identifier: Restrepo, Angelica  (2019) Colombian Youths' Reasoning About Retributive and Restorative Justice in the 2016 Peace Accord: Associations with Belief Systems of Trust.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study investigated Colombian adolescents’ reasoning about justice as a function of their disposition to trust their environments. Specifically, we examined (1) how youths’ endorsement of restorative and retributive solutions varied in relation to their levels of trust, (2) how their expectations regarding perpetrators’ behavior played into their reasoning, and (3) the qualitative differences between participants with high and low levels of trust. Seventy-four 14- to 19-year old adolescents evaluated five solutions (apologies, compensation by perpetrators, compensation by the government, punishment, and a balance between compensation and punishment) after being presented with two scenarios depicting group harm, based on events situated in the armed conflict. Participants also completed a 16-item questionnaire assessing their general levels of trust. Overall, higher levels of trust were associated with support for restorative solutions; this association was mediated by beliefs about perpetrators’ honesty and reliability, but only for solutions that balanced restoration and retribution. Relatedly, youths’ judgments about punishment reflected a nuanced understanding of moral transgressions as they occur in complex socio-political climates. Last, qualitative analyses suggested that attributions about perpetrators’ behavior bore on youths’ beliefs about their potential for rehabilitation, thereby informing their reasoning about justice in the aftermath of harm. These findings provide new insights into the ways that adolescents weigh and coordinate concerns with deservingness, accountability, and victims’ wellbeing, as informed by their assumptions about the trustworthiness of their environment. Understanding how these associations unfold in younger generations is critical, as they will carry the burden of future attempts at peacebuilding.


identifier: Farzad, Mohammadali  (2019) Experimental Study of Rivulet/ Ice Formation by Colour-Coded Point Projection Method.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
Ice accretion on aeroplane surfaces is one of the most severe weather threats to aviation safety. By changing the gross shape of the airfoil and adding surface roughness, ice accretion leads to increased drag and reduced lift at a constant angle of attack. Typically, an Ice Protection System (IPS) protects the critical aerodynamic surfaces. However, ice accreted on unprotected surfaces affects aircraft performance and flight characteristics in some flight phases. Since the formation of different phenomena like rivulets, water runback, and ice ridges is probable, a better understanding of the underlying physics of these complex phenomena is highly desired for both safe and efficient aircraft operation, and better design approaches. Therefore, having an advanced experimental technique capable of quantifying and characterising the amount of water or ice will be of high interest.
In the present study, a novel Colour-Coded Point Projection (CCPP) method is proposed. Using a multi-colour pattern has never been reported in the literature. After calibration and validation, the limitations and characteristics of the proposed method were defined. It can provide three times thickness measurement range at the same planar resolution, in comparison with other similar methods. Various experiments were conducted to investigate the rivulet and ice formation over a NACA 0012 airfoil in the icing wind tunnel available at Concordia University at controlled conditions. The thickness profiles of rivulets and accreted ice were measured successfully and, therefore, the capability of the proposed method was proved. Different criteria, like chord-wise thickness, ice growth rate, advancement speed of ice limit, and the rate of water collection, were defined to compare the effect of working conditions, like velocity, temperature and surface, on the behaviour of rivulets and ice accretion. The results showed that the proposed method is a valuable tool for on-line ice thickness measurements in an icing wind tunnel.


identifier: Omid, Saatlou  (2019) Spectral Efficiency Maximization of a Massive Multiuser MIMO System via Appropriate Power Allocation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Massive multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems are being considered for the next generation wireless networks in view of their ability to increase both
the spectral and energy efficiencies. For such systems, linear detectors such as zero-forcing (ZF) and maximum-ratio combining (MRC) detectors on the uplink (UL) transmission have been shown to provide near optimal performance. As well, linear precoders such as ZF and maximum-ratio transmission (MRT) precoders on the downlink (DL) transmission offer lower complexity along with a near optimal performance in these systems.

One of the most challenging problems in massive MU-MIMO systems is obtaining the channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter as well as the receiver. In such systems, the base station (BS) obtains CSI using pilot sequences, which are transmitted by the users. Due to the channel reciprocity between the UL and DL channels in the time-division duplex (TDD) mode, BS employs CSI obtained to precode the data symbols in DL transmission. To accurately decode the received symbols in the DL transmission, the users also need to acquire CSI. In view of this, a beamforming training (BT) scheme has been proposed in the literature to obtain the estimates of CSI at each user. In this scheme, BS transmits a short pilot sequence to the users in a way such that each user estimates the effective channel gain.

Conventionally, the power of the pilot symbols has been considered equal to the power of data symbols for all the users. In this thesis, we pose and answer a basic question about the operation of a base station: How much the spectral efficiency could be improved if the transmit power allocated to the pilot and data symbols of each user are chosen in some optimal fashion? In answering this question and in order to maximize the spectral efficiency for a given total energy budget, some methods of power allocation are proposed.

First, we derive a closed-form approximate expression for the achievable downlink rate for the maximum ratio transmission precoder based on small-scale fading in order to evaluate the spectral efficiency in the BT scheme. Then, we propose three methods of power allocation in order to maximize the spectral efficiency for a given total power budget among the users. In the first proposed method, we allocate equal pilot power as well as equal data power for all users in order to maximize the spectral efficiency. In the second proposed method, we allow for the allocation of different data powers among the users, whereas the pilot power for each user is kept the same and is specified. In the third method, we optimally allocate equal pilot power and a different data power for each user in such a way that the spectral efficiency is maximized. Numerical results are obtained showing that all the three proposed methods are superior to the existing methods in terms of spectral efficiency. In addition, they also show that the third proposed method of power allocation outperforms the other two proposed methods in terms of the spectral efficiency.

Next, we derive a closed-form approximate expression for the achievable downlink rate for the maximum ratio transmission precoder based on large-scale fading in order to evaluate the spectral efficiency in the BT scheme. Then, we propose four methods of power allocation in order to maximize the spectral efficiency for a given total power budget among the users.
In the first method, power is allocated among the pilot and data symbols in such a way that the pilot power as well as the data power for each user is the same. In the second method, power is allocated among the data symbols of the various users, whereas the pilot power for each user is the same and is specified. In this method, the data power for each user is optimally determined to maximize the spectral efficiency. In the third method, power is allocated among the pilot and data symbols of the various users, whereas the pilot power for each user is the same but determined. In this method, the same pilot power along with the various data powers is optimized to maximize the spectral efficiency. Finally, in the fourth method, power is allocated optimally among each of the pilot and data symbols of the various users so as to maximize the spectral efficiency. Numerical results are obtained showing that the performance of the first proposed method is approximately the same as that of the conventional approach. In addition, they also show that the second, third and fourth methods of power allocation yield similar performance in terms of spectral efficiency, and that the spectral efficiency of these methods is much superior to that of the first method or of the conventional method.

Finally, we investigate the spectral efficiency of massive MU-MIMO systems on an UL transmission with a very large number of antennas at the base station serving single-antenna users. A practical physical channel model is proposed by dividing the angular domain into a finite number of distinct directions. A lower bound on the achievable rate of the uplink data transmission is derived using a linear detector for each user and employed in defining the spectral efficiency. The lower bound obtained is further modified for the maximum-ratio combining and zero-forcing receivers. A power control scheme based on the large-scale fading is also proposed to maximize the spectral efficiency under the peak power constraint. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the lower bounds obtained and the performance of the proposed method. The numerical results show that the proposed power control method provides a spectral efficiency which is the same as that of the maximum power criterion using the ZF receiver. Further, the proposed method provides a spectral efficiency that is higher than that provided by the maximum power criterion using the MRC receiver.


identifier: Smyrnova, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-0907 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-0907>  (2019) Application of the Distributed Lag Models for Examining Associations Between the Built Environment and Obesity Risk in Children (QUALITY cohort).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Features of the neighbourhood environment are associated with physical activity and nutrition habits in children and may be a key determinant for obesity risk. Studies commonly use a fixed, pre-specified buffer size for the spatial scale to construct environment measures and apply traditional methods of linear regression to calculate risk estimates. However, incorrect spatial scales can introduce biases. Whether the spatial scale changes depending on a person’s age and sex is largely unknown. Distributed lag models (DLM) were recently proposed as an alternative methodology to fixed, pre-specified buffers. The DLM coefficients follow a smooth association over distance, and a pre-specification of buffer size is not required. Therefore, the DLMs may provide a more accurate estimation of association strength, as well as the point in which the association disappears or is no longer clinically meaningful.

Using a subsample of the QUALITY cohort (an ongoing longitudinal investigation of the natural history of obesity in Quebec youth, N=281, Mean(age)=9.6 at baseline), we aimed to apply the DLM to determine whether the association between the residential neighbourhood built environment (BE) and obesity risk in children differed depending on age and sex. A second objective aimed to compare the DLM model with that of a linear regression model (which used pre-specified circular buffer sizes).

