhancements on both speed and accuracy. We use this enhanced EP learning with the Inverted Dirichlet mixture model as well as the Dirichlet mixture model, to implement an algorithm to recognize 3D objects. Those objects are in our case from a view-based 3D models database that we have assembled. Following specific rules determined by analyzing the results of our tests, we’ve been able to get good recognition rates. Experimental results are presented with different object classes by comparing recognition rates and confidence level, according to different tuning parameters we’re able to refine towards specific classes for better specialized accuracy.


identifier: D'Amico, Marco  (2016) The Sick Man’s Football Dream: Sport, Fandom, and Consumer Culture in Post-Mao China.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: After two decades of quick paced economic reform and social change, the ruling Communist Party elite have sought to utilize the notion of the “China Dream” to reassert their position as the country's political and cultural center. Coupled with the historical narrative of the “Road to Rejuvenation”, the “China Dream” represents a new state ideology that seeks to reassert China as one of the dominant world powers. The world of modern international sports displays similar themes, as the athletes individual gain brought great joy and prestige to their home nation or region”.  The relationship between private investment and state control within the sport of Football consequently sets the stage for an interesting comparison of Chinese Football and Chinese society as a whole. With twenty-first century China sitting at a proverbial crossroad, the study of physical culture (Tiyu) will help illuminate the negotiation between state planning and the free market, while also connecting the world of football to particular themes like nationalism, consumerism, education, identity, etc. Thus, the study of football development from a top down and bottom up approach would allow one to understand the complexities of sponsorship and commercialism in an era of change and cultural diversification. Ultimately, this study brings forward a story of complicated and interwoven economic and cultural linkages that transcend the concepts of nation to deliver a truly global story of football within reform-era China.


identifier: Kratochvil, Eva  (2016) Crafting the Royal Image: Censorship and Portrayals of the Tudor Dynasty under Henry VIII.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: When Henry Tudor defeated king Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485, he claimed the English throne as Henry VII by right of conquest and dynastic descent. Although the crown worked assiduously to diffuse this perception and ensure that the Tudors’ claim appeared legitimate, many of Henry VII’s subjects perceived him as a usurper and a tyrant throughout his reign. Details of Henry VII’s regime were recorded in several contemporary narrative accounts, most notably during the reign of his son Henry VIII. Since Henry VIII’s claim to the throne was through his father, he had to straddle a fine line between distancing his reign from the previous regime and stressing dynastic continuity. This created a conundrum for contemporary writers and scholars looking back at the beginning of the Tudor dynasty during the tumultuous political climate of Henry VIII’s reign in the 1510s and 1530s. Through an analysis of Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia as well as Thomas More’s History of King Richard III and Utopia, this thesis explores the links between the political climate of Henry VIII’s court and the choices that contemporary writers made in writing and publishing their representations of the early Tudors. Ultimately, it was fear and pressure that ensured that Polydore Vergil and Sir Thomas More altered their narratives and censored any open accusations of tyranny towards Henry VII and Henry VIII. In both cases, patronage played a large role in shaping the creation of these representations so that the work reflected the wishes of the patron.


identifier: Engelhardt, Sacha C.  (2016) Cooperative breeding in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus): testing the hypothesized causes of allosuckling and allonursing.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Cooperative breeding is a social system in which members of the social group provide parental care to the offspring of other parents.  The suckling by offspring from females other than their mother is referred to as allosuckling.  The provision of milk to the offspring of other mothers is referred to as allonursing.  Allonursing is often believed to have evolved by kin-selection, however, other causes have been hypothesized.  My thesis examines the misdirected parental care, kin-selection, reciprocity, milk evacuation, improved nutrition, compensation hypotheses, and these hypotheses can co-occur and influence each other.  Using reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) as a model species, behavioural observations were collected in the field in 2012 and 2013.  Allosuckling and allonursing were common in reindeer, and most mothers allonursed and most calves allosuckled.  Reindeer calves stole milk, and mothers discriminated their offspring from the offspring of others.  Mothers exchanged allonursing at the group level and at the dyadic level, which supported the reciprocity hypothesis.  Mothers did not allonurse while their offspring was still attempting to allosuckle, which did not support the milk evacuation hypothesis.  Percentage of mass gain and mass at the end of the study increased as the number of allosuckling bouts increased, and allosuckling was not influenced by low birth mass or measures of insufficient maternal milk supply, which supported the improved nutrition hypothesis but not the compensation hypothesis.  Mothers in the closely related group allonursed more often than mothers in the distantly related group, which supported the kin-selection hypothesis at the extremes of genetic relatedness.  Given that we initially did not find an effect of genetic relatedness, we suggest that kin-selection alone is not sufficient to explain alloparental care.  My thesis provides evidence that allonursing contributions detected can depend upon the research design, and we suggest that the indirect fitness benefits of alloparental care may have been overestimated.  The evolution of allonursing in reindeer may have originated from inclusive fitness, but the results of my thesis demonstrate that the direct fitness benefits of milk-theft, reciprocal allonursing and improved nutrition and mass gain maintain allonursing in reindeer.


identifier: Eslamian, Seyed Alireza  (2016) The Development of a New Model for Predictions of Urban Water Demand.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Population growth, rapid urbanization and climate change have been producing an ever increasing stress on the limited resources of fresh water. This situation makes prediction models of water demand an important tool for decision making regarding urban water management and conservation. However, there is still the need for improvement of the predictions of the existing models, especially in their estimations of base water use. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a more reliable water demand prediction model which gives a better understanding of water use behaviour. The employed techniques represent a new approach to predictions of daily water use; its base use component is predicted using a function of socioeconomic factors, as opposed to a function of time as in existing approaches. The prediction by the model proposed in this thesis is compared with those by two other existing models, in an application to the city of Brossard in Quebec. Time series of predicted daily urban water use captures observed characteristics very well and improves the results of the weighted coefficient of determination, the relative index of agreement and the root mean square error from the existing approaches. Water use in the city exhibits a downward trend possibly due to an increasing annual charge for water use. The analysis procedures reported in this thesis can be applied to analyze water use in any other cities. The new approach would be a useful tool for decision makers to manage water use by adjusting water consumption policies and price.


identifier: Ng, Tara  (2016) “Addicts, Crooks, and Drunks”: Reimagining Vancouver’s Skid Road through the Photography of Fred Herzog, 1957–70.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores how Canadian artist Fred Herzog’s (b. 1930) empathetic photographs of unattached, white, working-class men living on Vancouver’s Skid Road in the 1950s and 1960s contest dominant newspaper representations. Herzog’s art practice is framed as a sociologically-oriented form of flânerie yielding original, nuanced, and critical images that transcend the stereotypes of the drunk, the criminal, the old-age pensioner, and the sexual deviant on Skid Road. I apply Critical Discourse Analysis to newspaper articles published in the Vancouver Sun and the Province between 1950 and 1970 to uncover how newspaper discourse produced and reproduced the socioeconomic marginalization of men on Skid Road. Through a comparative analysis, this thesis shows how Herzog’s photographs challenge dominant newspaper discourse in the following ways: by expanding the Skid Road discourse to allow the possibility of positive subject-positions; by demonstrating a dialectical rather than causal relationship between masculinity and space; and by exposing the ways in which the supposedly deviant sexual practices of men on Skid Road in fact stemmed from the hegemonic capitalist and patriarchal structures of Western society. Drawing on feminist, social, and Neo-Marxian class theories, this study not only deconstructs dominant perspectives but also gives visibility to alternative ones, thereby underscoring working-class subjectivities and uncovering the ways in which working-class masculinity on Skid Road both defied and conformed to hegemonic masculinity in the postwar period.


