identifier: Li, Yunqiang  (2007) Modeling and testing of static and dynamic behavior of MEMS deformable microstructures with multiple electrodes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The nonlinear nature of electrostatic fields in micromachined structures, such as, cantilevers, bridges or plates, makes it difficult to achieve desired deflection shapes. The objective of this thesis is to develop an efficient analytical approach to predict the static deflection and dynamic behavior of microstructures subjected to electrostatic fields of multiple electrostatic actuators so that the microdevices can be effectively optimized and controlled in real time operation. The non-classical boundary conditions which result from various microfabrication processes are modeled with artificial springs. A classical energy method using boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials was applied to formulate the equation of motion of the microsystems. Based on this method, influence functions were built and Least Squares Fitting method was used to optimize the applied voltage for each of electrostatic actuators so as to generate desired static deflections. The proposed method is simple and can be easily extended to complicated configurations which are suitable for adaptive optics applications.  Reduced Order Modeling (ROM) method in ANSYS was used to confirm the results obtained using the proposed method. Static and dynamic behaviors were predicted with finite element analysis (FEA) using ROM method. This study found that the static and dynamic behaviors predicted from the proposed method were highly consistent with those calculated from FEA in the region not close to pull-in condition. Softening effect of the electrostatic field, in terms of electrostatic stiffness, is demonstrated in the dynamic simulation results. However, the proposed method is simpler and more efficient than FEA and can be conveniently used for any structures with non-classical boundary conditions. These features make the proposed method useful to effectively control and optimize the shape of a microstructure under multiple electrostatic actuators.  The proposed modeling method was further verified and validated with the fabricated devices using SOI (silicon on insulator) based Micragem technology. The devices fabricated include different designs of microbridges and microplates with multiple electrodes and support boundary conditions. The out of plane deflections were measured by interference fringe patterns localized near the test surface using a Mirau interferometry method. After the boundary conditions were characterized, the predicted deflections were presented and compared with the experimental results that were post processed by Fringe Processor(TM) using Fourier transform method. It is clearly demonstrated that Rayleigh Ritz method is simple and can predict the behavior of microdevices with multiple electrostatic actuators considering both non-classical boundary conditions and electromechanical coupling effect. Both the theoretical and experimental methods proposed in this thesis are very simple and easily implementable


identifier: Goffaux, Philippe  (2007) Age-related changes in task switching : effects of working memory on performance and electrical brain activity.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: In our everyday lives, we are often confronted with having to do a number of different things at the same time. This makes doing any one thing much more difficult. This thesis examined how advancing age affects the ability to multitask (or task switch). It also examined how working memory affects age-related changes in task switching. To do this, both behavioural and electrophysiological brain responses were examined. It was found that compared to younger adults, older adults are slowed when responding in situations where a number of different tasks are presented in rapid succession. Consistent with our predictions, it was found that older adults with high working memory skills were preserved against this age-related change. This preserved ability (for older adults with high working memory) was accompanied by greater brain activity across prefrontal regions of the scalp (i.e., greater negative slow wave activity across left and right prefrontal leads). This is an important finding since the prefrontal cortex is deemed essential when actions have to be coordinated and planned. Greater prefrontal control was not found for younger adults, despite similarly fast reaction times. This suggests that older adults with high working memory recruit prefrontal control in order to compensate for the difficult task of switching between different response regimes. On the other hand, older adults with low working memory showed more posterior activity when preparing for a homogeneous target, suggesting that even when interference is absent, this group relied on external cues when preparing. Results are discussed in terms of recent task switching models.


identifier: Lin, Yaolin  (2007) Three-dimensional thermal and airflow (3D-TAF) model of a dome-covered house in Canada.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A dome-covered house is an example of designing sustainable buildings by learning from the optimized biological forms from the nature. This dissertation presents a three-dimensional thermal and air flow (3D-TAF) model that estimates the energy needs of a dome-covered house.  The mathematical model is composed of two components, that is, the thermal model and the air flow model, which are solved iteratively at every time step until the convergence is reached. The thermal model calculates the temperature of some nodes of interest of the simulation domain. The heat balance equations are written for: (a) the dome glazing; (b) the exterior envelope and the floor of the house; (c) the air inside the house; and (d) the earth surfaces inside the dome. The airflow model calculates the air velocities inside the dome, which are required by the thermal model to estimate the convective heat flow rate at the interface solid-air (e.g., between the dome cover and the dome air). It calculates also the vertical and horizontal temperature gradient of the air inside the dome.  Numerical method for solving the mathematical model is presented, which includes the discretization schemes, formation of the system of equations, initial values of the unknowns, solution algorithm and calculation procedure.  The validity of the mathematical model is demonstrated by comparison with a simplified computer model under MATLAB environment, with results from a 2D CFD model under the COMSOL Multiphysics environment, and with measured data and simulation results from similar structures, published by other researchers. The results have verified that the model gives good prediction on the temperature of the dome glazing, the air temperature and the air movement inside the dome.  A transparent dome, built above one house located in Montreal is selected as a case study. The simulation results predict a reduction of 62.6% of the annual heating load of a house when a dome is used, compared with the case of an unprotected house. Sensitivity analysis of the impact of optical properties of the dome glazing, natural infiltration/exfiltration through the dome/house, shape of the dome, and ground thermal properties on the heating load of the house is presented


identifier: Del Vecchio, Anne-Sophie  (2007) The effect of visual active selection on the modulation of the motion aftereffect for first- and second-order motion components.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the literature about the effect of attention on motion processing, it is clear that attention improves the processing of motion. However, it is not clear what happens to the processing of a motion in the same visual field as another actively attended motion. Is the unattended motion unprocessed, processed to a lesser degree or suppressed? This is the question that I investigated in this thesis. The effect of active visual selection during adaptation to components of a plaid on the motion aftereffect (MAE) duration was investigated using a dynamic test stimulus oriented either like the attended component or like the unattended component. The plaids were composed of two spatially superimposed, but temporally alternating square-wave or sine-wave gratings differing by 140 degrees in motion direction. The results show that active suppression occurs in the MAE duration for a non-attended moving component of a plaid when attention is actively directed to another moving component in the same visual field during adaptation. This is true whether the adaptation plaid is made up of either: (1) two first-order gratings, (2) two second-order gratings, or (3) a mixture of first-order and second-order gratings. I also demonstrated that adapting to a single grating produced longer MAE than grating when the same grating was a component of a plaid. Therefore, the presence of an unattended moving component in the same visual field as an attended moving component reduces the strength of the MAE for the attended component of a plaid The results of this thesis suggest that: (1) Attention is decreased when many moving stimuli are present in the visual field. (2) Attention acts on motion processing in the same manner when first-order motion and second-order motion are processed. (3) The suppression of the unattended moving stimuli is not perfect. During adaptation, attention involuntarily switched to the unattended moving component, which could be an adaptive mechanism in order to be able to react and avoid collision with unattended moving stimuli heading toward us.


identifier: Taylor, Raymond G  (2007) Learning after the end of knowledge : instructional technology in the age of interpretive meaning.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The combination of the demise of empiricism and the rise of interpretivism has resulted in considerable instability of conceptual knowledge and skills. Combined with a exponential increase in non-epistemic interpretive knowledge on the Internet, the field of instructional technology has been slow to adapt its methodologies to the new reality. This thesis seeks to understand why the field has been slow to evolve, despite efforts to improve its practices, including the introduction of frameworks such as constructivism.  The investigation begins with the hypothesis that the problem might be located in the epistemic roots of logical empiricism, which sought to eliminate metaphysics and relativism. The demise of logical empiricism was achieved by the methods of post-analytical philosophers, are appropriated to critique the ontological, theoretical and hidden metaphysical assumptions of the field of instructional technology. Finally the method is used to critique the instructional system design model to conclude that the design component is too heavily constrained to be an effective heuristic for the rest of the process, and needs to be radicalized.  This thesis demonstrates that the post-analytical method is not only an effective critical tool, but also offers constructive ideas for problem solving. It should be adopted not only to analyze and correct current standards and practices of the field but also to establish clearer boundaries and criteria for empirical research, as well as in the task and content analyses used by instructional designers.


identifier: Gillis, Loretta  (2007) Using the learners' first language in the second language classroom : beliefs and practices of Quebec secondary-level ESL teachers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the second language classroom, the teacher's speech constitutes a critical source of second language (L2) input for learners. Previous research has supported the judicious use of the learners' first language (L1) in teachers' speech to increase the comprehensibility of the input; however, L2 teacher training programs and educational policies often discourage their use of the learners' L1. The present study was conducted in Quebec. It investigated the relationship between secondary school English second language (ESL) teachers' reported amount of in-class use of the learners' L1 (French) and the variables of teachers' proficiency in English, confidence with English, beliefs about language use, learners' age, learners' ability level, school setting, and compliance with the 'English only' recommendation from Quebec's ministry of education.  Sixty-six teachers completed a questionnaire, and 6 also participated in interviews. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between the reported amount of French used in class (0-80%) and the language use beliefs of the teachers. There was some evidence of learners' age and learners' ability level influencing teachers' use of French. Neither teachers' English language proficiency nor confidence with English was strongly related to the reported amount of French used. The findings from this research have implications for language teaching and language teacher training in Quebec and elsewhere.


