identifier: Kolaei, Amir  (2014) Dynamic Liquid Slosh in Moving Containers.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Liquid sloshing is known to strongly influence the directional dynamics and safety performance of highway tank vehicles in a highly adverse manner. Hydrodynamic forces and moments arising from liquid cargo oscillations in the tank under steering and/or braking maneuvers reduce the stability limit and controllability of the partially filled tank vehicles. While the transient fluid slosh within moving containers has been widely investigated, interactions between the sloshing cargo and the vehicle system dynamics have been addressed in only a few studies due to associated challenges. Furthermore, roll stability of heavy tank vehicles have been extensively studied in the absence of transient slosh-induced forces and moments. This dissertation research aims at exploring the fluid slosh in moving containers through analytical methods and developing efficient models for simulating interactions of fluid slosh and vehicle dynamics. A comprehensive review of relevant studies reporting tank trucks accident data, tank design standards, and analysis methods of liquid sloshing in moving containers is initially performed and briefly summarized. The literature review provides not only the essential knowledge for developing an efficient method of analysis, but also demonstrates the needs for addressing limitations in the current standards so as to include effects of liquid sloshing dynamics in road tankers.
An analytical model of two-dimensional fluid slosh in horizontal cylindrical tanks subject to a lateral excitation is initially formulated assuming potential flows and linearized free-surface boundary. For this purpose, the fluid domain in the Cartesian coordinates is transformed to the bipolar coordinates, where the Laplace equation could be solved using separation of variables. The resulting hydrodynamic pressure, free-surface elevation, and slosh force and roll moment are compared with the reported experimental and numerical results to illustrate the range of applicability and limitations of the linear slosh theory. The results suggest that the linear theory can yield reasonably accurate predictions of non-resonant lateral slosh in liquid transporting vehicles with significantly less computational effort than the CFD models.
A multimodal model of fluid slosh is subsequently developed to study the effect of tank cross-section on transient lateral slosh. Natural frequencies and modes of liquid slosh in tanks of different cross-sections are obtained using a variational Ritz method, which are implemented into the multimodal model. The effect of transient liquid slosh and tank cross-section on rollover stability limits of a tank vehicle is also investigated by integrating the fluid slosh model into a roll plane model of the suspended tank vehicle. The results are presented for four different tank cross-sections: circular; elliptical; modified-oval; and Reuleaux-triangle. The results show that a tank cross-section with lower overall center of mass and lower critical slosh length could yield enhanced roll stability limit under medium- and high-fill conditions.
The multimodal method is also employed to investigate the effect of partial longitudinal baffles on the transient lateral slosh. Natural slosh frequencies and modes are computed using a boundary integral solution of the Laplace equation. The computational efficiency is significantly improved by reducing the generalized eigenvalue problem to a standard one involving only the velocity potentials of the elements on the half free-surface length. Damping due to the baffles is estimated from the energy dissipation rate. The results are presented for different designs/lengths of longitudinal baffles, namely, top-mounted; bottom-mounted; and center-mounted baffles. It is shown that the multimodal method yields computationally efficient solutions of liquid slosh within moving baffled containers. The results suggest that a baffle is most effective and efficient when it pierces the free-surface and partly submerged in the liquid.
A three-dimensional linear slosh model is further developed to study fluid motions under simultaneously applied lateral and longitudinal excitations, characterizing braking-in-a-turn maneuver, using the multimodal method. Three-dimensional Laplace equation is initially reduced to a two-dimensional Helmholtz equation using separation of variables. A higher order boundary integral solution of the Helmholtz equation is then formulated to compute natural slosh frequencies and modes in a horizontal cylindrical tank of arbitrary cross-section. The results obtained for a circular tank suggested rapid convergence of the natural slosh frequencies and hydrodynamic coefficients. The slosh forces and moments are also computed from the nonlinear analysis of liquid slosh in a tank under various lateral/longitudinal accelerations and fill ratios using the FLUENT software. Comparisons of the results obtained from the linear and nonlinear analyses revealed that the linear slosh theory yields reasonably accurate predictions of the peak slosh forces and moments under lateral/longitudinal accelerations of steady magnitudes of up to 0.3g/0.2g for a tank of aspect ratio of 2.4.


identifier: Tao, Wan  (2014) Credit quality or liquidity? Crisis-period evidence from the American sovereign bond market.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: Treasury bond yields are affected by credit and liquidity. This paper determines the extent to which Treasury bond holders are concerned about liquidity and quality during times of market distress. Using data from the American sovereign bonds market, we find that investors increasingly demand liquidity whereas credit quality continues to be an important determinant of Treasury bond yields when the market is not favorable. Specifically, credit quality accounts for the majority of the variation in bond yields while liquidity plays a substantially smaller role during times of financial crisis. Furthermore, credit quality has a larger and stronger effect on bonds with a longer time to maturity, suggesting that changes in credit quality are a long-term concern that may be associated with changes in fiscal discipline and political policy.


identifier: Maghzi, Salar  (2014) Improved Tower Cranes Operation Using Integrated 3D BIM Model and GPS Technology.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Tower and mobile cranes are the most commonly used equipment on building construction jobsites. They play an essential role in material handling, placement, assembly and erection operations. Statistics reveal that during the last decade, the construction industry has suffered globally from crane related accidents. Hence, detailed study of different aspects of crane-based activity is important in terms of time and safety. There are several studies for enhancing safety conditions of crane operations on jobsites to decrease the number of fatalities and even increase the productivity. Existing approaches and studies have deployed wireless networks and tracking sensors to detect and identify workers, but high initial cost for installation and maintenance of these technologies and inappropriate feedback for disregarding workers privacy hold down their usability. The purpose of this study is to develop a proactive lifting operation management system to prevent potential accidents caused by tower cranes’ components through using GPS in integrated 3D BIM models. In this study, generated workspaces are utilized to demonstrate areas occupied by workers or equipment instead of using individual tags for each entity. As construction workers may leave their work zone for some reasons, 3D video tracking is applied for identifying and tracking if workers leave their pre-defined workspaces. The developed model captures the load position in real time and subsequently compares the load’s bounding box position with defined area in BIM model. In the developed model, tower crane’s load dimensions and starting point of the loading procedure are inserted and subsequently the model updates the load’s position in real time. The updated position in the 3D model is checked proactively with existing spaces to send alerts in case of overlapping. Two case studies are used to demonstrate the concept and to validate the feasibility of the proposed method. In the first case study the added plug-in is used to generate workspaces for material, equipment and labors and in the second one, the real time safety system is validated in two different scenarios. The developed plug-in in Revit environment enhances timely proximity detection for enhanced safety since it detects objects based on pre-defined spaces and retrieves crane’s load location in the model in real time. Identifying resources of interest which being free of tag and developing the real time conflict detection in Revit can be addressed as main findings of this study.


identifier: Quddus, Md Abdul  (2014) Assessment framework for the sustainability of transportation systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: It is agreed that a sustainable transportation system has to satisfy today's needs with a positive influence on meeting future transportation demand. The major concerns in sustainability for most transportation agencies are related to (a) the safety issues for all potential users, (b) the system’s efficiency in providing accessibility and mobility, (c) the potential of the transportation systems to enhance economic productivity and social equity, and last but not least (d) limiting and/or eliminating the negative impact on the natural environment. The assessment of a transportation system’s sustainability should include the extent to which the decisions affecting transportation activity are optimized with respect to different environmental, social and economic criteria. Qualitative methods to assess transportation sustainability are found in many the studies. Even though there are few studies regarding quantitative assessment of transportation sustainability, they are for small-scale applications and with limited number of indicators. This thesis proposes a quantitative methodology to assess transportation sustainability that is flexible and comprehensive (i.e. independent of the type and scale of the transportation system analyzed). In this thesis, the criterions related to major concerns, generally referred to as indicators are grouped into sets that include specific goals and objectives, because an ideal sustainable transportation planning requires a balanced set of indicator targeting economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Using these indicator sets, a Sustainability Index is developed, which represents a weighted aggregated value based on the Analytic Hierarchy Processes principle. Therefore, the proposed methodology is organized as a comprehensive and flexible evaluation framework that provides a global assessment index. This methodology can be adapted to local assessment conditions used by transportation agencies to examine the conditions of the existing transportation infrastructure, as well as to predict the sustainability of future transportation developments.


identifier: Webster, John Grant  (2014) Hobbes and Tocqueville on Individualism, Equality, and Centralized Administration.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: There exists a connection between Hobbes and Tocqueville has thus far been inadequately explored in the academic literature.  This paper seeks to correct this by providing a comparison of Thomas Hobbes and Alexis de Tocqueville on individualism, equality, and centralized administration.  The role of and value placed on these three concepts within the authors’ work will be explored.  It will be argued that between Hobbes and Tocqueville there is significant agreement as to the consequences and implications that these three phenomena have upon a society.  Despite this, however, while Tocqueville seeks to moderate equality and individualism, and advocates a decentralized governmental administration, Hobbes advocates centralized administration and a high degree equality and individualism. In other words, what Tocqueville seeks to avoid, Hobbes seeks to embrace. The irreconcilable difference comes from the values that the authors display; Tocqueville regards this excess as fundamentally detrimental to the human soul, and Hobbes regards Tocqueville’s moderation as concerned with a prideful and superfluous understanding of humanity, positing instead that concerns over the soul actually inhibit what is truly important, namely the pursuit and satisfaction of private goals, manifested as material and appetitive goods.