identifier: Morrison, Andrew  (2016) An Electrochemical Treatment for Improving the Activity of Nickel and Other Metals for the Hydrogen Evolution and Other Reactions.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen gas may form an important part of the world’s future economy as a way to store the energy for sustainable sources for later use. Part of what will determine if this use is practical is the efficiency of the catalysts used for the two half reactions that make up the electrolysis reaction. Presently in industry the cathodic reaction, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), is catalysed by nickel most commonly. Thus, there is a motivation to increase the activity of nickel toward the HER. Traditionally this was done by creating a high specific surface area or by increasing the intrinsic activity of nickel through alloying with other metals. Recently the importance using bifunctional catalysts for the HER was seen, this opened up a new line of investigation for methods to increase the activity of nickel HER catalysts. In this work a novel procedure to modify a nickel surface into highly active bifunctional catalyst is presented. The method is an electrochemical treatment that works by applying an alternating voltage to the nickel surface in a mildly acidic environment that causes it to oxidize in a manner similar to platinum. The platinum-like oxidation of the surface yields the Ni(OH)x structure (with x=0-2 across the surface), and allows a way to side step the problem of clumping of phases which is seen in bifunctional catalysts. The surface created by the treatment not only catalyses the HER, but also the urea electrooxidation, among other reactions. In this thesis the treated nickel surface is characterized and shown to be a highly active stable bifunctional catalyst, when the optimal parameters for the treatment are used. The characterization also shows that treated surfaces conform to the expectations of the novel Ni(OH)x structure. The treated surface is also seen to be active toward urea electrooxidation, but for slightly different parameters than the optimal parameters for a HER catalyst. Several practical elements of implementing the treatment in an industrial setting are dealt with. Finally, after concluding remarks, several new lines of enquiry that have been opened by this novel technique are briefly discussed.


identifier: Wiseman, Natalie  (2016) Modeling Urban Form in City Simulations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Modeling Urban Form in City Simulations

abstract:
One way of planning for a region's future transportation infrastructure and capacity needs is to forecast travel demand. Integrated land use-transportation modeling tools do this in a way that is sensitive to how the performance of a transportation system affects peoples' decisions of where to live and firms' decisions of where to locate. As such, they are helpful tools for analyzing different transportation and land use policy scenarios. The transportation system is a factor in how new urban areas develop. Policies attempt to regulate dispersed urban development, known as urban sprawl, however integrated modeling frameworks can only evaluate those policies that affect the extent of non-urban land legislated as developable, or those within urban areas.
Incorporating other policies relating to sprawl into integrated models is limited by their ability to represent geometric changes to the landscape; those associated with the transition of non-urban land to residential use. Building on current methods for representing geometric landscape changes, this thesis is about models and algorithms for representing the specific forms these changes can take. There are a number of algorithms, taking distinct approaches to subdividing blocks into parcels and generating roads, suggesting different algorithms are better for generating different forms. There is little guidance on when to use which algorithm, potentially resulting in sub-optimal geometric representation of future urban areas.
This thesis outlines a process for representing the spatial distribution of urban form in future urban areas within integrated models. To this end, it has estimated a model for predicting the spatial distribution of road network patterns in future residential neighborhoods and identified the block subdivision algorithm most suited to subdividing each of the possible road network patterns. Results can serve as guidelines for deciding which algorithms to use on which road network types. They also present a possible way of estimating the type of future road network in a local area as a function of slope of terrain, period of development, proximity to a river and adjacency to a road network of the same type, among others. This knowledge could help improve the accuracy of population predictions and potentially be implemented within the modeling process of integrated models once these are better able to represent geometric changes to the landscape.


identifier: Chiu, Vincent  (2016) The Effect of Overhang on Wind-Driven Rain Wetting for a Mid-Rise Building.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Wind-driven rain (WDR) is one of the main sources of water causing moisture related damage in buildings. Rainwater that is absorbed and that penetrates through the cladding may lead to failures of building materials and components. Roof overhangs are a common feature that can be used to reduce the amount of WDR on building facades. Experimental studies and CFD modeling have shown that roof overhangs shelter the building facade from WDR. However, there is limited quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of overhangs in protecting the building facade from WDR. A six-storey mid-rise building with a flat roof located in Vancouver, British Columbia has been equipped with a retractable overhang along with a rooftop weather station and thirty-one WDR gauges that have been strategically mounted on the building facades. The spatial distribution of WDR on the building facades has been studied without and with overhang (0.6 m and 1.2 m overhangs). The effectiveness of the roof overhang under real-life conditions with respect to the most important meteorological parameters of wind speed and wind direction has been assessed using two methods: similarity and symmetry. The overhangs reduce the WDR deposition on the facade, especially the areas right below the overhangs. The effectiveness of the overhangs is highly dependent on the wind speed and direction - the effectiveness decreases with increasing wind speed and increases for oblique winds. In addition, a model of the test building and its surroundings has been placed in Concordia’s atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel to verify the exposure and wind flow near the facades.


identifier: Mokabel, Ismail  (2016) Importance of Managerial Accounting for a Successful Lean Transformation: A practical study at a large aerospace OEM.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The lean approach goes beyond a set of continuous improvement tools. Lean implementation requires a management system that drives organizational behaviors and institutes a culture that relentlessly seeks continuous improvement. It is crucial not to overlook the management function systems during lean implementation. A comprehensive management system is essential to successful lean transformation and sustainability. This thesis will tackle the financial and accounting systems; one of the important elements of a management function system. It will expose the weakness of the traditionally used financial and accounting systems. Based on a practical study of large aerospace OEM in North America, the thesis will elaborate and analyze the current traditional cost accounting system’s impact on decision making and the fundamental conflict it has with lean thinking. The thesis will also provide recommendations on alternative management accounting systems in quest for creating a management system that will help enable manufacturing companies successfully implement lean.

Keywords:
Lean, Managerial accounting, Traditional standard cost accounting, Activity based costing, Throughput accounting, Lean accounting.


identifier: El Kholy, Warda  (2016) Formal Specification and Automatic Verification of Multi-Agent Conditional Commitments and their Applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Modeling agent communication  using social commitments in the form of obligatory contracts among intelligent agents in a multi-agent system (MAS) provides a quintessential basis for capturing flexible and declarative interactions and helps in addressing the challenge of ensuring compliance with specifications. However, on the one hand, social commitments exclusively are not able to model agent communication actions, the cornerstone of  the fundamental agent communication theory, namely speech act theory. These actions provide mechanisms for dynamic interactions and enable designers to track the evolution of active commitments. On the other hand, the designers of the system cannot guarantee the emergence of expected behaviors, such as self-contained intelligent agent complies with its protocols and honors its activated commitments. Moreover, the designers might still wish to develop effective and scalable algorithms to tackle the problem of model checking complex interactions modeled by conditional commitments and conditional commitment actions and regulated by commitment-based protocols at design time. Conditional commitments are a natural and universal frame of social commitments and cope with business conditional contracts. This dissertation is in principle  about addressing two open challenging issues: 1) formally defining computationally grounded semantics for agent communication  messages in terms of conditional commitments and associated actions (fulfill, cancel, release, assign and delegate), which is yet to be studied; and 2) developing a symbolic algorithm dedicated to tackle the raised model checking problem and to ensure the development of correct systems.