identifier: Fleming, M-L Karen  (2007) St. Francis-Xavier Mission : Kahnawake, Quebec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Architecture is a statement of the people that produced it. However, the production is not solely the design of the architect, but the actual hands that pulled the stone from the ground, carried the stone to the site and fitted the hand-chiseled pieces together. It stands as a testament to the women that found the lime and carried it in skirts full to the construction site.  This Roman Catholic Church, on the Kahnawake Reservation permeated the life and soul of the community and the individual. This thesis examines the Catholic architecture, the Catholic culture and the Catholic endurance that resided, and continues to reside, in a marginalized community. Absolute conversion can only be achieved through ritualistic, highly organized and continuous bombardment.  Shirley Scott, an elder in the community, once said, " We chose to adapt, rather than adopt. "  As the congregation slowly diminishes, the edifice is left to stand as sculpture, testifying to an upheaval in colonial times.


identifier: Luppicini, Rocci  (2007) A study of how the academic field of educational technology has developed in Canada.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research is to advance knowledge of how the academic field of educational technology has developed in Canada. It identifies key events and trends to provide new insights into the academic field of educational technology. The study focuses on the field in Canada from 1968 to 2006 and addresses one main research question:- How has the academic field of educational technology in Canada reached theist current state? Qualitative research methodology was employed to gather and analyze data from key individuals in the field in Canada and from relevant documentation. Data sources included: A purposive sample of 25 semi-structured interviews with leading stakeholders and also carefully selected documents (i.e., program information, faculty curricula vitae, and research on educational technology development in Canada). Text analyses were used to produce robust descriptions of the phenomenon under investigation. Based on interview data and supporting document data, the findings are:- First, the development of educational technology academic programs at the majority of universities studied was shaped by educational technology developments outside degree programs, especially those involving affiliated research centres and media service units within the universities. Second, it was found that there is a great diversity in how the educational technology degree programs developed at the 12 universities investigated. Third, the evolution of educational technology outside Canada, particularly in the United States, was perceived by faculty participants to influence the emergence of educational technology in Canada. Canadian universities built upon technological innovations achieved in the United States, but also built a field with uniquely Canadian characteristics.  Interpretations generated from the data analysis suggest that the trend toward online and blended degree program creation in Canada from 2000 to the present offers an important new direction for educational technology program development. The best available criteria were followed to maximize the trustworthiness of the findings. A broad range of evidence was used to establish the greater plausibility of these findings over competing alternatives. Knowledge obtained from this study should prove useful to administrators, researchers, university students studying educational technology, and instructors in educational communications and technology academic programs


identifier: Plante, André  (2007) Structural approaches and strategies to identify and remember Japanese kanji.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Learning kanji seems to be the main difficulty for students of the Japanese language. Traditionally, kanji are identified and classified by their number of brush strokes, relationship to a root character or individual pronunciation. These classification methods are currently used in most reference documents. It soon becomes apparent that in order to consult a dictionary, students must have prior knowledge of the Japanese writing system. My hypothesis is that utilization of a search and retrieval method that is based on detailed description of the structure of Kanji may lead to improved recall of the Kanji under study. Such a method should promote better organized and more elaborated knowledge of the characters, based on underlying visual structure. A new on-line tool based on these visual and structural approaches was developed and compared with a traditional paper dictionary in a study involving 21 volunteers. Significant results in favour of the new search method were found.


identifier: Hiebert, Ted  (2007) In praise of nonsense : aesthetics, uncertainty and postmodern identity.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Hobbi, Alireza  (2007) Design of solar water heating systems for cold climate and study of heat transfer enhancement devices in flat-plate solar collectors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Solar water heating systems with the flat-plate collectors are studied theoretically and experimentally. In theoretical part of this study, a forced circulation solar water heating systems is designed for domestic hot water requirements of a single family residential unit in Montreal. All necessary design parameters are studied and optimized using TRANSYS simulation program. The solar fraction of the entire system is used as the optimization parameters. The results show that by utilizing solar energy, the designed system could provide 85-100% and 30-40% of the hot water demand in summer and winter, respectively.  The experimental part of this study is focused on the investigation of the effect of heat transfer augmentation devices inside the tubes of a flat-plate solar collector. An indoor experimental facility is developed, and different modules of flat-plate collectors with heat enhancement devices are designed and fabricated. Heat is provided by radiation and local temperature measurements were made at different locations inside and outside the collector over a range of Reynolds numbers from 200 to 5500 and two different incidents radiant heat fluxes. For the entire Reynolds number range, no appreciable heat enhancement is observed due to the heat enhancement devices. The analysis showed that in all cases, the free convection is the dominant mode of heat transfer compared to the forced convection. Thus, the turbulence production due to shear is suppressed by the thermal stratification in the flow. It is concluded that any method of heat enhancement by enhancing the shear-production of turbulence is ineffective in flat plate solar collectors


identifier: Li, Zheng  (2007) Visual servoing in robotic manufacturing systems for accurate positioning.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Automated robotic manufacturing systems require accurate robot positioning. Visual servoing is an increasing popular method to enhance such positioning accuracy. Based on the error signal definition, visual servoing is classified into three approaches, Position Based Visual Servoing (PBVS), Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) and Hybrid Visual Servoing (HVS).  In this research, firstly, a novel Neural Network (NN) based hand-eye calibration is introduced in PBVS. A MultiLayer Perceptron NN is used to approximate the nonlinear coordinate transform from image coordinates to real world coordinates in visual servoing. The main advantages of NN based hand-eye calibration are that it can solve the hand-eye calibration problem without estimating the hand-eye transformation and can improve the object tracking accuracy as well. The experimental results in an industrial manufacturing robot show that the proposed calibration method outperforms the current solving transformation matrix method and free hand-eye calibration method for 2D object tracking.  Secondly, a new approach to switching control of IBVS with laser pointer is proposed. The simple off-the-shelf laser pointer is applied to realize the depth estimation. The proposed system is robust to the camera calibration and hand-eye calibration error, and is object model free as well. Comparing with traditional IBVS, it avoids image singularities and image local minima, and is successful for only partial image features in the field of view. Moreover, the trajectory of the robot end effector is shortened. The experimental results are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in a robotic manufacturing system for assembly


identifier: Islam, Md. Rajibul  (2007) Cooperative MAC design for Ad Hoc wireless networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Cooperative diversity is proposed to combat the detrimental effects of channel fading. In this thesis, we investigate the effectiveness of cooperative diversity in interference limited ad hoc networks. The throughput performance of ad hoc networks that employ cooperative diversity techniques is examined. The negative effects of relay transmission blocking and extra time delay due to using the relay node, on the network throughput are investigated. We show that cooperative diversity based ad hoc networks inherits relay blocking problem which causes net network throughput degradation. To solve the relay blocking problem, we propose a new cooperative medium-access-control (MAC) protocol where each relay is equipped with directive antennas and the transmitter-relay-receiver transmission mode is designed using two frequency channels. Furthermore, we discuss the throughput performance considering single and multiple relay scenarios and analyze the effect of interference on the throughput. Then we investigate the throughput performance of the proposed cooperative MAC protocol in the presence of position estimation errors. In the literature, a perfect position estimation of all nodes is commonly assumed. Here, we focus on the throughput performance of the cooperative network when taking into consideration the effect of directional-of-arrival (DOA) error caused by imperfect global-positioning system (GPS) position estimation. Our results show that using adaptive antennas at the relay becomes advantageous when the DOA error is less than 20 degrees. We noted that increasing the number of antennas (at the relay station) can improve the throughput performance but, on the other hand, the effect of node position error becomes more substantial.


identifier: Liu, Feng  (2007) An application of the chase algorithm to multiuser detection.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With various added services in future wireless communication systems, the demand for fast and highly reliable data transmissions is continuously increasing. Multiple access interference (MAI) in direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and constrained capacity in single-input single-output (SISO) are the major obstacles to achieve this purpose. For overcoming these limitations, the use of multiuser detection (MUD) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is necessary.  In the area of error control coding, the Chase algorithm, which takes advantage of the different reliabilities of the received symbols and focuses on correcting the error in the weakest symbols, can achieve a near maximum-likelihood (ML) performance and with significant complexity reduction. In this thesis, we discuss the application of the Chase algorithm in multiuser detectors for the SISO-CDMA and MIMO-CDMA systems.  In the SISO-CDMA systems, we develop a parallel interference cancellation (PIC) scheme using the Chase algorithm after the matched filters (MFs). This scheme is called Chase-PIC. Instead of optimizing the weight of each user as most of PIC detectors do, this detector provides a new optimizing approach right after the MFs. Based on the analysis of the complexity and performance over the flat and frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels, we also propose a new Chase based multistage PIC that uses the normalized least-mean-square (NLMS) algorithm at the earlier stages and the Chase algorithm at the later stages. This proposed scheme can achieve a better performance than NLMS-PIC but with less complexity.  In the MIMO-CDMA systems, we proposed a new Chase based multiuser detector over the flat Rayleigh fading channels. This detector focuses on correcting the error of the weakest detected symbol in the layered space-time multiuser detector (LAST-MUD). Compared to another Chase based detector, B-Chase, the proposed scheme has less complexity but with the tendency of achieving better performance at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).


