identifier: Zhu, Shan  (2007) A novel approach to quantifying designer's mental stress in the conceptual design process.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The objective of the present thesis is to quantify designer's mental stress during the conceptual design process, in which designers usually describe the design problem and design solutions using natural language, combined with sketches. In the process of solving a design problem, the design problem itself will evolve according to the design solutions generated at each step of the design. The design problem together with its solutions at each step is called a design state. Quantifying the designer's mental stress would assist in understanding the designer's creative and innovative design process, through which a design methodology can be optimized. In the present thesis, a cognitive experiment is used to study the quantification of the designer's mental stress. Subjects were invited to design a new litter-disposal system in a passenger compartment located in the trains of NS (Dutch Railways). In quantifying the designer's mental stress, the recorded design protocol data is firstly segmented into design states, each of which is then encoded into a Recursive Object Model diagram through linguistic analysis. The number of objects and relationships included in an ROM diagram is then used to quantify the designer's mental stress. The validation through the cognitive experiment shows that ROM is an effective encoding scheme. The analysis presented in this research shows that the designer's mental stress changes in a dynamic, nonlinear, and spiral manner along with the time.


identifier: Buhr, Kristin E. M  (2007) Expanding our conceptualization of excessive worry and GAD : the role of fear and avoidance of emotional experiences.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Fear of emotional responding and experiential avoidance may play an important role in excessive worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The goal of the first study was to replicate previous research findings by investigating the role of fear and avoidance of emotional experiences in problematic worry and GAD. Moreover, the study served as an extension of previous research by contrasting the relationship between fear and avoidance of emotional responding and excessive worry with constructs already linked to worry and GAD, such as intolerance of uncertainty. Findings from a nonclinical sample indicated that fear of emotions, in particular fear of anxiety, and experiential avoidance were significantly related to excessive worry, which is the defining feature of GAD. Worry was also highly associated with intolerance of uncertainty. Additional analyses revealed that fear of anxiety, experiential avoidance, and intolerance of uncertainty, all made significant and unique contributions to the prediction of worry. Finally, the results suggested that the tendency to fear and avoid emotional experiences was related to GAD diagnostic criteria.  The goal of the second study was to clarify the role of fear of anxiety in worry by assessing whether the experimental manipulation of fear of anxiety affected worry level. The study also assessed the combined effects of fear of anxious responding and intolerance of uncertainty on level of worry by grouping participants according to their tolerance for uncertainty. The results indicated that participants whose fear of anxiety was increased showed higher levels of worry compared to participants whose fear of anxiety was decreased. This finding provides preliminary support for the causal role of fear of anxiety in worry. Moreover, the results showed that increased fear of anxiety in combination with an intolerance for uncertainty led to the highest levels of worry, which suggests that these constructs have an additive effect on worry. The findings from the present research lend support to the integration of new conceptualizations of psychopathology with existing models of excessive worry, which could ultimately increase treatment efficacy for GAD.


identifier: LeBel, Stefan  (2007) Path following control of wheeled mobile robots combining piecewise-affine, linear parameter-varying, and backstepping theories.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis presents a novel controller synthesis method for path following of a wheeled mobile robot (WMR). The proposed control method consists of a three-step procedure mixing piecewise-affine (PWA) and linear parameter-varying (LPV) techniques with backstepping. In the first step, two curvature limits and a curvature rate of change limit are defined for the desired path and the nonlinear WMR parameterized path kinematics are approximated by an uncertain piecewise-affine parameter-varying (PWAPV) system, while assuming that the WMR forward velocity is constant. A numerical method is proposed for determining PWA bounds on the uncertainty terms such that the original nonlinear parameter-dependent system is contained in the uncertain PWAPV system. Then, a PWAPV steering control law is designed using a parameter-dependent quadratic Lyapunov function. In the second step, a backstepping-type approach is used to include the vehicle dynamics and design the wheel control torques that guarantee convergence of the WMR forward and rotational velocities to the desired values. Finally, in the third step, the actuator dynamics are included and the input voltages are designed using backstepping. There are four primary advantages to the path following controller synthesis method proposed in this thesis. First, the PWAPV controller synthesis method can be formulated as a convex optimization program subject to a parameterized set of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs), which will be approximated by a finite set of LMIs using LPV theory and then solved efficiently using available software. Second, it includes both a general, non-singular path parameterization and the actuator dynamics. Third, the PWAPV control law can also stabilize the type of nonlinear parameter-dependent system considered here. And fourth, it is a first step toward including hard nonlinearities in the actuator dynamics, which are important PWA characteristics. The effectiveness of the proposed path following control method is demonstrated through numerical simulations.


identifier: Kameshki, Mohammad Reza  (2007) Simulation of hydrogen jet exiting a high pressure reservoir.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Hydrogen release from a high pressure vessel is simulated using a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code. An existing compressible Euler CFD solver is extended to solve the mixture of fluids together with extra transport equation for hydrogen species concentration. The modifications to the governing equations are presented as well as the discretization with the same techniques as the core solver. The core solver uses an implicit conservative scheme which is based on a finite volume technique for spatial discretization. The mixture of fluids is assumed to obey the ideal gas law and hence pressure, temperature, and density are coupled using the perfect gas equation of state. The code is used to simulate and study an inviscid hydrogen jet exiting a reservoir with initial pressures of 100 and 800 bars. The results obtained for the 100 bars test case are compared with the available data from another numerical simulation. Excellent agreement is observed


identifier: Monsur, Nasima  (2007) Modeling a hybrid diode-thyristor HVDC rectifier in EMTP-RV.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission systems are used all over the world in frequency-conversion schemes, non-synchronous AC interconnections, submarine DC-links and in many other projects where they enhance AC system stability. HVDC system has many advantages such as fast power flow control, stable and economical operation for long-distance transmission. But the large-scale usage of HVDC transmission is limited by several factors and one of the most important factors is the high cost of conversion equipment. A proposed converter model for the HVDC rectifier system is presented for a possible reduction of the high cost of conversion equipment. This thesis presents an investigation into the viability of a hybrid diode-thyristor HVDC rectifier.  In a standard HVDC system, a 12-pulse thyristor-bridge is used. In this thesis, the CIGRE benchmark based HVDC system operating with a weak AC system is presented as the standard model. In the proposed hybrid circuit, the lower 6-pulse thyristor-bridge (which is connected with a Y-Y transformer), is replaced by a cheaper diode-bridge. This reduces the overall capital cost of the 12-pulse rectifier, but has implications regarding the operational behaviour of the HVDC terminal and system. The operational behaviour of this hybrid diode-thyristor rectifier under static and dynamic conditions and the comparison with the standard model are verified with the well-known simulation package called EMTP-RV.  Due to unbalanced harmonic cancellation between diode-bridge and thyristor-bridge, the proposed HVDC system generates more characteristic harmonics than the standard model on both AC and DC side. So, an extra filtering unit is needed which will increase the cost of the proposed HVDC model.  In the proposed model, only one controller block is needed for the thyristor-bridge as the diode-bridge does not need the controller block. So the cost will be reduced in the proposed model due to the requirement of a single controller block. The controller for optimizing the PI parameters of the proposed HVDC model is designed by using ITAE (Integral of Time multiplied by the Absolute value of the Error) criterion, which is one of the synthetic indexes for evaluating the control system's performance. DC fault is the most severe fault for the converter valves at the rectifier end and it represents one serious operational difficulty with the introduction of the proposed model. It is very difficult to recover from a DC fault like the standard model because of the uncontrolled diode-bridge. So an AC breaker (which is costly equipment) is added to the system to recover from the fault


identifier: Zhao, Peizhong  (2007) Anycast routing in wireless sensor networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: An emerging new type of ad hoc network, a wireless sensor network, has great potential to be used in many application areas. While each sensor network application has its own particular technical issues, network topology formation and multi-hop routing are two problems that are common to and very important for all applications. The key question is how to organize and keep the network in an optimal topology so that sensor data can be reliably and efficiently sent to sink nodes.  In this thesis, we present a new approach to construct a wireless sensor network topology with a long network lifetime and high data delivery rate. Specifically, we designed an anycast routing protocol named Dynamic Anycast Routing to form anycast trees that enable a simple and efficient routing scheme. The protocol was implemented using the sensor network-oriented operating system TinyOS. The protocol was tested both in a simulation environment and on real sensor hardware. Experiments using the TOSSIM simulator demonstrate that our protocol can significantly prolong network lifetime and at the same time maintain a high data delivery rate.