In this dissertation, we start with distinguishing between two types of conditional commitments: weak and strong. Weak conditional commitments are those that can be activated even if the antecedents will never be satisfied, while strong conditional commitments are those that can be solely activated when there is at least one possibility to satisfy their assigned antecedents. We develop a branching-time temporal logic called CTL{cc,\alpha} that extends computation tree logic (CTL) with new modalities for representing and reasoning about the two types of conditional commitments and their actions using the formalism of interpreted systems. We present a set of valid properties, a set of reasoning rules, and a set of action postulates in order to explore the capabilities of CTL{cc,\alpha}. Furthermore, we  propose a new life cycle of conditional commitments. Having a new logic (CTL{cc,\alpha}), we introduce a new symbolic algorithm to tackle the problem of its model checking. Instead of developing our algorithm from scratch, we extend the standard CTL model checking algorithm with symbolic algorithms needed for new modalities. We also investigate important theoretical results (soundness and termination) of the algorithm. Given that, we completely implement our algorithm and then assemble it on top of the symbolic model checker MCMAS, developed to automatically and directly test MAS specifications. The resulting symbolic model checker is so-called MCMAS+. We  extend MCMAS's input modeling and encoding language called ISPL with shared and unshared variables needed for agent interactions and with the syntactic grammar of new modalities to produce a new one called ISPL+. We also extend the MCMAS's graphical user interface to display verified models to reduce inefficient and labor-intensive processes performed by the designers.

To evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm, we analyze its time and space computational complexity. The computed time and space complexity are P-complete for explicit models and PSPACE-complete for concurrent programs. Such results are positive because model checking CTL{cc,\alpha} has the same time and space complexity of model checking CTL although CTL{cc,\alpha} extends CTL.  Therefore, CTL{cc,\alpha} balances between expressive power and verification efficiency. Regarding the feasibility aspect, we apply our approach in three different application domains: business interaction protocols, health care processes, and web service compositions. The MAS paradigm is successfully employed in these domains wherein a component is represented, implemented and enacted by an agent. The proposed approach improved the employed MAS paradigm by formally modeling and automatically verifying interactions among participating agents so that the bad behaviors can be detected and then eliminated or repaired at design time and the confidence on the safety, efficiency and robustness is increased. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the computational performance and scalability of MCMAS+ using very large case studies. The obtained results strongly confirm the theoretical findings and make MCMAS+ practical. We finally compare our approach to other available approaches and show that it outperforms such approaches in terms of execution time, memory usage and number of considered intelligent agents.


identifier: Nassif, Charbel  (2016) Revealing Clothing Ads: Evaluating the Appeal of Sexual Imagery in Advertising.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The study expanded the sexual vs non-sexual categorization of clothing ads by adopting a three-category measure: non-sexual, suggestive, and provocative imagery. Results indicate that non-sexual advertisements were ranked most appealing. Data were gathered in three stages using a pre-survey, a focus group discussion, and a post-survey. A convenience sample was used to recruit 30 participants comprising 11 men and 19 women; they were recruited from Concordia University to participate in one of four group interviews. Pre- and post-survey results indicate the lower the degree of sexual explicitness, the greater the perceived appeal. In terms of gender differences, women are more likely than men to rank non-sexual advertisements as appealing. In contrast, men are more likely to rank provocative advertisements as appealing. Nonetheless, the data show a tendency of both men and women forming an agreement around their perceptions of non-sexual advertisements. The data also show a higher tendency of women forming an agreement around their perceptions of suggestive advertisements. Lastly, the data show a higher tendency of men forming an agreement around their perceptions of provocative advertisements. Thus, the focus group discussion impacted participants’ tendency to form an agreement around their perceptions of advertisements and alter their responses in the post-survey.


identifier: Wang, Shuman  (2016) The effects of visual servicescapes elements on consumer-retailer relationship formation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The effects of the retail environment on consumer perceptions and behaviors have been widely discussed. Recent research indicated that visual servicescapes of a retail environment affect consumers’ attitudes toward the retailer and the servicescapes, consumers’ perceptions of self-image congruity with the retailer, and consumers’ involvement with the retailer. The visual servicescapes also influence the formation of consumer-retailer relationships, which can be characterized as “perfect matches,” “mismatches,” “fair-weather friends,” “best friends,” and “acquaintances.” The purpose of the current research is threefold: (1) Building on recent quantitative findings, it develops a scale to measure the five consumer-retailer relationship types; (2) it empirically tests which visual servicescapes dimension has the most influence on the formation of consumer-retailer relationship; and (3) it seeks to replicate earlier findings regarding the effects of the visual servicescapes on consumers’ attitude toward a retailer, consumers’ self-image congruity with the retailer, and consumers’ involvement with the retailer.


identifier: Hamel, Catherine  (2016) La commémoration de l’alliance franco-russe : La création d’une culture matérielle populaire, 1890-1914.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis looks at how the Franco-Russian alliance was celebrated and promoted between 1890 and 1914 through the creation of a popular material culture. As no study has been done on the matter before, this thesis will be able to give a fresh perspective on this alliance, which is usually analyzed in regard to the First World War. This research draws upon primary sources including illustrated newspapers, postcards, songs and various objects. Before the Grande Guerre, the alliance underwent many changes regarding its goals and its promotion, but these were not necessarily reflected in the official material culture. This study will thus be interested in the disparities and continuities during three key periods of the Franco-Russian alliance and will try to understand the fundamental narratives that were promoted to the public. This will allow us to recognize not only if the idea of a friendship between France and Russia existed but also the extent to which official material culture was able to permeate the everyday life.

Ce mémoire s’intéresse à la célébration et à la promotion de l’alliance franco-russe à-travers la création d’une culture matérielle populaire entre 1890 et 1914. Comme aucune étude n’a été faite sur le sujet, ce travail nous permettra de jeter un nouveau regard sur l’alliance, qui est souvent analysée pour son rôle dans la Première Guerre mondiale. Cette recherche utilisera plusieurs sources de première main, comme des journaux illustrée, des cartes postales ainsi que divers objets. Avant la Grande Guerre, l’alliance a subi plusieurs changements au niveau de ses buts et de sa promotion, mais ceux-ci n’étaient pas nécessairement reflétés dans la culture matérielle officielle. Cette étude s’intéressera donc aux disparités et aux continuités entre trois étapes-clé de l’alliance franco-russe et essayera de comprendre les divers thèmes qui sont présentés au public. Cela nous permettra de non seulement comprendre si une amitié franco-russe existait mais aussi la mesure dans laquelle la culture matérielle officielle a pu imprégner la vie quotidienne.


identifier: Arbatani, Siamak  (2016) Identification of Mechanical Properties of Nonlinear Materials and Development of Tactile Displays for Robotic Assisted Surgery Applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This PhD work presents novel methods of mechanical property identification for soft nonlinear materials and methods of recreating and modeling the deformation behavior of these nonlinear materials for tactile feedback systems.

For the material property identification, inverse modeling method is employed for the identification of hyperelastic and hyper-viscoelastic (HV) materials by use of the spherical indentation test.
Identification experiments are performed on soft foam materials and fresh harvested bovine liver tissue.
It is shown that reliability and accuracy of the identified material parameters are directly related to size of the indenter and depth of the indentation. Results show that inverse FE modeling based on MultiStart optimization algorithm and the spherical indentation, is a reliable and scalable method of identification for biological tissues based on HV constitutive models.

The inverse modeling method based on the spherical indentation is adopted for realtime applications using variation and Kalman filter methods.
Both the methods are evaluated on hyperelastic foams and biological tissues on experiments which are analogous to the robot assisted surgery.
Results of the experiments are compared and discussed for the proposed methods.
It is shown that increasing the indentation rate eliminates time dependency in material behavior, thus increases the successful recognition rate. The deviation of an identified parameter at indentation rates of V=1, 2 and 4 mm/s was found as 28%, 21.3% and 7.3%.
It is found that although the Kalman filter method yields less dispersion in identified parameters compared to the variance method, it requires almost 900 times more computation power compared to the variance method, which is a limiting factor for increasing the indentation rate.
Three bounding methods are proposed and implemented for the Kalman filter estimation.
It was found that the Projection and Penalty bounding methods yield relatively accurate results without failure. However, the Nearest Neighbor method found with a high chance of non-convergence.

