identifier: Mazur, Monika  (2008) Le Polonais contemporain en traduction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Le Polonais contemporain en traduction

abstract: Why do we translate in English or in French contemporary Polish literature that would perpetuate the stereotyped image the foreign reader may entertain of the Pole? Based on the questions proposed by skopos and polysystem theories as well as the recent advances in perspectives on the ideology of translation, this translation studies thesis suggests a first step in analyzing the reception of contemporary Polish literature in translation in North America within the context of a world language market. Four Polish novels, written after 1989 by an author born and living in Poland and translated in English and in French have been scrutinized to determine if the translation of contemporary Polish literature regularly transmits a specific image that would give rise to a stereotype of the contemporary Pole. First, the study aims to suggest possible reasons why these novels were successful in Poland. What national policy do the authors and their works have to comply with in order meet the Polish critics' and reader's approval? Then, it is commonly accepted that literary quality, content representativeness and the historical importance of a work as well as its success in the original target culture are what partly determines what will be translated. These questions will allow us to consider a few of the reasons as to why these novels were selected for translation. Finally, it is interesting to assess and suggest an explanation with regard to the reception of the works. In broader terms, it is also significant to examine the impact these translations have had in the target cultures insofar as translation provides a significant representation of the source culture.


identifier: Whyte, Barbara M  (2008) Abortion: what is the good? : developing a deeper understanding of abortion : an analysis with Bernard Lonergan's transcendental method as a creative framework.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: This thesis attempts to dismantle the world of meaning which limits the understanding of abortion to only two perspectives: pro-life and pro-choice, and to begin a tentative reconstruction framed on Bernard Lonergan's transcendental method. His method, founded on the concrete subject seeking the good offers a creative framework which validates women's abortion decision-making and acting, as an important source of moral data.  The transcendental method consists of the four operations of consciousness: experience, understanding, judging and deciding which operate within each individual. The thesis consists of four chapters each focusing on one of the operations in relation to abortion. I use Daniel Maguire's eight "reality revealing" questions and Lonergan's notions of horizon and social structures in order to reach a deeper understanding of voluntary pregnancy interruption. There are several social structures which require abortion as act of meaning if they are to function effectively. An analysis of the "good" of abortion consists of Lonergan's explanation of the human good; its components, the scale of values, and the three levels of the good. In the conclusion concrete actions are suggested as the result of my tentative reconstruction of a world of meaning in which social and cultural values (the good) are incarnated by individual women voluntarily ending their pregnancy. The question is addressed: Does abortion promote human progress or decline as defined by Lonergan?


identifier: Sobol, Kamila  (2008) The 'global consumer culture' : an empirical study in The Netherlands.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Globalization is spreading through the world, shaping people's daily lives and affecting their attitudes and behaviours. Global media, mass migration, advancements in technology and international business are creating a homogenized world market with similar preferences, needs and wants. Keeping in mind that past research has repeatedly demonstrated that culture exerts a very intense influence on consumer behaviour, the emergence of a global consumer culture is expected to be of predominant importance to marketing practitioners when deciding on whether to standardize or localize their marketing strategies.  The present study demonstrates that the global consumer culture has emerged among the Dutch population and is affecting their consumption patterns. An investigation of the interplay of the global and local cultural influences on consumer behaviour revealed that people who have acculturated to the global consumer culture are more prone to purchase culture-free products, while people who have strongly maintained their ethnic identity are more susceptible to purchase culture-bound products. The present study's empirical data reveal that the acculturation to the global consumer culture (AGCC) and the ethnic identity (EID) constructs are negatively related. Moreover, significant correlations were found between the two first-order constructs of the study, namely AGCC and EID and such factors as materialism, ethnocentrism and some demographic variables