identifier: Lafontaine, Andrée  (2014) Sink or Swim in Liquid Modernity: The Chronotope of the Modern Woman in Early 1930s Hollywood.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The woman’s films of the early 1930s constitute a large body of work whose boundaries remain somewhat fluctuating and nebulous. Although not the product of specific studios or directors, nor belonging to a common genre or tackling specifically “feminine” issues, these films are nonetheless identifiable and culturally significant through their various portrayals of the Modern Woman. Through textual and historical analyses, this dissertation traces the figure of this Modern Woman, which, I argue, constitutes a chronotope in the Bakhtinian sense. Mikhail Bakhtin’s “chronotope” is a valuable concept for film studies, for it clarifies the relationship between cultural products and the society that creates them, while avoiding simplified causality and mirroring effects. It is a way of understanding a concrete socio-historical period and its artistic output without resorting to simplistic explanations that would reduce artistic productions to mere reproductions of reality under a different banner. Furthermore, the chronotope allows for creativity and imagination while not necessarily de-politicizing or segregating cultural products from their production environment and the ideological concerns of their time.

It is my contention that a reflection on American inter-war modernity is articulated through the Modern Woman chronotope. Following her from her emergence in the late 20s through her containment and evacuation in the mid-30s, we can delineate the boundaries of her engagement with her environment, the imaginary geography she is associated with, and point to both the contradictions at her core as well as the hope she embodies. Using Zygmunt Bauman’s concepts of “solid” and “liquid” modernity we come to understand the social dynamic at work during a period when social norms, values and conventions were in constant flux, and when twin calls for greater social relaxing and order cohabited. Miriam Hansen’s theory of vernacular modernity helps situate the importance of the woman’s film in American modern culture. Ultimately I will show that far from representing an apolitical realm of domesticity, love and emotion—a reproach usually aimed at woman’s films—the woman’s films of the early 30s are eminently engaged in the re-imagining of the United States in modernity through the chronotope of the Modern Woman, a chronotope animated by both centripetal and centrifugal forces.


identifier: Salimi, Shide  (2014) Performance Analysis of Simulation-based Multi-objective Optimization of Bridge Construction Processes Using High Performance Computing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Bridges constitute a crucial component of urban highways due to the complexity and uncertain nature of their construction process. Simulation is an alternative method of analyzing and planning the construction processes, especially the ones with repetitive and cyclic nature, and it helps managers to make appropriate decisions. Furthermore, there is an inverse relationship between the cost and time of a project and finding a proper trade-off between these two key elements using optimization methods is important. Thus, the integration of simulation models with optimization techniques leads to an advancement in the decision making process. In addition, the large number of resources required in complex and large scale bridge construction projects results in a very large search space. Therefore, there is a need for using parallel computing in order to reduce the computational time of the simulation-based optimization. Most of the construction simulation tools need an integration platform to be combined with optimization techniques. Also, these simulation tools are not usually compatible with Linux environment which is used in most of the massive parallel computing systems or clusters.
In this research, an integrated simulation-based optimization framework is proposed within one platform to alleviate those limitations. A master-slave (or global) parallel Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as a parallel computing technique to decrease the computation time and to efficiently use the full capacity of the computer. In addition, sensitivity analysis is applied to identify the promising configuration for GA and analyzing the impact of GA parameters on the overall performance of the specific simulation-based optimization problem used in this research. Finally, a case study is implemented and tested on a server machine as well as a cluster to explore the feasibility of the proposed approach.
The results of this research showed better performance of the proposed framework in comparison with other GA optimization techniques from the points of view of the quality of the optimum solutions and the computation time. Also, acceptable improvements in the computation time were achieved for both deterministic and probabilistic simulation models using master-salve parallel paradigm (8.32 and 20.3 times speedups were achieved using 12 cores, respectively). Moreover, performing the proposed framework on multiple nodes using a cluster system led to 31% saving on the computation time on average. Furthermore, the GA was tuned using sensitivity analyses which resulted in the best parameters (500 generations, population size of 200 and 0.7 as the crossover probability).


identifier: Oranugo, Tochukwu Louis  (2014) Rectifier Transformers: Thermal Modeling and a Predictive Maintenance Application Using Estimated Hotspot Winding Temperatures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Predictive maintenance of rectifier transformers in the aluminum smelting industry has become a major area of interest in planning for a replacement or refurbishment of these assets before a failure event occurs. The end of life of a transformer is linked to the rate of degradation of the winding paper insulation which is mainly due to heating processes. Rectifier transformers are subject to high thermal stress due to harmonic currents flowing through them. The need of monitoring and regulation of the hotspot temperature on the rectifier transformer winding is of great importance to keep the temperatures within safe limits as to preserve its life span. In this thesis, existing thermal models; the IEC model, the improved IEEE model, the G. Swift model and the D. Susa model used for hotspot temperature estimation in regulating power transformers has been adapted to account for increased heating due to harmonic currents flowing in the rectifier transformers. Extrapolation techniques, nonlinear least square optimization and genetic algorithm optimization are used for obtaining the rectifier transformer thermal model parameters using online measurements. The thermal model parameters are obtained in two different cooling fan operation conditions; OFAF mode 1 (one fan operation) and OFAF mode 2 (three fans operation) as the transformers under case study are utilized in these cooling modes. A predictive maintenance technique is implemented using typical loading profiles of the transformers and forecasted ambient temperatures to estimate and regulate future hotspot temperatures within safe temperature limits as derived using an industry accepted end of life equation.


identifier: Zhang, Peng  (2014) Investigation and Design of Broadband and High-Output Power Uni-Traveling-Carrier Photodiodes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) is very attractive for future fiber-optic systems, since it has exhibited high-speed and high-power performance. In this thesis, the bandwidth and saturation current of UTC-PD is investigated by using physics-based modeling. To further improve the performance, novel device structures are proposed.
On the one hand, a graded bandgap structure is employed in the absorption layer. It is shown that, similar to the effect of graded doping method, the electric field in the absorption layer is increased, and thus the bandwidth is improved. Moreover, both the graded doping and graded bandgap structure are optimized. It is found that, for the considered UTC-PD, combining use of the graded doping and graded bandgap in the absorption layer leads to an improvement of 39.4% in bandwidth.
On the other hand, linear doping profile and Gaussian doping profile are considered to be used in the collection layer. It is shown that, the distribution of electric field in the depletion region is improved, which leads to the better saturation performance. For the considered UTC-PD, by using optimized linear doping profile and Gaussian doping profile, the improvement in saturation current is 18.7% and 25.8% respectively.
Additionally, two types of epitaxial structure have been grown. Both of them are predicted to exhibit excellent broadband and high-output power performance. The benefit of the proposed graded bandgap absorption layer is further verified. Moreover, the major steps of fabrication process flow are described.


identifier: Abou Ziki, Jana Daher  (2014) Spark Assisted Chemical Engraving: A Novel Approach for Quantifying the Machining Zone Parameters Using Drilling Forces.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Glass has stirred human interest since the dawn of history due to its unique properties including its high mechanical strength, transparency, thermal and chemical properties. With the great technological advancement that we are witnessing today in the micro-technology field, glass micro-machining has already found applications in the optical, electronics, and biomedical applications. In fact, such applications require high-aspect-ratio structures of defined wall flatness and surface roughness.
There exist nowadays several glass micro-machining technologies that are being developed to meet this demand. These are based on thermal (laser), chemical (dry and wet etching), and mechanical (ultrasonic, abrasive and diamond-tool drilling) processes. Spark Assisted Chemical Engraving (SACE) is a non conventional glass micro-machining technology which is based on discharge generation at the tool tip. This is known to heat up the glass surface.
Today, the machining mechanism is highly questionable where it is explained differently by many researchers in the field. This is due to the fact that the basic understanding about the process and the local variables in the machining zone is still missing. Although research about SACE drilling has allowed achieving deeper and smaller holes, these results remain specific to certain machining conditions. In fact, they are achieved experimentally by trial and error due to limited knowledge about the process fundamentals. Therefore, it can be said that SACE machining is still blind where the idea of doing feed-back drilling has not been explored sufficiently. These are the basic reasons of why SACE glass machining remains in laboratories and is never applied in industry.
The aim of this work is to unveil basic information about the SACE machining process and the local parameters in the machining zone. For this purpose, a methodology is developed for measuring the local machining zone parameters based on the force exerted on the tool during machining. Measurement errors caused by tool bending, wear and thermal expansion are quantified and considered while measuring and analysing the machining forces. Thus, in a first step, the machining force is characterized and analysed to get a deeper understanding about its origin and the reasons of its formation. This signal is used in a second step to extract information about local variables including the machining gap size, the local glass surface temperature and the origin of its texture. Based on the understanding of the machining
process that this work brings, a thermal model is built which describes heat transfer to the glass surface. The agreement between calculations and measurements ensures the validity of both the model and measurement methodology. Based on the results, the machining mechanism is explained as a thermal assisted etching process. Machining can exist in two modes based on the electrolyte state (aqueous or molten) which depends on the local flushing.
Force signal readings showed that tool-glass bonding can occur during machining which may hinder the drilling progress. Based on the understanding that this work brought about the machining mechanism and the factors that influence it, force feedback algorithms are built with the aim to establish a balance between local heating and flushing. The efficiency of the various algorithms in enhancing the drilling performance was compared and assessed based on the resulting drilling time. The knowledge acquired allowed building algorithms that succeeded in drilling high-aspect-ratio holes up to 1:9 while using very small tools (70 microns diameter) without breakage. The resulting drilling time is dramatically reduced to few seconds compared to several minutes in the state-of-the-art SACE drilling.