identifier: Dutta, Krishma  (2007) Enhancement and integration for CINDI system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The CINDI system is an assembly of inter-related subsystems, working together as a digital library for academic documents in the field of computer science. These subsystems include the CINDI Robot, which downloads scientific documents including theses, technical reports, FAQ's, academic papers and discussion groups, the CINDI Conference system and the CINDI Registration and Upload subsystem, where authors upload academic documents. In addition, there is the Gleaning subsystem that converts the non-PDF documents to PDF format and filters out the documents that are more appropriate, the Automatic Semantic Header Generator which locates information about the author, title, keywords, subject and abstract from the documents, and the CINDI Search subsystem which enables users to search for resources in the CINDI repository, This thesis is based on the techniques that were used for the integration of subsystems, which includes porting of the Document Converter from the Windows platform to Linux. Enhancements were made to the Registration and Upload subsystem to allow multiple file uploads and improvements were made to the Graphical User Interface. The CINDI Search subsystem was redesigned to improve functionality and its interface was made more user-friendly. We have also developed an Annotation subsystem allowing users to make comments on documents in the CINDI repository.


identifier: Schor, Gabriel  (2007) USITRES : Usability issues tracking electronic system : an ontology web-based tool for tracking usability problems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The results of usability tests including user knowledge, qualitative and quantitative data are generally fragmented and stored in various formats and tools. This limits our capacity to extract meaningful patterns and recommendations from the huge set of data. The interaction between the testers and developers in charge of making changes in the design is limited and filtered by usability professionals which results in losses in terms of the user message. During usability studies, the representative users are designated by those conducting the study and this is often wrong as users evolve or change with time. The software users, developers and designers need a common and shared referential to discuss in a cohesive manner the results of tests from different perspectives.  We propose a novel ontology-based platform for collecting, managing and disseminating test results as well as for mediating the communication line between all the people involved in tests including users, usability experts, developers and quality managers. The ontology clearly describes the issues and applications based on a well defined set of characteristics.  The set of characteristics, that are made available to usability professionals, clarify and improve usability related knowledge exchanges and therefore improve the effectiveness, objectivity and accuracy rate of usability studies.  The proposed ontology has been implemented as part a tool, called USITRES, a central usability repository. Several functionalities allow USITRES users to test the usability of applications and web sites during their use, verify and validate the assumptions made during design and have a voice during the redesign. USITRES allows all users to log usability bugs and trace them. It allows the design team to interact much more effectively with the users, acknowledge and address their concerns much faster. It also supports the developers in the decision making process regarding what the users need in terms of interaction and behaviour patterns based on a more accurate tests results.


identifier: Song, Miao  (2007) Dynamic deformation of uniform elastic two-layer objects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis presents a two-layer uniform facet elastic object for real-time simulation based on physics modeling method. It describes the elastic object procedural modeling algorithm with particle system from the simplest one-dimensional object, to more complex two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.  The double-layered elastic object consists of inner and outer elastic mass spring surfaces and compressible internal pressure. The density of the inner layer can be set different from the density of the outer layer; the motion of the inner layer can be opposite to the motion of the outer layer. These special features, which cannot be achieved by a single layered object, result in improved imitation of a soft body, such as tissue's liquidity non-uniform deformation. The construction of the double-layered elastic object is closer to the real tissue's physical structure.  The inertial behavior of the elastic object is well illustrated in environments with gravity and collisions with walls, ceiling, and floor. The collision detection is defined by elastic collision penalty method and the motion of the object is guided by the Ordinary Differential Equation computation.  Users can interact with the modeled objects, deform them, and observe the response to their action in real time.


identifier: Kamali, Shahab  (2007) Position based ant colony optimization routing in mobile ad hoc networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Availability of cheap positioning instruments makes it possible for routing algorithms to use the advantage of knowing the positions of nodes in a mobile ad hoc network. Position based routing algorithms may fail to find a route from a source to a destination or the path that they find may be longer than the shortest path if the network contains nodes with irregular transmission ranges. On the other hand, routing algorithms which are based on ant colony optimization (ACO) find routing paths that are close in length to the shortest paths. The drawback of these algorithms is the large number of messages that needs to be sent or the long delay before the routes are established. In this thesis we propose two position based ACO routing algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks, POSANT and HYBNET. POSANT combines the idea of ant colony optimization with information about the position of nodes. HYBNET is a hybrid routing algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks which adapts itself to different network topologies. Our simulations show in most cases, POSANT and HYBNET perform better than the other routing algorithms.


identifier: Yang, Feng  (2007) Face recognition under significant pose variation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Unlike the frontal face detection, multi-pose face detection and recognition techniques, still face the following challenges: large variability of environments such as pose, illumination and backgrounds, and unconstrained capturing of facial images. We introduced a new system to deal with this problem. First, a two-step color-based approach is used to find a candidate area of face from original picture. Then a rough estimator of five poses is created using AdaBoost technique. In order to accurately locate the candidate face, multiple statistical shape models-ASM (Active Shape Models) are proposed to estimate an accurate pose of model of the input image and to extract facial features as well. In the recognition step, we use a geometrical mapping technique to deal with the pose variation and face identification.


identifier: Chen, Chun Hua  (2007) CrsMgr - the course manager system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: CrsMgr - the course manager system

abstract: CrsMgr, The Course Manager System, is developed as our contribution to the free open source community. It is a web-based application for managing the administrative tasks and information for university level courses. The system is designed with the role-based access control (RBAC) approach; a user of the system could have multiple system access roles. There are 10 system access roles; they are System Administrator, Department Administrator, Course Coordinator, Course Instructor, Thesis Supervisor, Course Student, Course Marker, Course Tutor, Lab Tutor, and Graduate Student. The system provides a wide range of functionalities for each of these access roles. For example, a course instructor can manage information such as student list, student submissions for assignments, student grades, project groups, teaching materials, and online assessments. For student users, it provides functionalities to access course materials, to upload assignments and get feedback for their works, to form project groups and conduct peer reviews for group works, and to take online assessments. For markers, it provides features to grade assignments and projects and to give feedback online, hence the usage of paper is eliminated.  The system is designed and implemented with typical three-tier client-server architecture, which consist of the user interface tier, the processing management tier, and the database management tier. The client side user interface tier is made up of HTML pages, and the server side database management tier uses MySQL as the DBMS. In between these two tires is the processing management tier, which uses PHP as the scripting language.


identifier: Vaillancourt, Julie  (2007) De l'ombre à la lumière : quand le cinéma ouvre la porte du placard : une analyse des représentations homosexuelles et des problématiques LGBT et de leurs fondements sociopolitiques dans le cinéma québécois de fiction de 1960 à 1980.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Gonzalez, Ricardo  (2007) La pollinisation de la fiction avec la documentaire dans les années soixante et soixante-dix : quatre pays, quatre films, quatre approches distinctes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Ce mémoire consiste en une analyse minutieuse de quatre films: La primera cargo al machete (1969), du cubain Manuel Octavio Gomez, Le chat dans le sac (1964), du québécois Gilles Groulx, La bataille d'Alger (1966), de l'italien Gillo Pontecorvo, et Punishment Park (1971), du britannique Peter Watkins. Le choix de ces oeuvres s'est arrêté de part leur particularité de mélanger à la fiction certains codes du documentaire. J'ai choisi précisément ces couvres, car chacune provient ou traite d'un sujet national, la sortie du film cubain est effectuée dix ans après la prise du pouvoir de Fidel Castro, le film québécois est réalisé en pleine Révolution Tranquille, le film sur un moment de la guerre pour l'indépendance en Algérie est réalisé quatre ans après l'accession à la souveraineté et, finalement, le film de Watkins est réalisé aux Etats-Unis au moment où ceux-ci sont embourbés dans la guerre du Vietnam.  Je précise que le corpus de films choisi traite plus précisément de la décennie des années soixante, mais cette converge a eu lieu tout au long de la décennie suivante. Ce mémoire propose donc de montrer comment dans un contexte historique particulier, une convergence entre les nouvelles technologies et les courants idéologiques ont amené une nouvelle esthétique dans le domaine du cinéma. J'entends démontrer que le mélange de la fiction et du documentaire est bien différent selon l'horizon historique et culturel de chaque pays, c'est-à-dire Cuba, Canada. Algérie et Etats-Unis. J'ai intentionnellement évité de m'investir dans le débat sur le réalisme ou autres thèmes longuement discutés depuis ces années pour me concentrer sur les intentions du cinéaste, sur sa vision et l'usage de cette ±hybridation» esthétique. En somme, j'entends analyser les différentes approches des cinéastes occidentaux influencés par: les courants politiques de la ±nouvelle gauche» et une nouvelle manière de concevoir le cinéma comme le propose le ±political modernism»