The second part of the thesis is focused on the development of tactile displays for modeling the mechanical behavior of the nonlinear materials for human tactile perception.
An accurate finite element (FE) model of human finger pad is constructed and validated in experiments of finger pad contact with soft and relatively rigid materials. Hyperfoam material parameters of the identified elastomers from the previous section are used for validation of the finger pad model.
A magneto-rheological fluid (MRF) based tactile display is proposed and its magnetic FE model is constructed and validated in Gauss meter measurements.
FE models of the human finger pad and the proposed tactile display are used in a model based control algorithm for the proposed display. FE models of the identified elastomers are used for calculation of control curves for these elastomers.
An experiment is set up for evaluation of the proposed display.
Experiments are performed on biological tissue and soft nonlinear foams.
Comparison between curves of desired and recreated reaction force from subject's finger pad contact with the display showed above 84% accuracy.

As a complementary work, new modeling and controlling approaches are proposed and tested for tactile displays based on linear actuators.
Hertzian model of contact between the human finger pad and actuator cap is derived and curves of material deformation are obtained and improved based on this model. A PID controller is designed for controlling the linear actuators.
Optimization based controller tuning approach is explained in detail and robust stability of the system is also investigated.
Results showed maximum tracking error of 16.6% for the actuator controlled by the PID controller. Human subject tests of recreated softness perception show 100% successful recognition rate for group of materials with high difference in their softness.


identifier: Copp, William  (2016) Influence of Modifications of the Ribose Sugar on the Parallel Stranded Adenosine Duplex.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Applications of nucleic acid nanotechnology have been expanding since the early 1980s. The specific sequence programmability of these macromolecules makes them an attractive candidate for self-assembled nanostructures. Since the discovery of the DNA double helix, numerous secondary structures have been reported including G-quadruplexes, triplexes and i-motifs which have all been investigated as a molecular switch responsive to an external stimuli that causes a conformational change.  In 1961 Rich et al. described the structure of the polyadenylic acid duplex from the X-ray diffraction pattern of fibers. The structure was proposed to be a parallel stranded duplex which is stabilized by adenine-adenine base pairing. The duplex requires acidic conditions to form which emphasizes its suitability and attractiveness as a pH dependent nanoswitch. Modification of the nucleoside residues in the polyadenosine duplex may prove useful in increasing the functionality and stability of this structure. To examine this, oligoadenylates were synthesized with various modified nucleotides and their effect on adenosine duplex stability was evaluated by UV thermal denaturation studies. It has been observed that the substitution of adenosine (rA) with 2’-deoxyadenosine (dA) residues destabilize the rA duplex by ~8 °C/insert. 2’-Deoxy-2’-fluoroadenosine modifications (rfA) introduced into oligoadenylates have a destabilizing effect on duplex stability, however contrastingly to dA oligonucleotides the uniformly rfA strands are capable of hybridization. CD, NMR spectroscopy and crystallographic studies show minimal structural perturbations introduced by chemically modified nucleotides. The environmental requirement coupled with the ability to fine tune the stability or existence of adenine-adenine base pairs based on a simple modification at the 2’ position presents a novel construct for potential nanodevices.


identifier: Ré, Dario  (2016) Performing Symbiosis: Mushrooms and Contemporary Art.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines mushrooms in contemporary art and considers the ecological, social and aesthetic implications embedded in interkingdom relationships. I have chosen to focus specifically on participatory and relational artworks, thus I consider the ways in which leading art critics, theorists and writers such as Claire Bishop, Grant Kester, Nato Thompson and Nicolas Bourriaud have approached relational art. My investigation is based on two case studies: Carsten Höller’s installation Soma (2010) at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin; and the performative mushroom foray Terrestrial/Celestial (2010) enacted by Toronto-based artist Diane Borsato. These works employ elements of mycology to underscore the workings of fungi in the natural ecosystem, thus enabling a nuanced understanding of who is relating to whom within the given encounter and to what effect. Ultimately the notion of symbiosis is central to this analysis. Furthermore, I situate these works within posthumanist theory and compare Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s notion of the rhizome to a research/artistic methodology based on mycology. Given the myriad of art projects that employ non-human subjects, an understanding of symbiosis can inform essential questions that surround collaborative, participatory, and relational art practices today.


identifier: Mohammadbeigy, Shayesteh  (2016) Optimum Representation of the Blade Shape and the Design Variables in Inverse Blade Design.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
A flexible yet precise method for prescribing and modifying the blade shape and the inverse design variables in two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) flow is presented. It is based on B-spline functions to represent curves (in 2D) and surfaces (in 3D) and enables one to approximate an existing blade shape or to specify target pressure distributions (or pressure loading). The notable characteristics of B-splines including smoothness, flexibility and robustness have made them well-suited to accurately fit both the design variables and the geometry.
The precision and stability of B-splines in representing the airfoil geometry has been illustrated by interpolating generic and actual 2D airfoils. Care has been taken to enhance the representation especially in high curvature areas, e.g. LE and TE, by the proper choice of B-spline parameters. B-spline surface generation has been integrated in the extension of the present 2D inverse design into a fully three-dimensional inverse shape design.
On the other hand, a method based on B-splines has been developed for generating the target pressure and loading distributions in both streamwise and spanwise directions. The method provides the designer with sufficient local control on the target profile, it is easy to use in generating smooth target pressure (or loading) curves and surfaces using a few input parameters from the designer.
The developed technique is used to generate target pressure distributions or loading distribution for redesigning a highly loaded transonic turbine vane, and the rotor of a subsonic compressor stage under different operating conditions using a previously developed 2D inverse shape design method that is implemented into ANSYS-CFX where the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved and the k-ω turbulence model is used for all test cases. The airfoils performance has been improved as a result of the target design variables meticulously tailored to satisfy all the design intents.


identifier: Palmer, Noelle  (2016) The Role of Translation in Linguistic Standardisation across Inuit Nunangat.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The history of translation and the history of standardisation in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland in Canada, are closely intertwined.  As the Inuit language varieties continually adjust to changing circumstances, translation has triggered standardisation; concomitantly, translators have proven active agents in the creation, implementation and rejection of standards. Missionaries used translation as a tool for religious conversion, and this was soon superseded by the assimilative non-translation policy of the federal government. Unfortunately, the exogenous domination over translation by these colonisers was to the detriment of the Inuit culture, inclusive of its language varieties. Now, as the Inuit have been regaining their intrinsic right to autonomy within a federation focused on French-English bilingualism, they are also confronted with a world increasingly dominated by English. To combat diglossia and revitalise their language varieties, the governments in Inuit Nunangat have been implementing demanding translation policies, and standardisation has emerged as central to their execution. The Qallunaat missionaries who first codified the way the Inuit spoke for translation purposes assumed control over the Inuit writing systems as they split the Inuit into orthographic camps along religious boundaries. Now the Inuit are reclaiming authority over their language varieties as they contemplate the possibility of a unified writing system that preserves their valued oral diversity. The relational dynamics inherent in translation studies proves a fruitful ground for considering the implications of translating the diverse Inuit writing systems into the traditionally Qallunaat concept of a written standard.


identifier: Ryan, Jennifer  (2016) The Burden of Choice: Deciding Between English and French Education in Quebec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The laws governing public and government-subsidized education in the province of Quebec, Canada, make for a unique situation in which few parents have the luxury – or the burden, as the case may be – of choosing the language of instruction that their child will receive. The decision-making process is often fraught with concerns over which system – French or English – will better serve the child as he or she prepares for a future in the province. The following thesis reports on how parents experience deciding which system best suits their children and the parents’ perspectives on the outcomes of their decision.