identifier: Jella, Sandeep Ebenezer  (2008) Emissions predictions in turbulent reacting industrial gas turbine combustor flows using RANS and LES methods.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: CFD predictions of emissions using conventional RANS methods have been shown to be inaccurate, sometimes by orders of magnitude. In recent years, deeper details of the chemistry-aerodynamics coupling in lean-premixed combustion regimes have been demanded from CFD predictions. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of non-reacting flows provides high-fidelity predictions of flow field aerodynamics in gas turbine combustor chambers, critical for accurate emissions predictions. While LES has been validated for many simple lab combustors, there are few simulations that have used this method for practical industrial combustors at their baseload conditions. This thesis describes its application to an industrial gas turbine combustor at elevated pressures and temperatures. A well-validated commercial code, Fluent 6.3, has been used to obtain reacting and non-reacting flows that occur in this combustor geometry. The final emissions predictions were compared with rig test results.


identifier: Niroomand, Iman  (2008) Modeling and analysis of the generalized warehouse location problem with staircase costs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Capacitated Warehouse Location consists of determining the number and locations of capacitated warehouses on a set of potential sites such that demands of predefined customers are met. Two typical assumptions in modeling this problem are: the capacity of warehouses is constant and that warehouses are able to truly satisfy customer demands. However, while these kinds of assumptions define a well structured problem from the mathematical modeling perspective, they are not realistic. In this thesis we relaxed such constraints based on the fact that warehouses can be built in various sizes and also warehouses can put in orders for unsatisfied customers' demand directly to the manufacturing plant with additional costs. This flexibility can lead to best decision making ability for managers and supply chain specialists to decide between higher capacity level with higher fixed and variable costs at the warehouse or direct ordering from the manufacturing plant. A new non linear integer programming formulation with staircase costs for multiple commodities in supply chain network is presented, and new method for linearizing the model is described. Computational results indicate that reasonably good solution can be obtained by the proposed linear model. Also for solving larger problems we developed a Tabu Search algorithm. The comparisons of the result between nonlinear/linear model and the Tabu Search algorithm are also presented.


identifier: Parashar, Avinash  (2008) Pulsed laser patterning of Toric contact lens inserts.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Laser patterning is a promising technology for biomedical applications. In this research project, a novel laser based marking method for toric contact eye lenses has been proposed. Toric contact eye lenses are designed to address general blurring that occurs due to uneven cornea which is known as astigmatism. Toric lenses have two powers in them, created with curvatures at different angles of cone. For proper functioning of toric lenses their orientation with respect to eye is critical. So toric lenses are manufactured with some form of marking which helps in deciding the orientation with respect to eye. The proposed method is to use the principle of laser interferometry in marking the metal inserts which will subsequently be transferred to lens surface during injection molding.  For the research project stainless steel was selected as the material from the commonly used materials for the lens inserts. The marking of stainless steel with respect to different laser parameters (e.g. peak pulse power, rep rate, polarization and marking time) was studied. Mathematical modeling has also been done to predict the effect of aspherical curvature of lens insert on marking parameters and to study the effect of laser interference on the marking quality and quantity of stainless steel. The proposed marking method will not only reduce the marking area on the toric lens but also increase the visibility of the marking. In addition, using the principle of interference in marking reduces the amount of laser energy required for marking which reduces the heat affected zone thereby increasing the life of high value added metal inserts