identifier: El Salti, Tarek  (2007) Routing in sensing-covered ad hoc networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We introduce a new approach in ad hoc networks for obtaining a sensing-covered network in the 2-D environment. This approach is based on a grid technique and the unit disk graph ( UDG ). This technique makes sure that a region is fully covered by a small number of sensor nodes. To experiment with variations of the generated graph, we introduce a new subgraph of the UDG. This graph is a generalization of the Yao graph in 2-D environment where the cones used are adaptively centered on a set of nearest neighbors for each node, thus creating a directed or undirected spanning subgraph. We also permit the apex of the cones to be positioned anywhere along the line segment between the node and its nearest neighbor, leading to a class of Yao -type subgraphs. We give an extension of the DAAY (both directed and undirected) from the 2-D environment to the 3-D environment. For routing on such a 2-D sensing-covered sensor network topology, we propose new routing protocols. Some of these new routing algorithms include hybrid routing algorithms which are based on the BVGF routing protocol of Xing et al. (2006) and our own protocols. The reason for these combinations is that we show that the BVGF routing protocol does not guarantee delivery all the time on general sensing covered networks. Our hybrid algorithms do guarantee delivery on such networks. We demonstrate through simulations that our proposed routing protocols perform much faster compared to some existing routing protocols. We also compare the routing protocols based on the path lengths (hops or Euclidean distances). Our routing protocols show good performance in terms of these metrics.


identifier: Torkzadeh, Kianoush  (2007) Requirements specification of business transactions in use cases.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Functional requirements and the involved user interaction are dependent on the chosen concurrency management strategy of the encompassing business transaction. Use cases are the specification technique of choice for functional requirements documentation. Unfortunately, the current state of the art in use case writing does not provide a proper means to express business transaction specifications. In order to overcome this shortcoming we adapt the use case notation to allow business transactions to be defined in terms of its boundaries, affected resources and the chosen concurrency management strategy. The practicality of our extension is illustrated by a comprehensive case study. Lessons learnt from the case study are presented in the form of a set of heuristics and practical guidelines.


identifier: Brodu, Nicolas  (2007) Practical investigations of complex systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: What's currently called Complexity Science suffers from an unfortunate lack of consensus as to what is meant by these terms. A review of the common notions shows a field mined by controversies, with as many frameworks for the study of Complex Systems as there are authors who propose a generic one. This document is thus not an attempt to create yet another framework, but rather an application of the traditional scientific methodology to some Complex Systems in the domain of Computer Science. It is a demonstration that even for this field, the concrete application of predictive experiments set up to challenge the extent of the main notions proves fruitful. Moreover the tools and methods that are created along the way because they were necessary to carry on experiments represent by themselves an opportunity for making progress in the domain. This is precisely the case in the present Computer Science context in the form of new algorithms, that were successfully applied to the main experiments. Hence this work is both a call for a more classical and practical approach to Complexity, and a concrete application example for that call.


identifier: Wang, Suiling  (2007) Effect of natural organic matter and a biosurfactant on arsenic mobilization from mine tailings.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Batch and column experiments were conducted to elucidate the mechanisms of arsenic mobilization from the mine tailings in the presence of a natural organic matter (NOM, represented by a Fluka humic acid, HA) and a biosurfactant (represented by JBR425, mixed rhamnolipids), and to evaluate the feasibility of using NOM and biosurfactant in remediating arsenic contaminated mine tailings or soils. It was indicated that HA addition might help retain arsenic and heavy metals in the mine tailings under acidic conditions. Both HA and rhamnolipid were capable of increasing arsenic mobility from the mine tailings under alkaline conditions. It was shown that the introduction of HA at a low mass ratio of HA to mine tailings (below 2 mg/g) under acidic conditions inhibited arsenic mobilization. Generally, arsenic mobilization by HA increased with an increase in mass ratio. When the mass ratio reached 10 mg/g at pH 11, arsenic was mobilized the most after a 24-hour reaction. The mobilization of arsenic in the presence of rhamnolipid increased with the mass ratio and pH. When the mass ratio was 10 mg/g at pH 11, rhamnolipid mobilized the most arsenic after a 24-hour reaction. A desorption isotherm was developed to predict arsenic mobilization from the mine tailings in the presence of the organic additives. The addition of three low-molecular-weight-organic-acids (i.e., aspartic acid, cysteine, and succinic acid) under acidic to neutral conditions inhibited arsenic mobilization and arsenic was mobilized the most at pH above 9. Higher arsenic mobilization was obtained in column experiments. Rhamnolipid was found to be more efficient in mobilizing arsenic, probably due to its efficiency in lowering the interfacial tension and mobilizing other metals. Capillary electrophoresis analyses indicated that arsenic redox reaction might not have a significant effect on arsenic mobilization. The mobilization of co-existing metals might, to some extent, enhance arsenic mobilization by helping incorporate it into soluble complexes in the presence of organic additives. The findings will be important in advancing our understanding of the fate and transport cycle of arsenic in the environment and the cause of arsenic contamination in groundwater. NOM and biosurfactants might be used potentially for the remediation of arsenic contaminated sites.


identifier: Behroozi, Hamid  (2007) Rate-distortion regions for successively structured multiterminal source coding schemes.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Multiterminal source coding refers to separate encoding and joint decoding of multiple correlated sources. Joint decoding requires all the messages to be decoded simultaneously which is exponentially more complex than a sequence of single-message decodings. Inspired by previous work on successive coding strategy, which is based on successive decoding structure, we apply the successive Wyner-Ziv coding to different schemes of multiterminal source coding problem. We address the problem from an information theoretic perspective and determine the rate region for three different multiterminal coding schemes: Gaussian CEO problem, 1-helper problem, and 2-terminal source coding problem. We prove that the optimal sum-rate distortion performance for the CEO problem is achievable using the successive coding strategy which is essentially a low complexity approach for obtaining a prescribed distortion. We show that if the sum-rate tends to infinity for a finite number of agents (sensors), the optimal rate allocation strategy assigns equal rates to all agents. The same result is obtained when the number of agents tends to infinity while the sum-rate is finite. Then, we consider 1-helper source coding scheme where one source provides partial side information to the decoder to help the reconstruction of the other source. Our results show that the successive coding strategy is an optimal strategy in this scheme in the sense of achieving the rate-distortion function. For the 2-terminal source coding problem, we develop connections between source encoding and data fusion steps and prove that the whole rate-distortion region is achievable using the successive coding strategy. Comparing the performance of the sequential coding with the performance of the successive coding, we show that there is no sum-rate loss when the side information is not available at the encoder. This result is of special interest in some applications such as video coding where there are processing and storage constraints at the encoder. Based on the successive coding strategy, we provide an achievable rate-distortion region for the m-terminal source coding.  We also consider a distributed network, modeled by CEO problem with Gaussian multiple access channel (MAC), where L noisy observations of a memoryless Gaussian source are transmitted through an additive white Gaussian MAC to a decoder. The decoder wishes to reconstruct the main source with an average distortion D at the smallest possible power consumption in the communication link. Our goal is to characterize the power-distortion region achievable by any coding strategy regardless of delay and complexity. We obtain a necessary condition for achievability of all power-distortion tuples ( P 1 , P 2 ,..., P L , D ). Also, analyzing the uncoded transmission scheme provides a sufficient condition for achievability of ( P 1 , P 2 ,..., P L , D ). Then, we consider a symmetric case of the problem where the observations of agents have the same noise level and the transmitting signals are subject to the same average power constraint. We show that in this case the necessary and sufficient conditions coincide and give the optimal power-distortion region. Therefore, in the symmetric case of Gaussian CEO problem uncoded transmission over a Gaussian MAC performs optimally for any finite number of agents


identifier: Khosravi, Peyman  (2007) Nonlinear finite element analysis and design optimization of thin-walled structures.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this study, an efficient, accurate and robust methodology for nonlinear finite element analysis and design optimization of thin-walled structures is presented. Main parts of this research are: formulation and development of an accurate and efficient shell element, a robust nonlinear finite element analysis technique, and an efficient optimization methodology. In the first part, a new three-node triangular shell element is developed by combining the optimal membrane element and discrete Kirchhoff triangle (DKT) plate bending element, and is then modified for laminated composite plates and shells so as to include the membrane-bending coupling effect. Also, a moderately thick shell element is developed in a similar manner by combining the discrete Kirchhoff-Mindlin triangular (DKMT) plate bending element and the optimal membrane element. Using appropriate shape functions for the bending and membrane modes of the element, the "inconsistent" stress stiffness matrix is formulated and the tangent stiffness matrix is determined. In the second part, a robust nonlinear finite element analysis program based on the corotational technique is developed to analyze thin-walled structures with geometric nonlinearity. The new element is thoroughly tested by solving few popular benchmark problems. The results of the analyses are compared with those obtained based on other membrane elements. In the third part, optimization algorithms based on the optimality criteria are developed and then combined with the nonlinear finite element analysis to optimize different types of thin-walled structures with geometric nonlinearity. The optimization problem considers the thickness or geometry design variables, and aims to maximize the critical load of the structure subject to constant total mass, or minimize the total mass subject to constant applied loads. The optimization results based on the developed design optimization algorithm are compared with those based on the gradient-based sequential quadratic programming method to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the developed procedure. An application of the thickness optimization for locating the potential places to add the stiffeners in stiffened panels is also presented. Also a method is presented to efficiently incorporate the effects of local buckling and mode switching during optimization process for stiffened panels.