identifier: Thulin, Samuel  (2014) Composing Places: Practices and Potentials of Sound Mapping and Locative Audio.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Since the early 2000s, advances in mobile, networked, and locative technology have made the possibilities for combining sounds and places more numerous than ever before. This research-creation dissertation asks how people participate in creating and experiencing relationships between sounds and places via mobile technology. Working across the fields of media studies, mobilities research, sound studies and soundscape studies, this dissertation aims to contribute a focus on sound to the growing body of work examining locative media and mapping, while also contributing a focus on mobility and place to sound studies research. Through a research-creation project delving into sound mapping (the practice of attaching sound recordings to online maps, accessible regardless of the user’s location) and locative audio (the practice of attaching audio to particular locations to be listened to by a user in-situ on a mobile device), I examine the potential of ‘composition’ for understanding and challenging current mobile sound practices. Composition, as a concept and practice involving relationality and the dynamics of process and product, serves to open up the ways in which places and sounds may come together.

For this project, I created three musical compositions using only recordings found on online platforms with sound mapping components. I also created two interactive, locative audio compositions situated in the neighbourhood of Verdun, Montreal, which led to twenty-four recordings of project participants engaging with the works. I corresponded with sound map contributors through e-mail, and I interviewed locative audio participants in-person. Putting these initiatives into dialogue with other projects, historical precedents, approaches to working with sound, and theorizations of locative media and mapping, I examine both the norms and the potential of current technologies and practices. I argue that the way place and sound come together through sound mapping and locative audio involves a continual interplay between: 1) maintaining established practices and existing bonds; and 2) attempting to forge new bonds and new ways of approaching places. Continued exploration and experimentation via composition contributes to understanding this interplay, shedding light on how people engage with places through mobile technology.


identifier: Brand, John O  (2014) The effects of the allocation of attention on rapid scene categorization.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
It is well documented that observers are able to accurately extract the semantic information from natural scenes in 120 msec (Thorpe, Fize, & Merlot, 1996). This rapid categorization ability is often cited as evidence that the information that is required to categorize a scene originates from low-level visual information.  Information related to an image’s spatial scales (Oliva & Schyns, 1997; Schyns & Oliva, 1994), phase (Joubert, Rousselet, Fabre-Thorpe, & Fize, 2009; Loschky et al., 2007, 2010; Loschky & Larson, 2008), overall summary statistics (Evans & Treisman, 2005), and colour (Castelhano & Henderson, 2008; 2005; Loschky & Simons, 2004; Oliva & Schyns, 2000) have all been shown to provide information that can be used to categorize a briefly presented image. The experiments reported in this dissertation were designed to address the overarching question of how the visual system selects diagnostic scene information? It addressed this question by examining the hypothesis that visual attention facilitates the selection of information that underpins rapid scene categorization.  In order to investigate this hypothesis, the present work was divided into two main manuscripts.  Manuscript 1 is presented in Chapter 2 and includes four experiments that were designed to investigate if attending to global and local levels of a scene facilitate categorization based on a scene’s coarse and fine information, respectively. This hypothesis was explored by asking observers to classify hybrid images. A hybrid image combines the coarse information (conveyed by an image’s low spatial frequencies) of one image (e.g., a city) and the fine information (conveyed by an image’s high spatial frequencies) of a second image (e.g., a highway). Experiments 1 and 2 showed that although observers could classify hybrid images based on both fine and coarse information (i.e., as either a city or a highway scene; Experiment 1), observers preferred to base categorization on coarse content (Experiment 2).  Experiment 3 demonstrated that categorization based on coarse content was facilitated when observers were prompted to attend globally to scenes compared to when they were prompted to attend locally.  Experiment 4 demonstrated that this global facilitation effect was due, in part, to the facilitation of a hybrid’s low spatial frequencies.
	Manuscript 2 is presented in Chapter 3 and contains four experiments that investigated the hypothesis that distributed attention facilitates the extraction of a scene’s overall summary statistics, which in turn, facilitates the ability to rapidly categorize scenes (Evans & Treisman, 2005). This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether manipulations of attention affected scene categorization in the same fashion as the extraction of overall summary statistics. Experiment 1 replicated the result that extraction of a scene’s summary statistics is more compatible with distributed attention than focused attention (Chong & Treisman, 2005). Experiments 2 and 4 extended this finding by demonstrating that superordinate level categorization of both animals (e.g., detect the presence [or absence] of an animal, Experiment 2), and natural scenes (e.g., was the scene natural? Experiment 4), were more compatible with distributed than focused attention. However, Experiment 3 showed that there was no difference between the effects of distributed and focused attention on basic level categorization (e.g., was this a beach scene?).
	Together, the findings of this thesis demonstrate that visual attention is important in the rapid categorization of a natural scene, by facilitating the selection of scene information that is necessary to classify a scene category.


identifier: Ibrahim, Maged  (2014) Application of Magnetic Hysteresis Modeling to the Design and Analysis of Electrical Machines.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) with rare-earth magnets are widely used in the traction drives of electrical and hybrid electrical vehicles, as they can provide high efficiency and torque density. Due to the possibility of future shortage of rare-earth materials, it is essential for electric vehicle industry to find alternative magnet technologies that can provide a substitute for rare-earth PMSMs.  Permanent magnet machines with Alnico magnets can theoretically provide torque densities comparable to rare-earth PMSMs, due to their high remnant flux density. However, these magnets are rarely used in the conventional designs of PMSMs, as they can be demagnetized by the armature field.
The thesis presents a novel design for permanent magnet machines with Alnico magnets. The proposed design can provide high air gap flux density at no-load, and the armature field at full load tends to enhance the magnet flux. Therefore, the machine can operate with high torque density even under severe loading conditions. The demagnetization characteristics of Alnico magnets are also utilized to achieve high efficiency at a wide speed range, as the magnet flux is reduced at high speeds by armature current pulses that dissipate negligible losses, thus avoiding the additional copper losses of the continuous flux weakening current in conventional rare-earth PMSMs.
The simulation of the demagnetization and magnetization dynamics of the proposed machine design requires considering the hysteresis characteristics of the permanent magnets. Therefore, finite element analysis (FEA) simulations for the designed machine are performed using a linearized hysteresis model for Alnico magnets. The thesis also aims to improve the design and modeling of electrical machines by developing computationally efficient methods for incorporating the hysteresis characteristics of electrical steel into electrical machine models.


identifier: Abouobaia, Ehab Mohamed Said  (2014) Hybrid Torsional Damper for Semi-Active Control of Torsional Vibrations in Rotating Machines.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Rotating machinery systems experience torsional vibrations with varying frequencies to some degree during normal operation. These vibrations if not controlled properly may cause severe system performance limitation and reduction of the fatigue life.   Attenuation of torsional vibrations in these systems is a challenging engineering problem and raises several important issues in industrial applications.
The present research aims at developing a novel hybrid torsional vibration damper incorporating a conventional Centrifugal Pendulum Vibration Absorber (CPVA) with the Magnetorheological (MR) damper capable of suppressing torsional vibrations at different excitation frequencies. In fact, CPVA and torsional MR damper have been investigated separately in previous research, however, there has been no study reported on integrating the two systems for the attenuation of torsional vibration.
In this research study, first, the governing equations of motion for both horizontal and vertical CPVA have been derived using Lagrange’s principle to investigate the effect of gravity on the dynamics and performance of CPVA. Moreover, softening nonlinear behavior of the pendulum absorber and its effect on the natural frequency of the system has been investigated.
Next, a rotary MR damper prototype was optimally designed, manufactured and tested. The design process of the rotary MR damper included several critical factors, particularly, analysis and design of the magnetic circuit of the MR damper.  In order to ensure efficient design of the proposed damper, a finite element (FE) model of the rotary MR damper was developed to accurately evaluate the magnetic field distribution in the MR fluid and electromagnet core generated by the built-in electromagnet. The developed FE model enables to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design configuration as well as the selected material for the MR damper components.  In addition, the equation of transmitted torque has been derived and utilized to evaluate the MR damper performance. In order to obtain the optimum geometric dimensions of the designed MR damper, an optimization problem has been formulated. The combined Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) have been employed to accurately capture the global optimum solution.
An experimental test set up has been designed to evaluate the fabricated rotary MR damper performance by measuring the generated damping torque and to validate simulation results obtained from the model.
Subsequently, the hybrid torsional MR damper incorporating both conventional CPVA and rotary MR damper has been proposed. The CPVA has been connected to the cylindrical housing of the MR damper. The governing equations of motion of the system consisting of a rotor with attached hybrid torsional dampers have been derived to evaluate the performance of the system under current off and maximum current applied to the MR damper’s electromagnet. The results are also compared with those obtained from rotor systems with only attached CPVA and rotary MR damper.
Finally, a feedback control system using the semi-active skyhook control algorithm has been developed to adaptively control the proposed hybrid torsional damper under varying external excitations.  It has been shown that the suggested closed-loop feedback control algorithm can significantly improve the damper performance compared with the open-loop (current off and on) system.