identifier: Lamoureux, Émilie  (2016) Les Sept jours du talion : la transposition de l'intériotié à l'écran.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: L’étude comparative entre le roman Les Sept jours du talion de Patrick Senécal, publié en 2002, et le film Les 7 jours du talion, réalisé en 2010 par Podz, vise à mettre en évidence la façon dont chaque média traite l’intériorité des personnages. Dans le roman, l’intériorité est aisément accessible par le biais d’une narration en focalisation interne. Le film, quant à lui, de par les contraintes imposées par le média lui-même, adopte un point de vue externe. Néanmoins, certains éléments propres à ce support – l’image, le son et le montage, par exemple – offrent la possibilité de partager les sentiments des personnages. Nous posons donc comme hypothèse qu’en dépit des contraintes imposées par le cinéma, Podz arrive à reproduire, voire à exploiter et à explorer davantage, l’intériorité déjà représentée dans la version écrite des Sept jours du talion. Comme il est question dans l’histoire de quatre personnages déchirés par la mort d’un proche, le deuil occupe une place primordiale dans l’oeuvre à l’étude. Le récit présente trois perspectives face à ce drame : le désir de passer outre; le désir de comprendre; et le désir de vengeance. C’est en suivant ces figures, qui sont incarnées par différents personnages, que nous allons procéder à la démonstration.


identifier: Leibovitch, Matthew  (2016) Exploring the interplay of structure, stability, activity and localization in tRNA nucleotidyltransferase function.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The enzyme tRNA nucleotidyltransferase is of central importance in eukaryotic cells since it is required in multiple intracellular locations (nucleus, cytosol, mitochondria and plastids) for the production of mature tRNAs needed for protein synthesis. Therefore, tRNA nucleotidyltransferase serves as an excellent model protein to explore the complex roles that localization, activity, structure and stability play in defining protein function. I investigated how changes in the amino acid sequence of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase affect its structure, stability, activity and localization and may be linked, ultimately, to human disease.
Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism, I was the first to show that amino acid substitutions located within a region of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase required for enzyme activity, but outside of the enzyme’s classical amino-terminal organellar targeting sequence, affect localization to plastids and mitochondria. These studies suggest a direct link between intracellular distribution and how tightly the protein has folded. Moreover, these data indicate that the same seven amino acid changes that result in altered stability also reduce tRNA binding and enzyme activity. To more clearly define the role that these amino acids have in enzyme structure and function and to determine whether changes in protein stability, substrate binding, or structure bring about altered localization, I have fine-structure mapped the region encompassing residues 399-420 and shown that a single amino acid substitution (K418E) can dramatically alter tRNA binding and enzyme activity without detectable effects on enzyme structure. Localization studies are now underway to determine whether the K418E substitution, or other single substitutions within this region, alters the intracellular localization of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase.
Using a second model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I have further explored the link between stability and activity in protein function. I showed that a single amino acid substitution (E189F) resulted both in a 5ºC decrease in thermal stability and a 25-fold decrease in enzyme activity and caused a temperature-sensitive phenotype. Moreover, converting arginine 64 to tryptophan in the variant enzyme restored enzyme activity and suppressed the temperature-sensitive phenotype, but did not restore thermal stability. These data suggest that the temperature-sensitive phenotype is defined by the reduction in activity and not thermal stability. Moreover, these data were the first to suggest a role for conserved motif C in active site organization and tRNA nucleotidyltransferase function.
Finally, I applied the techniques and insight acquired from my studies of the Arabidopsis and yeast enzymes to explore how seven distinct amino-acid substitutions in human tRNA nucleotidyltransferase, all previously identified in patients suffering from sideroblastic anemia with B cell immunodeficiency, periodic fevers and development delay (SIFD), affect enzyme structure, stability and function in vitro. I showed that each of these mutations affects some combination of tRNA nucleotidyltransferase structure, activity, or stability. As expected, substitutions (T154I, M158V, L166S, R190I and I223T) within the conserved catalytic amino terminal region of the protein altered stability and/or activity but more interestingly two substitutions (I326T and K416E) in the less well conserved carboxy-terminal region of the enzyme altered catalytic efficiency, tRNA binding and quaternary structure.
These studies have shown that a protein’s function can be defined by a combination of some or all of its structure, stability, activity or localization.


identifier: Matusevscaia, Natalia  (2016) Students’ perceptions of creative teaching and facilitation techniques in asynchronous online courses.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
With the development of educational technology, undergraduate students are presented with the opportunities to enroll in online university courses. The students recognize the advantages of studying from the comfort of the place of their choice and at their own productive time. However, online students may feel their interest and desire to study online decreases over time. Researchers argue that the online environment can be a big enabler of teachers’ creativity which can be the best solution to motivational issues and dropout. This thesis reports a qualitative case study that explores students’ understanding and perception of online teachers’ creativity and how it influences their motivation to learn in asynchronous online courses. Concordia’s undergraduate students who enrolled in and experienced the Discover Statistics course were invited to participate in this study.
	Seventeen student participants shared their experience during one online one-on-one interview each and completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & DeGroof, 1990). The findings identify six main themes: positive experience in the course, negative experience in the course, definition of creativity and creative teaching, creative teaching strategies, positive comparison with other classes and motivational effects. Answering the main question of the research, it was concluded that this course includes multiple creative strategies, such as gamification, authentic examples, different approaches to explanations, repetitive practical problems, and self-assessment among all. These strategies positively affect participants’ motivation to learn.


identifier: Lee, Sung Tak (Josephine)  (2016) A Single Session Music Therapy Intervention Model for Mechanically Ventilated Patients in Intensive Care.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are exposed to numerous stressors including environmental disturbance and extensive medical treatments. The critical state of patients’ medical conditions requires close monitoring for possible rapid changes. One of the standard procedures to maintain adequate oxygen level is mechanical ventilation. This invasive treatment tremendously augments the level of state anxiety among patients. Music therapy has a long history of use in hospital settings as a complementary treatment to improve or maintain patients’ well-being. Studies have shown observable benefits of music therapy in the reduction of state anxiety in patients undergoing medical treatments. However, the administration of musical experience for mechanically ventilated patients in ICU are generally done by non-music therapy staff using pre-recorded music. Publications on music therapy intervention models in the ICU remains scarce. Given the broad range of music therapy methods that can be used for this population, the purpose of this thesis is to design a single session music therapy intervention model for mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU to reduce state anxiety. The structure of this intervention model was based on the intervention research methodology outlined by Fraser and Galinsky [Research on Social Work Practice, 2010]. A systematic literature survey served as the main source of data collection and was then analysed with qualitative content analysis method through a data coding process. This research provides a framework for future music therapy clinical practices and identifies areas for further research with this population.


identifier: Chung, Rhonda  (2016) Can Anglophone learners aurally distinguish between the passé composé and imparfait in French?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Anglophone French learners’ problems acquiring the passé composé (PC; il a parl/e/) and imparfait (IMP; il parl/E/) are well-documented in SLA literature. Explanations range from inadequate pedagogical material to incongruencies in the tense/aspect/modality of both languages. However, can learners actually perceive the acoustic differences inherent in these two constructions? The largest verb group in French (-ER verbs) was targeted as it produces regular morphophonemic inflections (/e/ and /E/) when conjugated in the PC and IMP, respectively. However, this /e-E/ distinction has undergone phonological neutralization in certain French variants, resulting in greater production of /e/ over /E/, which may lead to inaccurate L2 perception and production.
A one-shot experiment comprised of four tasks tested whether Anglophone L2 French learners could distinguish between the /e-E/ contrast in: a transcription task of high frequency verbs, two phoneme discrimination tasks of minimal pairs in nonwords and in sentential contexts, and a grammaticality task evaluating lexical bias. All speech samples were judged by speakers of Quebecois French, where the /e-E/ distinction remains contrastive. Results revealed that participants: overwhelmingly transcribed /e/ with greater accuracy than /E/; perceived /e/ better than /E/ in the discrimination tasks for non-words; perceived the IMP where the PC was used (despite the auxiliary in the latter); and demonstrated an aspectual lexical bias in differentiating between the PC and IMP in the grammaticality task. These results suggest that French learners’ inability to aurally perceive the /e-E/ distinction inherent in the PC and IMP may further complicate past tense acquisition.