identifier: Muwanga, Roland Ssonko  (2007) Experimental study on heat transfer characteristics of microchannel systems using liquid crystal thermography.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Microchannel heat transfer governs the performance of the microchannel heat sink, which is a recent technology aimed at managing the stringent thermal requirements of today's high-end electronics. The present thesis investigates the single-phase and flow boiling heat transfer characteristics in microchannel systems. A state-of-the-art test facility has been constructed for the experimental investigations. It is composed of a closed loop flow setup, a microscopic imaging system and an automated data acquisition system. A technique for using un-encapsulated thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC's) to measure the local heat transfer coefficient in microchannel geometries is developed. A unique localized calibration of the TLC material is employed to minimize the effects of lighting non-uniformity and variable coating thickness. Measurements are carried out in three different microtubes, and in two innovative parallel and radial microchannel heat sinks with 3.5 cm 2 footprint areas. The working fluids are distilled water, FC-72 and air.  Local single-phase heat transfer and frictional pressure drop measurements are presented for the laminar, transitional and turbulent flow regimes, in microtubes down to 0.25 mm. Local flow boiling heat transfer coefficient data are presented for a, quality up to 0.3, and for the conditions investigated, suggest a nucleation dominated region. Flow boiling oscillation characteristics in two parallel silicon microchannel heat sink configurations aimed at micro/nano-spacecraft thermal management are investigated. One is a standard heat sink with 45 parallel channels, whereas the second is similar, except with cross-linked paths at three locations. The oscillation amplitudes are relatively large and identical in frequency for the fluid pressure and temperature. Oscillation properties for the standard heat sink are correlated for different heat fluxes, while a first glimpse of the cross-linked heat sink performance under flow boiling instability conditions is presented. Optimization of a radial inflowing microchannel heat exchanger has been investigated numerically, after preliminary fabrication and experimentation trials. Unique to this optimization was consideration of channels with axially varying cross-sections. Three-dimensional conjugate analysis shows that when constrained by a fixed channel outlet area, increasing the channel inlet area will improve the thermal performance.  Overall, a method utilizing un-encapsulated TLC thermography for local heat transfer measurements in microgeometries has been developed, while investigating the flow and heat transfer characteristics in microchannel systems. The present work along with the advances in MEMS based manufacturing is expected to lead to the creation and development of a number of miniaturized technologies, from DNA analysis to power-plants-on-chips


identifier: Dbouk, Wassim  (2007) Credit spreads, bond index changes and bond diversification.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis consists of four essays. In the first essay, we reexamine how default, taxes and systematic risk measures influence corporate credit spreads for investment grade corporate bonds for the 1987-1996 time period using a modified version of the methodology used in Elton, Gruber, Agrawal, and Mann (2001). The methodological improvements not only change the estimates for the default and tax components of credit spreads materially but the factors from the Fama and French three-factor model no longer help to explain the remaining variation in credit spreads. In contrast, a good portion of the variation in the remaining (unexplained) spread is explained by measures of aggregate bond liquidity. In the second essay, unlike the literature that deals extensively with the diversification of stock portfolios, we investigate diversification benefits for bond portfolios and the optimal portfolio size to achieve a low marginal benefit from increased portfolio size. Since the classic paper on bond diversification by McEnally and Boardman (1979), the structure of the bond market has changed significantly and many risk metrics have been introduced into the literature. In this essay, we use various risk metrics to assess the diversification benefits and the optimal bond portfolio sizes based on investment opportunity sets differentiated by credit ratings, issuer type and term to maturity. Our results suggest that a portfolio size of 25 to 40 bonds could be optimal since going beyond this size achieves a marginal diversification benefit of less than 1%.  In the third essay, we formulate and test an alternate model for explaining the changes in corporate credit spreads. The model includes some new potential determinants (such as undiversifiable risk) and uses ex ante (forecast) data from Consensus Economics instead of realizations for other determinants previously identified in the literature. Compared to other models previously tested in the literature, our model achieves substantially higher explanatory power while being more parsimonious.  Finally, in the fourth essay, we introduce what appears to be the first investigation of the impact of bond index additions and deletions on the returns of bonds and stocks of the same-firm issuers using various unconditional and conditional return-generating models. The effect of additions and deletions is symmetric for each asset class and robust across various return-generating models. While bond returns are positively (negatively) affected by bond index inclusions (exclusions), stock returns are unaffected by these bond index revisions. These results suggest that, although bond index additions and deletions materially affect bond values when measured at market, equity investors do not perceive any material change in financial risk from such changes


identifier: Patton, Eric  (2007) Social expectations and absenteeism : two studies on norms and legitimacy surrounding absence from work.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Absenteeism is a topic with a long and rich history of research in the field of organizational behavior. At the same time, to a greater degree than most other topics in the field, it is a concept that is familiar to the general public at large. The goal of this thesis is to add to the large body of absence research while capitalizing on the topic's presence in the public domain. Through two separate studies, the thesis focuses on social expectations and norms surrounding absence from work. Relying on elements of attribution and accountability theories, Study 1 uses an experimental approach to uncover norms surrounding attendance. Results indicate that reasons for absence and context in which absence is occurring influence judgments and reactions to absence from work. Study 2 presents a content analysis of how absence from work has been portrayed in the New York Times over the last 150 years. The goal of this second study is to uncover regular social representations of absence in the press and explore the source and manifestations of underlying assumptions regarding the behavior. Results indicate that the reporting is varied, but that themes relating to gender, social context, outcomes, reasons for absence, and outcomes of absence are consistently found in the press. The dual-methodological approach of the thesis demonstrates the multi-level, collective nature of absenteeism, illuminates links between absence and gender and context, and treats absence from work as a behavior involving all workers, with important causes and effects.


identifier: Vacon, L. Charlene  (2007) Alimentation and Acadienité : food and cultural identity in rural Nova Scotia tourist destinations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Two and a half centuries after the devastation of l'Acadie in The Deportation, one may still think of oneself as Acadian. In this dissertation, I examine how people from the birthplace of l'Acadie today use eating and food in understanding themselves this way.  Through fieldwork in the Acadian communities of Nova Scotia between 2002 and 2004 and in auto-ethnography, I examine symbolic and affective processes of alimentation that I find are imperiled by contemporary economic relations. Our sense of ourselves as a group that is achieved in these social processes I term acadienité .  In this dissertation, restaurants are the entry point for examining alimentation in acadienité . Restaurants are an essential part of tourism development, as it is presently undertaken in Nova Scotia. Tourism development here is an economic discourse that devalues localized culture produced by and for the local people, what Braroe (2002) terms ethnologic culture, valuing 'ethnic' culture instead. It cannot be dismissed outright, however, since tourism development promises relief from the economic trials that plague the people of rural Nova Scotian communities.  I argue that the locals' own practices and narratives of alimentation are indicative of alternative, counter-hegemonic social processes that offer the possibility of an authentic ethnic Acadian-ness. The 'ethnic cuisine' that is postulated within economic discourses is challenged by local practices and narratives that draw heavily from the peoples' ethnologic representations and experiences of Acadian-ness. While I raise questions about the long-term prospects for Acadian cultural vitality given the ongoing ethnicization of Acadian villages, I find reason to be hopeful insofar as the Acadian people continue to struggle to define ethnic Acadian-ness in terms of our heritage, emotion, cultural narratives, and ethnological selves. I have reason to believe that the Acadians' sense of acadienité is, in fact, strengthened in this struggle to define our ethnic selves in the face of tourism development and economic relations


identifier: Edmonds, Pamela  (2007) The politics of belonging : positioning black identity in contemporary African-Canadian Art.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Pyun, Jin-Bak  (2007) Equality and urbanism : an inquiry on egalitarian ethics in planning with a particular reference to the public consultation policy and the overdale approach to equal land-use opportunities of the Montreal Citizen's movement.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this normative inquiry, we will assess two planning policies that the Montreal Citizen's Movement (MCM), a municipal party of the left, experimented with while in power at the City of Montreal, from 1986 to 1994. The MCM implemented an unprecedented public consultation policy and it also wished to put in place a compensation policy for equal housing and land-use opportunities, which, effectively, it tried in a redevelopment project known as 'Overdale' in 1987. These two experiments were an attempt to tame the land-use market and to make it ethical. In assessing these experiments, we will first propose planning principles built on egalitarian ethics and, then, apply those egalitarian planning principles as evaluation criteria in the assessment. We will also examine similar experiments carried out elsewhere; we will compare the MCM public consultation policy with the Participative Budget of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the Overdale experience of compensation with a case from Santa Monica, California. The MCM public consultation experiment was, without doubt, an exciting start that brought the politics of public deliberation to planning; however, we will argue that we need to put egalitarian constraints on planning deliberation if we want that deliberation to be not only a source of good planning but also of community building. We will also argue that the Overdale experiment of compensation is indeed a good source of heuristic learning on how to plan for equal land-use opportunities in a city of market liberalism such as Montreal. In this thesis we will persistently argue that we should appeal to egalitarian reason, in order to build a good and beautiful city.


