identifier: Segal, Diana  (2021) The Role of Context on Responding to an Alcohol-Predictive Cue: Sex Differences and Dopamine D2 Receptors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Physical contexts that are associated with alcohol can amplify responding to discrete, alcohol-predictive cues in males. Here, we examined the contextual modulation of responding to discrete alcohol-predictive cues as a function of biological sex and the role of dopamine neurotransmission at D2-like receptors. Male and female rats that have previously consumed alcohol (15%; v/v) were trained to associate an auditory CS (10 s; 15 trials per session) with alcohol delivery (0.2 ml/ CS), in a distinctive multi-modal context (alcohol context). During alternating sessions rats were exposed to a second context where they did not receive alcohol (neutral context). In Experiment 1, CS presentations occurred in both contexts without alcohol delivery at test. Rats then underwent extinction using repeated unreinforced presentations of the CS in both contexts. Next, an alcohol-primed reinstatement test was conducted, in which 0.2 ml of alcohol was presented both at the start of the session and during the first CS presentation, after which no alcohol was delivered. At both tests, CS-elicited responding was amplified in the alcohol-associated context compared to the neutral context in males. CS-elicited responding was similar in the alcohol-associated context and the neutral context in female rats. In Experiment 2, rats received administration (s.c.) of D2-like receptor antagonist eticlopride (10 μg/kg) 15 min prior to test. Eticlopride significantly attenuated CS-elicited responding in both sexes and contexts. These findings identify novel sex differences in the capacity of an alcohol-associated context to modulate responding to a discrete alcohol-predictive cue and suggests that dopamine neurotransmission at D2-like receptors is critical for cue-elicited responding.

Keywords: Alcohol, Sex Differences, Context, Cue, Pavlovian Conditioning, Dopamine, Eticlopride, D2-like Receptors


identifier: Dufour, Emanuelle  (2021) Des histoires à raconter : d’Ani Kuni à Kiuna Les mémoires graphiques en tant qu’outils de rencontre réflexive et conversationnelle avec les réalités autochtones et allochtones du Québec.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

format: text other

abstract:
Dans le cadre de mon projet doctoral de recherche-création, j’utilise la bande dessinée (ou des mémoires graphiques) afin de proposer une rencontre avec les histoires associées à l’éducation autochtone, mais probablement encore davantage avec la posture réflexive que nous sommes tous invités à déployer (Sousanis, 2015) au sein du processus de rencontre entre les peuples autochtones et allochtones du territoire. Le bricolage méthodologique proposé s’inscrit ainsi au sein du courant émergent des comics-based research (Weaver-Hightower et al., 2017). Il s’inspire plus spécifiquement de la praxis de bédéistes autochtones et allochtones dont la production vise à pallier le manque éducationnel en matière d’histoire culturelle et coloniale.
Par la construction d’une autographie conversationnelle, relationnelle et antiraciste, enrichie par le présent complément d’analyse, je souhaite contribuer à approfondir deux questions principales : 1. De quelles façons la production de mémoires graphiques peut-elle s’inscrire en tant qu’outil de recherche au service de la rencontre avec les peuples autochtones et allochtones ? 2. Comment l’intégration de méthodes associées à la recherche-création au sein de la recherche qualitative permet-elle de rejoindre les principes et valeurs associés aux méthodologies autochtones ? Cette démarche interdisciplinaire est motivée par trois objectifs fondateurs : A. Promouvoir l’éducation citoyenne, l’introspection, la rencontre et le dialogue entre les peuples autochtones et allochtones; B. Proposer une contribution originale aux méthodes émergentes en recherche-création par l’élaboration d’une approche interdisciplinaire, novatrice et arrimée aux principes directeurs associés aux méthodologies autochtones; C. Rendre hommage aux paroles et contributions de différentes personnalités et professionnels du domaine de l’éducation autochtone, avec un accent tout particulier sur la résilience et l’agentivité des femmes de Premières Nations.
Mon projet doctoral prévoit deux modules qui seront appelés à se répondre : A. Les mémoires graphiques (BD) Des histoires à raconter : d’Ani Kuni à Kiuna qui réunit entre autres les contributions de près d’une cinquantaine de personnes autochtones et allochtones tout comme une série de publications académiques portant sur l’histoire récente de l’éducation autochtone au Québec (Dufour, 2013; 2015a; 2017a; 2019a); B. Le présent document analytique permettant d’introduire les balises théoriques, de contextualiser la démarche de recherche-création et d’approfondir sa contribution méthodologique et épistémologique.


identifier: Li, Yushen  (2021) Individual Behavior and Strategy in Favor Exchange and Online Content Contribution.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 theoretically studies a favor exchange model between two infinitely lived agents. Under private information, the efficient strategy is not incentive compatible. We propose a class of Markov strategies, which we call Bounded Favors Bank strategies (BFB hereafter). Within the class of BFB strategies, we consider two types of the BFB strategy. A type of BFB strategy which prescribes a form of reward for the agent who provided the most favors is referred to as BFBr strategy; another type of BFB strategy which prescribes a form of punishment for the agent who received the most favors is referred to as BFBp strategy. We show that the payoffs of BFBr and BFBp strategies can approximate the efficient outcome under private information and the BFBp strategy can achieve a higher long-term payoff.

Chapter 2 experimentally test the theoretical model in Chapter 1. In the experiment, we examine the behavior of subjects and infer the strategies subjects employ under complete information and incomplete information. Our experiment shows that subjects cooperate to exchange favors substantially less often under incomplete information, the most commonly employed strategy switches from the efficient one to the non-cooperative one, and the BFB strategies are played with a statistically significant probability only under incomplete information. In addition, the BFBr strategy is played more often than the BFBp strategy, implying that using a form of reward may have more compliance than using a form of punishment in a long-term bilateral relationship with private information.

Chapter 3 provides theoretical and empirical findings on the incentive effect of peer recognition on content provision. Our theoretical model illustrates how the incentive could be adversely affected by reputation and privacy concerns. Employing a unique data set from the largest Chinese Q&A platform, we analyze the content provisions of all the influencers with more than 10,000 followers on the platform over two years. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that a simple OLS method is likely to underestimate the incentive of peer recognition due to the adverse effect of strategic behaviors of influencers.


identifier: Neuendorff, Connor  (2021) Natural Language Analysis of News and its Relation to Market Activity.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of sentiment from headlines in the Wall Street Journal on earnings surprises and stock returns of US equities. Negative word counts, lexical analyzers, customized dictionaries, and parts of speech analyzers are used together to determine the efficacy of context-specific sentiment analyzers. As headlines do not follow ordinary language rules and positive and negative words have different connotations in a financial context, five metrics are designed to test how different language analysis techniques capture different information. The results indicate that a combination of custom dictionaries, lexical analyzers, and part of speech analyzers captures sentiment relating to earnings surprise more accurately than simple word counts. All of the metrics are significantly related to next day returns but the variability of the prediction is too large to consider them as part of a profitable trading strategy. The results show there is potential for more complex natural language processing techniques for predicting returns.


identifier: McGrory, Shawn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8798-7247 <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8798-7247>  (2020) Characterizing Image Classification Difficulties through Reduced-Dimension Class Convex Hull Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The ability to correctly recognize natural terrain is regarded as a critical actor in autonomous path planning success. Following recent promise shown by deep learning algorithms, much research has directed focus towards conveying these successes to visual terrain classification, however the scarcity of work directing informed neural network design has proved limiting to these efforts. This work presents an algorithm that can be used to quantify the difficulty of specific image classification tasks and to investigate the characteristics of particular difficulties and trends in a way that is interpretable by humans. An accompanying analytical procedure characterizes such image classification difficulties; identifying what makes some images easily distinguishable exemplars of their class and what makes others readily confused with other classes. Case studies are presented of insights identified through selected example analyses of terrain image classification datasets: discussing relative intensities of terrain classes from images taken by Mars rovers, and the impact of color gradients in separating sand from bedrock in color images of terrain, and its implications for remote sensing hardware used to supply classifier input. Additional investigations cover more general image datasets: the MNIST hand written digits dataset, and key background color features in CIFAR-10. We validated the technique’s potential to architecture design through comparisons to various neural networks, discovering characteristics mutual between predicted difficulty and classification error. The results presented in this paper provide a jumping off point for the analysis of terrain classification difficulty, and can inform designers of autonomous vehicles how challenging it can be to distinguish classes of terrain and provide insight into the risk associated with making traverse decisions.


identifier: Raskin, Luca  (2021) INvironments: Critical Listening Positionalities in Soundscape Ecology.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text audio audio audio audio

abstract:
INvironments is a podcast centered around how soundscape recordings can be used as a method to study changes in natural ecosystems. More specifically, the podcast investigates soundscape ecology by exploring its various methodologies and how they form ecological knowledges. The basic idea for soundscape ecology and its “auditory link to nature” (Pijanowski et al., 2011, p.203) is to provide supplementary indicators of ecosystem health and biodiversity by analyzing and comparing the frequency spectrum of a sound recording from a given environment. While the discourse and methods of recording in soundscape ecology stem from specific trends in the field of acoustic ecology and the works of the World Soundscape Project (WSP), the notion of “soundscape” in this context is not fixed, but still open to interpretations. As a result, the epistemologies formed about ecosystems via soundscape ecology hinge on considerations of what the soundscape is, how it influences who is listening, and how the listening inevitably affects the recording.