identifier: Abed, Sa'ed Rasmi H  (2008) The verification of MDG algorithms in the HOL theorem prover.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Formal verification of digital systems is achieved, today, using one of two main approaches: states exploration (mainly model checking and equivalence checking) or deductive reasoning (theorem proving). Indeed, the combination of the two approaches, states exploration and deductive reasoning promises to overcome the limitation and to enhance the capabilities of each. Our research is motivated by this goal. In this thesis, we provide the entire necessary infrastructure (data structure + algorithms) to define high level states exploration in the HOL theorem prover named as MDG-HOL platform. While related work has tackled the same problem by representing primitive Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) operations as inference rules added to the core of the theorem prover, we have based our approach on the Multiway Decision Graphs (MDGs). MDG generalizes ROBDD to represent and manipulate a subset of first-order logic formulae. With MDGs, a data value is represented by a single variable of an abstract type and operations on data are represented in terms of uninterpreted function. Considering MDGs instead of BDDs will raise the abstraction level of what can be verified using a state exploration within a theorem prover. The MDGs embedding is based on the logical formulation of an MDG as a Directed Formulae (DF). The DF syntax is defined as HOL built-in data types. We formalize the basic MDG operations using this syntax within HOL following a deep embedding approach. Such approach ensures the consistency of our embedding. Then, we derive the correctness proof for each MDG basic operator.  Based on this platform, the MDG reachability analysis is defined in HOL as a conversion that uses the MDG theory within HOL. Then, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our platform by considering four case studies. Our obtained results show that this verification framework offers a considerable gain in terms of automation without sacrificing CPU time and memory usage compared to automatic model checker tools.  Finally, we propose a reduction technique to improve MDGs model checking based on the MDG-HOL platform. The idea is to prune the transition relation of the circuits using pre-proved theorems and lemmas from the specification given at system level. We also use the consistency of the specifications to verify if the reduced model is faithful to the original one. We provide two case studies, the first one is the reduction using SAT-MDG of an Island Tunnel Controller and the second one is the MDG-HOL assume-guarantee reduction of the Look-Aside Interface. The obtained results of our approach offers a considerable gain in terms of heuristics and reduction techniques correctness as to commercial model checking; however a small penalty is paid in terms of CPU time and memory usage


identifier: Pasha, Saba  (2008) Ergonomic analysis of selected lifting tasks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Lifting is a common task that many people face every day. Some jobs, like manual garbage collecting, require considerably more frequent lifting. Heavy weight, improper posture and repetition can apply excessive forces to different body parts, especially on the lower back, which is one of the most affected parts during lifting.  The current study focuses on infrequent, symmetric lifting. A box, weight 2, 60, or 130 N, is picked up from the floor and lifted to different heights using either knee or hip lifting. Ergonomic checklists are used to evaluate these lifts. They typically take into account body posture, weight lifted and frequency. WISHA determined that all lifting tasks were acceptable, REBA identifies most as medium or high risk.  Biomechanical analyses, using LifeMOD, 3DSSPP and CATIA, are used determine loading of the lower back and shoulder when a female lifts 2 or 60 N. OptiTrack hardware and software were used to obtain 3D body marker coordinates during these lifting tasks. LifeMOD calculates higher lumbar moment and compression force in hip lifting compared to knee lifting. 3DSSPP shows that lumbar moment, compression force and shear force are all higher in hip lifting than in knee lifting. CATIA calculates lower compression forces and higher shear forces in hip lifting than in knee lifting, while there is little change in the lumbar moment. LifeMOD, 3DSSPP and CATIA all show that when a heavier load is lifted, lumbar moment, compression force and shear force increase


identifier: Roidl, Benedikt  (2008) Aerodynamic inverse design of multistage turbomachinery blading.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A recently developed inverse method for single blade rows is extended to 2-D and quasi 3-D multi-stage application. In that method, the pressure distribution on the blade surfaces or alternatively, the blade loading and their thickness distribution are specified and the blade shape is sought using a virtual wall movement. The blade walls move with a virtual velocity distribution that is derived from the difference between the current and the target pressure distribution on the blade surfaces. The scheme is fully consistent with the viscous flow assumption and it is implemented into the time accurate solution of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations that are expressed in an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) form to account for mesh movement. A cell-vertex finite volume method of the Jameson type is used to discretize the equations in space; time accurate integration is obtained using dual time stepping. An algebraic Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model is used for turbulence closure. In order to extend the present method to multistage applications a mixing plane approach using flux averaged flow conditions is employed to couple the vane (stator) and blade (rotor) regions and non-reflecting boundary conditions are implemented at the interface between the two regions to account for short distances between blade leading and trailing edges and the corresponding inlet and exit boundaries. The method is validated on two different cases. Finally three different stages are redesigned: The E/TU-3 single stage turbine, the E/TU-4 2.5 stage turbine and the E/CO-5 2.5 stage compressor. For all cases presented in this thesis the blade pressure distributions and pressure loadings, respectively were selected as design variables, and, by modifying the original profile, it was possible to improve the aerodynamic performance.