identifier: Chapman, Owen  (2007) Selected sounds : a collective investigation into the practice of sample-based music.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Selected Sounds involves an ethnographic investigation into the sampling and mixing practices of a group of sound artists from Montreal, Canada. Seven composers (in one case, a composing duo) each contributed a single piece of digitized sound to the project. Each was free to submit any sound they liked, with the one requirement that all samples be selected from sources discovered around Montreal. After collecting the audio files, I placed them together on a CD, copies of which were distributed to every participant. Each composer then put together a track drawing on this sample-pool exclusively for source material. The resulting mixes have been compiled into a nationally distributed, independent audio-CD. All were interviewed regarding the evolution of their knowledge of digital audio production methods, as well as their thoughts on audio sampling.  In Chapter 1 (the Introduction) I present the research project and outline the theoretical framework as well as challenges addressed. In Chapter 2, I discuss various methodological choices made in Selected Sounds as a reflexive ethnography that invokes sample-based musical practices of citation, friendship and creative production as mechanisms for highly-engaged research in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Chapter 3 presents a literature review of recent academic accounts of audio sampling and the impacts of digital technology upon the contemporary reception and use of media. Chapter 4 introduces Appendix A-an interactive database developed from out of the Selected Sounds interview process. Chapter 5 concludes by taking up conversations contained in Appendix A and organizing them around seven different reconfigurations of the concept "sampling" for 2007: sampling-as-technology, sampling-as-community, samplingas-memory, sampling-as-collecting, sampling-as-ethics, and sampling-as-recording.  Appendix A is the Selected Sounds interview database.  Appendix B contains a brief introduction to "The Lesbians on Ecstasy," a musical performing group of which three of the participants in Selected Sounds are members.  Appendix C is a transcript of the final meeting with the Selected Sounds research group


identifier: Rui, Kexing  (2007) Refactoring use case models.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

title: Refactoring use case models

abstract: Use cases are promising vehicles for specifying requirements. However, obtaining well-organized use case models is difficult during software evolution. The thesis proposes to address the issue by refactoring use case models. Refactoring is a program transformation approach for iterative software development. Its concept is introduced to use case models in Cascaded Refactoring.  The thesis introduces major research involved in refactoring use case models. It defines a use case metamodel to formalize use cases. The three-level metamodel covers the environment or context of a use case model, the structure of use cases in terms of episodes, and the event or message passing details of a scenario. The thesis presents a process algebra semantics for the use case model. The episode semantics is provided from the literature. The semantics of a single use case is defined in terms of the episode model. The semantics of the use case model is defined in terms of the individual use cases and their relationships. The thesis identifies a list of properties that need to be preserved during refactoring. It defines fifty-three use case refactorings, which are described using a template covering the refactoring description, arguments, preconditions, postconditions and verification of behavior preservation. The thesis also introduces a tool for use case modeling and refactoring. The tool helps validate the use case metamodel and refactorings on two case studies, which demonstrate that refactoring use case models is feasible and practical. Based on these case studies, the thesis discusses the nature of use case evolution and provides some guidelines for the refactoring process.


identifier: Boutin, Jennifer  (2007) Autumn of the maple leaf : a post-theoretical analysis of the Canadian sponsorship program.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: As the Quebec referendum on separation approached during the autumn of 1995, the federal Liberal government engaged in several tactics in order to revive the federalist sentiment throughout all of Canada, but more specifically within Quebec. One of these tactics was the federal Sponsorship Program, which, scandal aside, was designed to increase the visibility of the federal government. The program operated under the implicit assumption that national unity could be promoted through the silent distribution of Canadian symbols, a presumption that forms the starting point of this analysis by evoking two questions. First, why did the federal government believe that symbols alone could silently unify the country? And secondly, can national symbols, when implanted silently, produce a predictably positive effect, specifically the effect of national unity promotion?  Through an exploration of the evolution of Canadian visual identity policies beginning in the 1960s, it was determined that the Sponsorship Program is demonstrative of the federal government's reactive tendency to produce identity policies when faced with rises in Quebec separatism. Furthermore, by evaluating the Sponsorship Program through the understanding of the political imagination, semiotics, and rhetoric, it is argued that while the Canadian symbols utilized within the Sponsorship Program were aesthetically sound symbols of nationhood, the program itself was fatally flawed since symbols, when distributed silently, cannot consistently communicate a specific message because their interpretation rests on the uncontrollable contents of the political imagination


identifier: Kazakian, Arthur  (2007) Jack London's The Sea-Wolf (1904) and its translation into French as a Maritime novel, Le Loup de Mers (1927), for young adults.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The French and English language comparison of Jack London's novel The Sea-Wolf aims to disclose a number of explanations as to why translators carry out their craft as they do. Pierre Bourdieu, the famous francophone sociologist, has developed a theory revolving around the agent, habitus, illusio and capital , that is worthy of inquiry.  By applying this theoretical framework to London's The Sea-Wolf , and in examining its first translators, Louis Postif and Paul Gruyer, we will attempt to establish the reasoning behind their practical translational choices, in this work, given certain sociological determinants that Bourdieu's theory takes account of.  Our background, assessment and contrastive analysis will seek to discover why, how, when and where societal agents act in a certain way and whether Bourdieu's theory is capable of providing a rationale behind translational choice in the all-too-human error-ridden world of translation. In addition, the hypothesis of Antoine Bennan (French translation studies critic) will be viewed according to its workability and how it relates to Bourdieu's theory, when compared to source- and target-text rapport and revelations. We will then round off our journey with a conclusion that will evaluate the various inputs of our reflection and establish whether our propositions are compelling enough to meet the core essence of Bourdieu's theory.


identifier: Taylor, Robert  (2007) A blended online instructional approach to physical education instruction : a combination to enhance student cognitive and physical ability.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Education budget limitations in the province of Quebec have led to a narrowed focus on math and the hard sciences in public schools at the expense of physical education programmes, reducing the amount of exercise time set aside for youth. This reduction is reflected in the amount of time allocated to physical education in schools and the growing youth inactivity that will eventually lead to youth obesity and an expensive health care problem. This thesis examined ways in which available technology--specifically a blended learning approach involving multimedia and classic physical education class--can be employed to increase student time on task by reducing demonstration and instruction time by the teacher during class time. It examined criticisms and studies of blended learning and used these to determine a proper mix of technology and classic instruction that would best make use of available time. Badminton was the sport selected during this six-week study. One hundred students were separated into two control groups and two experiment groups and completed a junior level badminton course. The control groups were under a regular structured badminton class, while the experimental groups utilized a badminton website specially created to augment the regular classroom instruction. At the end of the study the students underwent a badminton performance and knowledge test in order to evaluate whether or not significant differences existed between groups. The results indicated that a blended online learning approach to badminton was more effective than the traditional method of teaching badminton. The experimental groups as a whole out performed the control groups in both written and practical tests, with a total mean score of 24.72, compared to 20.66.


identifier: Dali, Yosra  (2007) Exploring the links between reflective writing and transformational learning : applications to portfolio building and teacher education.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the relationship between reflective writing and transformative learning. Although it is gaining popularity in teacher education programs and adult learning environments, reflective practice which aims at raising self-awareness and shifting perspectives remains an abstract concept to many learners. Engaging in reflection is complex as it involves learning how one learns, a task requiring critical thinking, self-discovery, and numerous other skills.  Exploring the links between reflective writing and transformative learning theory sets the stage for a better understanding of the ways in which writing plays a major role in self-questioning and examining widely held beliefs. Reflective writing may also elicit change by providing the learner with the tool to express a silent voice.  Each chapter aims at answering one major question: Chapter 1. Why and how does reflection create a positive ground for generating transformative learning? Chapter 2. How are reflective writing and transformative learning related? Chapter 3. How are reflection and reflective writing, which become transformative, beneficial to the adult learner and what does the adult learn from this experience? Chapter 4. How may a facilitator implement and guide learners through reflective writing techniques and activities in an effective manner? Chapter 5. What are the applications of reflective writing in teacher education curricula, adult learner portfolio building, and other similar learning contexts?  This thesis concludes that the presence of positive conditions and a consideration of factors such as assessment and proper guidance provide a positive support for reflection and the possibility of change.


identifier: Mari, Genevieve  (2007) When the pipers play : identity politics and Scottishness.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: My ethnographic research theorizes the multiple meanings of Scottishness and Scottish identity, the contradictions between these definitions and describes the development and functions of the National Piping Centre in Glasgow. This is a thesis that explores Scottishness--and the politics surrounding that identity--by way of a number of individual pipers and two key exponents in particular. It uses the tried and tested anthropological methods of microsocial fieldwork and case-studies to ground an appreciation of abstract concepts such as 'identity' and 'Scottishness' in particular lived lives. What this thesis demonstrates is that the new piping is about musicianship rather than iconic or symbolic national identity, synthesizes other musical traditions and is global--thus transforming traditional or stereotypical ideas of Scottishness.


identifier: Dokos, Evangelos  (2007) The "Metternichian" worldview of the early nineteenth century.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Ferguson, Nelson  (2007) [E]motions, moments, and transnational connections : the lived experiences of two labour migrants in Canada's seasonal agricultural workers' program.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Labour migrants have been routinely categorised within social scientific thought as either abstracted economic entities or as victims of global processes beyond their understanding. A striking majority of attempts to understand processes of migration, especially in regards to "unskilled" Mexican migrant workers, have been informed primarily by macro-level economic approaches, while the social and individual factors at play have been largely pushed to the side. As such, the social lives and individual diversities of these migrants have received meagre academic attention.  In acknowledgment of this gap, this current thesis focuses on the lived experiences of Hector-Alberto and Durango, two individuals engaged in a cycle of migration as participants in Canada's managed migration program, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Program. Through an ethnographic description of the everyday experiences of Hector and Durango, three relevant themes are explored: their individual relations to their work, their family, and their co-workers. As such, the present work aims to explore the varied experiences of migration and frame labour migrants as significant social actors rather than abstracted units or victims of social forces.  The author encourages an engagement in a broader investigation of the "migrant experience"; to look beyond the idea of transnational migration as simply physical movements across national boundaries, but rather as groupings of processes with profound and diverse meanings to those involved. Perhaps such a perspective would play a role in revealing the complex myriad of interacting processes which combine under the umbrella term of "migration".