identifier: Li, Xin  (2016) Canadian Stock Mispricing and Its Determinants.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT

Canada stock mispricings are estimated based on the models in Rhodes-Kropf, Robinson, and Viswanathan (2005) and Pástor and Veronesi (2003). Four sets of mispricing estimates are estimated by applying two estimation methods, Fama-MacBeth approach and Hoberg and Phillips (2010) three-step regression procedure, to each of the two models. We use both OLS and fixed-effects methods with clustered standard errors to assess potential determinant variables. We find that the industry Mining, Oil and Gas has the highest incidence of mispricing, while Information and Communication has the lowest incidence. We provide empirical evidence that stock mispricing is determined by investor sentiment, limits to arbitrage, firm characteristics and macro-level variables.


identifier: Shafiei, Golia  (2016) Protein Dynamics in Cytochrome b6f Explored by Spectral Hole Burning.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Proteins perform vital functions in the living organisms. They need to fold into their final tertiary structure in order to function properly. However, knowing the static tertiary structure of a protein is not enough to understand how it functions since proteins are not rigid bodies. The fact that the proteins go through structural fluctuations has to be taken into account in studying these complex biomolecules. Optical techniques, such as spectral hole burning, can be used in studying the dynamics of proteins. However, most proteins must be doped with dye molecules as probes since most of the proteins do not absorb light in visible region. Pigment-protein complexes involved in photosynthesis are good model systems for studying protein dynamics since the pigment molecules are embedded in these proteins naturally. Understanding the dynamics of proteins involved in photosynthesis and the way they function is important also from the perspective of photosynthesis and renewable energy research. The focus of this seminar is on the low-temperature dynamics and the barrier distributions on the energy landscape of Cytochrome b6f Protein Complex.
Qualitatively, the distributions of barriers between protein sub-states involved in the light-induced conformational changes (i.e. - Non-Photochemical Hole Burning (NPHB)) are close to glass-like, and not to Gaussian. Spectral dynamics of Cytochrome b6f manifesting in NPHB experiments appears to be independent of the deuteration of the buffer/glycerol glassy matrix containing the protein. Proton tunneling in the water/glycerol solvent environment can be excluded as the origin of the observed NPHB and recovery dynamics. Entities involved in the light-induced conformational changes are characterized by md^2 = 2.7-3.6 . 10^-46 kg.m^2. Evidence is presented for excitation energy transfer between chlorophyll molecules of the adjacent monomers. The magnitude of the dipole-dipole coupling deduced from the FLN spectra is in good agreement with the structural data, indicating that explored protein was intact.


identifier: Vissa, Stephanie  (2016) Exploring the Effectiveness of Interventions Aimed at Promoting Collaboration Through Interactive Whiteboards and Google Apps for Education.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Over the course of the past decade, the use of interactive whiteboards (IWB) in North American and European elementary classrooms has surged in popularity. Nevertheless, their procurement has been scrutinized due to their questionable ‘interactivity’, lack of usage by students, and steep price tags. This design-based study aimed at determining the effectiveness of a performance improvement campaign’s interventions designed at encouraging dialogic interactivity by utilizing both the IWB and Google Apps for Education (GAFE). The project was structured using the ADDIE model. Participatory action research techniques informed the performance needs analysis, which subsequently led to the design and development of the interventions as outlined in the high level design. Interventions were implemented over the course of one school year. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used to evaluate the efficacy of the interventions, as well as to explain the numerous factors that had an impact on their effectiveness. Results found that the tiered professional development sessions, the eNewsletters, the online tutorials, and the collaborative IWB and GAFE activities workshop were the most useful interventions. Various themes, notably that of time as a constraint, the potential for pedagogical use, and teachers as creatures of habit, emerged as factors that influenced the efficacy of the performance improvement campaign’s interventions.


identifier: Goldscheid, Alana  (2016) Using Music Therapy To Help Jewish Children With Different Abilities Complete Their Bar/Bat Mitzvah.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The purpose of this theoretical inquiry was to propose how particular music therapy interventions may be used and/or modified to address specific needs of young persons with different abilities as they prepare for and participate in their bar/bat mitzvah ceremonies. The author reviewed relevant literature to identify needs of young persons
with different abilities who were completing their bar/bat mitzvah. She then examined interventions used in traditional music therapy contexts that address similar needs and re-conceptualized four interventions for use within bar/bat mitzvah preparation and/or ceremony contexts. Limitations of the research, potential implications for practice and future research, and concluding thoughts are presented.


identifier: Rouhieh, Behzad  (2016) Modeling And Optimizing Route Choice For Multimodal Transportation Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Traffic congestion has been one of the major issues that most urban areas are facing and thus, many solutions have been developed and deployed in order to mitigate its negative effects. Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) have been used over the past two decades to provide travelers with pre-trip or real-time traffic information. Most of the efforts have focused on providing timely traffic information at locations with regularly occurring congestion. ATIS can be used to provide travelers with pre-trip and on-route travel information necessary to improve trip decision making with respect to various criteria (e.g. minimizing delay, constraining travel to specific modes). Many jurisdictions within Canada and the United States have implemented the 511 travel information system that provides traffic information, road conditions and closures, traffic cameras, etc.
Several studies were conducted on vehicle routing optimization methods in ATIS. Most of them consider passenger vehicles as the only transportation mode in their routing algorithm. Others that include two transportation modes are mostly based on shortest path algorithms. However, a probabilistic based route optimization approach could better capture the stochastic characteristic of road traffic conditions. This research investigates an adaptive routing methodology for multi-modal transportation networks. A routing algorithm based on Markov decision processes is proposed to capture short-term traffic characteristics of transportation networks. Graph theory is used to model typical travel behavior within a multimodal network.  This thesis proposes to use special network modeling elements, e.g. super nodes, to allow the integration of public transportation schedule into the model via the publicly available predefined timetables. The proposed routing algorithm applies an iterative function to select the optimal transportation mode/route through the network junctions along a given path.
The proposed methodology is applied to several real-world networks of motorized and non-motorized modes located in the central business district in Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal and Longueuil in Quebec.  The networks include train, bus, streetcar, subway and bicycle transportation facilities. Microsimulation models of the networks developed in VISSIM and AIMSUN are used to estimate travel times along major arterials, for all transportation modes and for different traffic demands and congestion levels. The simulation models were calibrated using volume and speed data. The developed routing algorithm is applied to several scenarios in order to estimate optimal routes for a hypothetical traveler moving between two arbitrarily selected nodes in the network. The results identify the most efficient combination of transportation modes that the travelers have to use given specific constraints pertaining to traffic and transit service conditions. It is also shown that by applying the proposed algorithm to bus lines, transit agencies can have significant cost savings by rerouting their fleet.
The results of the proposed research have the potential to be integrated into various Intelligent Transportation Systems applications by combining available traveler information services. It can assist travelers in making more informed decisions regarding their travel plans and provide transportation agencies with an overall assessment of the system and its performance. For example, it can be used to minimize the impact of congested traffic conditions on the overall travel time and/or cost incurred by travelers as well as the operating cost of transit agencies.