identifier: Sun, Qi  (2014) The Pricing Kernel in the Heston and Nandi (2000) and Heston (1993) Index Option Pricing Model: An Empirical Puzzle.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis estimates a quadratic pricing kernel developed by Christoffersen, Heston and Jacobs (2013) under the Heston-Nandi GARCH pricing model, using both American and Canadian data. Initially, we find a misfit of data across different data samples, indicating lack of support in the closed-form quadratic pricing kernel. Comparing with the estimation of the continuous-time Heston (1993) model from Christoffersen, Jacobs, and Mimouni (2010), this empirical puzzle exists in both the Heston-Nandi (2000) GARCH and Heston (1993) stochastic volatility model.

We provide additional tests by comparing the Heston-Nandi and CHJ model with the overreaction tests. We find that their empirical performances are not differentiated. Also, we introduce the stochastic dominance bounds in order to select the mispriced options. The results from filtered data sample indicate the mispricing of options is significantly affecting the estimation.


identifier: Zhang, Qian  (2014) An Empirical Examination of the Rationale for Tender Offers.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigates the rationale behind acquisitions through tender offers by examining unsuccessful tender offers from 1985 to 2010. Four hypotheses are tested: information, synergy, agency and hubris. The study follows the approach in Bradley, Desai and Kim (1983) (BDK) and builds on their analysis by implementing the recent methodological advances in long run analysis. The proportion of unsuccessful acquisitions has declined significantly from 20 percent in 1985 to 5 percent in 2010. Contrary to the evidence presented in BDK, the results support both the information and synergy hypotheses. The study also examines correlations among target gain, total gain and acquirer gain to differentiate between synergy, agency and hubris hypotheses. The results suggest that, in addition to synergy, agency considerations have become increasingly important in explaining the unsuccessful acquisitions via tender offers in our sample period. We find no evidence in support of the hubris hypothesis. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the intensity of M&A activity in the target's industry, pre-announcement price run-up in the target, firm size, and absence of a poison pill provision increase the likelihood of unsuccessful targets being acquired within 5 years of the initial bid. Additionally, this study also finds by comparing unsuccessful initial bidders to their counterpart winning rival bidders that, bidders of larger size, more growth opportunities, and bidders in unrelated industries to that of the target and in less active M&A industries, are more likely to succeed in acquiring the target.


identifier: Maltais-Landry, Aude  (2014) Récits de Nutashkuan : la création d’une réserve indienne en territoire innu.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Ce mémoire porte sur la création de la réserve indienne de Nutashkuan, située sur la côte nord du Saint-Laurent, dans les années 1950. Se basant principalement sur une série d’entrevues d’histoire orale réalisées par l’auteure en 2013, il explore les facteurs qui ont conduit les Innus à se sédentariser à l’embouchure de la Grande rivière Natashquan, un lieu qu’ils fréquentaient depuis longtemps sans pour autant y vivre à l’année. Leurs récits permettent d’appréhender comment les Innus ont vécu l’entrée des Affaires indiennes dans leur vie au 20e siècle, et comment ils racontent ces événements aujourd’hui. À leurs voix s’ajoutent celles de narrateurs aujourd’hui disparus, exhumées des archives. De ce dialogue émerge une suite de courts récits qui racontent l’impact du colonialisme dans une petite communauté autochtone en région éloignée.

This thesis is based on stories collected during an oral history project conducted by the author in 2013 with members of the Innu community of Nutashkuan (North Shore region, Quebec). It explores the creation of their reserve in the 1950s and the factors that drove the Innu to settle at the mouth of the Natashquan River, a place they had long frequented without living there all year round. Their stories shed light not only on how the Innu experienced the arrival of the Indian Affairs into their lives during the 20th century, but also on how they remember and tell these events today. Written accounts, rediscovered in the archives, allow deceased narrators to join their voices to the living ones. From this dialogue emerges a series of short stories that tell the impact of colonialism on a small Aboriginal community in a remote area.


identifier: Persson, Tonje Jeanette  (2014) The Experiential, Sexual, and Clinical Dimensions of Female Bisexuality in Canada: What are the Implications of Being In-between Monosexualities?  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Female bisexuality has been understudied and it is unclear how it is most adequately defined. Although it has been found bisexual women face mental health disparities compared to lesbian and heterosexual women, there is a lack of research examining risk and resilience factors.
This dissertation sheds light on why female bisexuality has been understudied and provides findings relevant to bisexual women’s sexuality and mental health. Manuscript I, a review, suggests that an “imposed invisibility” of female bisexuality is related to the simplicity of using dichotomous sexual orientation categories, the gay movement’s desire to establish homosexuality as constitutional, feminist lesbians’ fight against patriarchy, and queer theorists’
neglect of including bisexuality in their discourse. Manuscripts II to IV include data, collected over a three-year period, from a confidential online survey including 388 women living in Canada (188 heterosexual, 53 mostly heterosexual, 64 bisexual, 32 mostly lesbian, 51 lesbian). The survey included questions about demographics, substance abuse, childhood abuse, sexual
orientation/ identity/behaviour, sexual/romantic/emotional attractions, sexual
arousal/desire/orgasm, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Manuscript II compared the sexual and emotional characteristics of bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual women and provides suggestions about how to define female bisexuality. Manuscript III compared subjective ratings of sexual arousal and desire in partnered sexual activities for women of five sexual orientation
groups. Findings indicate non-monosexual women have higher sexual arousal and desire in sexual activities with women than monosexual women, and that bisexual women do not differentiate their sexual arousal with men versus women while the other sexual orientation groups differentiate in terms of their motivation to engage in sexual activity. Manuscript IV investigated whether the association between sexual orientation and mental health is moderated
by childhood abuse, and mediated by risky sexual behaviour and sexual orientation disclosure for monosexual versus non-monosexual women. Findings suggest childhood abuse is not a moderator but that increased risky sexual behaviour and decreased sexual orientation disclosure mediate the association for bisexual women. Results of this dissertation have implications for the measurement of female bisexuality, the conceptualization of female sexual orientation, and the identification of risk factors associated with bisexual women’s mental health.


identifier: Barrieau, Lindsey E  (2014) The Role of Mother-Child Communication in the Development of Children’s Social Competence and Relationships in At-Risk Families: A Longitudinal Study across Two Generations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The two studies that make up the present dissertation were designed to investigate mother-child communication and its role in developing relationships and social development in an at-risk community sample. Specifically, it examined the associations between mother-child communication in childhood, and mothers’ childhood histories of risk (aggression and social withdrawal) and their offspring’s social competence, and peer relationships (friendship quality, bullying). Participants in Study 1 were mothers and their 5-12 year-old-children (n = 64); participants in Study 2 included mothers and their 9-13 year-old-children (n = 74). Both samples were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project: a prospective, intergenerational study of high-risk children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Boys and girls from the Concordia Project were rated on measures of aggression and social withdrawal in childhood and followed into parenthood to examine the influence of childhood behavior problems on both their parenting behaviour and on their offsprings’ development.
Observational measures were used to capture mother and child communication (theme, tone, function, and orientation) during videotaped conflict (Studies 1 and 2), and game-playing (Study 2) interaction contexts. Social competence (Studies 1 and 2), friendship (Study 1), and bullying (Study 2) were measured in children through the use of reliable and well-validated questionnaire measures.
Results revealed that mother-child communication themes, functions, tone, and orientation in childhood were predicted by maternal risk factors (i.e., education, childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal). Moreover, communication themes, functions, and tone in mother- child interactions predicted children’s social acceptance and psychosocial functioning (internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems) in childhood. Finally, communication tone in childhood predicted positive and negative features of friendships in young adulthood, while communication themes and functions predicted some measures of social competence and bullying behaviour in adolescence and young adulthood.
The results from the present dissertation make an important contribution to our understanding of mother-child communication in childhood and its association to relationship development in at-risk families. Associations between maternal histories of risk, and mother-child communication, as well as mother-child communication and social competence, friendship quality, and bullying were identified. Results have implications for the design of preventive interventions targeting social and emotional development in children from at-risk families and provide a better understanding of how to promote healthy relationships.