identifier: Ara, Ismat  (2007) Conversion of Cr (VI) in water and soil using rhamnolipid.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Hexavalent chromium is of great concern now as it has highly toxic and carcinogenic properties and also for its potential for the contamination of groundwater due to its greater mobility in soils and in the aquatic environment. The objective of this study is the reduction of hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium using rhamnolipid both in water and soil media. Rhamnolipid had been used as its toxicity is very low as a commercial surfactant and it is readily biodegradable with a very low environmental impact.  Batch experiments were performed to evaluate the feasibility of using rhamnolipid for the removal and reduction of hexavalent chromium from contaminated soil and water. The initial chromium concentration, rhamnolipid concentration, pH and temperature were evaluated and found to affect the reduction efficiency. The rhamnolipid can reduce 100% of initial Cr (VI) in water at optimum conditions (pH 6, 2% rhamnolipid concentration, 25°C) if the concentration is low (10 ppm). For higher initial concentrations (400 ppm), it takes time to reduce (24.4% in one day). In the case of soil, rhamnolipid only can remove the soluble part of the chromium present in the soil. The extraction increased with the increase of initial concentration in soil but decreased slightly with the increase of temperature above 30°C. The reduction trend of the extracted chromium is the same as in water media. A sequential extraction study was used on soil before and after washing to determine from what fraction the rhamnolipid removed the chromium. The exchangeable and carbonate fractions accounted for 24% and 10% of the total chromium, respectively. The oxides and hydroxides portion retained 44% of chromium present in the soil. On the other hand, 10% and 12% of the chromium was associated with the organic and residual fractions. Rhamnolipid can remove most of the exchangeable (96%) and carbonate (90%) portions and some of the oxide and hydroxide portion (22%) but cannot remove chromium from the other fractions. This information is important in designing the appropriate conditions for soil washing


identifier: Takhtehfouladi, Elham Safaei  (2007) Enhanced electrokinetic (EK) technology : a comparative study for inactivation of Clostridium perfringens spores and Reovirus in anaerobically digested biosolids.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Liu, Fang  (2007) An empirical investigation of cross-border acquisitions between Canada and the United Kingdom.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study provides empirical evidence that during the period 1985-2005 cross-border bidders from both Canada and the United Kingdom earned higher announcement returns than domestic bidders. This cross-border excess return persists after controlling for industry effects, toeholds, payment methods and the effect of macro-economic conditions in the target country. Toeholds can explain the excess return for both cross-border and domestic bidders while it isn't associated with higher cross-border bidder gains. The horizontal factor weakly explains the cross-border excess returns. The cash method of payment cannot explain the observed excess gains for cross-border bidders over domestic bidders even though cross-border bidders generate higher gains than domestic bidder when both use cash. Better economic conditions in the target country are associated with higher returns of cross-border bidders. Further, the multinomial model indicates that British firms in the material industry are more likely to acquire foreign rather than domestic targets. Large Canadian firms prefer cross-border acquisitions. If the bidder or their industry have previous merger and acquisition experience in the U.S. market, the acquirer is more likely to acquire a U.S. firm than a domestic or other foreign firm.


identifier: Oubari, Sami  (2007) Emotional labor of emergency service providers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research focuses on emergency service providers and their emotional labor. In their work, emergency service providers are subject to positive and negative emotions, ranging from mild to traumatic. This is due to the nature of their work where they face sickness, death and violent accidents. Workers have to keep a professional demeanor and to stay calm and confident despite their true emotions. The research studies the relationships between the emotions felt, their emotional labor and their resulting performance. We survey 90 emergency workers in the Montreal Fire Department and the Lebanese Red Cross First Aid Teams. Participants are asked to describe a recent emergency call, and their emotions, emotional display and performance during the call. An independent sample of 87 respondents also provides ratings of the emotional tone of the events described. Our results show, depending on the sub-sample studied, different correlation among the variables. Some of the findings in the overall sample are a negative relationship between positive emotions and emotional labor, and a positive relationship between positive emotions and performance. As for the sub-samples, among the results are a negative relationship between surface acting and performance for the firefighters, and a negative relationship between positive emotions and deep acting for the paramedics.


identifier: Xiao, Jinxing  (2007) Key-part based lead time management for the make-to-order production system in a global supply chain network.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The objective of the present thesis is to explore a satisfying lead time management for companies that implement a Make-to-Order production system in a global supply chain network. A huge lead time waste caused by early arrival of parts dominates total inventory losses and accounts for 54% in entire process according to some statistical data.  In the present thesis, a new theory named the Key-Part Based Lead Time Management (KPBLTM) was proposed to reduce non-value added waste. The contents of this thesis consist by constructing objective functions, proposing a practical methodology, comparing the satisfying solution with the optimal solution, proving the sufficient conditions of existence of the key part, demonstrating the robustness of the key part, applying to analyze the other production patterns, and building a connection between the Key-Part Based Lead Time Management and MRP system.  A managerial solution derived from the Key-Part Based Lead Time Management is depicted as: once receiving orders from customers, Make-to-Order companies schedule the arrival of the purchased parts based on the lead time of the key part.  Finally, the total inventory loss including the holding costs and the customer penalty will be dramatically reduced.


identifier: Ouhsain, Mohamed  (2007) Multivariate statistical process control for fault detection and diagnosis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The great challenge in quality control and process management is to devise computationally efficient algorithms to detect and diagnose faults. Currently, univariate statistical process control is an integral part of basic quality management and quality assurance practices used in the industry. Unfortunately, most data and process variables are inherently multivariate and need to be modelled accordingly. Major barriers such as higher complexity and harder interpretation have limited their application by both engineers and operators. Motivated by the lack of techniques dedicated in monitoring highly correlated data, we introduce in this thesis new multivariate statistical process control charts using robust statistics, machine learning, and pattern recognition techniques to propose our algorithms. The core idea behind our proposed techniques is to fully explore the advantages/limitations under a wide array of environments, and to also take advantage of the latter to develop a theoretically rigorous and computationally feasible methodology for multivariate statistical process control. Illustrating experimental results demonstrate a much improved performance of the proposed approaches in comparison with existing methods currently used in the analysis and monitoring of multivariate data.


identifier: Ávila Moltó, Ana Argelis  (2007) Co-conversion of gaseous carbon dioxide and a high strength aqueous organic contaminant (phenol) to methane via a UASB reactor.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: More economical and efficient means are required to decrease or to recover greenhouse gases (GHG) exhausted into the environment, and to decrease the amount of wastewater that is degrading the water bodies worldwide. Therefore the objective of this research is to develop a system that will treat both carbon dioxide and a high strength wastewater; for this purpose an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor was used.  Previous studies showed that carbon dioxide could be converted to methane with organic acids. In this study, the addition of carbon dioxide will act as the co-substrate needed in order to treat higher concentrations of the toxic pollutant phenol in wastewater without any recirculation of the effluent. This is based on previous studies that showed that higher concentrations (1260 mg/L phenol) can be treated if a co-substrate is added.  An anaerobic biomass used for this experiment was taken from two reactors treating sucrose and acetic acid. Then, it was acclimated by increasing stepwise the concentration of phenol, while reducing the concentration of sucrose and/or acetic acid. Methanogenic activity tests were performed to evaluate the toxicity limits of phenol toward the biomass. Two sets of two reactors were used. The first set contained the biomass acclimated with sucrose; the second set contained the biomass acclimated with acetic acid. Control reactors had phenol added as the carbon source; whereas in the other reactors, carbon dioxide was added as the co-substrate. The parameters monitored were chemical oxygen demand, volatile suspended solids, methane content of the biogas and production, phenol concentrations, alkalinity, and dissolved carbon dioxide.  It was shown that both CO 2 and phenol could be degraded in an UASB reactor with reduction values that ranged from 86-88% and 86-94% respectively. Total COD reduction ranged from 92-97% and methane content in the biogas ranged from 64-70%. The biomass showed a steady organic content throughout the experiment after a sudden decrease during the acclimation period. Overall, the reactors with the best performances were R4 (acetic acid-fed biomass with CO 2 ) and R2 (sucrose-fed biomass with CO 2 ) although this last one showed some performance similarities with R3 (acetic acid-fed biomass without CO 2 ) and the reactor which was more prone to loading shock was R1.  Carbon dioxide, a waste gas, poses a great advantage in the anaerobic process since it was proven to be a good co-substrate in the biodegradation of a high strength wastewater, with a higher methane recovery. Adding carbon dioxide to UASB reactors in order to boost degradation instead of releasing it to the environment is a good remediation proposal.