In this research-creation podcast series, I investigate which normative discourses of “soundscape” become reiterated through soundscape ecology, and consequently, which get left behind. Comprising of 4 episodes, the series traces a genealogical story of soundscape ecology while gradually becoming a more self-reflexive examination of my own normative listening positionality. Discussing the motivations and practices behind the recording of soundscape ecology reveals how a variety of interrelated interpretations of soundscape recordings could supplement this scientific data-gathering. However, more rewardingly, embracing wider listening positionalities can open the field up to wider forms of community engagement through ecological awareness. In examining how variations in listening positionalities and their associated methods for recording ecosystems, we may yet find a stronger and more nuanced framework for how ecological epistemologies are formed through soundscape ecology.


identifier: Sojoudian, Seyed Maziar  (2021) On-Demand Programming Recommendation System using Knowledge Graphs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
With the increasing advancement of the internet and mobile technology, we are facing the information overload phenomenon. One of the solutions to this information overload is to filter data for the end-users. The information filtering process that provides more personalized results constitutes the main component of a recommendation system. Recommendation systems aim to provide closer results to the users’ preferences. Therefore, if users have access to content that meets their needs, higher user satisfaction would be obtained. One of the domains that can benefit from recommendation systems is helping programmers write more efficient codes and develop faster by presenting them with solutions or code samples relating to their requirements. Although major repositories such as Stackoverflow and GitHub are trying to overcome this problem, there are still considerable shortcomings regarding the problem formulation and personalized results. In this thesis, we propose an on-demand programming assistance system that first helps developers present their problems. Then, through a natural language processing (NLP) module, the platform extracts valuable data from the presented problem. The users’ questions which are asked on our platform form knowledge objects from which a knowledge graph is constructed following an efficient data model created on a graph database. With regard to the extracted valuable data from a knowledge object, the search module provides results from the Stack- overflow and the GitHub APIs. The end-users who ask their questions on the platform can save search results for the future or express their feelings about the results by marking them as useful libraries. Besides, our on-demand programming assistance platform provides a list of developers who have experience in different end-users’ problems. After the interaction, the end-users can mark those developers as experts, and a sub-graph of the ex- pert developers is appended to the knowledge graph. The platform collects 191 real-world programming problems for eight different programming languages via its powerful data model and represents the problem remarkably in the graph database in the form of nodes and edges.
The proposed recommendation system relies on the constructed knowledge graph to provide the end-user recommendation list containing libraries and experts from similar knowledge objects in the knowledge graph. Two main recommendation techniques, namely collaborative-based and content-based filtering, are used to create a robust recommendation system. The content-based recommendation method is used when an end-user is new to the system or there are no similar knowledge objects in the knowledge graph. The Jaccard in- dex similarity, a weighting algorithm, and two different similarity measurement algorithms are used to build the mentioned content-based recommendation system. Moreover, when there is enough information regarding the knowledge object, the collaborative method is employed to solve the recommendation problem. The cosine similarity algorithm is utilized to apply collaborative-based recommendations on the knowledge graph. The two main algorithms, the Jaccard index similarity, and the cosine similarity were tested in different situations. First, they were applied in algorithms’ standard forms, second with the proposed optimized form via gaining benefits from auxiliary data on the knowledge graph. These auxiliary data are nodes and edges, which help provide more filtering on the results. The proposed method brings more accurate results in comparison with standard baseline algorithms.


identifier: alirezaee, ali  (2021) SMART GREENHOUSE PLATFORM: AN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION AS CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In today’s world some technology companies are using sophisticated IT systems to integrate urban services and infrastructures. The smart city is made up of different parts
that make the Internet of Things one of the most important infrastructural necessities for optimizing process automation functions. With the increase in world population and the need for food supply on one hand and the lack of water, energy and agricultural land on the other hand, traditional agriculture no longer meets the food needs of the world population, so smart agriculture has received more attention in recent years. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel technique which is able to provide many solutions for agricultural modernization. The agricultural process is affected using wireless sensor network and is anticipated to utilized from the IoT. The problem that we are trying to solve is to minimize the energy consumption in smart green houses. Each sensor should communicate with each other and their own headers with efficient energy consumption. The main contribution of this thesis is to study the IoT applications in a smart city, Investigate the use of IoT in smart greenhouses, explore the infrastructure required to use the Internet of Things and provide solutions for efficiency in smart greenhouse performance by improving IoT energy consumption.


identifier: Cook, Sophie Alexandra  (2020) Avant-Folk Experiments in Late Twentieth-Century American Feminist Moving Image and Literary Self-Representation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In the 1970s, influenced by a confluence of radical politics, social justice movements, and new intellectual paradigms including postmodernism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism, American women embraced personal and collective storytelling with vigor. Feminist historians including Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, Janet Theophano, Marianne Hirsch, and Amelie Hastie have since reframed once peripheral acts of self-inscription—from letter and diary writing to scrapbooking and recipe collecting—as central to the ongoing social and political objectives of the feminist movement, rethinking female authorship along the way. This dissertation builds on their important scholarship to focus specifically on the unique intersections of folk traditions with radical formal and political experimentation in feminist self-representational art made by queer and BIPOC women between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Representing a wide range of intersecting identities, the artists whose work I explore confront the limited and limiting patriarchal conventions of personal narrative and narrative “truth,” but they also challenge mainstream American feminism’s often exclusionary politics by exploring paradigms of sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity in addition to gender. Their interventions exemplify why and how personal storytelling became a privileged means of counter-discourse and rebellion for women across a diversity of subject positions and a range of media.
The enactment of socially radical goals through formally radical techniques places the texts I examine squarely within a lineage of historical avant-garde movements. At the same time, feminist interventions led historians and artists alike to reconsider and reclaim traditional (and traditionally “feminine”) discursive practices and “folk” traditions like the cookbook, the family album, and the folktale. The seemingly incompatible or contradictory intersections of “folk” and avant-garde, tradition and experimentation, and the domestic and the radical are in fact highly generative, and they set the stage for further subversions of any clear distinctions between art and theory, self and other, memory and History, fiction and nonfiction, and public and private.
Autobiographical, ethnographic, and archival representational practices have historically upheld white colonial and patriarchal regimes of knowledge and power. Rethinking and remaking the mechanics of representation to suit their own unique identities and subject positions, feminist artists and authors began to experiment with newly hybridized modes that subvert rigid generic boundaries and rules. This thesis examines the “auto-archival” work of filmmakers Michelle Citron, Margaret Stratton, and Nina Fonoroff, Chicana author Norma Cantú, and graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel, who reimagine and remake personal and family archives. Contextualized by the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston, the “fictional autoethnographic” strategies of filmmakers Cauleen Smith and Cheryl Dunye and authors Cantú and Laguna Pueblo writer Leslie Marmon Silko are seen to invent auto/biographical stories and collapse collective histories into single, folklore-inflected life narratives. Finally, in “gastrography,” a representational mode exemplified by the writing of Alice B. Toklas and Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor and the new media experiments of Michelle Citron, explorations of individual and collective identity are enacted through recipes and food narratives. These works are explored as invitations to “cook up” each of the authors’ subjectivity and identity. In each case, the imaginative and literally creative acts of feminist “Avant-folk” storytelling restores the stories of marginalized women to public attention and historical discourse, rectifying gaps in the representation of the communities to which they belong on their own terms.
My approach blends close readings of illustrative moving image and literary texts with scholarship from a variety of disciplines in order to investigate the ways in which different modes and media of expression are inextricably linked with self-construction, self-knowledge and self-presentation. This dissertation is indebted to Catherine Russell’s scholarship on experimental ethnography (1999) and archiveology (2018), as well as Leigh Gilmore’s feminist theories of women’s self-representation (1994). Finally, inspired by and taking my cue from the very artists whose work I explore, I have attempted, where possible, to create a text that is itself fluid, that resists imposing singular meanings, rigid generic boundaries, or monolithic definitions on texts that understand identity not as a stable entity but rather as multiple, even contradictory.