Different distances of association between the Retail Food Environment and BMI z-score were obtained for 1st and 2nd follow-ups, which also varies by sex. No significant association between the Recreational Facilities Environment and MVPA were detected.


identifier: Gruwel, Marieke  (2019) The Elizabeths: Gender, Modernism, and Winnipeg’s Built Environment, 1945-1975.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines the careers of Elizabeth M. Lord (born Crawford, 1918-1994) and Elizabeth M. Pilcher (later Causwell, 1920-1991?), two women architects who worked in Winnipeg, Manitoba during the post-war period. Lord received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Manitoba in 1939 and, in 1944, became the first woman to register with the Manitoba Association of Architects. For the majority of her career, Lord ran her own architectural practice in Winnipeg, taking on small-scale, often domestic, projects. Pilcher received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney in 1945. She went on to complete studies at Harvard University and the Edinburgh College of Art. In December 1958, Pilcher arrived in Winnipeg to accept a position with the prominent architectural firm Green Blankstein Russell as chief of their planning department. Given the differences between Lord and Pilcher, the thesis asks: what can be learned about Winnipeg’s built environment during the post-war period by looking at the lives and work of these two women architects? Grounded in empirical evidence, the thesis uses biography as a method to build a picture of Lord and Pilcher’s contributions to post-war construction in Winnipeg. The thesis positions Lord and Pilcher within the history of women architects in Canada and within the climate of the architectural profession in Winnipeg. Fundamentally recuperative in nature, the thesis takes a feminist approach to the history of Winnipeg’s built environment and demonstrates how Lord and Pilcher were active agents who created a lasting mark on the built landscape of their city.


identifier: Romao Costa Nascimento, Alexandre  (2019) Thermal Sprayed Coatings for Tribological Applications and Corrosion Protection in Hydroelectric Power Stations.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In the context of global warming, the life-cycle and reliability of machine parts supporting
hydroelectric turbine structures cannot be overlooked. The advent of surface engineering provides
useful venues for engineers to ensure a safe and long-lasting supply of green energy. In this work,
thermal spraying was proposed as a method to develop coatings with high tribological
performance and corrosion protection for key components in hydroelectric power stations.
The work is structured in three main sections. The first concerns the development of Sn-alloy
coatings, used in large thrust bearings. It was shown that high-density sprayed coatings can be
produced if proper control of particle size and velocities are used.
In the second section, chemical leaching is proposed as a method to create porous coatings to
bond a high-performance polymer to an underlying bearing pad. A metallic pore former is mixed
and sprayed along with stainless steel particles. An optimal combination of matrix and pore former
particles allowed the successful infiltration of a self-lubricating polymer in pore openings as narrow
as 10 μm.
The final section of the work concerns the behavior of sprayed stainless steel coatings in Cl-ion
rich aqueous solution. It was demonstrated that the substantial drop in the corrosion resistance
of the coatings compared to wrought materials is mostly due to the high density of coating defects,
including pores and oxides. The changes in the electrochemical behavior during the first week of
immersion was attributed to surface chemistry changes including enrichment in Cr-oxides and the
dissolution of active phases.


identifier: Zhang, Zenan  (2019) A Mixed Integer Programming Model to Minimize Fuel Consumption in Freight Train Operation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Fuel consumption is among the most important criteria in train operations. Considerable efforts have been made to identify optimal speed for enhanced fuel economy. The train speed control is achieved through switching the power notches, which sets constant level of fuel supply to the engine in a typical diesel-electric locomotive. A global optimal speed, however, cannot be considered appropriate due to the localized variations in the track gradient and curvature, apart from the variations in the load. An efficient train operation also requires the train completes its journey within a given travel time. This study aims at determining optimal train speeds to minimize the total fuel consumption in completing the journey, while considering the local variations in the track geometry and other properties. A nonlinear mixed integer programming model is formulated to solve the considered problem using an off-the-shelf optimization software package. A multiphase-steps improved method is proposed for solving the considered problem more effectively. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the developed model and solution method.


identifier: Li, Yushan  (2019) Very Rich Asians: How Does Acculturation Transform the Status Consumption of Wealthy Immigrants?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Do wealthy consumers practice their status consumption differently after immigration? If yes, what’s their motivation behind the transformation. Although previous consumer acculturation studies have investigated immigrants’ consumption behavior, they have only focused on mass consumption, and few of them have discussed the role of social class. Besides, the existing status consumption theory does not account for immigrating consumers. This thesis investigates the transformation in wealthy upper-class Chinese consumers’ post-immigration status consumption behavior in the process of consumer acculturation by using concepts from Bourdieu’s field theory. Results show that Chinese immigrants’ cultural, social, symbolic capital devalue after moving to the United States, which differently affects their status consumption behavior. Also, their social class, as well as their economic capital before and after immigration, mediate the transformation process. This thesis contributes to extend both consumer acculturation theory and status consumption theory by proposing a model of dynamic status consumption.


identifier: Badakhshian, Mostafa  (2019) Location and Location-Routing Problems with Disruption Risks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The academic literature on logistics network disruptions has increased sharply recently. Disruptions are random events that cause an element of a logistics network to stop functioning, either completely or partially, for a (typically random) given amount of
time. Because of today's globalized threats such as, labor disruptions or failures resulting from harsh weather conditions, there has been a renewed interest in resilient facility
location. Design of reliable logistics networks to avoid disruption can be accomplished by fortification of existing facilities and de�fining backup facilities.
In this thesis, we will look at two components of a logistics system that can be affected by a disruption: the locations of the facilities, and the routes between a customer and a facility. We study the following three designs of logistics networks under disruption: (i) Reliable Capacitated Facility Location under Disruption, (ii) Shared Capacitated Reliable Facility Location in Presence of Disruption , and (iii) Reliable Facility Location and Routing in Logistics Network in presence of disruption considering backup sharing.
A column generation approach is proposed to model and solve all three logistics problems. Results show the effectiveness of the decomposition schemes for solving exactly much larger facility location instances than in the literature. In addition, shared backup
is shown to be a very effective scheme for the design of reliable facility locations/roads.


identifier: razavi, seyed reza  (2019) APPLICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENT-BASED DESIGN (EBD) METHODOLOGY.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A product’s environments play a significant role in its development. In other words, any alteration in the environment surrounding a product leads to changes in its features. Hence, having a systematic procedure to analyze the product’s environments is a crucial need for industries. Environment-Based Design (EBD) methodology describes the environment of the product (excluding the product itself) and presents a rational approach to analyze it. In order to achieve an efficient product design and development process, EBD utilizes different tools. Recursive Object Model (ROM) diagram, Cause and Effect Analysis, Life Cycle Analysis, Asking Right Question and Answering are EBD’s major tools and technics. In this research, we aim to represent EBD’s capabilities for product evolution analysis, complex products development and human-centered products development. In order to demonstrate EBD’s competences for product evolution analysis, we conduct a case study of braking systems evolution analysis through analyzing the environments around them. Afterward, we perform environment analysis for aerospace design methodology in order to propose a novel design methodology for the aerospace industries. Finally, we propose a course scheduling model based on environment analysis of the academic schedules and we verify our model using Concordia University’s courses.


identifier: Meade, Maxwell  (2019) The Trouble With Khamlet: To Cling On or Not to Cling On?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
Constructed languages (conlangs) are easy to underestimate but provide a powerful window into how we understand language and translation. Correspondingly, Translation Studies allows us to better understand conlangs. This intricate relationship promotes conlangs while expanding the discipline’s circle of influence. Using Khamlet, the Klingon translation of Hamlet, as a tool, this thesis explores the relationship between translating and constructing language, as well as how these two activities are mutually beneficial. Unhampered by the restrictions of natural languages, conlangs engage with familiar concepts as well as phenomena not seen elsewhere that merit examination from a Translation Studies perspective.
Résumé
Les langues construites sont souvent sous-estimées, mais fournissent un regard critique sur la façon dont nous comprenons la langue et la traduction. La traductologie nous permet de mieux comprendre les langues construites, faisant rayonner les langues construites tout en élargissant la portée de la discipline. En nous penchant sur Khamlet, traduction klingonne de Hamlet, nous examinons les rapports entre la traduction et la construction d’une langue, ainsi que la façon dont ces deux activités se favorisent mutuellement. Sans les restrictions auxquelles font face les langues naturelles, les langues construites jonglent avec des concepts familiers tout autant qu’avec des phénomènes particuliers, encore jamais vus, méritant ainsi une analyse sous la perspective de la traductologie.