identifier: Adout, Miya Lital  (2016) Integrating the iPad into Music Therapy Interventions for Older Adults in Long-Term Care.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research was to re-design traditional music therapy interventions for older adults who reside in long-term care who have impaired physical mobility by integrating the iPad into these interventions. A modified approach to intervention design was used for this study. Literature containing research and theoretical evidence as well as the researcher’s practical experience were used to identify risk factors and also to suggest a relationship between the proposed mechanisms of change and therapeutic outcomes. Interventions from two different music experience categories were chosen based on identifying malleable mediators (i.e., aspects of the intervention that could be changed using the iPad to facilitate clients’ participation). These two interventions were re-designed using features of the iPad to address the identified barriers. Limitations of the research, potential implications for practice, research, and training are discussed.


identifier: Baba, Mohammad  (2016) A Low-Cost Camera-based Transducer Tracking System for Freehand Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Imaging.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Freehand three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US) imaging is commonly used for clinical diagnosis and therapy monitoring. In this technique, accurate tracking of the US transducer is a crucial requirement to develop high-quality 3D US volumes. However, current methods for transducer tracking are generally expensive and inconvenient. This thesis presents a low-cost camera-based system for tracking the US transducer with six degrees of freedom (DoF). In this system, two orthogonal cameras with non-overlapped views are mounted on the US transducer. During US
scanning, the two cameras are employed to track artificial features attached to the skin of the patient. A 3D surface map is constructed based on the tracked features and the 3D poses of each camera with respect to the skin are extracted separately. The estimated poses of the two cameras are spatially combined to provide accurate and robust pose estimation of the US transducer. In particular, the fusion of the estimated poses by the two cameras is performed using Kalman filtering based technique,
which is a popular optimization technique in motion guidance and tracking. The camera-based tracking of the US transducer has been applied to synthesize freehand 3D US volumes. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated by performing in-vitro 3D US imaging experiments and quantifying the synthesized US volumes. The results demonstrate that two points in the 3D US volume separated by a distance of 10 mm can be reconstructed with an average error of 0.35 mm and a 3D volume of a cylinder can be estimated within an error of 3.8%.


identifier: Wang, Xijun  (2016) Theoretical Investigation of the Vibrational Spectroscopic Signatures of Ion-water Clusters and Peptide-water Clusters.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The aim of this work is to develop theoretical approaches to compute vibrational spectra beyond the harmonic approximation and to investigate the performance of the self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding model (SCC-DFTB) in studying the vibrational spectra of large systems.  For this purpose, vibrational spectra of ion-water clusters and peptide-water clusters are computed from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the Fourier transform of the autocorrelation function of the dipole moment (FTACF). The performance of the SCC-DFTB model is evaluated by comparing computed spectra with available experimental results and ab initio or first-principles results. There are four distinct aspects to this work: (1) To demonstrate how the FTACF approach overcomes the limitations of the harmonic approximation, vibrational spectra of the “Zundel ion”, the protonated water dimer, are computed from ab initio MD simulations based on second-order Møller–Plesset (MP2) Perturbation Theory. The splitting of the band of the proton transfer mode is well reproduced, and its coupling with other modes is characterized by examining the correlation spectra of a combination of selected internal coordinates. Computed spectra at different temperatures further confirm the ability of the approach to unveil temperature-dependent features of vibrational modes coupling. (2) To confirm the spectral signature of “free water” at the surface of aqueous droplets seeded by sulfate ions proposed by experimentalists, theoretical vibrational spectra of sulfate-water clusters are generated using the SCC-DFTB model. Computed spectra not only reproduce the spectral signature of free surface water molecules, hence confirming the hypothesis, but also reveal the distance within which the sulfate ion may affect the structure and dynamics of water molecules in the gas phase, within the accuracy of the approximate model employed and the possible limitations of conformational sampling. (3) To investigate the hydration effect on the CN stretch band of the guanidinium ion, vibrational spectra of guanidinium-water clusters are obtained with the SCC-DFTB model. Computed spectra reveal a redshift in the band position, in agreement with ab initio calculations of harmonic frequencies. The SCC-DFTB spectra are also in good agreement with those obtained from Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) simulations employing more rigorous density-functional theory (DFT). (4) To validate the suitability of the approach to describe the interactions and dynamics of peptide-water binary systems, vibrational spectra of several model clusters containing prototype peptides are generated from MD simulations at different temperatures, with the ultimate goal of gaining insight into solvation effects on the spectra of hydrated proteins. Computed spectra are in excellent agreement with available experimental results and reported theoretical results. Altogether, these findings not only shed light onto understanding the properties of ion-water and peptide-water clusters, but also validate an efficient approach to compute vibrational spectra of large systems with satisfactory performance and accuracy.


identifier: Essex, Marie Joëlle  (2016) L’écriture au féminin dans la littérature francophone postcoloniale : entre dénonciation et reconstruction identitaire.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: When it comes to French literature, male authors’ writings abound and we acknowledge that many contemporary writings are characterized by the staging of a hybrid subject, who lives an identity crisis. Indeed, the novels deal with the crisis of the subject that is in an in-between, between the culture of the home country and the culture of the host country. The male authors abound but, African women having now acquired the right to speak publish more. Especially given the current context of globalization, the concerns raised by these women have changed. They address issues such as immigration, the role of women in society and the hybrid culture. However, instead of a perpetual quest of the subject, these women put forward a female subject who is working to rebuild its identity in a country that is not his, to question the place of women in the society, to denounce social behavior and / or policies of the homeland and host country. The analysis of two women writers’ novels: Comment cuisiner son mari à l’africaine by Calixthe Beyala and Le ventre de l’Atlantique by Fatou Diome allows us to question the identity through various literary concepts and question the existence of an African feminism.


identifier: Ebadi, Ashkan  (2016) An intelligent hybrid multi-criteria hotel recommender system using explicit and implicit feedbacks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recommender systems, also known as recommender engines, have become an important research area and are now being applied in various fields. In addition, the techniques behind the recommender systems have been improved over the time. In general, such systems help users to find their required products or services (e.g. books, music) through analyzing and aggregating other users’ activities and behavior, mainly in form of reviews, and making the best recommendations. The recommendations can facilitate user’s decision making process. Despite wide literature on the topic, using multiple data sources of different types as the input has not been widely studied. Recommender systems can benefit from the high availability of digital data to collect the input data of different types which implicitly or explicitly help the system to improve its accuracy. Moreover, most of the existing research in this area is based on single rating measures in which a single rating is used to link users to items.
This dissertation aims to design a highly accurate hotel recommender system, implemented in various layers and tailored for the subject problem. Using multi-rating system and benefitting from large-scale data of different types, the recommender system suggests hotels that are personalized and tailored for the given user. The system employs natural language processing techniques to assess the sentiment of the users’ reviews and extract implicit features. The entire recommender engine contains multiple sub-systems, namely users clustering, matrix factorization module, and hybrid recommender system. Each sub-system contributes to the final composite set of recommendations through covering a specific aspect of the problem. The accuracy of the proposed recommender system has been tested intensively where the results confirm the high performance of the system.