identifier: Beauchamp, Caroline  (2021) Gender and Extreme Metal: Understanding Gender Relations in the Montreal Extreme Metal Scene With Schippers' Gender Framework.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Extreme metal is a masculine space, yet more and more women join in. They face a contradiction: as women, they are expected to adopt feminine behaviours; however, they are part of a subculture that valorizes warrior masculinity. I sought to understand the gender expectations of the Montreal extreme metal scene and interpret the contradictions encountered by women in this scene with the help of Schippers’ (2007) theoretical framework on gender. To do so, I conducted 16 individual interviews with women and men who take part in the scene. This research fills a gap in the literature on gender that derives from Connell and Schippers’ writings and addresses issues that the field of metal studies has brushed over. I found that metal men are the “default” participants in the scene. They are expected to be fine music connoisseurs and even become musicians. In contrast, women’s presence is heterosexualized and attributed to a romantic or sexual interest in metal men. Women are suspected of being “poseuses” or groupies with no real interest in the music until proven otherwise. To become legitimate participants, they have to overcome those expectations and prove that they are worthy of being viewed through the prism of masculinity rather than femininity. They do so by proving their exceptionality through manhood acts and distancing themselves from other women. Despite their gender transgressions, women’s presence does not fundamentally question gender relations but reaffirms the overall primacy of masculinity over femininity.


identifier: Gomez Bonilla, Felipe  (2021) Björk and Michel Gondry’s Networked Authorship: The Music Video as a Mode of Post-Cinematic Practice and the Post-Colonial Subject as Minor Author.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis theorizes the 1990s music videos by Icelandic performer Björk and French director Michel Gondry as examples of post-cinematic practices contingent on a non-hierarchical distribu-tion of authorial agency and intention. Using the rubrics of minor literature and minor cinema as defined by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, this thesis asks: How can we desubjectify the aesthetic contributions which constitute the music video as a heterogeneous media form to reflect the collaborative creative processes associated with a post-cinematic condition? How can a collabora-tive and networked understanding of authorship in the music video still acknowledge the contribu-tions that minor subjects make to mainstream media forms through their political positioning? Breaking with the narrative and representational habits of classical cinema, HUMAN BEHAVIOUR (1993), ARMY OF ME (1995), ISOBEL (1995), BACHELORETTE (1997), AND JÓGA (1997) appropriate techniques from the avant-garde and reflect the non-linear structuring of data-base aesthetics. From this perspective, rather than focusing on a singular author as the definitive source of creative agency, this study will theorize authorship as a recursive, networked process of assemblage involving various elements of the music video (e.g., songs, audiovisual images, performances). As signifiers for the contribution of singers, filmmakers, producers, and actors, these compositional fragments consequently dictate the autopoetic structuring of the music video as a post-cinematic object. Accounting for the positioning of Björk as a post-colonial subject, this thesis will conclude by showing how Iceland, a nation often perceived as peripheral to Europe, consistently informs the representation of nature and technology in the artist’s audiovisual work. Through strategies of cultural hybridization, Björk reconciles the dichotomies between urban and rural, as well as local and global elements that underscore her oeuvre.


identifier: Cristian Oswaldo, Rodriguez Santiago  (2021) Timetable-based Routing in Fixed Schedule Dynamic Networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A fixed schedule dynamic network has a set of nodes (eg. vehicles or satellites) that move using a known schedule and trajectory, so that the connections between nodes in the network appear and disappear in a predictable manner. We study the problem of finding a foremost journey in such a network: given a query time, source and destination node, we find a temporal path that arrives at the earliest time at the destination. We give a new approach to the problem that uses a timetable sorted in order of the start time of connections, and describe three algorithms using this approach. We prove their correctness and give tight bounds on their worst-case time complexities.  We also show extensive experimental results that show that our new algorithms outperforms the previous best algorithm given in [21].


identifier: Moghrabi, Ibrahim  (2021) CEO Optimism and the Cost of Debt: Evidence from U.S. REITs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper investigates the impact of CEO optimism level on the cost of debt in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in the U.S. market. CEO optimism is measured by following Malmendier and Tate's (2005) approach using the average moneyness of vested options held by the CEO. Then using the spread between the yield of the bond at the end of every year following origination and the treasury rate with the same or closest time to maturity, the cost of debt is calculated. After controlling for other variables including fixed effects, firm and CEO characteristics, the results show that high(low) CEO optimism level conveys a markup of 31(13) basis points on average on the cost of debt encountered by REITs.


identifier: Boyle, Sheryl  (2020) Fragrant Walls and the Table of Delight: Sensory (re)construction as a way of knowing, the case of Thornbury Castle 1508-21.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Construction brings together ideas, experiences and practices from various crafts in a specific place and time to create a work of architecture. As a manifestation of a culture, architecture in turn influences our ideas, experiences and practices: we make our buildings and they in turn shape us. Investigating the relationship between building and artisanry in history can reveal the symbiotic relationship between making and knowing. This dissertation proposes sensory (re)construction as a way of knowing, drawing us as close to the experiences, practices, people and places of another time as possible, and creating an embodied understanding and representation of the setting, experiences and practices of the interconnected network of artisans in a construction site. Thornbury Castle built by Edward Stafford, the Third Duke of Buckingham (1478-1521) between 1508 and 1521, brought together many such artisans in one of the largest and wealthiest households in England, and yet aspects of the relation between the building and its materiality remain largely undocumented. What is left to us today is a building with unique workmanship as well as descriptions of objects made and used in the household as part of the Duke’s culture of consumption and display.
Framed by the 13 years that Thornbury functioned as a construction site, this dissertation approaches the building as an epistemic site – a place that informs and is informed by the continual process of making by masons, carpenters cooks, gardeners, painters, tailors alongside the Duke and his extended family. The dissertation reconstructs the work in three layers over the course of three chapters, with each chapter building one upon the next. In Chapter 1, I reconstruct the site setting using works of the pen - historical texts, notes, letters, chronicles and drawings. In Chapter 2, I use that setting to reconstruct several epistemic objects in the world of the early modern artisan and reveal their interconnections, including practices, materials and tools that demonstrate trading zones between them. In Chapter 3, I scaffold the two previous chapters to reconstruct practices which I then use to create a series of projective sensory (re)constructions captured in “fragrant walls” and a “table of delight.” The form of each project reveals the process and wit (an archaic term for the senses) which I share with the artisans of the early 16th century and include edibles in the form of sotelties (or entremets) to be consumed at the dissertation defense.


identifier: Alonso Mayor, Mariana  (2021) Behavioral Consequences of Disrupted Circadian Clock Function within the Mouse Striatum.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Daily rhythms are prominent in almost everything, from sleep/wake cycles, body temperature and hormone regulation to even cognition, motor coordination, attention and mood (McClung, 2007). Studies have shown that individuals with mood disorders and motor dysfunction exhibit alterations in the neural circuitry and neurochemistry in both the ventral and dorsal striatum (Del Donno et al., 2017) and recent research brought to the attention a potential involvement of the circadian system. There is evidence to suggest that the circadian clock gene Period2 may be implicated in the vulnerability and development of striatum-related illnesses ((Lamont et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2018). However, the majority of these findings present mixed results and the mechanisms through which the core clock gene may influence these behaviors is still not understood. Hence, our aim is to elucidate how a conditional knockout of Per2 in mood-and motor-related brain areas such as the striatum may contribute to circadian variation in striatum-related behaviors in male and female mice. Male and female mice of three representative genotypes: knockout (SKO), heterozygote (HET) and wild-type (WT), were used in a battery of behavioral tests to screen for striatum-related phenotypes. Animals were tested at two different time points (ZT2 or ZT14) for mood-related behaviors and ZT6 or ZT2 for motor function. Results indicated no differences in anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors across genotypes. However, SKO mice performed worse in the rotarod test in comparison to HET and WT mice, suggesting poorer motor coordination in mice where the circadian clock gene is conditionally knocked out from the striatum.


identifier: Bassal, Karine  (2021) Self-Study as an Artist Teaching in a Public Elementary School: Identifying the Gap and Locating the Bridge for the Uncertified Artist-Teacher.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, I use self-study as a method to examine my role and identity as an artist planning, teaching, and reflecting upon an art activity in two classes of a public elementary school.  The question I seek to answer is: How do I, as an experienced oil painter with very little teaching experience, bridge the gap between my current inner identity as a fine artist and the identity I need to assume to become an art educator in an elementary school classroom?  To carry out this qualitative self-study research, I gathered data through journals, self-interviews, and analytic memos which I then analysed and coded using grounded theory.  Interviews with experienced artist-teachers, conducted after completing the data collection, provided a solid analytical framework in support of my data analysis.  Through the process and challenges of data analysis, I discovered the value of following my instincts when I teach and the importance of consciously adopting a student-centered pedagogy in the classroom.


identifier: Whyte, Jesse  (2021) Forearm Skeletal Muscle Ultrasound Properties In Women With Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Breast cancer-related lymphedema affects 1 in 4 breast cancer survivors. Chronic lymphatic fluid accumulation in the affected limb is associated with skin and subcutaneous fat tissue characteristics; however, little is known in what manner skeletal muscle function and quality are altered in the affected limb.  We set out to determine the differences in muscle quality and handgrip strength between a group of women with stage 2 breast cancer-related lymphedema and healthy controls. Ultrasound data was recorded from hand and wrist extensor muscles on the dorsal forearm in the affected and unaffected arms of women diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer-related lymphedema and both arms from the healthy control group. The ultrasound data were converted into images where muscle thickness (MT) and muscle echo-intensity (MEI) were measured using computer software. We discovered that MT was not affected by the breast cancer-related lymphedema condition. However, handgrip strength (HGS) and indices of muscle quality (HGS/MT and HGS/MEI) are diminished, suggesting an increased amount of non-contractile (e.g., fibrotic) tissue alterations in the affected arm.