identifier: El-Sokkary, Hossam  (2007) Analytical study on upgrading the seismic performance of nominally ductile RC frame structures using different rehabilitation techniques.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: There exist many reinforced concrete (RC) buildings that are located in seismically active zones and designed according to older strength-based codes. These buildings are susceptible to abrupt non-ductile strength deterioration once their ultimate strength is reached, which reduces the energy dissipation capacity of those buildings and results in a brittle failure. Therefore, enhancing the seismic performance of such structures is essential and should not be overlooked. Recently, performance-based seismic design methodology is being adopted by several codes, in which seismic performance is described by designating the maximum allowable damage state index for an identified seismic hazard level. Overall lateral deflection, ductility demand, and inter-storey drift are the most commonly used damage state indices.  The objective of this study is to analytically investigate the effectiveness of different rehabilitation patterns in upgrading the seismic performance of existing non-ductile RC frame structures. The study investigates the performance of three RC frames (with different heights) with or without masonry infill when rehabilitated and subjected to three types of ground motion records. The heights of the RC frames represent low, medium and high-rise buildings. The ground motion records represent earthquakes with low, medium and high frequency contents. Three models were considered for the RC frames; bare frame, masonry-infilled frame with soft infill, and masonry-infilled frame with stiff infill. The studied rehabilitation patterns include (1) introducing a RC shear wall, (2) using steel bracing, (3) using diagonal FRP strips (FRP bracings) in case of masonry-infilled frames, and (4) wrapping or partially wrapping the frame members (columns and beams) using FRP confinement.  The seismic performance enhancement of the studied frames is evaluated in terms of the maximum applied peak ground acceleration or velocity resisted by the frames, maximum inter-storey drift ratio, maximum storey shear to weight ratio and energy dissipation capacity.


identifier: Laverdière-Papineau, Marc-André  (2007) Towards systematic software security hardening.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we report our research on systematic security hardening. We see how the software development industry is currently relying on highly-qualified security experts in order to manually improve existing software, which is a costly and error-prone approach. In response to this situation, we propose an approach that enables systematic security hardening by non-experts. We first study the existing methods used to remedy software vulnerabilities and use this information to determine a classification and definition for security hardening. We then see how the state of the art in secure coding, patterns and aspect-oriented programming (AOP) can be leveraged to enable systematic software security improvements, independently from the users' security expertise. We also present improvements on AOP that are necessary in order for this approach to be realizable. The first improvement, GAFlow and GDFlow, two new pointcut constructors, allow the injection of code that precedes or follows any of the points in the input set, facilitating the development of reusable patterns. The second, ExportParameter and ImportParameter, allow us to safely pass parameters between different parts of the program. Afterwards, we leverage our previous findings in the definition of SHL, the Security Hardening Language. SHL is designed in order to permit language-independent expression of security hardening plans and security hardening patterns in an aspect-oriented manner which enables refinement of patterns into concrete solutions. We then demonstrate the viability of this approach by applying it to add a security feature to the APT package acquisition and management system.


identifier: Grabowski, James Steven  (2007) An FPGA implementation of the advanced encryption standard with support for counter and feedback modes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric key block cipher approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). AES replaced the Data Encryption Standard (DES) as a standard encryption algorithm within the United States government. It is widely used in both software and hardware applications and transactions.  Different confidentiality modes of operation allow a symmetric key block cipher to provide additional data confidentiality by altering the output in respect to previously processed input data. These modes include Cipher Block Chaining, Cipher Feedback, Output Feedback and Counter modes. Electronic Codebook (ECB) mode does not enhance the confidentiality of the original cipher.  This thesis presents an implementation of AES on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The design improves upon similar implementations that only employ ECB mode by supporting all five confidentiality modes of operation. The unified design supports all applicable key sizes and offers competitive throughput and resource utilization compared to designs lacking additional confidentiality modes. The design occupies 7452 slices of a Xilinx Virtex-II Pro XC2VP50 and features a maximum clock speed of 56.3 MHz. Throughputs up to 480.427 Mbps, 423.906 Mbps and 379.284 Mbps for 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit keys are produced for all five modes of operation. A straightforward level of key agility allows encryption and decryption operations to proceed uninterrupted at the expense of throughput. This feature is ideal when it is necessary to change the key for each block of data. A physical hardware prototype of the design is employed as further demonstration of the design's functional abilities.


identifier: Zhang, Yibo  (2007) Extracting line features with wide information in biometrics.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a person based on his/her physiological or behavioral characteristics. A biometric system is essentially a pattern recognition system which recognizes a user by determining the authenticity of a specific characteristic possessed by the user. Extracting unique features from the human body is an important task. Curvilinear structure is one of the most popular features used in biometric systems. However, even though current techniques exist to extract line features, none retain its wide information well, which is necessary in biometrics. In this thesis we propose an approach to solve this problem. After analyzing the cross-sections of given lines, we notice they are Gaussian shaped. Hence, a Gaussian filter to match them is suitable to be used. Applying a single scale filter generates a lot of noise and/or loses details. To overcome this deficiency we develop a multi-scale approach, i.e., three scales according to the cross-section widths (largest, smallest and average) as well as eight directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal). A response is calculated by convoluting the original image with the filter. Two responses using different scales and directions form a production which exhibits less noise than a single scale filter and also preserves wide information. Two biometric applications are applied to illustrate the effectiveness of our approach, one is for personal authentication using palm veins and another for recognizing Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) in retinal blood vessels.


identifier: Hammond, John Mark  (2007) Divine initiative, human response : a study of moral responsibility in Bernard Lonergan's early works on operative grace.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: According to Bernard Lonergan being is connatural with intelligibility; the universe is ultimately systematic and intelligible right down to the smallest detail. But what does this mean for freedom, and what does this mean for moral responsibility?  In this thesis we will examine the grounds of moral responsibility in Lonergan's early works on Thomas Aquinas' theory of operative grace. This issue is of fundamental importance to ethics, as it will determine the nature of our ability to act morally, and our limitations. Therefore through this thesis we will see that Lonergan's early works on operative grace are also of fundamental importance to ethics.  We will begin with the Pelagian controversy, where the question first emerged. Then we will examine Lonergan's philosophical and methodological assumptions as he began his "apprenticeship" to Aquinas. And finally, we will examine the actual content of Lonergan's presentation.  What will become evident is that this is a complex question; in fact, it pushes human reason to its limits. Ultimately, it may only be able to be resolved by taking a stand on the nature of the universe, a stand similar to the one in physics, in which one accepts the worldview of classical or quantum physics.


identifier: Cherry, Catherine Frances  (2007) The salient factors that assist or impede conversion : a psychological and theological assessment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is based on a twofold question: "What are the salient factors that assist or impede conversion?"  Conversion is the shift that includes changes in the interior process of a person, the way one regards an issue, one's actions, and one's openness to God. Conversion is a technical word as defined by Bernard Lonergan in his book, Method in Theology (1971). It does not refer to a change of religious affiliation. It does refer to an inner change of heart (affective conversion), a change of viewpoint (intellectual conversion), actions enacted out of a choice of values over satisfaction (moral conversion), and ultimately the inner shift that occurs when grasped by God and moved in love (religious conversion).  These questions will be explored through psychological considerations, understandings of spiritual development, theological reflection, and the call beyond to authentic self-transcending intentional loving


identifier: Fransblow, Andrew Aaron  (2007) Socrates in Jerusalem : figuring the banal in Hannah Arendt's Eichmann Report.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines the rhetorical significance of Hannah Arendt's report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). I argue that there were, and still are, competing claims on the way this popular trial resonated with for the broader public. The Eichmann report, and in particular Arendt's rhetoric of the banal, was a disturbing challenge to what I describe as the prevailing aesthetic and rhetorical sensibility of Holocaust discourse, which was at this early point in its development predisposed to rhetorics of the sublime. I argue that with this event, these two rhetorical sensibilities would come up against each other, and while the prosecution would attempt to frame the accused as a diabolical personification of evil, Arendt's report figures Eichmann as merely thoughtless. The difficult irony that emerges for her audience is the possibility that the unthinkable could follow from thoughtlessness. Following from this thesis, I will suggest that this negative figuring of Eichmann is intended at the same time to constitute a Socratic ethos in Arendt's audience. That is, an ethos that embraces independent thinking and multiple perspectives. The more general question that Arendt's report continues to raise is what constitutes an acceptable or fitting response to the Holocaust, and I argue that a rhetoric of the banal significantly altered the conditions of Holocaust debate.