identifier: Chang, Jie  (2019) Quantitative Questions, Qualitative Answers: The Cultural Meaning of Externally Oriented Thinking in a Chinese Psychiatric Sample.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Adaptive emotional norms are frequently assumed, and often go unexamined, when emotional constructs originating from the West are exported to other cultural contexts. The current study uses a mixed-methods design to examine alexithymia, whose underlying normative assumptions may be leading to over-pathologization and psychometric difficulties in cross-cultural usage. The externally oriented thinking (EOT) component of alexithymia, measured by the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), shows well-recognized poor psychometric properties and potentially different but adaptive normative levels in non-English samples. In this two-part study, I first replicate and demonstrate past findings of poor internal consistency and weak model fit of the EOT subscale of the TAS-20 in a Chinese clinical sample (N = 276). To explain the quantitative observations, I then conduct a thematic analysis of audio-recorded interview responses using a subset of the sample (n = 23), who were administered the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia. The qualitative results reveal that Chinese respondents demonstrated EOT tendencies such as organizing and analyzing experiences based on factual attributes, as well as engaging in more consideration of norms and less mentalization of feelings than normatively expected for Euro-Canadians. These findings provide explanations for EOT measurement issues from both task and conceptual levels. Integrating cultural emotion theories, I also consider the relative adaptiveness of EOT in service of specific cultural goals while challenging the appropriateness of its original ‘Western’ pathological assumptions. Implications of current findings for clinical practise, acculturative adjustment, and future empirical studies of attention to emotions are discussed.


identifier: Mayer-Heft, Nathaniel  (2019) Language Choice and Marketing Communications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The ever-increasing population of bilinguals raises important questions for marketing scholars. For example, the ubiquity of web-based retail platforms brings potential consumers to a single online marketplace, bombarding them with a myriad of options. Web retailers and advertisers typically post an online image of the products they sell, from which consumers must glean as much information as possible before making their purchase decision. With this in mind, marketers must decide how, and in what language, to best communicate with their audiences. This question is especially difficult to answer in bilingual populations, who may process information differently depending on the languages that they know. Previous research has suggested many mechanisms by which the choice of language may affect various brand outcomes. The present study was designed to examine whether presenting the same information in different languages has an inherent effect on cognitive patterns associated with information processing. We find partial support for the effects of language choice on emotion, recall, and narrative transportation, and lay the framework for future research.


identifier: Sodano, Ashley  (2019) Introducing Gender Diversity in Preschool Curriculum: Storybooks and Toys.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research study was to explore the perspectives of early childhood educators in Quebec on the prospect of incorporating gender diverse topics into their preschool classrooms. The study addressed two broad research questions: 1. How do early childhood educators respond to gender diversity materials? and 2. What are the teachers’ thoughts about including gender diversity in early childhood settings with young children? The researcher conducted two focus group sessions with a total of seven educators. During these focus group interviews, educators were encouraged to examine the materials provided, including children’s books and toys, and participate in a discussion led by the researcher. Participants shared their perspectives, feelings and experiences towards incorporating gender diversity into their classrooms. Findings from the study revealed five emerging themes, related to: gender diversity as a topic in EC curriculum, materials presented in the focus groups, societal issues, school administration, and parental issues. The results of the study demonstrate that the educators supported incorporating gender diversity as an important means to create an understanding of individual differences, to bring awareness to the children, and to create inclusive classrooms. All the child care educators displayed a particular interest in using children’s literature as a means to present the topic in their classrooms. They discussed the simplicity the books offered in introducing such complex topics, compared to using the toys presented in the focus groups. However, many of the participants displayed uneasiness in how to address and discuss the topic without clear curricular guidelines or administrative support, and disclosed their fear of receiving criticism from parents. These conversations revealed the teachers’ wariness of the topic and their shared perspective that society may not be ready for such a shift in the early childhood classroom.


identifier: Yuan, Shumin  (2019) The Effects of Satisfaction with Pay and Satisfaction with Relational Returns on Turnover Intentions and Organizational Citizenship Behaviours.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research was to provide new insights into the effects of satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with relational returns on turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours. Both the independent and the interactive effects of satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with relational returns on turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours were examined. In addition, the moderating influences of positive and negative affect on the independent effects of satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with relational returns on turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours were also considered. Data were collected from two countries using different sampling procedures. Study 1 (N = 175) was conducted in a single organization in China and targeted full-time employees working in various departments at the organization’s corporate headquarters. Study 2 (N = 300) was conducted via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform and targeted full-time employees living in the U.S. and working in different organizations across a variety of industries. Results from both studies confirmed that satisfaction with pay and satisfaction with relational returns are multidimensional constructs. Consistent with the hypothesized effects, all dimensions of satisfaction with pay and all dimensions of satisfaction with relational returns were negatively associated with turnover intentions, and positively associated with organizational citizenship behaviours. Moreover, some dimensions of satisfaction with pay interacted with some dimensions of satisfaction with relational returns to predict turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours. Finally, negative affect, but not positive affect, moderated the independent effects of a few dimensions of satisfaction with pay and a few dimensions of satisfaction with relational returns on turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviours. These findings have practical implications for both compensation and staffing decisions.


identifier: Chen, Yanjun  (2019) Student Evaluation of Teaching in the Chinese Tertiary Education Sector: Potential Biasing Factors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Student evaluation of teaching (SET), which refers to students’ feedback about and evaluation of their professors, is the most frequently used teacher assessment method in the world (Newton, 1988; Seldin, 1989). Despite its popularity—and the fact that it does have its advantages—SET has long been a target of criticism from scholars and educators alike. Since China has the biggest population in the world and its tertiary education sector has grown rapidly in recent decades (Government of China, 2016), the primary purpose of this study is to find out the potential factors that can lead to biases in teachers’ SET scores in China. The research for this study was conducted in a middle-sized Chinese university. It involved 1,371 business department undergraduate students and a total of 13,154 evaluations. Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were applied to the data in order to explore the relationship between six different factors—course type, class size, course level, student gender, professor gender, and professor seniority—and SET scores. The results revealed that five out of these six factors (all but student gender) can bias SET scores, but that their ability to do so is highly limited. These results indicate that SET scores can legitimately be used in the Chinese tertiary education sector to improve course quality and teaching quality, but that they cannot, on their own, be used to justify the promotion of professors.


identifier: Li, Bo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4207-5070 <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4207-5070>  (2019) Multi-dimensional data stream compression for embedded systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The rise of embedded systems and wireless technologies led to the emergence of
the Internet of Things (IoT). Connected objects in IoT communicate with each
other by transferring data streams over the network. For instance, in Wireless
Sensor Networks (WSNs), sensor-equipped devices use sensors to capture
properties, such as temperature or accelerometer, and send 1D or nD data streams
to a host system. Power consumption is a critical problem for connected objects
that have to work for a long time without being recharged, as it greatly affects
their lifetime and usability. Data summarization is key for energy-constrained
connected devices, as transmitting fewer data can reduce energy usage during
transmission. Data compression, in particular, can compress the data stream
while preserving information to a great extent. Many compression methods have
been proposed in previous research. However, most of them are either not
applicable to connected objects, due to resource limitation, or only handle
one-dimensional streams while data acquired in connected objects are often
multi-dimensional. Lightweight Temporal Compression (LTC) is among the lossy
stream compression methods that provide the highest compression rate for the
lowest CPU and memory consumption. In this thesis, we investigate the extension
of LTC to multi-dimensional streams. First, we provide a formulation of the
algorithm in an arbitrary vectorial space of dimension n. Then, we implement the
algorithm for the infinity and Euclidean norms, in spaces of dimension 2D+t and
3D+t. We evaluate our implementation on 3D acceleration streams of human
activities, on Neblina, a module integrating multiple sensors developed by our
partner Motsai. Results show that the 3D implementation of LTC can save up to
20% in energy consumption for slow-paced activities, with a memory usage of
about 100 B. Finally, we compare our method with polynomial regression
compression methods in different dimensions. Our results show that our extension
of LTC gives a higher compression ratio than the polynomial regression method,
while using less memory and CPU.


identifier: Opiol, Hanna N.  (2019) The effects of circadian food entrainment on the dopamine system and behavioral measures of affect in the male rat.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: When feeding is time restricted, the brain and body shift their circadian rhythms to adjust to the feeding time, a process called food entrainment. Dopamine (DA) has been suggested to play a key role in the mechanism through which food entrainment develops. Since amphetamine (AMPH) sensitization is known to enhance DA, we tested whether it would enhance behavioral output of food entrainment, called food anticipatory activity (FAA). We did not find evidence for enhancement of FAA, however, restricted feeding (RF) did result in enhanced output when measuring behavioral cross- sensitization to an acute injection of AMPH. Further investigation found that sufficient exposure to RF was necessary, for the enhancement in DA function. Cross-sensitization remained present post-RF and was not related to body weight at the time of testing, however caloric restriction was necessary. Molecular measures of DA function were examined in the dorsal striatum (DS) during RF and/ or in the re-feeding phase at which time cross-sensitization to AMPH was present. Consistent with the results of behavioral cross-sensitization, immunohistochemistry staining of dopamine transporter (DAT) in the DS revealed higher density of DAT present in rats exposed to at least two weeks of RF. No differences were found in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) or FOS protein staining of the DS between rats exposed to RF and controls. Since one of the primary mechanisms through which AMPH acts is DAT, it is possible that the cross-sensitization in food- entrained rats may be due to an upregulation of DAT in DA fibers of the DS. Finally, since DA is known to affect mood, we examined how RF would affect behavioral measures of depression and anxiety in the rat. The results indicate that RF does not negatively affect mood and/or learning of an adaptive response to a stressor, as measured by the elevated plus maze and open-field. RF may also positively affective regulation of depression, since it results in increased swimming behavior in the forced swim test. Taken together, the findings support the role of DA in the DS as part of the food entrainment pathway and lends further support to the idea that food entrainment is a dietary regimen that does not negatively affect mental health, with possible implications for the treatment of depression.