identifier: Komolafe, Bolarinwa  (2014) A Study on the Wetting Behaviour of Ti-20Zr-20Cu-20Ni Brazing Filler on Ti-6Al-4V.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The brazing of titanium alloys is nowadays a common and necessary industrial practice, because of the wide usage of these alloys in areas such as aerospace and chemical industries. However, to have a successfully brazed joint, it is important for the brazing filler to be able to wet the substrate. Unfortunately, there is a research gap with respect to the study on the wetting and spreading behaviour of brazing fillers on titanium alloys. In this work, wetting behaviour of Ti-20Zr-20Cu-20Ni brazing filler on Ti-6Al-4V was studied using sessile drop technique. Effects of the surface roughness of the substrate and heating scheme on wetting and spreading of the filler metal were evaluated. The degree of wetting was evaluated by measuring the apparent dynamic contact angle and calculating the spread ratio. The wetting mechanism was carefully studied too by the combination of quenching technique and microstructural analyses. Different wetting/spreading regimes were identified. The surface roughness of the substrate was found to have little or no effect on the final apparent contact angle in this work. The wetting behaviour of this system had a reactive nature. High heating rate (6.8oC/s) limited metallurgical reaction between the substrate and the brazing filler, leading to wetting/spreading dominated by the primary stage. With the low heating rate scheme (1.7oC/s), metallurgical reaction between the brazing filler and the substrate was more intense. High heating rate with soaking scheme is recommended for brazing because it entails good spreading and limited metallurgical reaction between the brazing filler and the substrate.


identifier: Assra, Ayman M  (2010) Space-time diversity for CDMA systems over frequency-selective fading channels.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Supporting the expected high data rates required by wireless Internet and high-speed multimedia services is one of the basic requirements in broadband mobile wireless systems. However, the achievable capacity and data rate of wireless communication systems are limited by the time-varying nature of the channel. Efficient techniques for combating the time-varying effects of wireless channels can be achieved by utilizing different forms of diversity. In recent years, transmit diversity based on space-time coding (STC) has received more attention as an effective technique for combating fading. On the other hand, most existing space-time diversity techniques have been developed for flat-fading channels. Given the fact that wireless channels are generally frequency-selective, in this thesis, we aim to investigate the performance of space-time diversity schemes for wideband code-division multiple-access (WCDMA) systems over frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed receiver in this case is a rake-type receiver, which exploits the path diversity inherent to multipath propagation. Then, a decorrelator detector is used to mitigate the multiple access interference (MAI) and the known near-far problem. We derive the bit error rate (BER) expression over frequency-selective fading channels considering both the fast and slow fading cases. Finally, we show that our proposed receiver achieves the full system diversity through simulation and analytical results. Most of the work conducted in this area considers perfect knowledge of the channel at the receiver. Hence, channel identification brings significant challenges to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) CDMA systems. In light of this, we propose a channel estimation and data detection scheme based on the superimposed training-based approach. The proposed scheme enhances the performance by eliminating the MAI from both the channel and data estimates by employing two decorrelators; channel and data decorrelators. The performance of the proposed estimation technique is investigated over frequency-selective slow fading channels where we derived a closed-form expression for the BER as a function of the number of users, K , the number resolvable paths, L , and the number of receive antennas, V . Finally, our proposed scheme is shown to be more robust to channel estimation errors. Furthermore, both the analytical and simulation results indicate that the full system diversity is achieved. Considering that training estimation techniques suffer either from low spectral efficiency (i.e., conventional training approach) or from high pilot power consumption (i.e., superimposed training-based approach), in the last part of the thesis, we present an iterative joint detection and estimation (JDE) using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for MIMO CDMA systems over frequency-selective fading channels. We also derive a closed-form expression for the optimized weight coefficients of the EM algorithm, which was shown to provide significant performance enhancement relative to the conventional equal-weight EM-based signal decomposition. Finally, our simulation results illustrate that the proposed receiver achieves near-optimum performance with modest complexity using very few training symbols.


identifier: Grabowski, Colin  (2010) Local torsion on elliptic curves.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Local torsion on elliptic curves

abstract: Let E be an elliptic curve over [Special characters omitted.] . Let p be a prime of good reduction for E. We say that p is a local torsion prime if E has p -torsion over [Special characters omitted.] , and more generally, we say that p is a local torsion prime of degree d if E has p -torsion over an extension of degree d of [Special characters omitted.] . We study in this thesis local torsion primes by presenting numerical evidence, and by computing estimates for the number of local torsion primes on average over all elliptic curves over [Special characters omitted.]


identifier: Hakim, Tatiana  (2010) IPO lockup expiration in the Middle East and North Africa region.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines stock price reaction to IPO lockup expiration in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A lockup is the period of time following an IPO during which founders and insiders are not allowed to sell their shares. Lockups in the MENA region are generally longer and more varied than those in the United States, providing an opportunity to study the relationship between their duration and market reaction. I test whether, as in the United States, there is an abnormal increase in trading volume and negative abnormal return around the unlock date, and find that contrary to the United States there is no noticeable reaction. I provide evidence that the difference in market reactions of U.S. and MENA companies is partly attributable to the laws in the MENA region, which dampens or more strongly restricts selling by insiders during the IPO period


identifier: Davidson, Alexander  (2010) The impact of mortality salience effects on consumer behaviour.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Terror management theory (TMT) has proven that reminders of death intensify efforts to engage in culturally prescribed behaviour. Individuals tend to exhibit cultural worldview defences when mortality is made salient and it has been demonstrated that heightened self-esteem will reduce existential anxiety. In connection with consumer behaviour, death-related thoughts have been found to increase consumption, enhance support for charitable donations and stimulate preferences for luxury products among many other things. This study demonstrates that mortality salience (MS) manipulations influence subconscious reactions to different consumer behaviours. In particular, MS leads to decreased importance for prestigious items among high self-esteem individuals and causes age to have an inverse relationship with prestige importance. MS causes low as compared to high self-esteem individuals and younger as compared to older individuals to become more risk averse when confronted with risky purchase decisions. MS also leads to increased preferences for nutritional information on food products for females as compared to males. Surprisingly, MS does not lead to less favourable attitudes towards foreign products nor does it lead it to more favourable attitudes towards charitable organizations. As opposed to testing the effects of MS on consumer behaviour among American consumers, this study contributes to the terror management literature by revealing that MS impacts Canadian consumer behaviour outcomes. While past research has consisted of methodological similarities by conducting most MS experiments in a classroom of university students, this study primes subjects with death-related thoughts through an online survey questionnaire. The managerial implications of this study suggest that in times when MS is high among the Canadian population, risky products might become more profitable especially if they are known to already interact with individual levels of self-esteem. Similarly, marketing strategies for high status products should diverge away from older age groups as those consumers will most likely exhibit negative reactions to such items. The theoretical implications of this study contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the link between TMT and consumer behaviour and reflect evolutionary influences on consumer psychology.


identifier: Wiebe, Melissa  (2010) The early struggle : understanding the persecution of the early Christians.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Christianity is now one of the major world religions with millions of followers. There was a time, however, when this was not so. Between the so-called Neronian Persecution of 64 CE until the Edict of Milan of 313 CE, Christians suffered sporadic persecution from various groups including the Jewish community, the Roman authorities and pagan civilians. This thesis attempts to discover why the Christians were distrusted, ridiculed and sometimes killed. It also examines the Constantinian Revolution, when the emperor Constantine ended the persecutions, legalized Christianity and initiated a new relationship between church and state.


identifier: Rodrigue, Michelle  (2010) Stakeholder perspectives on accounting information : three essays on environmental accounting.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Through their use of resources, their investments and their output, corporations have a significant impact on our natural environment. In that regard, the long term sustainability of the current business model is currently attracting widespread attention. However, corporations have access to several environmental management tools at both the technical and managerial levels. The challenge is to integrate and implement these tools in their business activities to improve corporate environmental performance. Among these tools, accounting plays a critical role in the environmental management of organizations as it directly relates to the measurement and disclosure of corporate environmental performance. The purpose of this dissertation, which comprises three essays, is to study the role of stakeholders in the environmental accounting-related issues of environmental investment, performance measurement and disclosure. The first essay focuses on environmental resource allocation decisions and specifically examines the influence of corporate governance over the intensity of environmental capital expenditures. Results show that governance mechanisms dedicated to stakeholder accountability and environmental protection increase the intensity of environmental capital expenditures. The second essay concentrates on environmental performance measurement by investigating the role played by stakeholders in the selection of internal environmental performance indicators. Results suggests that stakeholder influences over internal environmental performance metrics are organized along a continuum ranging from narrow unidirectional influence to broad interactive influence necessitating environmental benchmarking. The last essay shifts the attention toward voluntary environmental reporting. More specifically, I contrast corporate and non-corporate (stakeholder) environmental disclosure, focusing on a single organization and its critical stakeholders. Results from the analysis of these environmental reporting dynamics show that different disclosure patterns arise among the perspectives, ranging from uniformity to performance-neutral and performance-biased gaps between the case firm's and stakeholders' disclosures. Overall, these results lead to the conclusion that stakeholders influence environmental accounting, but the form and extent of their influence depends upon the nature of the stakeholder group and the environmental issue at stake. As a whole, by bringing nuances into the portrayal of stakeholder influences, the dissertation enhances our knowledge of firms-stakeholders interactions with respect to environmental accounting.