identifier: Aloise, Fernando  (2007) Consuming (RED)emption? : an analysis of cause related marketing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Romano, Maja  (2007) Working in the "New South Africa" : an ethnographic approach to affirmative action.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Barely a generation since the abolition of apartheid, South Africa is still struggling with the transition toward racial integration. In 1998, the Employment Equity Act was introduced to assist with this process. However, while affirmative action policies are attempting to redress the nation's long history of racial discrimination, reactions to their implementation have been mixed. Although many South Africans claim to be in favour of affirmative action, the policies are nonetheless generating a considerable amount of criticism. As such, efforts to integrate the country's previously disadvantaged individuals into the labour force have been met with both practical and ideological barriers from various sectors of society.  Following six months of fieldwork in Johannesburg, this thesis is an ethnographic examination of how policies for affirmative action in South Africa are affecting people's negotiations of "race" in the workplace and beyond. Specifically, it seeks to question the incongruency between what is intended "on paper" and how it is interpreted "on the ground". It considers the impact of equity codes on people from "designated groups", who are the intended recipients, as well as those that are not directly included in the policies but are nonetheless affected by them.  Through the narratives of the various participants, this study attempts to move away from the statistical analyses that have dominated the media and adopt instead an ethnographic approach supported by historical, political, economic and social contextualization. In turn, the responses to affirmative action policies reflect the complexity behind the construction of race in South Africa today.


identifier: Rigillo, Nicole  (2007) Broken condoms, corroded trust : the politics of HIV prevention in Namibia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines the ways in which conceptions of "safe sex" through condom use differ between the targets, critics and promoters of HIV prevention strategies in urban Namibia. To this end, the author conducted interviews and participant observation among young people, Pentecostal religious leaders, and HIV prevention experts in Windhoek, Namibia's capital, between August and November 2006. Among these first two groups, the spread of what HIV prevention experts labelled as "rumours" or "myths" about condoms were found to be common. Young people perceived the safety of safe sex to be influenced by the brand and cost of condom used, while Pentecostal religious leaders instead questioned the safety of condoms in general, using scientific data and tapping into media outlets to challenge their promotion as a viable way of ending the HIV epidemic in Namibia. In contrast, HIV prevention experts largely conceived of safe sex as a rational choice made by individuals to either abstain, be faithful or use condoms, conceiving of anti-condom discourses as "rumours" or "myths" that could best be combated with the dissemination of biomedical information. I argue that such an approach does little to halt the spread of anti-condom discourses, since it neglects an acknowledgment of the social and historical factors specific to Namibia that have been shown elsewhere to both impact healthy behaviours, as well as to facilitate the spread of rumours targeting health interventions.


identifier: Boucher, Marie-Eve  (2007) Une étude en mouvement : entre le formel et l'informel des artisans et leurs objets recyclés de Dakar à Paris.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: De nos jours et depuis longtemps, le rôle central des échanges économiques dans les relations internationales est sans conteste. Certains agents actifs de la mondialisation évoluent dans ce qui est communément appelé l'économie informelle. Cette zone grise de l'économie mondiale est souvent marginalisée dans les grands plans de la globalisation économique.  Ce mémoire illustre avec des exemples concrets une réalité particulière de cette globalisation économique: les interrelations entre les secteurs formels et informels. Les gens qui évoluent dans le domaine de l'économie informelle sont souvent placés dans une position précaire dans leurs relations avec les acteurs du secteur formel. Ceci malgré le fait qu'ils fassent eux aussi partie intégrante des processus de globalisation. La prémisse de ce mémoire et qu'afin d'atteindre un système économique plus équitable une meilleur compréhension des différentes sphères de l'économie mondiale se doit d'être visée.  La recherche sur laquelle est basée ce mémoire s'éveilla de l'Europe à l'Afrique Paris et Dakar. Elle s'est tissée des interactions entre artisans de la récupération vivant au Sénégal et leurs clients Européen. Un portrait de ce que sont et ce que pourrait être les relations nord-sud oscillant entre l'économie informelle et informelle est dépeint.


identifier: Vavassis, Angela  (2007) Perceptual learning specificity to the trained context of stimulus display durations in difficult visual discriminations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Compelling evidence stemming from past research suggests that a wide variety of visual search tasks can undergo perceptual learning. Such learning is typically characterized by a marked improvement in the speed and accuracy of target detection or identification by observers, as a result of repeated practice with the visual search task at hand. For difficult visual discriminations, the improvement in visual search performance associated with perceptual learning has been shown to be specific to the training context. Such contexts include, but are not limited to, the trained target stimuli and their trained retinal positions within the visual field.  The current compilation of psychophysical experiments aimed to investigate an aspect of perceptual learning specificity in difficult visual discriminations previously unreported in the relevant literature. These experiments assessed whether perceptual learning for difficult visual discriminations is specific to the trained context of stimulus display durations in which such discriminations are embedded.  With training, a significant improvement in performance for trials with a 50-millisecond stimulus display duration (difficult discriminations) resulted when such trials were embedded within sessions containing a variety of longer stimulus display durations (easier discriminations). However, this improvement was lost when difficult trials were no longer embedded within the context of easier trials. These findings may supplement our current knowledge regarding the perceptual plasticity of the visual system.


identifier: Nuselovici, Jacob N  (2007) All for one and one for all : a study of peer influence on consistency in preschoolers' play behaviour.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Although play behavior has typically been seen as a characteristic of the child per se it is also a social behavior in the sense that it happens in a group context. The present study was designed to assess the relative contributions of the individual and of social partners to play. Ninety-nine preschoolers participated in one-hour play sessions, involving three unfamiliar same-age, same-sex children. Play was observed in two ten-minute free-play periods, one at the beginning of the session and the other at the end. Positive and negative child-directed behaviors from peers were observed in structured group activities between the free-play periods. Bivariate regression and hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that (a) individual children's reticence during free-play was not associated with peers' reticence, and (b) that children's and peers' group play behaviors were positively associated. Controlling for peers' play behaviors with nested analyses did not attenuate the consistency of play from the first to second free-play period. However, peers' behaviors were observed to moderate the consistency of both reticence and group play from the first free-play session to the second, depending on children's age and gender. Reticence was exhibited more consistently by younger boys who received fewer positive peer behaviors, while group play was more consistent for older children who received fewer negative peer behaviors. This study confirms prior findings indicating that individual measures of temperament (reticence) and social competence (group play) from observations of peer interactions, while also showing how peers' behaviors construct a social context which affects children's play.


identifier: Meyer, Felicia  (2007) The protective effects of peer relationships for early adolescents with non-optimal parent-child relationships.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A fundamental hypothesis of peer relationships research is that positive relationships with peers, including friendships, can protect children from the detrimental effects of non-optimal relationships with parents. The current study examined whether positive peer relations moderate the association between negativity in the parent-child relationship and psychosocial adjustment. Early adolescents (N = 430, mean age = 11 years old) rated the quality of their relationships with their mother, father and best friend, indicated which of 1their peers was a best friend (i.e., peer acceptance) and rated their perceived social competence and self-worth. Children with negative relations with their parents were expected to be less well-adjusted than those with less negative parental relations. It was also hypothesized that two aspects of positive peer relations, namely friendship quality and peer group acceptance, would moderate the association between negative parental relations and child adjustment. Multiple regression was used to examine interactions between parent and peer measures in their association with children's social competence and self-worth. Social competence was inversely related to paternal negativity and positively related to friendship support and peer acceptance. Friendship support interacted with maternal negativity in its association with social competence, even when controlling for peer acceptance. Self-worth was inversely related to maternal and paternal negativity and, to a lesser extent, the association with paternal negativity was moderated by friendship support. These findings highlight the developmental significance of friendship during early adolescence and provide evidence for the hypothesized protective effects of peer relations.


identifier: Martin, Julie  (2007) Social problem-solving in high-risk mother-child dyads : an intergenerational study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A key component of socio-emotional and cognitive development is the capacity to effectively resolve day-to-day social problems. Parents play a vital role in fostering children's problem-solving skills. The present study examined the contribution of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal to the prediction of mother-child problem definition, solution generation and decision-making strategies.  Mothers from a longitudinal study of children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods participated with their 9- to 12-year-old children. Mothers were screened during childhood along measures of aggression and withdrawal. Dyads (57) were videotaped in their homes discussing conflicts which they rated as especially problematic in their relationship. Problem defining statements, solutions, and resolution strategies were coded using the Mother-Child Social Problem-Solving Coding Scheme.  Results supported the hypotheses that maternal childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal contribute to the prediction of poorly sophisticated solutions generated by both mothers and children, as well as antisocial solutions generated by children. Results also demonstrated that maternal childhood histories of withdrawal contribute to the prediction of solitary solutions generated by children as well as less guidance and structure during the decision-making stage. Taken together, the results lend support to the continuity of risk whereby mothers who were socially withdrawn, and those who were both aggressive and withdrawn in childhood, display less sophisticated problem-solving strategies which appear to be mirrored in their children. The results broaden current understanding of mother-child problem-solving abilities in a high-risk, intergenerational sample of children in middle childhood, and highlight a potential pathway to the direct transmission of risk.