identifier: Goldman, Jack ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4535-983X <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4535-983X>  (2019) Disturbance cues as a source of risk assessment information: Effects of sender identity and experience with risk on the response of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Chemical cues are commonly used by aquatic vertebrates to assess local threats and facilitate behavioural decision-making. Disturbance cues are ‘early warning signals’ common among aquatic vertebrates, that warn conspecific and heterospecific prey guild members of potential risks. Recent studies suggest that disturbance cues may play an important role in the predation sequence, providing prey with valuable information that affords the opportunity to interrupt the predation sequence and successfully avoid predator encounters. However, little is known about the informational content of disturbance cues and what factors influence the response patterns to these cues. Therefore, we assessed the role of species-specificity and prior experience with predation risk on the information content conveyed by disturbance cues. First, we tested whether receivers exhibit graded antipredator responses to cues from either 10 or 20 conspecific and heterospecific senders. Receivers increased the intensity of their antipredator response to cues from 20 compared to 10 conspecific donors. However, we found that while receivers respond to heterospecific disturbance cues, there was no effect of donor group size, suggesting that there may be a degree of species-specificity of disturbance cues. Second, using wild-caught and laboratory-reared fish, we tested whether senders and receiver responded differentially to disturbance cues if they had prior experience with predation risk. The response of high-risk fish was dependent upon the source of disturbance cue senders (high vs. low risk). However, guppies collected from a low-risk site exhibited similar responses to disturbance cues, regardless of the sender population. Combined, our results demonstrate that disturbance cues may serve as a more elaborate form of risk assessment information than previously thought, and that the response to these cues is, at least in part, dependent upon both the sender’s and receiver’s recent experience with predation.


identifier: Forrester, Miles  (2019) WAY OUT BELLEVILLE vol.1.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: WAY OUT BELLEVILLE vol.1

abstract:
In my thesis I have written a collection of poems determined by a gridded map of my memory
of Belleville Ontario. The map is a grid made of equilateral triangles assigned to letters in a
regulated pattern. The poems move across the surface of the grid and, in that process, each
facet of the grid is nominated as a corresponding concept divided from the total Belleville. The
poems playfully explore the conflation of the municipal and modernist grids by having bodies
navigate my abstracted space and the actual space of Belleville simultaneously. The ambiguity
between situation and abstraction corresponds with the current state of Belleville. There is
now a booming tourist industry on the Bay of Quinte. Positioned along the often flooding
water, Belleville’s future is contingent on capitalist speculation and climate change. The
poems use different configurations of triangles across the grid to prompt multiple poetic
forms. There are many instances of coordinates reoccurring in these virtual derivés, an
expression of their situation as well as the multiple paths being taken.


identifier: Bosse, Jay  (2019) Beyond the “Wrong Body” Narrative: Trans Masculine Embodiment and Disidentification Through Autobiography, Sex, and Play in James Diamond’s Jizz Envy (2014) and Skyler Braeden Fox’s Hello Titty (2015).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis examines the experimental film and video art by two Canadian moving image artists: James Diamond’s video Jizz Envy (2014) and Skyler Braeden Fox’s short film Hello Titty (2015). It argues that these works create spaces that enable a recategorization and rethinking of trans embodiment as part of a larger gender spectrum of possibilities than those offered in the current diagnostic definition of trans identity practiced in the medical field and propagated in society at large. It presents how by centering transmasculine sexuality, these artworks disrupt the logic of dysphoria at the heart of diagnostic discourse which assumes that trans individuals are incapable of pre-operative sexual intimacy. The thesis critiques the current model of diagnosis focused on dysphoria and the concept of the wrong body. Using José Esteban Muñoz’s theory of disidentification, it presents how these works weave between different conceptualizations of embodiment that can be simultaneously aligned with diagnosis and
contradictory to its implied structure of trans identity. Finally, through discussion on BDSM practices, sex, and play within the works, it concludes that Diamond and Fox’s works explore and expose the antagonistic relationship between dysphoria and trans embodiment that each artist experiences, simultaneously upholding the concept of the wrong body and critiquing it.


identifier: Marquis-Manicom, Jay  (2019) From the Red Pill to ‘White Genocide’: An Ethnography of the Alt-Right in Montreal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Over the past decade the alt-right has grown in prominence, yet scholarly research on the movement remains scanty. This ethnography of an alt-right group in Montreal aims to help fill the gap in the scholarship. I examine the unique ethical and methodological challenges involved in studying the movement and map the alt-right in relation to the far right more generally, using the political ecosystem of Quebec to illustrate far-right sub-groupings. I build on ethnographic data to theorize about masculinities within the movement with a particular focus on gendered hierarchy-building among movement adherents. I explore the connections between the alt-right and online male-supremacism, concluding that male-supremacism constitutes one path into the alt-right. Internal divisions within the alt-right are mapped and theorized as two broad camps in dialogic tension. These camps are understood to be split between more liberal and more fascist perspectives. Ethnographic data is used to illustrate these tensions as they played out in the Montreal group. The liberal/fascist split is explored with reference to different class positions among informants, and each camp is examined in historical and geographic context. I conclude with a reflexive exploration of the motivations of alt-right adherents and a series of recommendations moving forward.


identifier: Stanfield, Evan  (2019) Crafting Clothing: An Art Historical Exploration of the Products and Practices of Small-Scale Garment Manufacturing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In response to various social and aesthetic concerns, clothing companies are increasingly rejecting the mass production and global supply chains that typify the contemporary garment industry in favour of small-scale and localized production. Many of the values and strategies they are now adhering to recall the ideals of crafting that were developed during the British Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th century. The current implementation of these ideals – centred on a desire for the conditions of labor to be pleasant and stimulating and a belief that labor itself should entail a considerable amount of skill and creativity – reveals a potentially radical intersection between modern manufacturing and traditional crafting. This thesis explores the recent emergence of an interest in crafting within the garment industry. It focuses on two notable examples of Canadian clothing companies currently engaged in small-scale, localized garment manufacturing: Atelier b. and Betina Lou. Through interviews with the founders of both companies and analyses of their products and production processes, this thesis investigates how, and to what extent, small-scale garment manufacturing emulates the Arts and Crafts movement’s ideals of crafting. In turn, it proposes how art historical enquiry can be directed towards the garment industry as an important site of contemporary craft activity where practices are currently being inspired by theories that were developed over a century ago.


identifier: Lanni, Ashley  (2019) Connecting Spaces and Conquering Bodies: The Ideal Soviet Person at the World's Fairs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: While several historians have explored the Soviet presence at World’s Fairs, few have looked at the presentation of Soviet identity and none have asked questions about how the senses were evoked in the Soviet pavilions and the materials that they displayed. World’s Fairs, as international events, provide an opportunity to see how this identity was distilled for a foreign audience. The Soviet pavilions at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and the 1958 Brussels Expo were chosen as the center-point of this research so as to explore the differences in Soviet identity as they existed under Stalinism and during the Khrushchev-era cultural Thaw. Using photographs of the Soviet pavilions, accounts by journalists and visitors, and Soviet ephemera from the pavilions themselves, this thesis strives to offer a composite of not only Soviet identity but Soviet presence at these Fairs. It does so by looking at how the senses were evoked and particularly how they were tied into Soviet efforts to expand and connect territorial boundaries, whether in the form of Arctic exploration, aviation or the space race. While the final work is far from exhaustive, it shows how mastery over the senses was deemed an essential expectation of the ideal Soviet person, and how inanimate Soviet elements, like land and machinery, became identified with the human Soviet body. Additionally, the sense of touch and sound found an important place in the Soviet spaces and writing of the Fair, in ways that were unexpected in a modern world which tended to prioritize sight over the other senses.


identifier: Crawford, Colin J. M.  (2019) Netflix’s Investor Lore: The Speculative Fiction of (Media) Value in Platform Capitalism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis argues that Netflix’s scaled expansion has hinged upon its ability not only to create but more importantly to communicate the new forms and flows of potential value in platform capitalism, wherein capital is derived and mobilized not only from direct revenue streams but also the new value assigned to inputs and investments of data, debt, attention, behaviour, taste, time, sociality, and speculation. To better understand and critique these new communications and projections of value, this thesis performs a discursive analysis of the streaming industry leader Netflix and its investor lore: the multi-sited narrative of value found in the company’s investor relations materials and corporate communications, such as letters to shareholders, financial earnings reports, executive interviews, press releases, and blog posts. This company represents an unprecedented and increasingly present nexus of tech, finance, and culture industries, mobilizing Silicon Valley's deep ties to Wall Street to provide cultural content; turning what were once cultural products and behaviours into data generating user experiences. For decades the company has borrowed billions of dollars to sustain its internet entertainment service, hoping to attract and retain users believing this will increase data and revenue flows with faith that such flows will eventually produce profits and earnings. This is the emergent speculative fiction upon which Netflix depends, relying on the rhetorical ability to persuade investing actors and institutions to subscribe to this narrative of value to mobilize and sustain operational capital. My analysis seeks to provide a new approach to studying the cultural logic of platforms and their new economies of code, content, and capital.