identifier: Abdel-Mannan, Osama  (2007) Incremental dimentionality reduction : Algorithms and applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: One key challenge in data mining and manifold learning applications is the ability to manipulate datasets and to extract useful information. This triggered the need for dimensionality reduction techniques to help visualize and analyze the data without excess computation time. Several methods have been proposed in recent years that are based on the batch mode, meaning that all the data points need to be present during the run of the algorithm. Thus, any newly arriving point has to be added to the dataset and the algorithm has to be rerun on the entire set to produce the output. This limitation gave rise to the incremental form of some existing algorithms enabling them to adapt to newly added points without loss of computational time.  Motivated by this incremental extension of the algorithms, this thesis addresses the limitations of some dimensionality reduction techniques and proposes incremental solutions. The core idea behind our proposed techniques is to enable these methods to adapt to the stream of data being added while preserving the significant characteristics of the low dimensional representation of the dataset. Our experimental results demonstrate an improved performance of the proposed approaches in comparison with existing algorithms


identifier: Kabir, Saif Mohammad Asif  (2007) Data perturbation for privacy preserving data mining.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Kilimov, Mladen  (2007) Multicasting of adaptive multisessions on GPRS platforms.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the fast development of new services such as video streaming, and the oncoming leap to the fourth generation of mobile communications a new challenge has arisen. How can the limited radio and core network resources for cellular mobile systems be utilized to provide the required resources for new services?  In a time when the end-users mobility becomes more and more important it brings an additional significance and demand of research and development in this area. This thesis is focused on multicast technology as a way to optimize the available network utilization and improve the performance of cellular networks. Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system structure and technology are described in detail. Information for different types of multicast protocols are provided and implementations of GPRS platforms are discussed.  We have demonstrated the positive influence of multicast implementation on GPRS platforms by theoretical arguments and simulation results. We have provided the evidence of the contribution that multicast technology will enhance the network performance, which can be utilized to justify its further development and implementation on existing networks.


identifier: Soeanu Caval, Andrei  (2007) Automatic verification of behavioral specifications in software intensive systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Modern systems tend to exhibit an ever increasing complexity especially due to their software design components and programmable aspects which are nowadays ubiquitous. Consequently, in order to assure reliable and dependable systems, sustained efforts are required in the process of system verification and validation. However, conventional verification and validation techniques that are primarily based on testing and simulation, while being helpful and useful, may lack in many cases the desired level of rigor and completeness and are generally costly, laborious and time consuming. In contrast, using verification techniques that are based on formal foundations, such as model-checking and program analysis in a complementary manner to the traditional verification techniques can provide an increased level of reliability and dependability. In this context, applying such techniques for verifying the correctness and validity of the engineered systems early in the design phase can greatly improve the quality and performance of the design. Moreover, using such a verification methodology can alleviate the high cost of maintaining the systems later in their development phases. Presently, modern system design can benefit from a wide range of development paradigms including those that are using techniques traditionally employed in software engineering such as the object oriented design paradigm. In order to standardize the process of system design and development, several modeling languages emerged in order to provide the means for capturing and modeling various system specifications and requirements. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) 2.0 and more recently the Systems Modeling Languages (SysML) represent the most prominent standardized modeling languages for software and systems engineering. In this setting, the research initiative that this work addresses, is introducing a unified paradigm for the verification and validation of software intensive systems engineering design models by using formal verification techniques that can be applied in order to assess different behavioral diagrams belonging to the aforementioned modeling languages.


identifier: Sultan, Khalid Ibrahim  (2007) New measurements for building secure software.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Despite the increased focus of today's research towards improving security of the cyber infrastructure, there still exists room for improvement particularly in handling security during the software development life cycle (SDLC). Developing secure software requires that the developers should address security issues as part of each phase of the software development process.  Security metrics are powerful techniques that can assist software designers and developers integrate security features into their systems from the very beginning in the development lifecycle. However, it is worth mentioning that the idea of introducing such metrics in each phase of the SDLC has not appeared before.  To cope with the situation, we propose a new set of technical security metrics for building secure software. The proposed metrics are aimed to address the security related parameters throughout the entire SDLC. The focus of this research is to examine the concept "Design for Security" as part of research efforts and to incorporate technical security issues related to the development of software from the very beginning in the development process.  This set of metrics is further divided into subgroups where each subgroup corresponds to a particular phase of the SDLC. While describing each of these metrics, it has been specified whether a particular metric can be calculated automatically or manually. For calculating the automated metrics, we built a tool using JavaCC (Java Compiler Compiler) to do so. It takes a C/C++ source code files as input. The output of the tool is basically the automated security metrics during the implementation phase. We believe that considering these metrics will help people involved in the software development process improve their applications from the security point of view.  Keywords: Software Security, Security Metrics, Software Development Lifecycle, Design for Security.


identifier: Zhang, Qi  (2007) The Hill-Robertson effect, quasi-truncation selection, and genetic recombination.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Hill-Robertson effect and epistasis are often proposed to explain the prevalence of sexual reproduction and recombination. The Hill-Robertson effect occurs in small populations, where a combination of genetic drift and weak natural selection result in negative linkage disequilibrium. In a large population, however, negative epistasis is the major source of negative linkage disequilibrium. The epistasis can be calculated with two models: the additive model and multiplicative model. In populations of any size, recombination reduces the negative linkage disequilibrium, thus enhancing the population's response to selection.  In our research, we examine negative epistasis under quasi-truncation selection. We also study the amount of negative linkage disequilibrium caused by both the Hill-Robertson effect and the negative epistasis under r selection, constant population size, and quasi-truncation selection. In addition, we examine the effect of epistasis calculated with either the additive model or multiplicative model on linkage disequilibrium. We find that non-epistatic selection calculated with the additive model can still generate negative linkage disequilibrium. In large populations, the negative linkage disequilibrium is noteworthily associated with negative epistasis. In addition, recombination does not always speed fixation even if the average linkage disequilibrium is weak negative.


identifier: Zhu, Shu-Sen  (2007) Cloning and characterization of two lipases and a lysophospholipase from aspergillus niger.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We identified from a collection of partially sequenced Aspergillus niger cDNA clones four cDNAs that were predicted to encode secreted lipases or phospholipases B/lysophospholipases. The deduced amino acid sequence of two of the four genes, lipA and lipB, exhibited approximately 50% identity with each other and with a lipase from the thermophilic fungus Thermomyces lanuginosus. The other two cDNAs, plbA and plbB, share amino acid sequence 63% identity with each other and about 65% identity with Aspergillus fumigatus PlbAp. We functionally expressed the four genes in Pichia pastoris and A. niger, and purified and characterized the recombinant proteins. LipA showed optimal activity at 40°C and pH 4.5-5.0. LipA was stable at a pH range of 2.2-10.6 and up to 70°C. The pH optimum for LipB was pH 3.5-4.0, and it was stable between pH 3.0 and pH 9.6. The temperature optimum for LipB was 15°C and it retained 70% of its peak activity at 0°C. LipB has the lowest temperature activity profile when compared with reported cold-adapted enzymes. Substrate specificity determination with triacylglycerols and p -nitrophenyl esters showed that both lipases preferred esters with middle- and long-chain fatty acids.  The pH optimum for the lysophospholipase activity encoded by PlbA was 3.0 and the activity was stable during incubation from pH 2 to 8.6. The temperature optimum of PlbA was 50°C and it retained at least 80% activity when incubated at 50°C for 3 h. PlbA exhibited a rather broad specificity towards lysophospholipids with maximal activity on lysophosphatidy1choline and lysophosphatidylserine and preferred the shorter C12 substrate relative to substrates with 14 to 18 carbons. PlbA did not exhibit phospholipase B, A1 or A2, lipase or general esterase activity and appeared to be lysophospholipid specific. PlbA lysophospholipase activity displayed cooperative kinetics with a Hill coefficient of 2.036. Recombinant PlbB could only be expressed at an extremely low level in both Pichia pastoris and Aspergillus niger. We were unable to purify and characterize this enzyme