identifier: Amendolara, Natasha  (2010) "A bad trip" : therapeutic theater with adolescents in a residential drug treatment setting.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of using a therapeutic theater method of drama therapy with adolescents in a residential drug treatment setting. The design of the study is a descriptive group case study based on an eight-week therapeutic theater process, in which participants created an original piece of theater and performed it for the other residents of the facility. The data collected include the existent literature on both therapeutic theater and adolescent substance abuse, process and supervision notes, session material, and feedback from participants. This data was analyzed in order to discern the potential effects of the therapeutic theater process on the participants, with a particular focus on self-esteem, autonomy, and social skills as areas of potential change. The results of this study suggest that the therapeutic theater process had a positive effect on the self-esteem of the participants as well as their ability to communicate effectively with others and develop meaningful relationships. The implication of these results is that therapeutic theater is a useful therapeutic tool to be used with adolescents in a residential drug treatment setting


identifier: Al Shafka, Omar  (2010) The investment cost of following Islamic laws.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines the extent to which imposing constraints on a portfolio diminishes its return. I look at the cost of observance of Islamic laws ( Sharia ), which restrict the composition of portfolios according to the activities of companies and their financial ratios. Cross-sectional regressions of monthly risk-adjusted S&P 500 stock returns on a variety of company characteristics reveal that individual mean returns are significantly related to industry membership but not to the various Islamic compliance criteria. This is further supported by spanning tests which suggest that an Islamic index can be considered a substitute for the overall Secular index. However, randomly selected Islamic-compliant portfolios of various sizes tend under-perform their risk-matched Secular counterparts in-sample. And while out-of-sample performance turns against Secular portfolios, this is attributable largely to investment in Financials by the latter.


identifier: Swift, Ryan  (2010) Stock price and analyst reactions to Domini 400 social index additions and deletion.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examines additions to and deletions from the Domini 400 Social Index, specifically looking at the reactions of the added or deleted firm's stock price and of analyst earnings forecasts to the news of the index change. It is found that additions to the Domini 400 Social Index are met with an abnormally positive stock price response and more favourable earnings forecasts than comparable firms. It is also found that deletions from the index are met with an abnormally negative stock price response, while no reaction is observed on the part of analyst earnings forecasts. This evidence indicates that the observed price response to index deletions is most likely caused by the actions of social investors, while the observed price response to index additions may be jointly attributable to the actions of social investors as well as the influence of social factors on the future earning potential of the added firm.


identifier: Khatchadourian, Mariam  (2010) The influence of a social skills program on children's social behaviour, affective perspective-taking, and empathy skills.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Social skills are vital to children's healthy development as they provide them with tools to deal with their everyday life issues. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of teaching the value of social skills to young children as a way to enhance their prosocial behaviour and increase their affective perspective-taking abilities and empathy skills. Particularly, through this intervention the children were encouraged to understand the value of learning prosocial behaviour. An eight week workshop was implemented in an afterschool program offering children an opportunity to understand the importance of adopting prosocial behaviour in their day to day relationships. Educator reports showed an improvement in children's engagement in positive behaviour and social interaction in the classroom setting after their participation in the workshop. Observations of the children's behaviour during the workshop sessions did not show any significant differences. In addition, children's perceptions of affective perspective-taking, empathy and social skills seemed to change at the end of the intervention. Implications for working with children and recommendations for future research are discussed. Keywords : social skills; ethical values; prosocial behaviour; affective perspective-taking; empathy; emotion knowledge


identifier: Mehrfard, Hossein  (2010) Extending extreme programming to support life sciences regulations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The difficulty of complying with different regulations is becoming more evident as larger numbers of regulated businesses are mandated to follow a set of different regulations in their prescribed boundaries. This wide spectrum of regulations is inevitable as the result of today's heavily regulated society. In this thesis, we focus on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and their impact on software development. FDA mandates stringent requirements on the process by which software systems for medical devices are developed. Many of these requirements involve documenting various activities in the software process, something that agile processes such as the Extreme Programming (XP) process do not support. In this thesis, we discuss FDA requirements in detail and relate these requirements to software engineering practices. We then show areas where XP fails to meet these requirements. We propose an extension to XP that complies with FDA. The extended process is implemented using the Eclipse Process Framework (EPF). A questionnaire-based evaluation technique is used to validate the extended XP.


identifier: Markoulias, Katina  (2010) The experience of teaching abroad : pedagogical and other benefits.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is based on interviews with seven Montreal based teachers who sojourned abroad and to teach English. The stories were collected based on a semistructured interview schedule. The study's objective was to (a) to examine the impact, if any, of their teaching abroad upon their professional and personal development and (b) to determine whether, upon their return to Quebec, Canada, they applied the lessons learnt to their teaching practice. All participants, whose age, educational background and length of work experience varied, described changes in their professional and personal development, similar to the examples identified by the research subjects in the literature review upon which this study was based. They are firmly convinced that their work abroad had a positive impact upon their teaching in Montreal and they were able to provide examples to support their claim. Furthermore, they maintained that direct teaching and living experience in other cultures and customs, especially for monolingual teachers, helped them appreciate the challenges that students from other cultural backgrounds face in their Montreal classrooms. Some teachers were inspired from their work abroad to pursue teaching on a full time basis. One teacher developed his own private business. Thus, in spite of the difficulties inherent to teaching abroad, the positive impact that such an experience can have on a teacher's ability to be self-critical and to evolve may provide benefits that go beyond simple personal growth, benefits that dramatically empower both the personal and professional development of many teachers


identifier: Quang, Nguyen Nguyen  (2010) Iterative joint source channel decoding for H.264 compressed video transmission.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, the error resilient transmission of H.264 compressed video using Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Code (CABAC) as the entropy code is examined. The H.264 compressed video is convolutionally encoded and transmitted over an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel. Two iterative joint source-channel decoding schemes are proposed, in which slice candidates that failed semantic verification are exploited. The first proposed scheme uses soft values of bits produced by a soft-input soft-output channel decoder to generate a list of slice candidates for each slice in the compressed video sequence. These slice candidates are semantically verified to choose the best one. A new semantic checking method is proposed, which uses information from slice candidates that failed semantic verification to virtually check the current slice candidate. The second proposed scheme is built on the first one. This scheme also uses slice candidates that failed semantic verification but it uses them to modify soft values of bits at the source decoder before they are fed back into the channel decoder for the next iteration. Simulation results show that both schemes offer improvements in terms of subjective quality and in terms of objective quality using PSNR and BER as measures. Keywords: Video transmission, H.264, semantics, slice candidate, joint source-channel decoding, error resiliency


identifier: Zhang, Peng  (2010) Novel motor drive design for a switched reluctance machine based electric vehicle propulsion system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: There exists an immense demand for efficient, robust, reliable, and cost-effective motors for propulsion systems in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Due to the absence of windings on the rotor and excellent extended speed features, much attention has been recently drawn towards switched reluctance machine (SRM) based vehicle propulsion system. Although these advantages are beneficial, the inherently large torque ripple and highly nonlinear characteristics of the SRM presents significant challenges from the controller design standpoint. Hence, appropriate design of a dedicated control scheme is critical, so as to enhance the overall performance. In order to achieve satisfactory control performance, the derivation of an accurate inductance model is essential. In this thesis, a "current saturation" approach is utilized, and the SRM magnetization characteristics are obtained from experimental results. Thereafter, the accuracy of the proposed method is discussed and verified by finite element analysis (FEA). In order to deal with SRM nonlinearities, this thesis introduces a finite approximation approach (Newton method) iteration computing algorithm. Based on the precise magnetic model, the optimal bus voltages are calculated, and are eventually stored in a meticulous look-up table. In order to engage high-speed switching control, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is employed, and suitable simulation test results are analyzed in detail. It was found that the overall output torque ripple was minimized considerably, using the proposed novel FPGA based "voltage-profile" control approach.


identifier: Dintoe, Seitebaleng Susan  (2010) Identifying and bridging the gaps in education system through effective use of educational technology : schools in Botswana.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research is to identify the tools available in the market that enable the acquisition of knowledge in educational institutions through effective use of information and communications technology (ICT). These educational institutes may be operating with formal classroom based teaching methods or in the distance-learning mode. The focus in this thesis is on the case of Botswana. The affordances and capabilities of ICT offer the potential to solve or mitigate various challenges confronting educational systems and institutions in a developing economy such as Botswana. The first step in this thesis was to collect relevant data and information and analyze the current state of education in schools in Botswana. Information concerning the broad pedagogic context of Botswana are introduced; data regarding internet access and usage, existing baseline rates of literacy, availability of skilled instructors as well as information concerning the specifics of educational policy and initiatives involving the use of technology for teaching and learning are presented. After presenting the context of the Botswana educational system, the crucial gaps in terms of the performance and capabilities of the existing processes in school systems were identified. Arguments are offered concerning the role that ICT could play in addressing these gaps or enabling solutions. Other countries with similar pedagogical infrastructures to Botswana are used as examples. Finally, this thesis offers conclusions and recommendations that are expected to address the gaps identified and specify the actions that can be taken by Botswana's education departments to enhance the level of education in schools in their country.