identifier: Wang, Xinxuan  (2019) A Comparison Between a Long Short-Term Memory Network Hybrid Model and an ARIMA Hybrid Model for Stock Return Predictability.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the applicability of neural networks in stock return forecasts by designing a hybrid LSTM (long short-term memory) network and compares its forecasting ability with both a static LSTM network and an ARIMA hybrid model. The S&P100 stock set is employed as the prediction sample. The hybrid models use the neural network approach and frequentist method respectively to estimate Fama-French risk factors, then predict stock returns based on factor estimations that benefit from the prediction ability and computational power of the LSTM network and the ARIMA model as well as the Fama-French model’s explanatory power of returns. Better factor predictions are made by the LSTM network with a 31% reduction of Mean Squared Error (MSE) and broader ranges of estimation than the ARIMA model. Hybrid models demonstrate a better fit, resulting in more accurate predictions compared to the static LSTM network by an average of 4.6% (LSTM-FF) and 3.1% (ARIMA-FF). However, I find that the slight outperformance of the LSTM-FF hybrid model over the ARIMA-FF hybrid model is not statistically significant.


identifier: Jarry, Francis G.  (2019) The Interplay Between Scarcity Appeals and Hyperopia.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Hyperopia is an individual-level trait that leads consumers to exhibit an aversion to indulgence and chronically resist temptations because of their excessive farsightedness. As a result, hyperopic consumers often experience regret and feelings of missing out due to their inability to partake in life’s frivolities. While past research has mostly studied hyperopia as a chronic individual difference, the first goal of this thesis is to investigate whether cues in consumers’ environment can situationally prompt hyperopic consumption tendencies, building on prior work demonstrating that personality traits can also manifest as personality states. Prior research has found various ways to help hyperopic consumers overcome their aversion to indulgence and encourage them to “live a little,” such as precommitting to indulge, manipulating the level at which the indulgence is construed, or providing a justification to “let loose,” among others. The second goal of this thesis is to investigate whether scarcity promotions could provide another means for hyperopic consumers to overcome their aversion to indulgence. Because scarcity promotions are limited in nature, they could serve as a justification mechanism for hyperopic (vs. non-hyperopic) consumers, by allowing them to justify the splurge, and consequently increase their purchase intentions and consumption of indulgences. Across six studies, this thesis tests i) whether contextual cues can prompt consumers to become hyperopic (studies 1-3) and ii) whether scarcity appeals can overcome hyperopic consumers’ aversion to indulgence (studies 4-6), and find mixed results for the proposed effects.


identifier: Zozula, Kaitlyn  (2019) Re-Constructing Revolution: The Mediation of the Political Meaning(s) of The Battle of Algiers in American Art-Cinema Markets.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study explores the American promotion and reception of The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo). By outlining the discourses which facilitated The Battle of Algiers’ circulation within American film-markets, this research outlines the distinct and varied ideological functions that the film has served in the United States. It focuses on three inter-related discursive issues which characterized the marketing campaigns and review journalism associated with the film. First, by de-emphasizing the roles that the Algerian state played in the film’s production, and labelling the film as a piece of Italian neorealism, American distributors and critics promoted it as a politically-neutral alternative to propaganda. In doing so, they effectively mediated the film’s anti-colonial politic, and carefully managed the imaged spectator’s identification with Algerian nationalism(s). This research then explores the film’s promotion as an (anti)colonial allegory for the Vietnam War and black-liberation movement. This discursive trend had varied results. At times it facilitated the articulation of anti-colonial critique within the American mainstream press. However, it more often worked to reify, obscure, and distort the on-the-ground realities of Third Worldist political organizing in ways which met, rather than resisted, the ideological imperatives of American imperialism. Ultimately, the film’s American circulation can be characterized as a site of persistent and ongoing struggle between two competing visions of humanism and globalism - defined by either the internationalist ethos of anti-colonialism, or the expansionist aspirations of liberal capitalism.


identifier: Moyer, Ryan  (2019) On Alternative Development and the Modern Colonial Global Imaginary.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In the lattermost third of the 20th century, alternative development (AD) began to employ participatory and human-centered modes of research and operations as a response to the negative effects of colonization and mainstream development. While AD has always had a reciprocally supportive relationship with academic research, more recently, AD programs have become an integral component of Western higher education operations, syllabi and apparatuses. Although this new partnership presents opportunity for many, fresh scholarship is unravelling and critically examining the complexities and logical inconsistencies this relationship presents. This research employs sociological lenses that account for this new partnership’s corresponding neo-imperial networks of power to challenge its radical claims to fostering decolonization, emancipation and the reversal of western hegemonic domination. Indeed, AD’s authentic potential to assist in anti-colonial or -imperial struggles may now be nullified, as its new relationship with higher education ensures these struggles remain operationalized from within the very geo- and body-political epistemic location that they seek to counter and transcend. It may be the case that this new partnership is the latest strategy of the modern/colonial global imaginary, as it incorporates both strategies aimed at its resistance and alternative Indigenous imaginaries into discursive schemas to ensure its own perpetuity and expansion. In turn, AD’s knowledge production has become instrumentalized by actively foreclosing upon systematic critiques pointing to this possibility.


identifier: Sharma, Arashdeep  (2019) Emotive Appeals in Charitable Advertisements: Investigating Donors’ Behavior and Visual Attention.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Previous studies measuring participants’ visual attention to charitable adverts have shown
that negatively valenced images and faces captured more attention. As adverts became more
positively valenced, participants also attended to charitable logos more. Only well-known charities
have been tested thus far. By using fictional charities, this thesis aimed to test whether the same
attentional bias to the negatively valenced faces would persist. No studies have measured visual
attention, and donor intentions in response to emotive appeals in adverts from unknown charities.
This thesis measured donor intentions, eye movements, and galvanic skin response of participants
viewing adverts featuring children with sad, neutral, or happy facial expressions from three
fictional child welfare charities. We expected the logo associated with the sad faces to elicit more
visual attention, donor intentions, and donation amounts than logos associated with neutral, or
happy faces. Results confirmed these hypotheses. Logos associated with the sad faces were fixated
at faster, more frequently, and for a longer duration than logos associated with neutral or happy
faces. Logos associated with sad faces also elicited higher donor intentions, and donation amounts.
These results suggest that unknown charities should create associations with negative valence, as
these types of adverts have shown to capture more attention, and elicit more donations.


identifier: Hou, Shixuan  (2019) A Two-sided Matching System Design for Dynamic Labor Markets.  Masters thesis, Concordia Institution for information systems engineering.

abstract:
This thesis designs an automatic two-sided matching system for dynamic labor markets
with large scale of data. Such markets consist of a group of vacancies and applicants, a
matching function, a set of events causing transitions of the state of the market. Due to
the dynamic nature of the labor markets, matching systems based on the classical deferred
acceptance algorithm are not sufficient for producing stable matching solutions. Therefore,
the central theme of this thesis is to address the effectiveness and efficiency of generating
matching results in dynamic large labor markets.
The main contribution of this thesis consists of three dynamic matching algorithms and
a agent-based matching system design. The dynamic matching algorithms are extensions
of the classical deferred acceptance algorithm. The first algorithm generates a vacancyoptimal
stable matching result without considering locking or break-up constrains. The
second algorithm considers locking period constraints in the matching process and the third
algorithm computes applicant-optimal stable matchings with the consideration of break-up
penalties in dynamic environments. To verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed
matching algorithms, theoretical proofs and experimental results are presented as well. The
results indicate that the designed system can be used as an efficient and effective tool for
recruitment management in today’s dynamic and internet based labor markets to reduce
administrative work load of human resource departments and produce stable job allocations.
iii


identifier: Longboat, Maize  (2019) Terra Nova: Enacting Videogame Development through Indigenous-Led Creation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

format: text archive archive video

abstract: Indigenous peoples have had a rich tradition of utilizing digital media to tell their stories in new ways. These stories often run counter to popular Western-centric narratives that perpetually position Indigenous peoples as only existing in the past. Indigenous peoples are regularly forgotten as participants of the technological world, but we are also both players and producers of videogames. Indigenous videogames can express something about specific Indigenous communities and cultural contexts or can be made by Indigenous individuals who wish to communicate their own unique narratives through the medium. This research-creation project studies these aspects of Indigenous videogames in detail through the production of my own videogame, Terra Nova, alongside a written survey of the field, contextualization of the videogame itself, and reflections on the game and the creation process. Through the production of a videogame as its primary form of research, this project seeks to draw attention to how and why Indigenous peoples are making videogames on their own terms to answer the question of what makes a videogame Indigenous.