identifier: Shi, Zhe  (2007) Is trypsin inhibitor a plant defense against the larvae of the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria)?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Forest tent caterpillars ( Malacosoma disstria ) are ubiquitous defoliating insects in North America. In Canada, trembling aspen is their favourite host tree, which can produce an inducible protein, trypsin inhibitor (TI), to inhibit trypsin, a major proteolytic enzyme in caterpillars' midguts.  To determine the digestion-inhibiting effect of TI on M. disstria, this study focused on the performance of second instar larvae with different levels of TI on both balanced and low protein diets. Indices of performance were growth, food consumption, nutrient utilization efficiencies and nitrogen concentration in the frass under the treatments of different diet quality and different levels of TI extracted from both soybean and aspen. Both protein deficiency and higher levels of TI impaired the growth of caterpillars, but the impairing effect of TI only appeared on the caterpillars fed on balanced diet.  Also, both soybean and aspen TI reduced food consumption and increased the nitrogen concentration in the frass, which was likely due to undigested protein in the frass. But only the aspen TI affected the nutrient utilization efficiencies in terms of decreased approximate digestibility (AD) and increased efficiency of conversion of ingested materials (ECI), which suggests a strategy used by caterpillars to utilize the nutrient more efficiently under aspen TI inhibition of the protein digestion.  This study confirmed the digestion-inhibiting function of TI as a defense of aspen against forest tent caterpillars. Also, it suggested that caterpillars were able to regulate their growth under severe protein deficiency, possibly as an adaptation to this defense


identifier: Cardinal-Aucoin, Michael  (2007) Pre-ingestive effects of tannins on the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is considered the most important pest threatening the coniferous forests of eastern North America. Its major hosts are balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ), white spruce ( Picea glauca ), red spruce ( Picea rubens ), and black spruce ( Picea mariana ), all of which contain defensive compounds including tannins. Tannins are known to act as feeding deterrents, digestibility reducers, and toxins in numerous insect species and specifically to reduce growth and survival in the spruce budworm. Using two-choice feeding tests, it was discovered that hydrolysable tannins act as a feeding deterrent and condensed tannins extracted from white spruce act as a phagostimulant for the spruce budworm. To my knowledge, this is the first time condensed tannins have been demonstrated to be phagostimulatory in any insect. It was shown that both types of tannins function via different mechanisms: spruce tannins directly stimulate feeding whereas tannic acid interferes with sucrose detection. A dose-response relationship was demonstrated for both types of tannin. Concentrations of defensive compounds and of tannins are affected by certain forest management techniques. Polar extracts from foliage sampled from 3 different thinning regimes were investigated for their affect on spruce budworm feeding, again using the two-choice feeding tests. Differences between trees appear to be more important than the effects of the thinning treatments but more data are necessary in order to make any firm conclusions. Tannin concentrations should be considered in forest management aimed at controlling spruce budworm populations.


identifier: Code-McNeil, Devon  (2007) In a mist.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: In a mist

abstract: In a Mist consists of seven short stories ranging in genre from crime fiction, to speculative fiction, to realist fiction. These stories relate to one another through their common concern with their protagonists' self-imposed social isolation. The protagonists of this stories are strongly drawn to romantic and emotionally evocative forms of cultural expression such as renaissance liturgical music, early twentieth-century cinema and vocal jazz. Their private emotional and intellectual investments in these forms provide an escape from the external realities that they find threatening. When social interaction with the external world becomes a necessity, the cultural inclinations the protagonists have cultivated determine the way in which they define themselves and how they relate to those around them.  My thesis takes its working title from the name of a composition by jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke. The trajectory of Beiderbecke's tragic life, cut short at the age of twenty-eight due to alcohol-related illness, provides a subtext for several stories in the collection including "Alice and Roy" and "The Death of Benjamin Hirsch." The title is evocative of the eccentric and mysterious quality of Beiderbecke's creative genius. In relation to my thesis, it evokes the elliptical quality of the stories themselves. Major incidents in the character's lives are often implied rather than shown, exposition is withheld, or left deliberately ambiguous. The reader, like the protagonist, is left to deduce what has transpired based on symbols or outlines of events that the narrative does not divulge directly.


identifier: Gélinas Faucher, Claudine  (2007) Beautiful Games: alienation, autonomy and authenticity in Leonard Cohen's fiction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: As a young artist, Leonard Cohen continually attempted to navigate between the conflicting ideologies of bohemia and bourgeoisie, and his struggle was representative of the widespread postwar North American concern with marginality, conformity and alienation. Cohen's fiction, in turn, engages with these various postwar North American values and ideologies. More specifically, his two novels examine how the conditions of alienation, autonomy and authenticity combine and interact to either uphold or destroy one's identity. The Favorite Game portrays a young artist who cultivates alienation, or the image of alienation, because he believes it fosters creativity. Beautiful Losers illustrates the fate of a character whose individuality is threatened as his alienation grows more acute. My thesis discusses these two novels through the lens of mid-century thought. Particularly relevant to my examination of Cohen's novels are the writings of Herbert Marcuse, Norman Mailer and David Riesman. I contend that, in The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers , Leonard Cohen argues that the artist, though subject to failure, is the individual most likely in this society to achieve and sustain a state of autonomy. Cohen thereby advances his belief that aesthetics may be mobilized against the condition of alienation.


identifier: Affleck, Sara Jane  (2007) Benefits of doubt.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Benefits of doubt

abstract: The interplay between "self" and "other" is one of the predominant themes of this work of long fiction. The story's two narrators, Hannah and Elinor, struggle with re-creation of self in a "foreign" context, that of teaching conversational English in contemporary Japan. For both women, this re-creation involves relationships occurring in many modes of social interaction: colleagues and students, friends, and romantic involvements. For Elinor, this self-re-creation primarily involves a pattern of successive short-term romances, often of a non-sexual nature, with other Westerners. At the root of Elinor's apparent inability to commit is a deep-seated fear of rejection, and of losing herself in love. After much trial and error, she meets a man with whom she thinks she can be happy; despite her constant "otherness" as a Western woman in Japanese culture, she opts to stay, almost revelling in the bizarre status her very otherness affords. By contrast, Hannah--in order to forget failed loves--immerses herself in work, and rather passively accepts the identity that is thrust upon her in this new context. She too becomes involved with a man--a married Japanese man who is also a former student. This relationship is also non-sexual, though Hannah clearly would prefer otherwise. She struggles to overcome her desires and her attachments aided by the Buddhist study in which she rather superficially engages. But despite Hannah's philosophical inquiries, and her passivity, she is unable to completely erase her "self" nor her desires.


identifier: Mostafid, Ali M  (2007) Entrance and exit effects on flow through metallic foams.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Metallic foams have diverse industrial applications due to their unique properties such as high porosity and high surface to volume ratio. To improve and modify the design of such applications, understanding of the foam characteristics such as unit pressure drop is required. Because of the complex microstructure of metallic foams, it is difficult to predict their characteristics by mathematical modeling analysis. Therefore, experimental studies have been suggested to discover the effect of microstructure on the pressure drop of metallic foams.  Wide range of metallic foams having different thicknesses (2 to 63 mm), densities (83 to 91%), and pore sizes (0.4 to 2.3 mm) were tested in the present study. The unit pressure drop of same grade foam having different thicknesses was found to reduce with increasing the thickness. This effect results in different Darcian and non-Darcian permeability coefficients for the same foam which is unexpected, because these properties should be thickness independent and constant for each material. Consequently, experiments were conducted to validate that the pressure drop can be divided into two components of bulk and entrance pressure drops and found that, bulk contribution can be normalized by the thickness; however, entrance contribution cannot. After a certain thickness, which depends on the foam microstructure, the entrance contribution becomes constant. It was also observed that, entrance effect contributes more to the pressure drop for thin samples and at high velocities.  Tests were also performed to non-destructively examine the homogeneity of the metallic foams and found that, heterogeneity can be detected if it is either located at the foam sides or inside the foam but with pores finer than the bulk foam


identifier: Kadam, Sagar Chandrakant  (2007) Static and dynamic analysis of twist drills subjected to cutting loads.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Continuous models for a fluted twist drill are developed to study its static and dynamic bending characteristics.  The static model is numerically simulated within Matlab for point loads at the free end of a twist drill. The bending curves are plotted and the bending stiffness of a twist drill is estimated. Effect of orientation of the spirally fluted cross-section at the fixed end on end deflection is studied. Characteristic bending curves for one pitch length of drill are plotted and region of minimum deflection is identified.  Dynamic model is numerically simulated in Matlab over a range of rotating speeds and the first two natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes are identified for the twist drill.  New formulation for estimation of work stiffness is proposed considering the interaction of drill with the hole-wall. A new lumped mass model for studying lateral vibration behavior of the twist drill is developed using this work stiffness. The bending stiffness and fundamental natural frequency estimated using continuous models above and work stiffness calculated using proposed formulation are used in this new model. This model is numerically simulated in Matlab for different set of parameters and drill orbital motions are obtained. Results are analyzed to study the influence of various parameters on dynamics of drill and an explanation is given for generation of lobed holes and drill wandering phenomenon and surface roughness.  Torsional stiffness of set of twist drills in clockwise and counter clockwise directions are measured experimentally in order to verify the stiffness symmetry.  Appearance of cutting resistance when direction of twist coincides with the direction of cutting leads to periodic change in torsional stiffness of the twist drill during actual drilling. Lumped mass model is developed wherein the effect of this periodic change in torsional stiffness on torsional vibration is studied. Numerical simulations are carried out in Matlab for stiffness change of bilinear and combined linear and half sinusoidal nature.  Lateral deflection of drill against hole wall is always associated with a small amount of angular twist. Lumped mass model to study bending-torsional coupling is developed. Numerical simulations are carried out in Matlab and results are compared with results for uncoupled torsional model.