identifier: Kassaei, Hossein  (2010) Virtual backbone formation in wireless ad hoc networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We study the problem of virtual backbone formation in wireless ad hoc networks. A virtual backbone provides a hierarchical infrastructure that can be used to address important challenges in ad hoc networking such as efficient routing, multicasting/broadcasting, activity-scheduling, and energy efficiency. Given a wireless ad hoc network with symmetric links represented by a unit disk graph G = (V, E ), one way to construct this backbone is by finding a Connected Dominating Set (CDS) in G , which is a subset V' ✹ V such that for every node u, u is either in V' or has a neighbor in V' and the subgraph induced by V' is connected. In a wireless ad hoc network with asymmetric links represented by a directed graph G = (V, E ), finding such a backbone translates to constructing a Strongly Connected Dominating and Absorbent Set (SCDAS) in G . An SCDAS is a subset of nodes V' ✹ V such that every node u is either in V' or has an outgoing and an incoming neighbor in V' , and the subgraph induced by V' is strongly connected. Based on most of its applications, minimizing the size of the virtual backbone is an important objective. Therefore, we are interested in constructing CDSs and SCDASs of minimal size. We give efficient distributed algorithms with linear time and message complexities for the construction of the CDS in ad hoc networks with symmetric links. Since topology changes are quite frequent in most ad hoc networks, we propose schemes to locally maintain the CDS in the face of such changes. We also give a distributed algorithm for the construction of the SCDAS in ad hoc networks with asymmetric links. Extensive simulations show that our algorithms outperform all previously known algorithms in terms of the size of the constructed sets.


identifier: Candy, Graham  (2010) Mapping gaming infrastructures.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Mapping gaming infrastructures

abstract: This thesis works through a series of arguments emphasizing the ways in which gaming practices are shaped by unique intersections of garners' desires, game designs and material infrastructures. This work consists of three main parts. First, I argue that by viewing online games as sites of contrived contingency we can better understand why. diverse social forms have so quickly developed in online gaming environments. Secondly, I suggest a new method to approach studying these technosocial environments through developing what I call ethnography of gaming infrastructure . Lastly, through focusing on one technological artefact - ping, I equip my ethnography of gaming infrastructure to demonstrate how uniquely game related manifestations of technology are re-mapping the geographies of both local and global social forms.


identifier: Behzadian, Farnaz  (2010) Evaluation of hydrodynamic characteristics of an integrated multi-environment wastewater treatment system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A new integrated multi-environment wastewater treatment technology has been developed for high-rate removal of organic carbonaceous compounds and inorganic contaminants, notably nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as suspended solids. This technology uses two separate but interlinked reactors containing four zones with different environmental conditions of aerobic, microaerophilic, anoxic and anaerobic for biological treatment as well as two clarification zones and a filtration unit for efficient separation of solids from liquid. The first reactor of the treatment system is designed based on the concept of airlift reactors. The influence of operating and process parameters such as the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and superficial gas velocity (U G ) on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the first reactor was examined. The liquid circulation velocity, gas hold-up and overall volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient increase with the increase of superficial gas velocity, while the mean circulation time decreases with the increase of air flow rate. The theoretical analysis of time dependent changes in the volume of mixed liquor demonstrated that liquid circulates from 363 to 1686 times between the three zones of aerobic, microaerophilic and anoxic before 99% of the bioreactor's content is replaced by the added wastewater. At air flow rates higher than 30 L/min, the mixing performance of the first reactor resembles the patterns observed in continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs). Using the openings with the size of 1/2" between the riser and downcomer at air flow rates of 15-30 L/min provide higher mass transfer coefficient and better zone generation, suggesting an improved treatment performance of the system.


identifier: Wang, Xing  (2010) Inventory changes, earnings, and firm value.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Previous studies contend that an unexpected increase in inventory reflects firms' difficulty in generating sales and results in negative earnings growth and stock returns. This thesis intends to examine the persistence of the negative correlation between the unexpected increase in inventory and firms' earnings growth and to test whether and to what extent, inter-industry differences and firms' inventory holdings will affect the negative correlation. In a sample with over 85,000 observations for the period of 1950-2005, we find that the relation between inventory changes and future earnings is very sensitive to the selection of sample period. The thesis also reports empirical evidence that the negative relation between the change in inventories and firm performance could be somewhat attenuated for firms in the wholesale/ retail sector as well as for firms that normally carry low levels of inventory. In addition, we compute time-trends in inventory (scaled by sales) and its volatility for three industries, and find that both have declined since the early 1980s, and that the wholesale/retail sector's volatility of inventory (scaled by sales) is significantly lower than the other sectors over the entire sample period.


identifier: Han, Xuan  (2010) Nonlinear system identification and control using dynamic multi-time scales neural networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, on-line identification algorithm and adaptive control design are proposed for nonlinear singularly perturbed systems which are represented by dynamic neural network model with multi-time scales. A novel on-line identification law for the Neural Network weights and linear part matrices of the model has been developed to minimize the identification errors. Based on the identification results, an adaptive controller is developed to achieve trajectory tracking. The Lyapunov synthesis method is used to conduct stability analysis for both identification algorithm and control design. To further enhance the stability and performance of the control system, an improved . dynamic neural network model is proposed by replacing all the output signals from the plant with the state variables of the neural network. Accordingly, the updating laws are modified with a dead-zone function to prevent parameter drifting. By combining feedback linearization with one of three classical control methods such as direct compensator, sliding mode controller or energy function compensation scheme, three different adaptive controllers have been proposed for trajectory tracking. New Lyapunov function analysis method is applied for the stability analysis of the improved identification algorithm and three control systems. Extensive simulation results are provided to support the effectiveness of the proposed identification algorithms and control systems for both dynamic NN models.


identifier: El-Tahan, Mossab Wahba  (2010) Applications of new thermoplastic CFRP rebars and mechanically anchored carbon fibre sheets in reinforcing and strenghening concrete beams.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Thermoset fibre-reinforced polymer composite (FRP) rebars and laminates are widely used in reinforcing and strengthening concrete structures due to their advantages such as: corrosion free material, high strength to weight ratio, and electromagnetic resistance. However, thermoset composites have some limitations due to the fact that they cannot be bent once the resin solidifies when used as internal reinforcement (FRP rebars). On the other hand, externally bonded FRP sheets used in strengthening concrete structures is subject to non-ductile failure due to debonding. This emphasizes the need of exploring new methods for reinforcing and strengthening concrete structures. This thesis evaluates the performance of a new thermoplastic CFRP rebar that can be bent after the resin set and also examines the behaviour of using unbonded mechanically anchored dry carbon fibre (CF) sheets in shear strengthening of concrete T-beams to avoid debonding mode of failure. Three sets of tests were conducted on the developed CFRP rebars in order to evaluate their mechanical characteristics, minimum development length of the straight rebars, and the tail length of bent rebars. Based on the test results and the modes of failure of the tested specimens, recommendations were proposed to improve the behaviour of the new thermoplastic CFRP rebars. The properties of the newly developed CFRP rebars were compared to similar thermoset and thermoplastic FRP rebars available in the literature and market. Three reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams were tested up to failure in four point bending test. One was reserved as control beam, while two beams were strengthened in shear using mechanically anchored dry CF sheets. The tested beams were instrumented with the conventional measuring devices that were connected to a data acquisition system. Moreover, the beam was monitored using acoustic sensors which monitored the acoustic energy activity of the tested beams


identifier: Beaudoin, Marie-Hélène  (2010) La représentation de l'infidélité dans le nouvel ordre amoureux : une étude de sept romans québécois contemporains.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Love, a universal topic present throughout all times, still preoccupies men and women. The intense effect clearly is a part, may be just a parcel, of our own being. Many words have been spoken and written about love, and in the times of consecutive and numerous relationships, they deal with both fidelity and its counterpart, infidelity. In this thesis, We analyze and study infidelity in seven novels published between 1995 and 2005 by incorporating theories of feminism, psychoanalysis and socio-criticism. While choosing my corpus, We also considered various generations. We wanted to portray infidelity in a way that would allow to compare infidelity in terms of genre and from the perspectives of writers who personally witnessed the turmoil initiated by the feminism of the 1970s. The corpus is composed of novels written by female and male authors. We choose the following books: Folle (2004, Nelly Arcan), Scrapbook (2004, Nadine Bismuth), La Gloire de Cassiodore (2002, Monique LaRue), Marie-Hélène au mois de mars (1998, Maxime-Olivier Moutier), Le Milieu du jour (1995, Yvon Rivard), Carnets de naufrage (2000, Guillaume Vigneault) and Chercher le vent (2001, Guillaume Vigneault). The study of infidelity through a mixed corpus shows that in the realm of privacy, particularly in the situation of adultery, the judgment of women and the one that comes from the women - reflecting on the subject - is more severe, even relentless as it would be for the adulterous men. Feminism, the over-exploitation of sexuality in the media, and generalized individualism are some of the elements that influence the conception of the love relationship in today's Quebec society and that I will examine in this thesis