identifier: Chawla, Gagandeep Singh ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8076-3328 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8076-3328>  (2019) A State-Based Proactive Approach To Network Isolation Verification In Clouds.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The multi-tenancy nature of public clouds usually leads to cloud tenants' concerns over network isolation around their virtual resources. Verifying network isolation in clouds faces unique challenges. The sheer size of virtual infrastructures paired with the self-serviced nature of clouds means the verification will likely have a high complexity and yet its results may become obsolete in seconds. Moreover, the _ne-grained and distributed network access control (e.g., per-VM security group rules) typical to virtual cloud infrastructures means the verification must examine not only the events but also the current state of the infrastructures. In this thesis, we propose VMGuard, a state-based proactive approach for efficiently verifying large-scale virtual infrastructures against network isolation policies. Informally, our key idea is to proactively trigger the verification based on predicted events and their simulated impact upon the current state, such that we can have the best of both worlds, i.e., the efficiency of a proactive approach and the effectiveness of state-based verification. We implement and evaluate VMGuard based on OpenStack, and our experiments with both real and synthetic data demonstrate the performance and efficiency.


identifier: Lakoff, Elizabeth  (2019) Designing a Social Skills Program in Jewish Day Schools.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Abstract
This thesis equivalent was an instructional design and human performance technology project, in which I analyzed the current state of an educational program for students with disabilities and their classmates at a Jewish day schools in Montreal. The program was first developed as a pilot project by Ometz, a social services organization. Ometz requested assistance with the program towards the end of their pilot project year. The program focused on building social skills and coping with anxiety. I designed performance improvement interventions, as well as developed prototypes of the proposed interventions and evaluation instruments.
To determine what improvements could be made to the program, I collected data from several sources: a focus group with three facilitators, the program coordinator and a member of the Ometz leadership team held during the peer supervision meetings; an interview with the 2016-2017 program coordinator; an interview with the facilitator at the primary site; a joint interview with a vice principal and resource centre coordinator, an interview with a member of the Ometz leadership team; electronic feedback forms submitted by each facilitator after every session delivery during the 2016-2017 pilot year; email correspondence with program coordinators; original program requests; meeting minutes; and session handouts. I analyzed the data using an open coding process.
Although the program impacted many different stakeholders, the program facilitators were considered as the target performers for the analysis and for the design of interventions. However, the performance of other stakeholders was also considered. Those stakeholders were teachers, parents, and students.
During the analysis phase, several performance gaps were identified. Firstly, facilitators designed a curriculum based on their previous experience and available resources, instead of basing it on specific program objectives and the needs of the students. Secondly, the facilitators experienced challenges when designing instructional content and finding resources on which to base their content. Additionally, some facilitators experienced issues with classroom management. Finally, facilitators were unable to always schedule sessions at times that did not conflict with other school or classroom events.
 I proposed several interventions to close the performance gaps. These interventions included a feedback and system, an online resource bank, parent workshops, and kick-off meetings. Working collaboratively with members of the Ometz team, I established program objectives and a program evaluation plan. I then created a detailed design of the proposed interventions. The program was terminated before the interventions could be implemented because of a change in funding. Although the program has since been terminated, these proposed interventions may help Ometz with future projects.


identifier: Tana, Jessica  (2019) The Human Resources Certification and its Effect on Learning Motivation and Proactive Behaviors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Human Resources (HR) professionals can practice in their profession without being certified. However, every year, the number of HR professionals becoming certified is increasing. While the main purpose of the HR certification is to encourage HR professionals to remain up to date on the newest trends and regulations in the industry, there is a lack of research investigating whether the certification indeed has this effect. The purpose of this paper was therefore to examine the impact of the HR certification on HR professionals’ level of motivation to learn and be proactive, while including individual (goal orientation (GO) and age) and contextual (leader-member exchange (LMX)) moderating factors for further insights into this important relationship. Guided by the proactive motivation theory (Parker et al., 2010), this correlational study consists of 192 HR professionals in various industries across Canada who completed an online survey. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression. Results revealed that the HR certification marginally impacts an HR professional’s motivation to learn and proactive behavior. Further, this relationship is stronger among more junior HR professionals and as the supportive environment from their leader decreases. Companies should consider encouraging HR certification for all of their professionals and leaders should understand the impact that the certification can have on their employee’s career development and desire to make changes.


identifier: Houle, Simon A.  (2019) A Latent Transition Analysis Investigating the Nature, Stability, Antecedents, and Outcomes of Occupational Commitment Profiles for School Principals.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Considerable progress in commitment theory has been made possible by the adoption of a person-centered perspective. Such a perspective has made it possible for researchers to identify the most common combinations of Affective (AC), Normative (NC), and Continuance (CC) commitment to the organization. These combinations, or profiles, describe the various types of psychological processes depicting the ties linking employees with their organizations. However, limited research has consider commitment profiles as they relate to distinct targets of commitment, and even fewer studies have done so while adopting a longitudinal perspective. The goal of this study was to contribute to this growing literature by focusing on occupational commitment among a sample of 525 school principals (Mage = 44.94; 59% females), while also adopting a longitudinal perspective to assess profile stability over a three-year period. In addition, we investigated the implications of these profiles in relation to turnover intentions, job satisfaction, work-life imbalance and psychological distress, as well as the role of relationship with other managers, involvement in decision-making, and schoolboard transformational leadership in the prediction of profile membership. Our results revealed five distinct profiles of occupational commitment, which remained identical over the course of the study and proved to be highly stable (less than a fifth of the participants transitioned to a distinct profile over time). Beneficial effects were associated with profiles dominated by AC, detrimental effects were related to the CC-dominant profile, and we found beneficial synergistic effects of NC when combined with high CC in terms of job satisfaction, turnover intentions and work-life imbalance. In terms of predictions, only higher levels of relatedness with other school managers proved to predict profile membership. We discuss implications for commitment theory and practical applications of occupational commitment profiles.


identifier: Tac, Fadil  (2019) Palladium-catalyzed Decarboxylative and Desulfinative Cross-Coupling of Diaryliodonium Triflates.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Heteroaromatic compounds have been shown to play a crucial role in several disciplines such as materials chemistry, agrochemical and pharmaceutical industry. Hence, there has been a great emphasis on the development of methodologies for the synthesis of such motifs. Generally, the formation of the new carbon-carbon bond in connecting two aromatic systems can be achieved by the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Although, classic synthetic routes are effective, they may involve the use of harsh reaction conditions and potentially dangerous pre-functionalization of organometallic reagents. More recently, attention has been turned towards the development of more efficient novel methodologies employing more environmental benign and alternative reaction conditions, such as C-H activation, decarboxylative and desulfinative cross-coupling reactions. The advantage of the decarboxylative and desulfinative cross-coupling lies in their ability to be chemo-selective while producing minor amounts of gas as byproduct. Most of the synthetic routes use aryl halides as a coupling partner for the formation of these motifs. Herein, to expand the tool kit, we developed new synthetic routes through the use of diaryliodonium salts to replace aryl halides in accessing heteroaromatics through decarboxylative and desulfinative palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Diaryliodonium salts have emerged as a highly versatile reactant applicable in numerous organic reactions. Their structure provides them with the potential to be a more reactive coupling partner in comparison to aryl-halides. In an effort to further improve the decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions, their applicability in the methodology. Furthermore, the reactions of diaryliodonium salts with sulfinate salts in cross-coupling reactions has not been examined to date, creation of a methodology utilizing these compounds could potentially be a big step in these classes of reactions.


identifier: Lambrinakos-Raymond, Zoe  (2019) The Wasted Land.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: The Wasted Land

abstract:
My thesis project, titled “The Wasted Land,” primarily takes aim at T. S. Eliot’s seminal work, “The Waste Land.” While Eliot’s project was to alert readers to decay, both cultural and literal in terms of the cityscape, my project will explore the Montreal bar and rave scene in all its decadence and delirium.
The stories themselves, primarily narrated in the first person, will follow two narrators through their katabacal journeys into the bowels of Montreal and into the West of Canada. There are no ancestors there, no guides. The stories will take place over one
summer, beginning in April and ending in August. The first narrator, Bea, will plunge into a world where cannibalism of women is most obvious: the sex industry. While Eliot moves East towards religion, J’s stories will backpedal in the opposite direction, the West
(moving to Calgary), following a tradition of Romantic poetry where Nature may be the remedy to the city life and, more broadly,
 existence in the hyper-real 21st century. Of course, both options as solutions are equally tenuous.
Voice is a key component for my thesis project. Moreover, while Eliot’s work is poetry, the project will take an interest in a prose that is deliberated crafted, borrowing components from poetics such as cadence, alliteration, and metering. The suburban aspects of the project will deal with unpacking familial narratives and ideas of home (nostos). There is an attempt here to “get to the bottom of it,” the “it” functioning in a myriad of ways: the city and the relationships contained within it, the family, the suburbs, the self.