identifier: Menassa Jessica.  (2007) Valuing diversity : an examination of diversity climate, work attitudes, and employee racioethnicities.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the relations between diversity climate, characterized by organizational fairness and organizational inclusion, and employees' work attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and affective, normative and continuance commitment). It was proposed that the degree of perceived organizational support would mediate the relationships between diversity climate and employees' work attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, affective commitment and normative commitment). Furthermore, employees' racioethnicities were hypothesized to moderate the relationships between diversity climate and work attitudes. Employees (N = 311) in organizations in Canada completed a self-report survey regarding their perceptions on the organization's diversity climate and organizational support, and their levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Regression analyses revealed that diversity climate is positively related to job satisfaction, affective and normative commitment, and that perceived organizational support mediates the relationship between diversity climate and these employee attitudes. Contrary to what had been hypothesized, diversity climate is negatively associated with continuance commitment. Furthermore, racioethnicity generally did not moderate the relations between diversity climate and work attitudes.


identifier: Huang, Xian Hua  (2007) The effectiveness of negotiation approaches in dyadic negotiation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Interdependent approach study is a new area in negotiation research. A negotiation approach reflects people's predisposition towards conflict resolution. Although there are five single approaches, negotiators tend to use a combination of more than one approach during the negotiation process. Traditionally, researchers use the strongest approach to represent a negotiator's approach profile. However, a negotiator's approach profile is determined typically by the combination of single approaches and the strength of their occurrence measured by the Thomas-Kilmann questionnaire.  This is an exploratory study of interdependent approaches. Discovery and specification of the effectiveness of such profiles are the research focus. Approach effectiveness is discussed from two perspectives: first, the numbers of strong approaches included; and second, the profile similarity between negotiators. This study analyzes two datasets from the Inspire e-negotiation system. It shows that negotiation approaches are significantly correlated with each other and most people has one or two strong approaches. Although there is significant evidence that a larger number of strong approaches is more effective in the first dataset, it does not hold in the second, suggesting future studies around this topic; it also finds significant relationship with profile similarity and contract balance, although it does not show in the second dataset. In addition, no significant relationship between profile similarity and opening offer utility is found in both datasets. As an exploratory study, this thesis contributes to the understanding of interdependent negotiation approaches from a new manner


identifier: Racine, Valerie  (2007) The form and function of analyticity : meaning holism & semantic atomism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In Howard's historical account of Einstein's break with the Vienna Circle, he attributes the rift to the latter's retention of the analytic-synthetic distinction, while Einstein proposed a holist understanding of meaning. The assumed premise of the author's argument is that the A/S distinction must necessarily entail atomism. In a comment on Howard's historical portrayal, Oberdan questions the soundness of this premise by suggesting that the development of Carnap's epistemological project shows otherwise, i.e., the A/S distinction can be compatible with holism. However, Fodor and Lepore break down the implications of Quine's arguments to show that confirmation holism does not entail meaning holism. Thus, Carnap's later modification of the received view could be clarified by Fodor and Lepore's arguments in the following way; Carnap kept the A/S distinction, proposed confirmation holism and semantic atomism. This interpretation can be considered to provide an adequate, yet weak, defence of Oberdan's claim that the A/S distinction can be accommodated by a holist position. An alternative way to show how the A/S distinction can be compatible with holism is to re-interpret analyticity; to prioritize the function of analytical judgments over their logical form. This understanding suggests a Wittgensteinian interpretation of analyticity in which analytic statements are grammatical propositions within a given language-game that allow us to make meaningful and valid inferences. This standpoint may lead to an understanding of analyticity that can be compatible with meaning holism.


identifier: Di Summa, Laura Teresa  (2007) Naturalizing artifacts.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Naturalizing artifacts

abstract: Knowledge, in the framework of recent naturalized epistemology, has devoted a certain interest in the definition of natural kinds and the accompanying studies related to their acquisition. Moreover, there is a widespread consensus in univocally considering knowledge as truth conducing. The purpose of this thesis will be to analyze the possibility of including artifacts in the definition of knowledge without altering the epistemological context. The main sources of research are naturalized epistemology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, perceptual studies and evolutionary psychology. A particular emphasis is also placed on the study of emotions and their relation to cognition.  In order to accomplish the purpose aforementioned, I will, on the one hand, present and challenge some of the main epistemological tenets and, on the other hand, in the last part of this work, I will introduce the example of art as a case of study. Hence, after introducing the methodological framework, I will discuss the problem of natural kinds and the definition of knowledge focusing on the problem of perceptual kinds. The following section will analyze false beliefs and the possibility of grounding them in evolution and reasoning. Whereas the first part is mainly negative, the last part, based on the previously developed counterarguments, will expose the possibility of "naturalizing artifacts" through the study of emotions and perception


identifier: Shufelt, James Warren  (2007) The fog of terrorism : a philosophical analysis into the veracity of the terrorism lexicon.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The word 'terrorism' describes a lexicon but has little utility as a politically relevant and beneficial concept. The implacable nature of the terrorism lexicon is such that our current usages lack significant veracity and hence, utility. The word 'terrorism' is an extremely contested word for which there is no ideological consensus. Unfortunately the American government's conception and characterisation of 'terrorism' and 'terrorists' is dangerous, hypocritical, and violent and leaves no possibility of finding a lasting resolution to the problem of "terrorism". Also, if 'terrorism' does not conform to fact it is not accurate and thus misleading so it cannot be useful in our political and media discourses especially when its usage has very dangerous consequences. The word 'terrorism' is used to instil fear, dehumanize, to remove civil liberties and freedoms and is used to justify a new, violent international norm. Moreover, because our current usage is defective and equivocal it can actually further the "terrorist" cause. The American government has helped create our befuddled understanding of the word and created a climate of fear and divisiveness through their calculated employment of persuasive definitions of 'terrorism' and in their greater and enduring use of 'the war on terror'. In light of the principle of universality and the historical record, American state violence makes them the largest global terrorist. Thus, 'terrorism' has lost all its veracity and utility and its usages are dangerously evolving and mutating to justify the otherwise unjustifiable. It is with haste that we should abandon the word altogether.


identifier: Wellman, Suki  (2007) Shooting the smut stork : the American print media confronts two federal pornography commissions, 1970-1986.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Two federal pornography commissions were created in the United States in the 20 th century. Products of very different political and social climates, the commissions asked different questions, operated according to different policy guidelines, and reached divergent conclusions about how best to deal with the issue of pornography in American society.  The President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was created under President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 during a time when increasing sexual permissiveness clashed with conservative forces trying to stem what they perceived to be an almost irreparable decline in morality. The commission report recommended the repeal of all prohibitive legislation pertaining to adult access to sexual materials. The 1986 Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, on the other hand, worked under the aegis of the Justice Department directly at the behest of President Ronald Reagan. This later report explicitly insisted that existing legislation on pornography be enforced, and encouraged civic participation in stemming the flood of pornographic fare.  This thesis examines the American print media coverage of these two federal pornography commissions. In particular, it explores the pornography issue as a linchpin for the discussion of larger issues, which in turn propagates normative identities and a hierarchy of authority around issues of sexuality


identifier: Viel, Valérie  (2007) Représentation de la peur dans le roman de première lecture au Québec de 1995 à 2005 : nouvelles identités masculines ou statu quo?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This master's thesis studies the representations of fear, to uncover the emotional model transmitted by the authors of children's literature in Quebec, mainly of the "first novels" category. This category of novel is written for children 6 to 9 years of age. Our study is based on these novels spanning the decade 1995 to 2005.  The representations of fear are addressed via three distinct areas of expertise: children's developmental psychology, literary theory and Gender Studies. The first chapter examines the field of children's literature research, the second chapter studies different aspects of fear, the third chapter identifies the narrative strategies authors employ, to finally define the emotional model which is inscribed in the "first novel" published in Québec today.  The study of the representations of fear establishes a masculine emotional model. This model transmits established social values and helps to restructure ideals of masculinity.