identifier: Raghubir, Ashley  (2021) The Reparative Imaginary in the Contemporary Afrofuturist Art of Mohau Modisakeng and Ayana V. Jackson.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines Black South African artist Mohau Modisakeng’s three-channel video Passage (2017) and Black American artist Ayana V. Jackson’s photographic self-portraiture series Take Me to the Water (2019) as contemporary Afrofuturist reimaginings of the Middle Passage of the Transatlantic slave trade. In this thesis, I draw on Trinidad-born poet and writer Dionne Brand’s concept of ancestral Black water, understandings of symbolic dress, and Black American poet and writer Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ notion of submerged perspectives to suggest that Modisakeng and Jackson foreground repair, or healing, in their Afrofuturist contemporary art. The artists’ reimaginings of the Middle Passage are examined in relation to the scholarship of Black geographies and women and gender studies scholar Katherine McKittrick and what I call the “reparative imaginary,” a framework that enables a reading of Passage and Take Me to the Water as works that hold the potential towards healing from intergenerational cultural and historical trauma. This framework is informed by British Ghanian writer and Afrofuturist theorist Kodwo Eshun’s conceptualization of chronopolitics, or Afrofuturist historical intervention, Black diaspora literature and culture scholar Christina Sharpe’s concepts of brutal and liberatory imaginations, and ethical considerations offered by Black American literature scholar and historian Saidiya Hartman and Black diaspora and culture studies scholar Rinaldo Walcott. Modisakeng and Jackson foreground submerged perspectives in their Afrofuturist reimaginings of the Middle Passage and in doing so imagine freedom, or an otherwise futurity, from increasing anti-Black racism and violence, for African or Black diasporic persons.


identifier: Yousefli, Zahra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4861-4664 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4861-4664>  (2021) Development of A Multi-Agent System for Automated Resource Allocation in Maintenance of Hospital Buildings.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Facility managers of hospitals face complex maintenance decisions as they address a multitude of maintenance requests in an environment of limited resources and segmented information. The complex, uncertain, and dynamic nature of the maintenance management environment is a source of concern to facility managers in hospitals due to unexpected failure of building components, the daily arrival of maintenance orders, and changes in related schedules.
Responding to a growing demand for maintenance, on one hand, and lack of proper maintenance management systems, on the other, has led to delays in repair and maintenance of the building components and systems in hospitals. Such delays could cause significant distress to patients and health-care personnel. In such circumstances, centralized systems become inadequate because of their top-down approach which lacks a feedback mechanism and ignores new information. Therefore, to address any change, centralized systems have to be reformulated making it impractical, short-sighted, and problematic to adopt them in hospitals. As such, the use of centralized systems can lead to financial losses and dissatisfaction of patients. It, therefore, becomes necessary to establish a distributed maintenance management system to support the decision-making process of facility managers.
To address the issues stated above, this thesis presents three newly developed automated models (1) a computer resource allocation model for integrating fragmented maintenance information; (2) two simulation models that represent the dynamic environment of maintenance resource allocation; and (3) a Simulation-Based Optimization (SBO) model for resource allocation that minimizes the down-time of building components being considered for maintenance.
Accordingly, this research initially focuses on the maintenance workflow and resource allocation issues pertinent to hospitals. A distributed system is developed to integrate segmented information at different levels of maintenance management with the aim of minimizing maintenance delays in hospital buildings. Multi-Agent Facility Management System (MAFMS) is conceptually designed as a distributed interactive system. This design employed Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams that illustrate the specific agents of the system and how these agents interact with each other.
Two simulation models are then developed to demonstrate the benefits of the developed method in reducing the response time to maintenance requests. The developed simulation models consist of two components:  a workflow process model and Resource Allocation System (RAS). A Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is used to simulate the maintenance process flow while a Multi-Agent System (MAS) is used to simulate the process of allocating resources for maintenance activities in hospital buildings. The workflow process is simulated as a DES. The workflow process contains order registration, arrangement, and maintenance tasks distribution (orders). For the RAS component, a Multi-Agent Resource Allocation Simulation (MARAS) is developed to simulate different resource allocation scenarios accounting for interactions among various agents (decision-makers) in the maintenance process. A case example is presented to demonstrate the essential features of the developed method. Maintenance data of a hospital building is used to initiate the multi-agent simulation for workflow management process. The simulation results show the benefits of the developed method, to reduce the response time to maintenance requests. Sensitivity analysis method is used to validate the simulation model.
Finally, the third model, i.e. the SBO model, is developed using OptQuest. This model is proposed to optimize the use of limited resources and reduce the down-time of building services components. The SBO model is validated using the sensitivity analysis method.


identifier: Dumont-Bergeron, Adèle  (2021) Barricades.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Barricades

abstract: This play reunites three generations of women, Pat (79), Elaine (52), and Julia (23), in the family house during an ice storm. Julia, who lives with her father, visits her mother for the first time in months with the news that her father is getting remarried. Lonely and bitter, Elaine is desperate to reconnect with her daughter and control her happiness. Pat’s presence appeases this dynamic, until she reveals her own secret reason for staying at the house. As they spend time together playing a game called Barricades, the three women grapple with the choices they made and the ones they will make. “The past is the past, and the future is the future,” Pat says, but is it? Grounded in questions of identity, desire, and betrayal, the narrative explores the complexity of memories and human relationships. Written with a tinge of humour, the work is influenced by Wendy Wasserstein’s plays and realistic theatre and portrays three complicated women in 2020.


identifier: Currie-Williams, Kelann  (2021) Prolonging the Afterimage: Looking at and Talking about Photographs of Black Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis takes as its focus Black Montreal’s history of image-making and image preservation. Engaging primarily with snapshot and vernacular images taken between the 1940s-1980s, this research charts how photography has functioned as an integral force in the formation and production of selfhood, community, and a sense of belonging as well as a practice of resistance and of affirming visibility for Black Montrealers. Guided by the question of whether photography and oral history could be used in tandem to come into encounter with the minor histories and everyday stories of Montreal’s Black communities, this thesis comprised of conducting oral history photo-interviews with Black Montrealers and studying several personal collections, Black community-oriented and institutional photographic archives. The interdisciplinary approach of blending of visual culture and oral history speaks directly to the interwovenness and inseparability of photography and orality which is made most evident through the photographs that are included within this research. Moreover, the process of looking, touching, and talking about served to further contextualize the photographs within personal and archival collections, share information regarding practices of vernacular image-making and preservation in black communities in Montreal, as well as highlight the dynamic relationship that exists between memory, photography, orality, and affect.


identifier: Greenway, Jonathan  (2021) Using Play Scripts for Therapeutic Theatre Interventions: A Theoretical Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This paper aims to provide a basis for proposed interventions using play scripts within a therapeutic theatre model. The present study hopes to identify a gap in the uses of existing professional play scripts for therapeutic theatre, and instead, finds much literature emphasizing devised therapeutic theatre. The scope of the paper aims to propose therapeutic theatre interventions that use scripts which focus on themes addressing systemic oppression. Additionally, regarding scope, the three plays selected for the proposed interventions deal with themes of systemic oppression written and produced in Canada. The evaluation of existing literature that defines therapeutic theatre and identifies differences between devised therapeutic theatre and therapeutic theatre that uses pre-existing plays is the first point of interest in the literature review. Following, a review of drama therapists and theatre practitioners’ essays are evaluated for coming to a concrete rationale for what can be constituted as systemic oppression. The methodology aims to support an intervention research approach (Fraser ad Galinsky, 2010), outlines the selection criteria for the selected plays, and relates them to the interventions’ specific goals following Phil Jones’ drama therapy core processes (2007). The proposed interventions will be justified by the theoretical analysis and can be applied/adapted by drama therapists wishing to engage in existing play scripts for therapeutic theatre to tackle themes of systemic oppression their clients may face. The paper points to future work, to create a growing catalogue of similar interventions that can expand on existing literature which use play scripts in therapeutic theatre to tackle a wide array of therapeutic themes. These proposed interventions at present are untested and represent a strictly theoretical analysis of what could be possible using this approach.


identifier: Jubin, Catherine  (2021) Exploring Luxury in America: Can Tocqueville provide new paths to understanding American consumers’ motivations and attitudes?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
While the luxury industry is one where leading brands have truly a global reach, most research agree that the words typically defining luxury for consumers across markets are: quality, status and pleasure. Therefore, it is crucial for researchers and marketers to assess what these words really mean for consumers in different markets, which in turn implies diving into their culture. The American market being the second largest one globally, my research focused on understanding the notions of status and pleasure within the American cultural context, paying particular attention to the young generations who represent the future of this segment.

Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America”, has been praised ever since its publication in the nineteenth century as a reference for those willing to approach the American culture. His work helps to understand why the quest for status is so important to Americans and also how the luxury offer has structured itself in the United States, whereas inspiring key questions about status and pleasure. Outlining the sources of the American Dream, Tocqueville's analyses make it possible to assess its evolution as well as its relevance to contemporary America, including to younger generations. Moreover, my research highlights the very strong relationship between pleasure derived from luxury and the need for status it fulfills; it also shows that younger generations, especially Millennials are quite motivated by luxury.


identifier: Croteau, Marion  (2021) Green Investments in a Real Estate Context and How it Affects Investment Horizon.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
There is an ongoing debate about the financial outcomes of investing in green properties and any associated considerations on operating measures of profitability and/or attractiveness of such investments. Building on preview literature, we investigate the impact of the level of greenness of a given REIT portfolio over time and the relationship with the investment horizon. Additionally, we analyzed the presence of women on the board and the association with the portfolio’s level of greenness.

	This paper focus on two main questions such as: Does green property investment is characterized by a longer investment horizon? Statistically significant at 5% we found that larger the proportion to green investment in a REIT portfolio is, longer the duration of the investment will be. The second central question is associated with gender presence. Does the level of green percentage in a given REIT portfolio is positively associated with the presence of women on the board? Statistically significant at 5% we found that the presence of at least one woman on a board is positively associated with a higher presence of green investments in a portfolio.


identifier: Pérez Rabelo, Patricia  (2021) Collaborative Matter: Agency and Materiality in Barragán's Casa Estudio.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Although materials are well-understood as a central component in a building's construction, they
seldom are discussed as collaborators in that construction. Instead, they take the place of the raw
and inert matter through which the architect expresses their vision. To better situate materials as
collaborators, this thesis focuses on Casa Estudio Luis Barragán, the home and studio of late
Mexican architect Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín (1902-1988), to investigate how particular materials
are active participants in the process of construction. My argument follows a New Materialist
framework that allows me to focus in-depth on some of the relationships between materials,
people, and plants that comprise Casa Estudio. This method shifts attention away from the architect
as the sole authorial figure behind its edification and uncovers the feminist, postcolonial, and
ecocritical narratives embedded in Casa Estudio, which account for the role of human-nonhuman
collaboration in the building process. Importantly, this thesis argues that the building's creation
was possible through the collaboration between the different actors that have interfaced with
Casa Estudio and Barragán to ultimately contend that architecture is a collaborative process that
extends beyond the architect.


identifier: Messer, Karen  (2021) Relational Space: An Entangled Exploration of Office Space Research.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Drawing on interdisciplinary concepts of physical space as a way of understanding and framing organizational experience, this study explores the aesthetic, sensory, and embodied relationships between the staff of a not-for-profit, youth health organization (Head & Hands) and the day-to-day office encounters of its staff members during a significant relocation. This period of change, which increased the staff’s interaction and awareness of the office environment, offered a unique glimpse into the transformative impact of physical space on the organization. By highlighting everyday moments between the staff and the space, a rich picture of their experience emerged through nuanced emotions, tacit knowledge, and aesthetic understanding. Despite consistent interest in the affective qualities of physical space, the entwined nature of the social and the material is noticeably lacking in organizational studies, where research on space is often presented in objective or quantitative terms. This paper examines possible reasons for that absence and explores some potential ways forward. Key to future research is the ontological positioning of space as an inseparable and active participant in the organization. Framing space as something central and entangled frees it from objective, external binaries by positioning it alongside, and possibly within, the social, subjective sphere. This ontological shift creates an emplaced, relational, and more-than-human understanding within which to frame the emotional, sensory, and atmospheric experiences that happen within the office.


identifier: Wang, Yan  (2021) Optimal Design of Filterless Optical Networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Filterless optical network has been widely used in recent years. The incentive of this technology is only the passive equipment will be used, which requires no electricity. By using this technology, not only the cost reductions, but also the environment preservation will be achieved.

In literature, a lot of researchers studied the design of filterless optical network. But due to the complexity and scalability limits of this problem, most of the works are based on heuristic or meta-heuristic methods. We were seeking exact solutions to achieve the design of filterless optical networks.

First we proposed a one step solution scheme, which combines tree decomposition and network provisioning, i.e.,routing and wavelength assignment within a single mathematical model, called CG_FOP. We propose a decomposition with two different sub-problems, which are solved alternately, in order to design an exact solution scheme. The first sub-problem generates filterless sub-nets while the second deals with their wavelength allocation.

Due to the complexity of the problem, significant time will be consumed if applied our model on a large and more connected network. In order to improve the performance, we proposed Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition model, called DW_FOP in which the sub-problem consists in generating a potential filterless optical sub-network, with a directed tree topology. In this new model, single pricing problem was formed which compute the network provisioning along with wavelength assignment together. In this way, master problem would be simplified, no longer contains complicated logic to build conflicts among requests. With this approach, computation time significantly reduced.

To further improve the design, we proposed a nested column generation model, called NCG_FOP, in order to speed up the solution process. We break down the solution into two level of pricing, the upper level pricing computes selected paths which assigned to granted requests, network provisioning and wavelength assignment for granted requests. The upper level pricing itself is a column generation process, which includes a lower level pricing generated improved path for each granted requests.


identifier: El-Derhalli, Hassnaa  (2021) Design of Stochastic Computing Architectures using Integrated Optics.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Approximate computing (AC) is an emerging computing approach that allows to trade off design energy efficiency with computing accuracy. It targets error resilient applications, such as image processing, where energy consumption is of major concern. Stochastic computing (SC) is an approximate computing paradigm that leads to energy efficient and reduced hardware complexity designs. In this approach, data is represented as probabilities in bit streams format. The main drawback of this computing paradigm is the intrinsic serial processing of bit streams, which negatively impacts the processing time. Nanophotonics technology is characterized by high bandwidth and high signals propagation speed, which has the potential to support the electrical domain in computations to speed up the processing rate. The major issues in optical computing (OC) remain the large size of silicon photonics devices, which impact the design scalability. In this thesis, we propose, for the first time, an optical stochastic computing (OSC) approach, where we aim to design SC architectures using integrated optics. For this purpose, we propose a methodology that has libraries for optical processing and interfaces, e.g., bit stream generator. We design all-optical gates for the computation and develop transmission models for the architectures. The methodology allows for design space exploration of technological and system-level parameters to optimize design performance, i.e., energy efficiency, computing accuracy, and latency, for the targeted application. This exploration leads to multiple design options that satisfy different design requirements for the selected application.

The optical processing libraries include designing a polynomial architecture that can execute any arbitrary single input function. We explore the design parameters by implementing a Gamma correction application for image processing. Results show a 4.5x increase in the errors, which leads to 47x energy saving and 16x faster processing speed. We propose a reconfigurable polynomial architecture to adapt design order at run-time. The design allows the execution of high order polynomial functions for better accuracy or multiple low order functions to increase throughput and energy efficiency. Finally, we propose the design of combinational filters. The purpose is to investigate the design of cascaded gates architectures using photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavities. We use this device to design a Sobel edge detection filter for image processing. The resulting architecture shows 0.85nJ/pixel energy consumption and 51.2ns/pixel processing time. The optical interface libraries include designing different architectures of stochastic number generators (SNG) that are either electrical-optical or all-optical to generate the bit streams. We compare these SNGs in terms of computing accuracy and energy efficiency. The results show that all implementations can lead to the same level of computing accuracy. Moreover, using an all-optical SNG to design a fully optical 8-bit adder results in 98% reduction in hardware complexity and 70% energy saving compared to a conventional optical design.


identifier: Nemade, Ronak Vivek  (2021) Analysis and Design of Methods for Condition Monitoring of Capacitors in Multilevel Converters.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Multi-level converters are an important class of power electronics based systems that enable seamless conversion of electrical power from one form to another. Due to its distinct merits, it finds a vast scope of application in the fields such as renewable energy, electrical power transmission, adjustable speed drives, uninterrupted power supplies and custom power devices. These merits often come at a cost of increased complexity, higher number of power semiconductor devices and higher number of energy storage elements. Multi-level converters generates staircase waveform by use of high density capacitor banks. These capacitor banks are often subject to failure due to vaporization of electrolyte forming weakest link in reliability context. This thesis addresses reliability issue by proposing an online condition monitoring method for a three-level neutral point clamped multi-level converter which can be easily integrated with existing control methods. The proposed method provides an online estimate of existing capacitance in DC-link and helps increase in reliability in terms of preventive maintenance. The validity of proposed technique is obtained by verification of the method on a 3KVA laboratory developed experimental prototype. It also addresses reliability by developing tool in terms of analytical expressions which can be used as a ready reckoner for proper design of capacitor bank employed in five-level active neutral point clamped multi-level converter. Results from this developed tool are quantitatively verified with the results obtained from converter models developed over MATLAB Simulink environment confirming their accuracy.