identifier: Hu, Chengming  (2019) Ensemble Feature Learning-Based Event Classification for Cyber-Physical Security of the Smart Grid.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
The power grids are transforming into the cyber-physical smart grid with increasing two-way communications and abundant data flows. Despite the efficiency and reliability promised by this transformation, the growing threats and incidences of cyber attacks targeting the physical power systems have exposed severe vulnerabilities. To tackle such vulnerabilities, intrusion detection systems (IDS) are proposed to monitor threats for the cyber-physical security of electrical power and energy systems in the smart grid with increasing machine-to-machine communication. However, the multi-sourced, correlated, and often noise-contained data, which record various concurring cyber and physical events, are posing significant challenges to the accurate distinction by IDS among events of inadvertent and malignant natures. Hence, in this research, an ensemble learning-based feature learning and classification for cyber-physical smart grid are designed and implemented. The contribution of this research are (i) the design, implementation and evaluation of an ensemble learning-based attack classifier using extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) to effectively detect and identify attack threats from the heterogeneous cyber-physical information in the smart grid; (ii) the design, implementation and evaluation of stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE) to extract highlyrepresentative feature space that allow reconstruction of a noise-free input from noise-corrupted
perturbations; (iii) the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel ensemble learning-based feature extractors that combine multiple autoencoder (AE) feature extractors and random forest base classifiers, so as to enable accurate reconstruction of each feature and reliable classification against malicious events. The simulation results validate the usefulness of ensemble learning approach in detecting malicious events in the cyber-physical smart grid.


identifier: Rowe, Hillary  (2019) The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime: An examination of pet-human co-sleeping and dyadic sleep measurement.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Many pet owners report sharing a bed with their pets, but little is known about the effects of pet-human co-sleeping, particularly in children. The overarching goal of this thesis was to increase knowledge of the measurement and effects of co-sleeping with pets. The objective of the first study was to compare sleep dimensions between children who co-slept with pets and those who did not. Children and adolescents completed questionnaires about sleep habits, kept a daily sleep log, and wore actigraphs for two weeks. Pet co-sleeping groups had similar sleep profiles and there were no differences between groups on subjective or objective sleep. The objective of the second proof-of-concept study was to consider methodological challenges in dyadic sleep research by testing novel assessment methods. A small convenience sample of dog-human dyads was recruited to wear accelerometers and proximity sensors. Participants completed a series of pet attachment questionnaires. Proximity sensors produced poor quality data and did not adequately measure distance between pets and humans. Dyadic accelerometry appears feasible and yields comparable data for humans and dogs.


identifier: Louw, Aimee ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5839-1476 <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5839-1476>  (2019) Paved Trails: Crip Poetics as an approach towards decolonizing accessibility.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Poetry is a gentle but relentless coach, a lover, personal benchmark, and record for growth. She shifts beliefs, practices, and emotions, tracking pitfalls, steps back, steps around, stillness, like a smooth laketop or slow-streaming river. In this Research-Creation thesis, I develop my version of ‘Crip Poetics’ through autoethnographic methods including video poems and hybrid prose-poetry writing. Drawing on Critical Disability Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Mobility Studies, I bring questions of white supremacy and settler colonialism into conversation with accessibility in Canada. I interview Indigenous people with varying relationships to disability and disabled people of multiple settler cultures, using qualitative methods including Hangout as Method and Wheeling Interviews. Engaging with interview transcripts as text, to continue conversation and exchange (with interviewees), this study offers reflections on interviewing as a method. Reflecting on the limits of participant-action research and representation, I interrogate the role of researchers in marginalized knowledge production, engaging with the limits and possibilities of ‘unsettling research’. I aim to redirect eugenic trends in disability discourse and history towards prioritizing the telling of our own stories. It's my hope that these conversations and the intersections of these struggles are brought to the fore—this thesis being one avenue among many to further this work. Come with me as I play with mainstream, heteronormative, settler framings of dichotomies between accessibility and nature. Dance with me between words and beyond political affiliation, witness my searching for ancestors in the words of an earlier generation of People with Disabilities, on waves actuated by water taxi, towards my interviews.


identifier: Youssef, Hala  (2019) Interfacial behaviour of beta-sheet forming antimicrobial peptide GL13K.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been proposed as promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. They are highly selective and efficient bactericidal agents that are already present as elements of innate immunity. GL13K is a synthetic peptide, derived from residues 141-153 of the human parotid secretory protein, and it is an AMP that is bactericidal against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Previous biophysical studies with this peptide showed that it selectively forms beta-sheets in the presence of anionic membranes and targets membranes via the carpet method.
In this thesis, initial studies focused on the surface behaviour of GL13K to determine whether it has the propensity to form amyloidic structures. Once it was established that GL13K does not aggregate into amyloidic fibrils at the air/water interface or when transferred to solid support, studies with anionic monolayers of varied membrane fluidity were conducted using dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol (DOPG) and mixed DOPG:cholesterol and DOPG:diphytanoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPhPG) films. Both cholesterol and DPhPG, a  branched, anionic lipid, lower the permeability of membranes, but only cholesterol increases membrane viscosity. These studies showed that membrane viscosity plays a greater role in the prevention of peptide insertion into membranes. This suggests that cholesterol may contribute to the protection of eukayotic cells from AMPs by attenuating peptide insertion.
Some bacteria have developed resistance to AMPs by upregulating the production of lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol (LPG) to mask the negative charge on their membranes. Model membranes consisting of dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) and mixtures of DPPG and DP3AdLPG, a stable analogue of LPG, were used to determine how this lysylation alters GL13K behaviour at the air/water interface. The functionalization of the headgroup attenuates the formation of crystalline beta-sheets by disrupting the hydrogen bonding network. Peptide crystallinity appears to increase when the peptide is bound to the headgroup region which could either attenuate activity or alter the mechanism of activity. This highlights the need for further research in this area to determine if a direct relationship between peptide crystallinity and function exists.


identifier: Black, Alexis  (2019) How Do We Construct Worlds With Words? A Study of Metaphors and Conceptions of Outer Space in Parisian French.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this thesis, I employ Critical Discourse Analysis (Van Dijk 1997) and Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Charteris-Black 2004) in order to examine data I collected in forty interviewees with the goal of documenting the metaphoric process used by 40 Parisians when they imagined and spoke about the unknown beyond the Earth. My research extends the traditional boundaries of CMT in order to analyse the metaphoric process at work when interviewees imagine and describe the unknown. What role does language, especially metaphor, play in the process of understanding the unknown and how does it influence how we conceive of and ‘build’ new worlds?
Past research indicates that analogy and metaphor are fundamental to human language and cognition (Kövecses 2002, Hofstadter and Sander 2010). A metaphor is composed of a source domain and a target domain, both ‘known’ to a speaker through her previous experience or generalized cultural knowledge. However, the function of metaphor in discourse concerning the imaginary or unknown is less studied than the function of metaphors in traditional metaphorical schemas. Understanding how metaphor makes the unknown known is key to our understanding of how language functions in ‘wor(l)d-building’ (or the mutual construction of worlds and words) (Black 2018) by facilitating cognitive processes that bridge human imagination and emergent reality.
Based on the analysis of 40 interviews conducted in Paris, and a year of participant observation, my thesis will be developed in 11 chapters. By focusing on language and the construction of worlds through words, I participate in a classic debate in linguistic anthropology concerning the creation of meaning. If our metaphors are motivated by our previous knowledge
and experience, how do we come to know something truly new, to innovate, or to incite profound social change?