identifier: Alton, E. Adrienne  (2016) Meeting at the Intersection of Practice and Theory: How do I enact relational pedagogy when working with children affected by childhood cancers?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents my narrative examination of the question: how do I enact relational pedagogy when working with children affected by childhood cancers? The exploration of this research question presented me with an opportunity to understand my observations and add new knowledge to my practice while working with children at the Kids with Cancer Society of Northern Alberta (KWCS).
	I used action research through the theoretical lens of relational pedagogy. I initiated a three-cycle action research plan around topics that were determined by both the children and myself. During the cycles, the children worked with each other and me as co-creators, co-planners and co-educators guiding the direction of each art session. Each cycle comprised of two art making sessions that included reflections for the planning of subsequent sessions. Furthermore, the children and I engaged in reflective journaling to document our experiences of the art sessions. The journal entries helped me understand the perspective of the children, and further provided them agency in expressing their perspectives as they related to engaging with art practices.
	In my embodiment of relational pedagogy the following themes emerged: shared practices, learning about my practice and myself, reconsidering roles, and the balancing act between practice and theory.
Keywords: pedagogy of relation, relational, children, art education, action research, narrative, cancer


identifier: Mendhurwar, Kaustubha  (2016) Data Driven Human Motion Analysis using Multiple Data Modalities.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Human motion analysis attempts to understand the movements of human body using techniques found in various disciplines. The movements of human body can be interpreted on a physical level through pose estimation, i.e., static reconstruction of three dimensional (3D) articulated configurations, or on a higher more semantic level through action recognition, i.e., understanding the body’s movements over time. It has a wide array of applications in the areas like gaming, sports analysis, security and surveillance, and healthcare. In the gaming industry, learning human action style and creating character animation from a repertoire of actions is very popular. Gait analysis is a crucial step in many biomedical applications as well as security, surveillance and biometric applications. A plethora of sensors are available to capture the human motion data in various modalities easily and in a very cost effective manner. The sheer amount of data produced by researchers, using such sensors, every day demand for human motion analysis methods that are computationally efficient. This  thesis attempts to develop effective techniques, based on computer vision and computer graphics, to solve some of the important problems in application areas of human motion analysis. Specifically, three key application areas, namely, sports activity analysis, surveillance and security, and healthcare are considered. New methods for applications like human style sequence learning, gait analysis, gesture recognition,
and time series matching are proposed.

In the first half of this thesis, the problem addressed is learning and synthesis of structured sport activities with kickboxing as a case study. Monocular video data is used as input and human style sequences are investigated in order to identify higher level sequence style. Main idea is to learn the style embedded in action sequencing and transitions in between, and then to synthesize new sequences for virtual characters.
Widely popular computer vision techniques are employed to obtain the sequence of actions performed in the video and to train a model with this sequence to drive a virtual character. Furthermore, style information embedded in transitions are also obtained from video and is used to create style preserving realistic transitions.

In the second half of this thesis, high dimensional sensor data in different modalities is analyzed. Since human motion data is a high dimensional time series data, a novel shape aware multidimensional time series matching algorithm is developed and tested for a variety of scenarios like noise, missing data, different data modalities, small amount of training as well as testing data and different application domains. Firstly, processes for two new biometric systems, namely, gait and visual password are proposed towards surveillance and security. Secondly, processes for recognition of gestures and activities are proposed towards healthcare.

Extensive experimentations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of the various techniques developed in this thesis. Performance of the proposed methods is compared with that of the state of the art methods used in the human motion analysis under best possible conditions. For this purpose, the results obtained are validated using some popular benchmark databases as well as a few in-house created databases. It is shown that, the proposed methods outperform the state of the art in most of the cases.


identifier: Qasim, Muhammad  (2016) Formalization of Normal Random Variables.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Engineering systems often have components that exhibit random behavior. This randomness in many cases is normally distributed. To verify such systems, proba- bilistic analysis is used. Such engineering systems have applications in domains like transportation, medicine and military. Despite the safety-critical nature of these ap- plications, most of the analysis is done using informal techniques like simulation and paper-and-pencil analysis, and thus cannot be completely relied upon. The unreliable results produced by such methods may result in heavy financial loss or even the loss of a human life. To overcome the limitation of traditional methods, we propose to conduct the analysis of such systems within the trusted kernel of a higher-order-logic theorem prover HOL4. The soundness and the deduction style of the theorem prover guarantee the validity of the analysis and the results of this type of analysis are generic and valid for any instance of the system. For this purpose, we provide HOL4 formalization of Lebesgue measure and normal random variables along with the proof of their classical properties. We also ported the theory of Gauge integral and other required foundational concepts from HOL Light and Isabelle/HOL theorem provers. To illustrate the usefulness of our formalization, we conducted the formal analysis of two applications, i.e., error probability of binary transmission in the presence of Gaussian noise and probabilistic clock synchronization in wireless sensor networks.


identifier: Bell, Jaclyn  (2016) Music therapy and percussion for persons with dementia: A systematic literature review.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Dementia is a progressive deterioration in cognitive ability that affects many people worldwide. As cognitive and verbal skills decline, persons from this population who are involved in music therapy require more diverse music therapy interventions. Persons with dementia may gradually lose the ability to sing as the disease progresses and the use of percussion may allow for continued musical participation.  This research is a systematic literature review of the use of percussion with persons with dementia in music therapy and non music therapy contexts. From 2005 to 2014, many resources were published on the use of percussion in music therapy and non music therapy contexts for persons with dementia. This review examines the literature in terms of the professionals, the stages of dementia, the prevalence of group versus individual settings, the percussion instruments described, the experiences used, the goals targeted, and the results of experimental studies on the use of percussion for persons with dementia. The findings may serve as a resource for clinicians, students, and researchers, and has the potential to increase knowledgeable use of diverse percussion interventions in music therapy and non music therapy contexts for persons with dementia.


identifier: Saber-Freedman, Noah  (2016) A Data-Driven Decision Model for Combined Sewer Overflow Management using the Low-Impact Development Rapid Assessment Method.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Mitigating the frequency and severity of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) represents a significant engineering and economic challenge in urban stormwater management (SWM). Low-Impact Development (LID) methods are a decentralized approach for dealing with this challenge. Current methods for estimating CSO mitigation efficacy and informing choices about infrastructure solutions are typically based on simulation of the storm sewer network for municipalities. The recent public availability of rainfall and CSO data represents a potential opportunity to improve the quality of these estimates, as well as reducing the time it takes to generate them.

A novel decision support model is presented which solves a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) formulation of the Low-Impact Development Rapid Assessment (LIDRA) method algorithmically to identify priority catchment areas for intervention with LID infrastructure, as well as the optimal extent of investment, subject to different budgetary constraints. The reliability of the model is improved by means of a Monte Carlo simulation.

This method is demonstrated with an open dataset from the city of Spokane, Washington, but it is generalizable to other municipalities where storm and CSO data is available.


identifier: Ng-Chan, Taien W.  (2016) Detouring the Commute (the art and practice of everyday travel).  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
My thesis explores the processes of gaining deep knowledge about place through everyday travel. I focus on how different modes of mobility perform different kinds of spaces, views, and mental maps of the city, how the repetition of the daily routine enacts a personal archive of place, and how the functionalistic commute can be “detoured” into a meaningful practice. My creative research stems in part from my autoethnographic media practices of navigating the city, and frames the gathering of knowledge as an artistic experience that is integral to my methods of investigation. The commute is a unique and everyday liminal space, one that is ripe for artistic encounters and stories to materialize the city in transformative ways. By explicitly advocating an interventionist practice through mapping and locative art, I hope to contribute to the development of a more engaged commute as a hybrid space of aesthetic pleasure and surprise, and a heightened awareness of the many strata that make up a place.

This project investigates three different and specific kinds of commutes. The first involves a walk between two very different neighbourhoods that involves crossing the controversial border that is the L’Acadie Fence. I use cultural landscape methods of “reading” the built environment with an eye on the material, the social and the historical, as well as a photographic practice that documents and archives my daily journeys around the two neighbourhoods. The second commute relates the experience of city transit as a unique space of performance, both in the everyday ritual sense and as a space of social theatre. The ubiquity of mobile media in transit spaces is also addressed as having the potential to reconnect to one’s surroundings, rather than disconnecting from the commuting routine. Finally, the third commute describes a drive from one city to another in rush hour traffic, combined with a look at Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope as a method of cinematic analysis, and a way of discerning narratives that build up around the non-places of the auto-commute. This study will then conclude by presenting a framework for the detour as a practice of creative mapping through everyday travel.