identifier: Hamidi, Azadeh  (2010) Enhancement of the bioremediation of PCE contaminated soil by rhamnolipid and two biological products.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) is a chlorinated solvent used in the dry-cleaning industry. PCE is a toxic chemical and is hazardous to humans and the environment. PCE is a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) and once it leaks into the soil, moves downwards and contaminates the soil and the groundwater. Common remediation techniques like soil washing do not easily remediate the soil contaminated with PCE, unless proper additives like surfactants are added to the washing solution. Surfactants reduce the surface and interfacial tension, and increase the solubility of PCE. Surfactants at concentration above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) form micelles and make PCE partition into the micelles, consequently PCE disperses in the aqueous phase and becomes more bioavailable. This study evaluates the effectiveness of rhamnolipid and two surfactant-based products (ASAP (TM) and Degreaser (TM) ) on the bioremediation of PCE. These two agents are non-toxic chemicals. Following the USEPA methods, and gas chromatography analysis, diverse 21 day experiments were conducted. ASAP(TM) and Degreaser(TM) at a ratio to soil of 1:1 showed removal efficiencies of 45% and 52%, respectively. Addition of rhamnolipid with a ratio to soil of 1:1 to these products at the same ratios enhanced the remediation up to 55% and 58%. Conducting microbial analysis, a direct correlation was observed between microbial density and PCE removal, which suggests that degradation, had occurred. The removal trend was: Biological agent + rhamnolipid > biological agent> rhamnolipid > Control.


identifier: Simpson, Marc  (2010) From alternations to ordered rules : a system for learning derivational phonology.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This work presents a computational rule learner tasked with inferring underlying forms and ordered rules from phonological paradigms akin to those found in traditional pen and paper analyses. The scheme being proposed is a batch learner capable of analysing surface alternations and hypothesising ordered derivations compatible with them in order to create an explicit mapping from UR to SR. We shall refer to both the competence of an idealised speaker-hearer (in keeping with traditional generative linguistic theory) and the conscious methods employed by the phonologist in the course of analysing data sets. The fundamental axiom of this model is that the child has memorised the relevant surface forms (as they appear in the paradigm) alongside the appropriate semantic information in order to allow them to set up paradigmatic structures for the purpose of inferring both underlying forms and phonological rules simultaneously. The mapping from minimal pairs to underlying forms is the primary conduit to inferring the rules themselves.


identifier: Heeren, Kristy  (2010) From badness to madness : penal and medical knowledge in federal women's prison policy.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Canada's federal prison system, Correctional Service Canada (CSC), has made vast changes to the policies and structure of women's prisons over the past twenty years, claiming to have ushered in a 'new era' of "woman-centered," "culturally-sensitive," and "empowering" penology for women. Throughout this emergent policy development, the "psy-sciences" increasingly playa significant role, greatly influencing both the structure and operation of women's federal prisons and mental health services therein. This research seeks to explore CSC's women's prisons by using an institutional ethnographic strategy, textual analysis, as defined by Dorothy Smith and others. The central analysis concerns the ways in which discourse and ideology inform institutional and medical 'knowledge', and subsequently structure women's federal prisons and mental health services therein, illuminating the ways in which institutional texts regulate and facilitate policy to serve the ideological goals of the institution. The most salient and significant CSC policy texts published in the last twenty years were selected for analysis, and expressions of penal and medical "knowledges" were "mapped" to explicate the social and ruling relations that underlie CSC policy. Three primary rhetorical themes were identified in the texts: "Woman-centeredness/cultural sensitivity," "choice," and "correction/healing." These penal "knowledges" were examined and contrasted with CSC praxis. It is argued that CSC policy more accurately espouses neo-liberal ideology which reproduces sexism, racism, and the pathologization of women prisoners. It is concluded that CSC's purported achievement of a feminist and non-racist penal paradigm is more rhetorical than practical, as CSC continues to neglect social explanations for women's criminality and mental health status by individualizing women's problems and holding them personally responsible for their own criminal and mental "correction."


identifier: Kroeh, Miguelina  (2010) La marginalité influente de Gavroche.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: La marginalité influente de Gavroche

abstract: Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Victor Hugo distanced himself from the nobility in which he was born in order to defend the rights of the poor. In Les Misérables , he assigned a name and a face to various forms of misery. Fantine represented the hardships of women, Valjean, those of men, and Gavroche, those of homeless orphans. Gavroche plays a fundamental role in this novel. He is the only character who can access all physical sites. He is thus the one who describes them to the reader. This boy expresses the social views of the author: the rich are superficial and selfish, the poor are caring and generous. Victor Hugo entrusts this orphan boy with the social goal that he stated in the preface: to abolish social misery. The character of Gavroche sets an example of how anyone can change their social standing by making the most out of what little they have. To better analyze Gavroche's marginality, it will be broken down into three distinct aspects: the physical locations where he spends his time, his strong and adaptive language skills, and his uncanny mythical powers. Ironically, Victor Hugo's fight for social justice forced him into exile until the end of the Second Empire. Though it is true that this novel lead readers to acknowledge the various hardships of the poor, regrettably, this social phenomenon has yet to be abolished.


identifier: Pritchard, Gisèle Baril  (2010) Debating delusion : a critical interrogation of Richard Dawkins' New atheism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Throughout his career, Richard Dawkins has argued that religious faith is incommensurable with the evidence of Darwinian evolution (Dawkins 2006). In his widely popular book, The God Delusion , he cements his perspective on religion: not only is religious faith tantamount to delusion, but it is also dangerous. This thesis aims to render explicit the presuppositions informing Dawkins' work and the Enlightenment debates in which they are so deeply rooted. In particular, this thesis aims to elucidate the ideology and secular worldview, with its attendant critical conception of the religious and religious institutions, that inform Dawkins' conclusions in order to show that they are not simply the obvious product of rational reflection or scientifically informed common-sense, nor are they necessarily a universal interpretation of the immutable evidence of nature, as he seems to claim. This project will interrogate the certainty and authority with which Dawkins presents his view of science and religion, arguing that his "scientific" viewpoint is itself a worldview, it is also constructed, and it has a history and context, which Dawkins too readily glosses over. This thesis maintains the importance of such a critical examination given the serious moral implications of Dawkins' position. Dawkins' atheism entrenches the idea of an essential divide between scientific reason and religion that it presents as real, historical and natural; and it seeks not only to silence, but to eradicate any other perspectives, effectively rejecting and disregarding a huge segment of humanity and rendering untenable any possibility for inter-religious and pluralistic dialogue.


identifier: Travers, Stacie  (2010) Lessons learnt for developing meaningful study abroad programs : a case study of a Montreal CEGEP's 2009 study trip.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is based on a case study of a Montreal CEGEP's 2009 Study Trip abroad. The focus of the study reported here was on examining the specific elements of a study abroad program that may result in meaningful and educational impacts on participants. The case study attempts to uncover the best practices for each phase of a short-term study abroad program's life cycle: pre-departure, in the host country and upon returning home. All seven participating students and the person responsible for the program were interviewed. These interviews, along with student journals and curriculum materials, were examined. The thesis also presents a review of the burgeoning literature examining the educationally positive impacts attributed to study abroad programs and arguing for their inclusion in post-secondary curricula. The findings illustrate the important learning moments of a formal and informal curriculum plan which help enhance the study abroad experience from the point of view of the participants. These lessons can be used by study abroad stakeholders (participants, educational institutions, administrators, coordinators, and funding agencies) to increase the educational impacts of these programs. More broadly, this study also provides insight into ways of teaching and learning (not necessarily abroad) that are more meaningful and which bring about more profound change and growth in learning for students as well as teacher practice. This broader emphasis may help to understand the processes and mechanisms underlying quality experiential education programs


identifier: Stein, Eric  (2010) Writing versus speaking and the quest for self-knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In Plato's Phaedrus Socrates tells his interlocutor Phaedrus about how writing is a copy of speech and thus inferior to speech. But it can be suggested that this is less of an indictment than it is a warning. Writing is a medium that induces the appearance of knowledge but not knowledge per se. The Platonic dialogue teaches in its form how writing can be useful and this is when it can induce the quest for self-discovery and self-knowledge onto its readers


identifier: Etezadi, Farrokh  (2010) Achievable rates of iterative MIMO receivers over interference channels.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we study the achievable rates of some interference communication schemes when iterative interference-cancellation (IC) is applied. We assume multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication employing iterative receivers with linear front-ends which involves two modules concatenated serially and cooperating iteratively; a linear combiner based on minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) detection or maximal-ratio-combining (MRC) and a SISO decoder. We investigate the achievable rates of this receiver when the transmitted signal is Gaussian-distributed with hypothetical erasure-type feedback from the decoder to the combiner and a more practical case with large-size QAM constellations with log-likelihood-ratios (LLRs) being exchanged between the receiver's modules. The achievable rate is approximated by the area below the EXIT curve of the linear FE receiver. Some properties have been observed and mathematically been proved about the iterative MIMO receivers with linear front-end.