identifier: Allen-Vuillet, Yannick  (2021) Towards a Speculative Approach of Language Creation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Towards a Speculative Approach of Language Creation is a research-creation project involved in experimenting with practices of conlang as tool for speculating on how language can move differently. Looking at the field of constructed languages, its history and current practices, I establish how its alignment with the methods of scientific linguistics significantly limits the creative potential of sign-body encounters.  By going beyond the set of parameters framing what a natural language should be and what characterize a valid syntactic enunciation, I question the enforcement of rigorous method and reproducible patterns as premises for valuable practices. Building on this perspective shift in language’s founding principles, this encounter between conlang and philosophy is further extended into the field of art. A remodelling of the theoretical framework of the artistic is necessary to open conlanging activities to a plastic treatment of language. This reorganisation of what it means to create also demands an alteration of key notions such object, time and participation. True to an approach on research-creation inherited from process philosophy, I use this reconfiguration of the domains of language construction and art to launch a series of plastic experimentations. These investigations are presented in this thesis as an inventory of techniques, studying how language reverberates and is reinvented anew across a plurality of materialities.


identifier: McElroy, Kerry  (2021) Class Acts: A Sociocultural History of Women, Labour, and Migration in Hollywood.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This project takes a gender-specific and sociological approach to the figure of the actress in Hollywood. Steeped in interdisciplinarity, it draws on cultural history, sociology, anthropology, performance studies, psychology, and feminist theory. The overall purpose is to examine Hollywood as a classed sociocultural system based on labor and sexual exploitation. The project begins with a survey of class within American culture, querying its place in the American Dream and in westward migration. From such a vantage point, the study asserts that women functioned as second-class citizens within the economic and social structure of the studios. The star system, which reflects Hollywood's hierarchical, male-centred organization, offered many actresses aspirational careers through the illusion of glamour, while in reality offering them ephemeral careers and exploitative labour conditions. Within such a conceptualisation of women as a class, the mistreatments of women who were star actresses are spotlighted, while they are also clearly situated upon a continuum of misogyny and precarity with women screenwriters, extras, and other employees. The project depends heavily on primary sources and includes testimonies from actresses and other women in Hollywood, especially found in memoirs and interviews. Such first-person accounts bolster the argument that within classical Hollywood, glamour and publicity served as twin cudgels of industrial and social control, working under management corruption, criminality, and sexual abuse. Within this context, the studios established an authoritarian and dehumanised working space for women, obscured by star discourse and publicity, and prone to all manner of abuse, exploitation, and disappearance. Finally, the project closes by raising questions of ethical imperatives towards historiographic justice, asserting that if the change sought by MeToo/Time's Up since 2017 is to solidify, the precise historical roots of today's system must be reckoned with first.


identifier: Grasso, Stéphane  (2021) Migrant Sea: Developing new narrative models for covering Sub-Saharan migration to Europe.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The current mainstream news frame of migration to Europe is predicated on a long-held narrative of Western superiority and exceptionalism that privileges Western voices, discourses and optics over African ones, resulting in limited context, Euro-centric coverage and a deficiency of migrant voices, stories and ideas.
As a result, the dominant Western bias inevitably shapes the practices, optics and content of news outlets worldwide and migration to Europe is generally framed as a crisis of migration flows for the West – threatening its cultural and economic stability – as opposed to a global humanitarian crisis for millions from the ‘non-West’ (Gülsah Çapan, 2018). Furthermore, I posit that it is the homogenous, sensationalized, truncated and repetitive news coverage of migration - and not merely its distressing content - has created a ‘compassion fatigue’ among audiences, further dehumanizing and devaluing migrant voices and perspectives.
As such, the essay portion of this research-creation project is (1) an overview of Western coverage of Sub-Saharan migration since its peak in 2015, (2) a synthesis of the resulting mainstream narrative drawing from postmodern and transformative interpretative frameworks, (3) a proposal of alternative narrative models and journalistic methods and practices based on literature research, (4) a reflection on the effects of the narrative that I observed during the production of my creation project, (5) a reflection on the application of my proposed practices in the field; and (6) an analysis of my research-creation project –based on my initial literature research (points 1 – 3) – that theorizes new models for more complex, ethical and engaging coverage of migration to Europe.
The accompanying Migrant Sea creation project is both an experiment in applying alternative methods and practices in the field and an inclusive metanarrative that integrates approaches from both documentary and journalism to better engage a global audience. This project finds that issues of Western media bias, discursive supremacy and audience disengagement from the narrative of migration can be addressed through (1) the development of counter-narrative models that highlight migrant voices, stories and ideas and contextualize migration as a complex global phenomenon requiring decolonized news frames and paradigms; (2) ethical, inclusive journalistic practices that foster migrant agency, collaboration and creation of content that respectfully and authentically explores their realities from their points of view; and (3) utilizing innovative forms of multimedia production and storytelling to re-engage an audience wary of past coverage.
These findings not only imply that equitable and diverse reform of the mainstream narrative of migration is possible but that the tools for it already exist in current Western journalistic and documentary standards, methods, values, and practices. What stands in the way of such reform is a fundamental failure to recognize the bias and privilege inherent to Western news coverage and its subsequent impact on the global media narrative, policy, and the lives of millions journeying across deadly desert and sea to reach Europe.


identifier: Werner, Leah Barrett  (2021) When stories change our worlds: An ethnography of basic income in Lindsay, Ontario.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Based on 3 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Lindsay, Ontario, this thesis explores personal and collective narratives about basic income in the context of the Ontario basic income pilot project that ran in three municipalities in the province from 2018-2019. The pilot project reflected a novel approach to poverty reduction in the province in that it marked a departure from existing means-tested social assistance programs, until it was cancelled prematurely by the new Ontario provincial government. Using the methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with former basic income recipients and advocates, the thesis discusses the ways in which basic income captured the imagination of recipients, long-time advocates, and the larger community within Lindsay. It finds that the telling and sharing of hopeful and positive stories were central both to the way basic income was expressed within the community, and to the advocacy work done around it, which sought to challenge long-standing narratives about poverty and work. Finally, it suggests that basic income provided a new narrative framework through which participants in the projects and advocates alike began to imagine a different, and better, future.


identifier: Oliver, Joshua  (2021) Saccharomyces cerevisiae share extracellular vesicles for protection from heat stress.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Proteostasis is partly dependent on quality control mechanisms to detect unfolded proteins and either refold or degrade them. These pathways clear toxic unfolded protein aggregates that appear during aging or under stress for cell survival. However, recent studies suggest that survival of cell populations also rely on extracellular vesicles (EVs) shared under proteotoxic stress. EVs are nanosized lipid membrane-bound carriers of complex biomolecules thought to mediate intercellular communication underlying diverse physiology in humans and across phyla. However, their contributions to proteostasis remain unclear.
	Given that the molecular machinery underlying EV biogenesis is conserved in all eukaryotes, I reasoned that Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) may serve as a simple model to better understand how EVs may circumvent proteotoxicity in molecular detail. I first optimized methods for isolating and characterizing EVs from yeast by tracking GFP-tagged Bro1, the yeast homolog of ALIX, an established EV biomarker in humans. Using fluorescence microscopy, I show that yeast cells readily share EVs during mild heat stress, and characterize morphology, size and protein content using, scanning probe microscopy, dynamic light scattering and mass spectrometry. Adding these isolated EVs to naïve (unstressed) cells protects them from lethal heat stress. This effect is lost when EVs were collected during osmotic stress or from cells lacking HSC82 or SSA2, genes encoding protein chaperones that are abundant in EVs. I conclude that yeast share EVs containing protein chaperones during heat stress to protect against proteotoxicity for survival, and speculate that EVs may help coordinate proteostasis between cells in all organisms.


identifier: Barcomb, Michael  (2021) Teachers as Customizers of CALL Resources: An approach to teacher developed digital L2 learning materials.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In second language (L2) teaching, instructors suddenly find themselves in an unprecedented situation where they need to quickly learn to teach with digital resources (Oskoz & Smith, 2020), regardless of their prior experiences with technology. Though COVID-19 has accelerated this process, it had already been well documented that language teachers were struggling with overcoming the anxiety associated with teaching with technology (e.g., Kessler, 2010; Son, 2018). Given the immediate need for L2 teachers to develop computer assisted language learning (CALL) resources for their students to use, they are likely to remain anxious or confused about how to achieve this without an approach to guide them. Therefore, an approach to CALL customization is needed in order to: (1) enable L2 teachers to conceptualize and develop their own technology-enhanced materials, based on their time, resources, and comfort with technology; and (2) afford these teachers’ students a variety of ways to use the target language in interactions with and through technology, in digitally-facilitated exchanges. To this end, the three interconnected manuscripts in this dissertation aim to: (1) propose an approach that recognizes teachers as customizers of CALL resources directed at stimulating L2 use, based on their expertise and comfort with technology (manuscript A); (2) investigate the effect that materials made according to this approach have on the development of L2 pronunciation (manuscript B); and (3) assess the implementation of the proposed approach from a pre-service teacher’s perspective (manuscript C). The data from manuscript B support that the customization of CALL resources can contribute to L2 learning, while the data from manuscript C show that teachers can use the proposed approach to become aware of their abilities in CALL, in addition to customizing a wide range of CALL resources.