identifier: Gosselin, Marie-Pierre M  (2007) Qualitative differences in two-year-olds' attention seeking : the link between eagerness to learn and committed compliance.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Toddlers' eagerness to collaborate with parents across both discipline and teaching contexts has important implications for socialization. However, little is known about what leads to individual differences in children's readiness to be socialized. One possibility lies in children's positive expectations of parent responsiveness. The current study attempted to measure these child expectations through observations of the quantity and quality of attention seeking during parent unavailability. Two-year-olds and their parents ( N = 102) participated in an imitation task and in two compliance tasks. Overall, results showed a consistent interaction between the quality and the quantity of attention seeking, with quality being particularly important at high levels of attention seeking. Although children's social expectations did not mediate the link between toddlers' eagerness to learn and committed compliance, there was a strong positive correlation between eagerness to learn and children's positive and confident attention seeking. Implications are discussed in terms of the role of the quality of attention seeking in toddler's readiness to be socialized.


identifier: Goldberg, Erin  (2007) Couple violence and the development of emotional difficulties in offspring over time : results from a high risk sample.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Couple violence is one important aspect of family dysfunction that has been repeatedly identified in the intergenerational transfer of risk for mental health and behavioral problems. The present study examined the associations between parent's history of childhood aggression, subsequent couple violence in adulthood, and offspring's childhood depression and internalizing problems, using a prospective design across a 30-year period.  Data was collected through the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project (Schwartzman et al., 1986), an ongoing initiative that began 1976 with the recruitment and screening of over 4000 inner-city Canadian children on behavioral dimensions, including aggression. The current sub-sample included 94 participants from the original sample and their currently school-aged children. Data was collected at three time points: when the children were in early childhood, middle childhood, and pre-adolescence stages of development.  Results indicated that childhood aggression in one generation might be indirectly linked to self-reported childhood depression in the next generation through couple violence. In addition, hierarchical linear modeling revealed that mother-reported child internalizing problems were stable over time, and that children whose mothers were themselves depressed and in a violent partnership were reported to experience more internalizing problems at all time points than other children. The discussion focused on the validity of parent reports of children's feelings of depression, as well as the related issue of single-rater bias. The effect of maternal psychopathology on child psychopathology was discussed, as were the implications of the stability of children's internalizing problems across this broad developmental span.


identifier: Rowlands, Fiona  (2007) An analysis of teachers attitudes towards play and children's free play opportunities.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to understand and analyze teacher's attitudes towards play, with an emphasis on free play, and the free play opportunities which are available to children in free play at six Montreal based child-care centres. The study also attempted to examine whether or not teacher's attitudes have an impact on children's free play opportunities. The measure used to rate teacher's behaviours was the Teacher's Practical Observational Scale and teachers were observed for 2-thirty minute observations during their free play periods. Teachers were also interviewed using a questionnaire designed to elicit their attitudes towards free play. The quality of the child care environments was measured using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (1998). Analyses did not support the hypotheses, however exploratory analyses revealed interesting findings. The results indicated that teacher's language and the emotional climate of the classroom were positively correlated. Another key finding of this thesis is that teacher's presence with children in an activity setting does extend children's participation in the play activity. Findings were discussed in relation to current ideas about curriculum.


identifier: González-Labrada, Erick  (2007) Developing a model system for studying the ozone processing of atmospheric aerosols by following changes in surface properties.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Atmospheric aerosols have a significant organic composition as determined by field measurement studies. This organic material is released to the atmosphere from both natural and anthropogenic sources, such as wind bursting of the ocean surface, car exhausts, and meat cooking, among others. An inverted micelle model has been proposed in order to explain the high concentration of organic compounds in aerosol particles. The model describes an organic film coating the air-liquid interface of an aqueous aerosol core.  Chemical processing of this organic film by atmospheric oxidants (such as OH radicals, O 3 , and NO 3 ) through heterogeneous and multiphase reactions can activate the aerosol to participate in atmospheric chemistry. After reaction, the particle has an increased role in the absorption and scattering of incoming solar radiation and cloud formation. Another consequence of this oxidation is the decrease of the atmospheric budget of gas-phase trace species, as well as the formation of volatile products.  Several studies have proposed that the ozonolysis of organic films in aerosols takes place mainly at the surface. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a suitable model system for following the reaction through quantitative changes of a property inherent to the surface. Several attempts were made to examine the ozonolysis of organic monolayers at either solid or liquid surfaces. The studied monolayers contained unsaturated organic compounds as the only component or as part of a binary mixture with saturated compounds.  The study of the ozone processing of monolayers deposited on solid substrates revealed information about changes in the hydrophobic character of the surface that occurred because of the reaction. On the other hand, the processing of a monolayer spread on a pendant drop allowed a real-time monitoring of surface pressure changes. This permitted a kinetic study of the reaction that yielded parameters related exclusively to processes taking place at the surface. For instance, the measured reactive uptake coefficient of ozone Þ meas was estimated to be (2.6 ± 0.1) {604} 10 -6 . The versatility offered by the latter system to the study of heterogeneous chemical reactions taking place at the air-liquid interface is explained as well as possible future directions for its utilization are given.


identifier: Zhou, Liang  (2007) Optimization of ventilation system design and operation in office environment.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With growing concern about the impact of indoor environment quality on office workers' well-being and productivity, coupled with the concern over the rising energy costs for space heating and cooling in office building sector, ventilation principles that integrate flexible and responsive elements have grown in popularity in office buildings. Such advanced elements as Underfloor air distribution (UFAD), passive swirl diffusers, and demand control on ventilation rate pose challenges to system design and operation.  This thesis is concerned with the development and implementation of a practical and robust optimization scheme, with the goal of aiding the office building designers and operators to enhance the thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ without sacrificing energy costs of ventilation. The path taken is a simulation-based optimization approach by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques in conjunction with genetic algorithm (GA), with the integration of an artificial neural network (ANN) for response surface approximation (RSA) and for speeding up fitness evaluations inside the GA loop. It breaks the problem into three sequential steps.  First, the performance of various ventilation systems was predicted and evaluated by CFD simulations for an assumed set of indoor/outdoor environmental conditions. By varying the external temperature, the internal heat load, the geometric configuration in the office, the supply air states, and the placement of air terminals in the CFD model and examining the consequent effects, the influential parameters significantly affecting the objectives of interest can be identified and examined. Though CFD is often quoted as a method of acquiring detail and accuracy, the excessive computational costs retards the direct conflation of it into the optimization underway. It is then a worthy effort establishing a low fidelity model for RSA, which can be then used in the place of CFD to evaluate fitness during optimization search. In the second step, an ANN model was trained and tested for this purpose by using data obtained from pre-conducted CFD simulations. When created properly, such a model significantly decreases the computing time for optimization objectives and constraints calculation without compromising accuracy. Finally, a GA was applied in the third step to search for the near-optimal combinations of the controlled variables, using the pre-trained ANN model for fitness evaluations inside searching loops. The objective function is formulated in a way attempting to integrate and weight indicators such as predicted mean vote (PMV for thermal comfort assessment), ventilation effectiveness ([varepsilon] v for IAQ evaluation), and energy usage by space cooling and a supply fan into one performance index.  The CFD simulations in this study are pre-validated using experimental data from baseline cases with both UFAD system and ceiling mounted mixing system (MS). Good agreements between the measured and the predicted air velocity/temperature profiles provide the justification for the current choice of turbulence model and the present specification of boundary conditions. It can be observed that the ANN model obtained and used cuts down the execution time from 17 hours per CFD simulation (thus, per fitness evaluation in GA originally) to a time scale of a few minutes for the whole GA search (invoking approximate 5000 fitness evaluations in total). Within a particular office space with a given indoor pollutant emission rate and internal/external thermal conditions, the final optimization solution contains a set of near optimal ventilation system design/operation parameters, including the ventilation system type, diffuser type, number of diffusers, supply air temperature, amount of supply air, as well as the location of diffusers and return grilles, which can substantially enhance the thermal comfort level and IAQ with saving in the energy costs simultaneously. Such optimization results indicate that the present choices of objective function and optimization approach are able to result in great improvements in the design and operation of ventilation systems in office environments.  This thesis also provides a brief discussion regarding the potential advancements of this work, with the hope to provide a practical tool for aiding decision making during building system design and operation process


identifier: Vavrek, Meaghan  (2007) Disturbance cues in prey fishes : an additional source of chemosensory risk assessment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Chemosensory cues, including disturbance cues, are important indicators of predation risk in aquatic systems. To date, little is known about disturbance cues although they are thought to exist in a variety of fishes and are believed to indicate lower risk as compared to damage-released alarm cues. Previous studies suggest disturbance cues are composed of a metabolic waste product, likely ammonium, though this has not been directly tested in fish.  For my thesis, I wanted to verify the presence of and characterize the response to disturbance cues in two taxonomically distant species: juvenile convict cichlids ( Archocentrus nigrofasciatus ) and juvenile rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ). I also wanted to test the assumption that the disturbance cue is a metabolic waste product, specifically ammonium.  Both species responded to the disturbance cue in a threat-sensitive manner, which was expected given the low risk nature of the cue. As well, my results suggest ammonium is not likely the major component of the disturbance cue although it may be some type of metabolic waste product. Future work is needed in order to determine the in major constituent of the disturbance cue and to further examine its ecological importance.