identifier: Burman, Marie-Hélène  (2007) Lectureado.com, ou, Comment promouvoir le plaisir de lire chez les adolescents de 12 à 15 ans.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: As certain studies demonstrate, a considerable number of teenagers still have not discovered the pleasure of reading. Therefore, this thesis aims to highlight this pleasure to teenagers, from 12 to 15 years old, by introducing them to some books by Quebec French authors. These books, which have the qualities to induce or revive the pleasure of reading, were originally intended for a teenage or adult audience. We have based our book choices on selected reading and reception theories and in regard to literary reviews.  In order to bring up the interest in teenagers, we have created a Web site entitled Lecture Ado to act as a display for the books we suggest. By doing so, we wish to create an inviting first impression for the youth, and to give them the desire to find the books that appeal to them in a bookstore or to rent them from the library.  The Web site suggest different titles to visitors in regards to their personal tastes, grouped according to different categories such as fantasy, detective, adventure novels, etc. Each novel's Web page includes the presentation of the author as well as a summary which provides an insight into the work.  The teenager should be able to associate the idea of reading to that of leisure and relaxation, rather than to the stress linked to academic reading assessment.*  *This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Internet browser.


identifier: Ruttle, Paula L  (2007) Mother-child adrenocortical attunement in relation to behavioral sensitivity : a study of stress response in an at-risk sample.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Synchronization of behavior, emotions and physiology in mother-child dyads appears to be related to adaptive functioning in children. While non-human research has repeatedly demonstrated synchrony (i.e. attunement) of mother and offspring physiological response to a stressful situation, only one study has examined this phenomenon in human dyads. The present study aimed to replicate the finding of mother-child adrenocortical attunement in a human population, as well as examine the relation between adrenocortical attunement and individual differences in behavioral sensitivity.  Sixty-three mother-child dyads, participated in two home visits. The first visit included a mother-child interactive free-play task, used to measure mothers' and children's behavioral sensitivity; the second visit consisted of a child IQ test, included as a potentially stressful situation for both mother and child. Salivary cortisol samples were collected from mother and child before and after the IQ test. Results indicated the existence of mother-child adrenocortical attunement in reaction to a stressful situation. Further, attunement varied as a function of behavioral sensitivity (mother's, child's and dyad's behavioral sensitivity). Findings suggest that physiological attunement may co-exist with behavioral sensitivity in at-risk populations, and that child behavioral sensitivity and mother behavioral sensitivity are equally related to adrenocortical attunement. In conclusion, measures of behavioral sensitivity containing information on both partners may be more informative than measures based exclusively on one partner's behavior when examining dyadic interactions in relation to psychophysiological responses to stress


identifier: O'Connell, Laura  (2007) Infants' ability to use a nonhuman speaker's gaze to establish word-reference.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: By 18 months of age, infants can link a novel word with the target of a speaker's gaze, suggesting that they are sensitive to the speakers' referential intentions. Adopting a procedure developed with human speakers, infants' ability to follow and use a nonhuman agent's gaze when learning new words was examined. A programmable robot acted as the speaker (Experiment 1). Infants followed its gaze toward the word referent whether or not it coincided with their own focus of attention but failed to learn a new word in either case. Infants correctly mapped words in both cases when the speaker was human (Experiment 2). While having eyes appears sufficient to elicit gaze-following in 18-month-olds, it does not suffice for the attribution of referential intentions.


identifier: Rice, Kathleen  (2007) Push, pull, and paradox : the significance and irony of working-holidays for young Canadians in Edinburgh.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Drawing on six months of fieldwork carried out in Edinburgh, Scotland, this thesis focuses on young Canadians who held working-holidaymaker visas for the United Kingdom and who were living in Scotland over the summer and fall of 2006. Based on both an analysis of my ethnographic data as well as a review of relevant literature on tourism, youth travel, and social capital, I propose that with regards to Canadian working-holidaymakers in the UK, travel is a self-imposed rite of passage which serves as a means of transitioning from one life-stage to another, and moreover that the decision to experience life overseas often coincides with a change in status in the Canadian context. I also show that working-holidays are ironic when juxtaposed with conventional understandings of tourism and work as mutually exclusive, and therefore question an assumption that pervades much literature on travel, namely that tourism and work are antithetical.


identifier: Rajiva, Jay  (2007) Beyond the speech act : the nonrational ethical imperative in J.M. Coetzee's fiction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: My thesis project positions the fiction of South African author J.M. Coetzee as a critical investigation into the tradition of the European Enlightenment, which subtends, anticipates, and reifies the excesses of colonial and neocolonial imperialism. I will examine Coetzee's treatment of speech while situating his critique of capital-r reason within a larger discussion of ethical responsibility toward the Other. Using Gayatri Spivak's interrogation of the work of Immanuel Kant, I will argue that Kant's construction of reason as superior to imagination in its perception of imaginative lack when confronted with the unpresentable, sublates the lack of control that emerges if the colonist perceives the 'savage' mass of colonial territory as anything other than infinitely beyond his imaginative capacity, and therefore beyond ethical obligation. I will also present an exegesis of J.L. Austin's speech act theory that will illuminate the alliance between reason and speech in the colonial arena, drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler to locate a similarly poststructuralist impulse in two of Coetzee's early novels, Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe. Finally, I will argue that in one of Coetzee's later works, Disgrace, the power of the rational speech act gives way to a respect for the Other's suffering through an emphasis on nonverbal sound, which vectors ethical responsibility away from a model of obligation and towards a model of care that must, as Spivak contends, be alive to "the intuition that ethics are a problem of relation before they are a task of knowledge."


identifier: Katz, Jason  (2007) "A biological necessity at work" : evolution in selected novels of Philip K. Dick.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In selected novels of Philip K. Dick, fear of entropy is the primary catalyst for action, and one way the characters endeavour to escape entropy is through human evolution. Evolution is thought both to counteract entropy and to enable spiritual transcendence to a more permanent universe where entropy cannot follow. This thesis traces the two kinds of evolution found in these novels, the ineffective kind and the effective kind. The first is technological and left-brained; it tends to lead in Dick not to evolution and transcendence but to capitalist oppression, loss of agency, loss of identity, eugenics, and a totalitarian police state, all of which lead instead to devolution and an increase in the entropy of the universe. The second kind of evolution is biological and right-brained, and it stems from human empathy. Empathy, in Dick's novels, as it grows stronger, becomes telepathy and eventually forms the beginnings of a collective consciousness very much like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's notion of a noosphere. This collectivity of mankind is brought about by love and empathy and will enable the transcendence and escape from entropy that Dick's characters seek. This thesis uses historical, philosophical, and scientific contexts to clarify this binary in Dick's work between left-brained technological devolution and right-brained empathic evolution. At their most ambitious, these novels supply a model for how Dick believes the human race ought to proceed if it intends to survive: not through advanced technological posthumanism, but through the simple advancement and dissemination of love and empathy.


identifier: Bernatchez, Joshua  (2007) Gawain and the nonexistent knight.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Gawain and the nonexistent knight

abstract: This thesis examines Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Italo Calvino's The Nonexistent Knight as texts in which the protagonists are engaged on unique quests that force them to choose either physical dissolution or the dissolution of their sense of personal significance. The impossible decision suggests that human life and the significant "self' as a constructed idea are inextricably linked and of comparable value but may have contradictory survival conditions. Contextualized with reference to Charles Taylor, "selfhood" is necessarily linked to moral "horizons" against which such concepts become meaningful. The protagonists of the literary texts in question justifiably manifest a desire for their systems of self-interpretation to be stable and transcendent. However, such identity-conferring systems are problematic because they are subject to inherent indeterminacy and fluctuation. Consequently, the characters in both texts are forced to recognize the inaccessibility of perfectly stable meaning and the need for paradigms to be adaptable. Calvino's text dramatizes the importance of the paradigm personified by the nonexistent knight Agilulf. The model he represents, despite his inevitable dissolution, provides intelligible form to an otherwise empirically real but meaningless existence feared by the other characters and embodied by his squire Gurduloo. Similarly, Gawain is ultimately faced with the need to interpret the significance of his life in relative terms due to his inevitable inability to make his infallible chivalric reputation and his finite human character coincide. The texts, together, situate any surviving rational agency within the interpretative capacity for dealing with inherent paradox.


identifier: Sternberg, Robert  (2007) There, on that stretch of road.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: There, on that stretch of road

abstract: There, On That Stretch Of Road is Part One and Part Two of a novel-in-progress. The title is taken from Virginia Woolfs novel, To The Lighthouse: "...but it seemed to him as if their friendship had ceased, there, on that stretch of road." What has been extracted, my title, will always be linked to the clause which precedes it, and this absent clause points towards the major theme of the novel: the dissolution of a friendship.  The story documents just over one full year in the life of two young men in their early twenties. It begins in September of 2000 and ends in the late summer of 2001 (the thesis ends before the spring). The story is recounted in the first person by one of those two young men. Some time has passed since the events of the narrative. The narrator is writing the story, he is a writer. But I've made an effort to keep his present circumstances remote. Just where he is exactly at the time of his writing is not made explicit. What is important is that he is still preoccupied with the events that took place from September 2000 to the late summer of 2001, so much so that he has taken it upon himself to order those events into this story. And so, in the novel, there is the present tense and there is the past tense--the former gestures towards that remote place from where the narrator is writing. The story belongs to the past, while the tone, the language, the interpretation, and some select observations--in effect, its retelling--all belong to the present. Nevertheless, there are multiple instances of intersection