identifier: Rajpurohit, Apoorva  (2021) What Happened to Shopping Center Foot Traffic in Pandemic World? The Role of Socio-Demographics and Transport Modes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail sector, already dealt a severe blow by the boom of online retailers was brought to its knees as a result of social distancing regulations and consumer shifts. It can be considered one of the hardest-hit sectors. In this thesis, we performed a comparative study to analyze consumer foot traffic to over 1,000 shopping centers during the pre-pandemic (2018-2019) and the pandemic period (2020). Our study contributes to the research on the economic consequences of epidemics and pandemics. Specifically, we explore two central research questions: 1) how did trade area characteristics such as trade area size, socio-demographics, and transport modes affect consumer foot traffic before and during the COVID-19 pandemic? 2) What moderating effects did social distancing exert upon the consumer foot traffic through interaction with core trading area characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic? Our observation demonstrates significant drops in foot traffic as social distancing intensifies, the varying effects of trade area attributes before and during the pandemic, and the moderating effect various levels of social distancing had on trade area characteristics. In summary, this work aims to create a foundation for further work to understand the impact of the pandemic on the retail sector. We propose that government officials and retail managers need to pay great attention to trade area characteristics such as socio-demographics and transport modes for better response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and preparation for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.


identifier: Kapoor, Paras  (2021) StarGAN-v2 compression using knowledge distillation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Image-to-image translation is used in a broad variety of machine vision and computer graphics applications. These involve mapping grey-scale images to RGB images, deblurring of images, style transfer, transfiguring objects, to name a couple. In addressing complex image-to-image translation issues, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are at the forefront. StarGAN-v2 is a state of the art method for multi-modal multi-domain image-to-image translation that produces different images from a single input image over multiple domains. However, at a parameter count of more than 50M, StarGAN-v2 has a computation bottleneck and consumes more than 60G MACs (Multiply-Accumulate Operations to calculatecomputation expense, 1 MAC = 2 FLOPs) to create one 256×256 image, preventing its widespread adoption. This thesis focuses on the task of compressing StarGAN-v2 using knowledge distillation. Using depthwise separable convolutional layers and reduced channels for intermediate layers, we develop efficient architectures for different StarGAN-v2 modules. In a GAN mini-max optimization environment, the efficient networks are trained with a combination of different distillation losses along with the original objective of StarGAN-v2. Without losing image quality, we reduce the size of the original framework by more than 20× and the computation requirement by more than 5×. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by experiments on CelebA-HQ and AFHQ datasets.


identifier: Berndt, Victoria  (2021) The Fan-Oriented Work: Anime Fan Culture as Narrative in North American Media.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Japanese animation, popularly referred to as ‘anime’, has recently experienced a shift in North American consumer contexts from its initial scarcity in overseas markets to its overwhelming presence online and in physical spaces. With streaming services such as Crunchyroll (an anime-specific streaming service) and Netflix’s selection of anime increasing its availability outside of Japan over the past decade, North American viewers are now able to interact with anime through heavily connected digital landscapes (Annett 6). As a result of this globalized viewership, an emergent subgenre of anime has formed, which I term “anime fan-oriented works.” In such works, North American anime fans become the target audience of North American-created material catering to anime fan cultures and experiences. Removed from the distribution cycle of anime content that originates from Japan, anime fan-oriented works divert the media flow (Leonard 299) by specifically addressing the North American anime fan through their own contexts. Using two web series as case studies: Anime Crimes Division (RocketJump, Crunchyroll, 2017-) and Neo Yokio (Netflix, Production I.G., Studio Deen, 2017-2018), I investigate the variety of approaches that the anime fan-oriented work can utilize in order to appeal to the dual media literacies of both the anime fan and North American, paying attention to the geographic, cultural, and narrative implications that help separate the anime fan-oriented work as a unique development in global media cultures.


identifier: Natarajan, Balaji Kannappan  (2021) Optimization of the Throughput of a NOMA System.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In an era of Internet of Things (IoT), new services are expected to generate heterogeneous traffic that involves both human-to-human and machine type communications (MTC). There will be MTC services that require massive connectivity, higher throughput, and low latency. 5G networks are under development to meet the needs of MTC. Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) has currently gained a traction in 5G for the realization of MTC. NOMA enables simultaneous utilization of resources by multiple users.  This thesis considers Power Domain NOMA (PD-NOMA) among other variations for uplink communications. In PD-NOMA, users transmit signals simultaneously at pre-determined receive power levels. The base station decodes the signals using Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) technique starting from highest power level. Each decoded signal is subtracted from the received signal to enable decoding of the next higher power signal. The decoding continues until a collision is detected at a power level. The signals at that power level as well as signals transmitted at the lower power levels cannot be decoded. The previous work on PD-NOMA assumed uniform user access to the system power levels. This thesis considers random non-uniform selection of power levels by the users.
The system model under consideration assumes that the new packets to be transmitted arrive according to a Poisson process and the time axis slotted. As a user may have only a single packet to be transmitted during any slot,  each new packet is assumed to be generated by a different user. We consider two packet service strategies which are with and without packet loss.
In the packet loss service strategy, a packet can only be transmitted once, and packet is lost if that transmission is not successful. We determine the throughput of the system and then determine the optimal user access probabilities to the power levels that maximizes the throughput. We also determine the receive power levels for SIC as a function of the Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR). Numerical results show that the optimal access probabilities are non-uniform, and they are  a function of packet arrival rates. Further, in uniform access, the throughput of the system drops to zero at higher power levels whereas, in optimal non-uniform choice, the system maintains a non-zero throughput. We also consider the case that the users may choose not to transmit their packets to reduce the collisions in the system. The packets that are not transmitted, are lost, however the system benefits from reduced collisions. Numerical results show that the optional transmission of packets achieves the same maximum throughput as compulsory packet transmission, but the throughput does not decrease with increasing packet arrival rate.
	In the service strategy without packet loss, a user will keep transmitting a packet until it is successfully received by the base station. We derive the Probability Generating Function  (PGF) of the distribution of the number of packets in the system at the steady-state by imbedding a homogenous Markov chain at the end of the slots. We determine enough number of equations to solve for the unknowns in the PGF. Then, we obtain the mean packet delay from the PGF of the number of packets in the system through application of the Little’s result. Mean packet delay is a function of the user access probabilities to the power levels. We show how to determine the optimal access probabilities both for optional and non-optional transmission of a packet during a slot.  We plot the mean packet delay as a function of the packet arrival rate for optimal user access probabilities both for optional and non-optional packet transmission, as well as for uniform choice of power levels. The numerical results show that the optimal access with optional transmission results in lowest mean packet delay and therefore in highest throughput.


identifier: Jeong, Yunseo  (2021) The impact of autonomous vehicles on highway tunnel work zones.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the transition step to the near future where autonomous vehicles fill the highways, the autonomous vehicles’ successful implementation counts on knowledge about their interaction with conventional vehicles. Due to the lack of numbers of the autonomous vehicles on roadways, many transportation professionals depend on simulations in order to examine the coexistence of both vehicle types and their interaction in the circumstance of higher market penetration rates of the autonomous vehicles. In this study, VISSIM microscopic simulator is used for inspecting the autonomous vehicles interactions and assessing their impacts on traffic stream. A case study that evaluates the effects on vehicles throughput, delay, queue length, and safety at the highway work zone merging area is investigated. The simulation was generated the proximity of the Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine tunnel, which connects Boucherville and Montréal island. To simulate coexist periods, the autonomous vehicles were put into the simulation with different penetration rates starting at 20% and increasing 20% for each scenario until reaching 80% of the rates of the autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, the safety impact of the autonomous vehicles in the matter of conflicts was studied using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). The simulation results showed that the tunnel work zone’s capacity per lane was increased when CAVs were added to the simulation. The average vehicle delay did not improve a low CAV penetration rates. However, as CAVs account for more than 40% of the total passenger vehicles, the vehicle delay improved. The simulated model also showed that the average queue length increased with the increase of CAV in the traffic stream. Nonetheless, the conflict analysis results proved that CAVs can improve overall traffic safety at the work zone.