identifier: Fisher, Dahlia  (2008) Diurnal cortisol rhythms and associated internalizing and externalizing behaviour patterns in a community sample of early adolescents.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Kalamas, Maria  (2007) Drivers, dimensions and outcomes of shopping convenience : theory and application in online and offline retail environments.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Lavallée, Virginie  (2008) La femme sujète et l'homme en mutation : un dialogue entamé. Une étude de la sexuation dans quatre romans québécois contemporains.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Ce mémoire étudie les représentations des femmes qui sont mises en mots par deux romanciers québécois contemporains. Les rapports à la mère et sa place au sein de la famille, la violence et sa médiation, le paradoxe entre la femme sujète et la femme objet de même que le rôle de la femme dans l'identité masculine sont les grands axes de réflexion de cette recherche et lui donnent sa structure. Sans nécessairement y chercher des liens de causalité, l'histoire et l'évolution sociale de la femme ne quittent jamais notre horizon d'analyse. Les hypothèses mises de l'avant supposent un renouvellement de l'imagerie sexuée des femmes, hors de stéréotypes traditionnels contraignants. En effet, au départ, l'objectif était de faire état des figures féminines prédominantes dans des textes littéraires d'auteurs masculins; il s'est bien vite modifié et orienté vers une exploration plus large de la notion de sexuation et de ses déterminants sociaux. Ainsi, ce mémoire d'abord voué à la femme s'est aussi beaucoup interrogé sur les répercussions du discours féministe sur l'écriture masculine. À cet égard, nous avons donc étudié le médiateur de la représentation: le personnage masculin dans son rôle de narrateur ou de personnage principal. L'étude de la sexuation chez Guillaume Vigneault ( Carnets de naufrage et Chercher le vent ) et Gaétan Soucy ( L'Acquittement et La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes ) met en lumière la corrélation entre les changements affectant les femmes, leur représentation, mais aussi les hommes, dont la pensée a tout autant été influencée par le discours phallocentrique.


identifier: Salam, Muhammad Tariqus  (2007) Design of two-dimensional digital filters having monotonic amplitude-frequency responses using Darlington-type gyrator networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A design of two-dimensional (2D) digital filter with monotonic amplitude-frequency responses using Darlington-type gyrator networks by the application of Generalized Bilinear Transformation is discussed. The proposed design provides the stable monotonic amplitude-frequency responses and the desired cutoff frequency of the 2D digital filters. This 2D recursive digital filter design includes 2D digital low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-elimination filters.  The proposed design shows that the impedances of doubly terminated RLC networks are integrated into the Darlington-type gyrator networks and the coefficients of the resultant 2D analog transfer functions are function of gyrator constant ( g ). The behavior of the filter is changed not only for the values of resistance, capacitance and inductance of the filter, but also for the value and sign of g. The proposed design uses the Generalized Bilinear Transformation to obtain the digital filter and it provides six parameters to regulate in order to design the desired digital filters. The several constraints are obtained for the monotonic amplitude-frequency responses of the filters. The ranges of g of the each type filter are defined for attaining the monotonic characteristics of the digital filter, because the g has control on the frequency response of the filter.  A digital filter transformation method is proposed and the digital filters are transformed by regulating the value or sign of g. A new realization of 2D digital polynomial is given, which is suitable to implement any 2D polynomial with finite order. The performances of the designed 2D digital filters in the image processing applications are discussed and significant improvements in the reconstructed images are obtained by the filters.


identifier: Deng, Yongan  (2007) A comparison between STATCOMs using PWM voltage control and hysteresis current control (HCC).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) has now become the fundamental building block component in Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS). Among the various applications of a VSI, the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is the most popular one. It injects a set of three-phase balanced sinusoidal currents with controllable magnitude and phase angle, into the transmission line to regulate the transmission line voltage or to compensate for the reactive power. Under the condition that no external source/sink is available on the DC side, it should also absorb a small amount of active power from the transmission line to maintain the DC bus voltage constant and compensate for any real power losses within the VSI. In this process, the control method of the VSI is one of the key factors to influence the performance of the STATCOM. This thesis investigates the effect of two modulation schemes on the performance of a STATCOM. The first is the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) voltage control and the second Hysteresis Current Control (HCC). The performance of the two schemes under steady-state and transient conditions are assessed by means of simulations using EMTPRV. The results presented in the thesis justify the fact that PWM voltage control has become the de-facto modulation technique for STATCOM applications despite well known limitation of generation of low voltage harmonics with large magnitudes when operating at low switching frequencies.


identifier: Chen, Xiao Yong  (2007) Online robust nonblocking supervisory control of discrete-event systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, robust nonblocking supervisory control problem (RNSCP) is studied in which the plant model belongs to a family of models. A drawback of the existing solutions in the literature is that the entire supervisor which is designed offline needs to be stored in computer memory for implementation.  In this thesis, we develop an online solution in the form of a variable lookahead policy (VLP). In this approach, the supervisory commands are computed online when the plant is in operation, based on the behavior of the plant models in the near future (lookahead window). In this way, only the plant models need to be stored in computer memory (which can be usually done more efficiently than that of a supervisor).  To derive our VLP algorithm, we develop a direct offline solution to RNSCP which is more transparent than the indirect method in the literature. As an illustrative example, we have used our direct method to solve supervisory control problem with multiple markings in which the plant under supervision is required to be able to reach any of the multiple sets of marked states, each corresponding to the completion of a different task.  In some problems, the VLP lookahead window may become unbounded and the VLP algorithm cannot be applied. To relieve the limitation, state-based RNSCP (RNSCP-S) is formulated and solved using state-based VLP (VLP-S). If a RNSCP cannot be solved using VLP, it can be solved using VLP-S as a corresponding RNSCP-S after automaton refinement


identifier: Schetagne, Geneviève  (2007) Martyres et madones, vierges et putains : l'image de la femme dans le cinéma du troisième reich.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Basé sur l'analyse de quatre films - Das blaue Licht (1932), Amphitryon (1935), Jugend (1938) et Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht (1939)--ce mémoire de maîtrise propose une étude de la représentation sexuelle et de la condition féminine dans le cinéma de la période nazie [1933-1945]. Dans un premier temps, un aperçu des tendances cinématographiques nationales-socialistes est proposé. Au deuxième Chapitre, l'étude de la place de la femme dans la République de Weimar et dans la société du Troisième Reich, permet de rattacher cette condition réelle à l'image de la femme dans le cinéma de la même période. L'accent est mis sur les conjonctures historiques, culturelles et sociales ayant influencé la mise en image de la femme au grand écran de l'Allemagne nazie. Cette étude suggère que le cinéma populaire de la période nazie n'a pu simplement éradiquer les images modernes de sexualité féminine dérivant de la République de Weimar, et que la présence de telles images révèle des contradictions et des incohérences allant à l'encontre des aspirations idéologiques nationales-socialistes. Par ailleurs, ce mémoire démontre comment le cinéma dit ±nazi» négocie l'inclusion de modèles sexuels ±déviants» en les punissant au cours du développement du récit du film. Toutefois, la constante réapparition d'éléments et de thèmes récurrents démontre les inconsistences et les faiblesses de ce régime fasciste-machiste, en négociation perpétuelle avec la représentation et le rôlé sexuel de la femme dans la société et au grand écran.


identifier: Zhou, Minhong  (2007) Novel modulation technique for radio-over-fiber systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Fiber-optic communications have been widely used and deployed across the globe. As the bottom structure of optical communication networks, optical access networks connect a central office with base stations in local networks. Falling into the category of optical access networks, Radio-over-fiber (RoF) technique offers the future access solutions for high speed and capacity wireless communication. RoF technique uses optical fiber to distribute high frequency RF signals between central office and base stations. At present, two main RoF modulation techniques exist, optical double sideband modulation (ODSB) and optical single sideband modulation (OSSB). OSSB is preferred due to robustness to chromatic dispersion but ODSB not. In typical OSSB, modulation efficiency i.e. optical carrier-to-sideband power ratio (OCSR) is merely determined by RF amplitude. Large/small RF signals can lead to small/large OCSR and large/small nonlinear distortions. OCSR directly determines RF output power. The goal of new modulation technique is to improve modulation efficiency by suppressing OCSR and keep nonlinear distortions low.  In this work, we propose and analyze a novel modulation technique, consisting of two parallel dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs). With this proposed modulation technique, OSSB with adjustable OCSR can be achieved by adjusting two DC biases of the MZMs. We first make theoretical analysis and then finish simulation verification. Their results agree with each other very well. Both of them show that RF output power can be greatly improved by adjusting OCSR. Furthermore, the optimum OCSR is 0dB when one RF is applied to modulation optical carrier and it is 3dB in the case of two RF signals