identifier: Rezaei Abkenar, Masoumeh  (2019) Detection of Salient Objects in Images Using Frequency Domain and Deep Convolutional Features.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In image processing and computer vision tasks such as object of interest image segmentation, adaptive image compression, object based image retrieval, seam carving, and medical imaging, the cost of information storage and computational complexity is generally a great concern. Therefore, for these and other applications, identifying and focusing only on the parts of the image that are visually most informative is much desirable. These most informative parts or regions that also have more contrast with the rest of the image are called the salient regions of the image, and the process of identifying them is referred to as salient object detection. The main challenges in devising a salient object detection scheme are in extracting the image features that correctly differentiate the salient objects from the non-salient ones, and then utilizing them to detect the salient objects accurately.
Several salient object detection methods have been developed in the literature using spatial domain image features. However, these methods generally cannot detect the salient objects uniformly or with clear boundaries between the salient and non-salient regions. This is due to the fact that in these methods, unnecessary frequency content of the image get retained or the useful ones from the original image get suppressed. Frequency domain features can address these limitations by providing a better representation of the image. Some salient object detection schemes have been developed based on the features extracted using the Fourier or Fourier like transforms. While these methods are more successful in detecting the entire salient object in images with small salient regions, in images with large salient regions these methods have a tendency to highlight the boundaries of the salient region rather than doing so for the entire salient region. This is due to the fact that in the Fourier transform of an image, the global contrast is more dominant than the local ones. Moreover, it is known that the Fourier transform cannot provide simultaneous spatial and frequency localization.
It is known that multi-resolution feature extraction techniques can provide more accurate features for different image processing tasks, since features that might not get extracted at one resolution may be detected at another resolution. However, not much work has been done to employ multi-resolution feature extraction techniques for salient object detection. In view of this, the objective of this thesis is to develop schemes for image salient object detection using multi-resolution feature extraction techniques both in the frequency domain and the spatial domain.
The first part of this thesis is concerned with developing salient object detection methods using multi-resolution frequency domain features. The wavelet transform has the ability of performing multi-resolution simultaneous spatial and frequency localized analysis, which makes it a better feature extraction tool compared to the Fourier or other Fourier like transforms. In this part of the thesis, first a salient object detection scheme is developed by extracting features from the high-pass coefficients of the wavelet decompositions of the three color channels of images, and devising a scheme for the weighted linear combination of the color channel features. Despite the advantages of the wavelet transform in image feature extraction, it is not very effective in capturing line discontinuities, which correspond to directional information in the image. In order to circumvent the lack of directional flexibility of the wavelet-based features, in this part of the thesis, another salient object detection scheme is also presented by extracting local and global features from the non-subsampled contourlet coefficients of the image color channels. The local features are extracted from the local variations of the low-pass coefficients, whereas the global features are obtained based on the distribution of the subband coefficients afforded by the directional flexibility provided by the non-subsampled contourlet transform.
In the past few years, there has been a surge of interest in employing deep convolutional neural networks to extract image features for different applications. These networks provide a platform for automatically extracting low-level appearance features and high-level semantic features at different resolutions from the raw images. The second part of this thesis is, therefore, concerned with the investigation of salient object detection using multiresolution deep convolutional features. The existing deep salient object detection schemes are based on the standard convolution. However, performing the standard convolution is computationally expensive specially when the number of channels increases through the layers of a deep network. In this part of the thesis, using a lightweight depthwise separable convolution, a deep salient object detection network that exploits the fusion of multi-level and multi-resolution image features through judicious skip connections between the layers is developed. The proposed deep salient object detection network is aimed at providing good performance with a much reduced complexity compared to the existing deep salient object detection methods.
Extensive experiments are conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed salient object detection methods by applying them to the natural images from several datasets. It is shown that the performance of the proposed methods are superior to that of the existing methods of salient object detection.


identifier: Shen, Yiran  (2019) Toward a flexible facial analysis framework in OpenISS for visual effects.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Facial analysis, including tasks such as face detection, facial landmark detection, and facial expression recognition, is a significant research domain in computer vision for visual effects. It can be used in various domains such as facial feature mapping for
movie animation, biometrics/face recognition for security systems, and driver fatigue monitoring for transportation safety assistance. Most applications involve basic face and landmark detection as preliminary analysis approaches before proceeding into further specialized processing applications. As technology develops, there are plenty of implementations and resources for each task available for researchers, but the key missing properties among them all are fexibility and usability. The integration of functionality components involves complex configurations for each connection joint which is typically problematic with poor reusability and adjustability. The lack of support for integrating different functionality components greatly impact the research effort and cost for individual researchers, which also leads us to the idea of providing a framework solution that can help regarding the issue once and for all. To address this
problem, we propose a user-friendly and highly expandable facial analysis framework solution. It contains a core that supports fundamental services for the framework, and a facial analysis module composed of implementations for facial analysis tasks.
We evaluate our framework solution and achieve our goals of instantiating the facial analysis specialized framework, which essentially perform tasks in face detection, facial landmark detection, and facial expression recognition. This framework solution as a whole, solves the industry problem of lacking an execution platform for integrated facial analysis implementations and fills the gap in visual effects industry.


identifier: Lai, Haotao  (2019) An OpenISS Framework Specialization for Deep Learning-based Person Re-identification.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Person detection and person re-identi�cation are rapidly increasing research areas in computer vision. They are independent but related. In fact, the output of person detection is the input of person re-identi�cation. There are a certain number of solutions for each of these two individual tasks. But currently, there is no existing
solution that can combine them to form an integrated working pipeline.
To �ll the gap, we propose a highly modular and structural framework solution that provides the functionalities including not only cross-language invocation and pipeline execution mechanism but also viewer, device, tracker, detector, and recognizer abstraction. We instantiate the proposed framework to achieve our goal of tracking the same person across multiple cameras, which essentially is the combination of person detection and person re-identi�cation. Besides the main task of person re-identi�cation, we also support skeleton tracking, as well as camera calibration, image
alignment and green screen image which commonly comes with a computer vision framework. We evaluate our proposed solution according to the requirements and usage scenarios and report the major metrics used by the research community for person detection and person re-identi�cation tasks, respectively.


identifier: Stein, Katharine  (2019) Creative Metamorphoses: Early Experimentation with Digital Technology in the Works of Sarah Jackson and Elizabeth Vander Zaag.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis looks at key themes in the works of two Canadian artists, Elizabeth Vander Zaag and Sarah Jackson, who began experimenting with digital technologies beginning in the mid-1970s, before the advent of personal computing. Focusing on shared themes of development and transformation in their works, the author shows how their ideas reflect a particular attitude towards early digital media, as well as biological life more generally, that contradicts what was generally thought to be the trajectory and ethos of simulating technologies as they developed in academic environments in the 1960s and 70s and trickled out into the art world. Grounded in a methodology that considers feminist responses to the ideology put forward by the discourse of cybernetics that privileges the status of information, this thesis positions Jackson and Vander Zaag as significant figures in Canada’s first wave of digital artists, centering critical issues of gender, literacy, and access as read through the context and content of each artist’s practice. What the author finds is that the emphasis in digital media scholarship on programming as the site of critical interventions trivializes the other ways artists who were women were engaging with technology as it was emerging. Contrary to extant histories of Canadian media art that favour legible distinguishing features such as interactivity, early digital media makes its way into certain artistic practices as hybrids between digital and traditional media, as artists sought ways to translate its radical difference into vocabularies that were harmonious and accessible to existing practices in video, sculpture and drawing. Ultimately, Jackson and Vander Zaag’s use of digital media as expressive tools gave them a vantage point from which to reflect on the medium without getting caught up in the technicalities of the coding process, and their work reflects a radical openness to its potentialities. The author argues for a feminist reading of this orientation that counteracts the tendency to locate agency in the act of programming at the expense of excluding other forms of engagement with digital media.


identifier: Montpetit, Gabrielle  (2019) Douglas Cardinal’s Circle of Life Thunderbird House: Lessons in Indigenous Planning and Architecture in Winnipeg’s North End.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis addresses the architecture of Circle of Life Thunderbird House, in relation to the current social and political struggles associated with this architectural and urban planning project. Métis-Blackfoot Elder and architect, Douglas Cardinal, was commissioned to design the building and the surrounding complexes by Neeginan (Cree for ‘Our Place’), an Indigenous community-organizing body that started in the 1970s to fight for the rights of the community and implement services to promote the social, educational and entrepreneurial growth of the Indigenous community of Winnipeg. The architecture of this building is important for it is an example of how Cardinal’s methodology promotes self-determination, and brings Indigenous approaches to building to communities who are trying to heal and re-learn traditional practices and knowledges according to their values. Circle of Life Thunderbird House was initially part of the larger Winnipeg Development Agreement project, which aimed at revitalizing the North End, Winnipeg’s poorest and most segregated neighbourhood. The early history of Circle of Life Thunderbird House is an important one in terms of Indigenous rights and community organizing. Today, Thunderbird House’s board of directors is fighting for funding for their programming and urgent repairs. In an era of so-called reconciliation in Canada, with two published Calls to Action/Justice (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) and National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019)) it is imperative that the federal government support Indigenous healing, which includes supporting infrastructures, spaces and cultural programs necessary to that healing.


identifier: Lasenko, Polina  (2019) Performative Knowledge and Friendship of Nations: The Practice of Reading and Being Together in the Work of Slavs and Tatars Collective.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis examines the work of Slavs and Tatars art collective—particularly its Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi’ite Showbiz (2009–2017) cycle of work. The cycle takes on the history of Poland and Iran, specifically the countries’ civil and revolutionary movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, and produces new interpretations of these conjoined narratives. Friendship of Nations includes a range of artistic outputs: craft objects, banners, lectures, print matter, and readings rooms. The thesis focuses closely on questions of reading collectively; the reading room structure RiverBed (2011) and the newspaper-like publication 79.89.09. (2011) are considered in their historical and relational contexts, and analyzed as spaces that engage new modes of reading sociability and cultivate distinct publics. Drawing on Michael Warner’s theory of counterpublic social formations, I argue that Slavs and Tatars tap into a social imaginary that is in opposition to dominant ideological narratives of strictly national belonging or stranger fetishism. The thesis also examines how Slavs and Tatars emulate and transform the craft traditions of Poland and Iran, creating new hybrid objects that become mediators of shared experience and intercultural dialogue within an exhibition space, as seen on the examples of Solidarność Pająk Studies (2010–2016) and Friendship of Nations (2011) series. I address how this re-reading of history and the process of envisioning new, non-Western-centric interpretations constitutes the world-making function of Slavs and Tatars’ art practice. The productive potential of their counterpublic social spaces and intercultural objects go beyond commonplace notions of shared identity, opening up a cosmopolitan and transnational view of the world.