identifier: Hamzeh, Layane  (2021) seismic performance of reinforced masonry shear walls with different masonry boundary element configurations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Reinforced masonry (RM) shear walls are commonly used as a seismic force-resisting system (SFRS) in low and mid-rise buildings. Considerable progress has been made on the seismic performance of reinforced masonry shear walls with masonry boundary elements (RMSW+BEs). The integration of masonry boundary elements at the wall end zones of RM shear walls showed an enhancement in the lateral performance and curvature ductility compared to that of rectangular RM shear walls. The addition of masonry boundary elements increases the stability of the compression zone and preserves the flexural strength of the wall. This further increases the ductility of the walls, which in turn, increases the ductility modification factor of the wall that reduces the earthquake design load and thus achieves more economical masonry buildings. The research work outlined herein contributes to the understanding of the seismic behaviour and enhance the overall structural performance and competitiveness of RMSW+BEs.
The main objective of this research study is to investigate the seismic behaviour of RMSW+BEs, highlight the ability of boundary elements to enhance the seismic performance of reinforced masonry buildings with RMSW+BEs, and hence, provide the necessary data to support the recent codification of this system in masonry design codes (TMS 402/602 and CSA S304). In this study, seventy full-scale fully grouted flexure dominated reinforced masonry shear walls with C-shaped boundary elements are numerically modelled under reversed cyclic quasi-static lateral loading and constant axial load. The key design detailing parameters used to investigate the seismic performance of the studied walls are the type of reinforcement (steel and GFRP), the boundary element length, and vertical reinforcement ratio in the boundary element, transverse hoop spacing, aspect ratio, and axial stress. The overall performance of each wall is examined in terms of hysteretic response, strength capacity, level of deformation, stiffness degradation, effective stiffness, and response modification factor. Validated and calibrated macro-modelling approaches were developed and utilized to simulate the nonlinear in-plane response of the RMSW+BEs.
The obtained results demonstrated that decreasing the transverse hoop spacing in the masonry boundary element enhanced the wall’s lateral load and displacement, indicating the effectiveness of confining the masonry boundary element core in delaying failure. Besides, increasing the masonry boundary element’s length and vertical reinforcement ratio in the boundary element resulted in a significant increase in the lateral strength and displacement of the walls. Moreover, higher ductility related modification factor, Rd, values were suggested for steel-reinforced walls that could reduce the seismic demand on masonry buildings. The value Rd =3 for ductile walls specified by the Canadian standard CSA S304 (2014) seems to be conservative if adopted for this wall type. In addition, fragility curves at different damage states were developed according to the FEMA P-58 methodology, which can be adopted in future performance-based seismic design approaches. Furthermore, this study analyzed the experimental results of previously tested forty-three fully grouted flexure-dominated rectangular RMSWs under quasi-static cyclic loading that are available in the literature. An equation for the modified section reduction factor for the effective stiffness for both the Canadian and the American masonry standards was proposed using linear regression, taking into consideration the effect of axial stress, vertical and horizontal reinforcement ratios. The force-based design parameters in terms of seismic force response modification factor and deflection amplification factor were assessed, and refined values were suggested to be implemented in future design codes. The numerical and analytical findings in this research are expected to facilitate the practical implementation of RM shear walls with masonry boundary elements as a practical and competitive SFRS in the future masonry design standards.


identifier: Islam, Md. Shariful  (2020) On the Use of Software Tracing and Boolean Combination of Ensemble Classifiers to Support Software Reliability and Security Tasks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis, we propose an approach that relies on Boolean combination of multiple one-class classification methods based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), which are pruned using weighted Kappa coefficient to select and combine accurate and diverse classifiers. Our approach, called WPIBC (Weighted Pruning Iterative Boolean Combination) works in three phases. The first phase selects a subset of the available base diverse soft classifiers by pruning all the redundant soft classifiers based on a weighted version of Cohen’s kappa measure of agreement. The second phase selects a subset of diverse and accurate crisp classifiers from the base soft classifiers (selected in Phase1) based on the unweighted kappa measure. The selected complementary crisp classifiers are then combined in the final phase using Boolean combinations. We apply the proposed approach to two important problems in software security and reliability: The detection of system anomalies and the prediction of the reassignment of bug report fields.
Detecting system anomalies at run-time is a critical component of system reliability and security. Studies in this area focus mainly on the effectiveness of the proposed approaches -the ability to detect anomalies with high accuracy. Less attention was given to false alarm and efficiency. Although ensemble approaches for the detection of anomalies that use Boolean combination of classifier decisions have been shown to be useful in reducing the false alarm rate over that of a single classifier, existing methods rely on an exponential number of combinations making them impractical even for a small number of classifiers. Our approach is not only able to maintain and even improve the accuracy of existing Boolean combination techniques, but also significantly reduce the combination time and the number of classifiers selected for combination.
The second application domain of our approach is the prediction of the reassignment of bug report fields. Bug reports contain a wealth of information that is used by triaging and development teams to understand the causes of bugs in order to provide fixes. The problem is that, for various reasons, it is common to have bug reports with missing or incorrect information, hindering the bug resolution process. To address this problem. researchers have turned to machine learning techniques. The common practice is to build models that leverage historical bug reports to automatically predict when a given bug report field should be reassigned. Existing approaches have mainly relied upon classifiers that make use of natural language in the title and description of the bug reports. They fail to take advantage of the richly detailed sequential information that is present in stack traces included in bug reports. To address this, we propose an approach called EnHMM which uses WPIBC and stack traces to predict the reassignment of bug report fields.
Another contribution of this thesis is an approach to improve the efficiency of WPIBC by leveraging the Hadoop framework and the MapReduce programming model.  We also show how WPIBC can be extended to support heterogenous classifiers.


identifier: Miller, Matthew Bruce ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4275-2764 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4275-2764>  (2021) Assessing Movement Competence and Informing Injury Prevention in 8–12 Year Old Children: Development of the Child Focused Injury Risk Screening Tool (ChildFIRST).  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Physical literacy is used to promote physical activity participation in children. When children increase participation in physical activities and sports they increase exposure to musculoskeletal injury. The concepts of physical literacy do not address injury prevention concerns. The results of multiple projects support a new process-based assessment of physical literacy to assess movement competence and potential for injury risk in 8–12 year old children. The Child Focused Injury Risk Screening Tool (ChildFIRST) includes ten movements with four evaluation criteria associated to each movement skill. Chapter one orients the reader to the major concepts within the document and states the objectives and hypotheses of each chapter. Chapter two describes the connection between physical literacy and injury prevention, forming the theoretical framework for the development of the ChildFIRST. Chapter three discusses the inter- and intra-rater reliability for the ChildFIRST. Eight movement skills achieved good-to-excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC=0.75-1.00), one movement achieved moderate (ICC=0.50-0.75), and one skill achieved poor (ICC=0.00-0.50). One skill achieved good intra-rater reliability, four skills achieved moderate, and five skill achieved poor. Evaluation criteria inter-rater reliability ranged from −0.04-0.835 Kα and 52–100% agreement, intra-rater reliability ranged from −0.328-0.303 Cohen’s K and 45.8–98.6% agreement. The ChildFIRST can inform users about movement competence and be used to conduct cross-sectional studies in the 8-12 age group. Chapter four presents normative data, sex differences, and correlations. No significant differences between sexes were identified except in one movement. Higher levels of physical activity participation were associated with higher scores on the ChildFIRST, and higher BMI was associated with lower scores. This normative data can help users of the ChildFIRST compare their individual data to a larger sample. Chapter five explores new literature after the publication of chapters two and three, discussing future directions, and offering recommendations for future research.


identifier: Sayedahmed, Dilek  (2020) Refugee Settlement and Other Matching Problems with Priority Classes and Reserves: A Market Design Perspective.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recognizing the need to find a solution to the European refugee crisis, given the political deadlock preventing countries from participating in responsibility-sharing, this thesis addresses questions on international refugee placement from a market design perspective. Beyond refugee settlement, our theoretical findings also apply to immigration, centralized university admissions, public school choice systems, and other settings.

Following the Introduction in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 we advocate a centralized global refugee matching system and design new matching algorithms with explicitly modelled UNHCR-mandated hierarchical priority classes of refugee families. Combined with the preferences of both sides, this set-up allows us to capture and analyse the impact of the mandated priority classes on the stability and fairness of the resulting refugee matching. We conduct an axiomatic analysis to further support the new matching designs.

Chapter 3 is motivated by the objective of designing a priority policy that effectively helps the prioritized agents. To benefit refugees in emergency zones, for example, a policy designed to create representation is not appealing, since strong candidates who would qualify without relying on their priority status may take up some or most of the reserved positions. Hence, we propose an alternative policy with targeted priority reserves, the DA-TPR mechanism, which targets those agents in the priority group who are in need of a reserved position. We also study a general class of matching mechanisms with priority reserve policies, which includes both the DA-TPR and the primary representation rule, Hafalir et al.'s (2013) DA-MiR mechanism. The DA-TPR is the most targeted policy in this class of mechanism, which we characterize by a priority reserve stability axiom and a strong incentive property.

Chapter 4 introduces two new classes of matching mechanisms with explicitly specified partially targeted priority reserves. Both of these classes include the DA-TPR and DA-MiR mechanisms as extreme members. We identify one of these as a subclass of the characterized class of mechanisms from the previous chapter. Both studied classes of mechanisms are transparent and offer a range of policies between the DA-TPR and the DA-MiR policies, providing the designer with flexibility and clarity when choosing a priority reserve policy.