identifier: Belqasmi, Fatna  (2008) Registry composition in ambient networks.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Ambient Networks (AN) is a new networking concept for beyond 3G. It is a product of the European Union's Sixth Framework Program (FP6). Network composition is a core concept of ANs. It allows dynamic, scalable and uniform cooperation between heterogeneous networks. ANs can host various registries. These registries may be of different types (e.g. centralized, distributed), store heterogeneous types of information (e.g. raw data vs. aggregated data), and rely on different interfaces to access the stored information (i.e. protocols or programming interfaces). When ANs compose, the hosted registries need to compose. Registry composition is a sub-process of network composition. It provides seamless and autonomous access to the content of all of the registries in the composed network.  This thesis proposes a new architecture for registry composition in ANs. This overall architecture is made up of four components: interface interworking, data interworking, negotiation and signaling. Interface interworking enables dynamic intercommunication between registries with heterogeneous interfaces. Data interworking involves dynamically overcoming data heterogeneity (e.g. format and granularity). Interface and data interworking go beyond static interworking using gateways, as done today. The negotiation component allows the negotiation of the composition agreement.  Signaling coordinates and regulates the negotiation and the execution of the composition agreement. Requirements are derived and related work is reviewed. We propose a new functional entity and a new procedure to orchestrate the composition process. We also propose a new architecture for interface interworking, based on a peer to peer overlay network. We have built a proof-of-concept prototype. The interface-interworking component is used as the basis of our new architecture to data interworking. This architecture reuses mechanisms and algorithms from the federated data base area. The thesis proposes as well a new architecture for on-line negotiation. The architecture includes a template for composition agreement proposals, and a negotiation protocol that was validated using SPIN. A new signaling framework is also proposed. It is based on the IETF Next Step in Signaling (NSIS) framework and was validated using OPNET. Most of these contributions are now part of the AN concept, as defined by the European Union's Sixth Framework Program


identifier: Yang, Zhenrong  (2008) On building a dynamic security vulnerability detection system using program monitoring technique.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis presents a dynamic security vulnerability detection framework that sets up an infrastructure for automatic security testing of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects. It makes three contributions to the design and implementation of a dynamic vulnerability detection system. Firstly, a mathematical model called Team Edit Automata is defined and implemented for security property specification. Secondly, an automatic code instrumentation tool is designed and implemented by extending the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). The extension facilitates seamless integration of code instrumentation into FOSS projects' existing build system. Thirdly, a dynamic vulnerability detection system is prototyped to integrate the aforementioned two techniques. Experiments with the system are elaborated to automatically build, execute, and detect vulnerabilities of FOSS projects. Overall, this research demonstrates that monitoring program with Team Edit Automata can effectively detect security property violation.


identifier: Ghaderpanah, Mohammadreza  (2008) Spectral schemes for rightful ownership protection.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Since their introduction, photo sharing and social network websites such as Flickr, RockYou, MySpace, PhotoShelter, and FaceBook have attracted millions of users, many of whom are using these sites to share digital photos, but there is an increasing concern about controlling copyrighted content. Using digital image watermarking technology, online photo-sharing users will not only be able to monetize nonlinear distribution of copyrighted content, but also apply rules to how the content can be used and shared in order to avoid having the digital photos corraled and reused.  This thesis introduces a robust invisible image watermarking mechanism using nonnegative matrix factorization and singular value decomposition approaches. The proposed watermarking scheme improves the performance of the data embedding system effectively, and provides resistance to a wide range of attacks. Illustrating experimental results show the much improved performance of the proposed watermarking approach in comparison with existing techniques, and also demonstrate its robustness against a variety of intentional attacks and normal visual processes. Inspired by the successful application of graph theory in 2D image watermarking, and looking to address its limitations in often difficult 3D model identification and authentication, we also present in this thesis a 3D mesh fingerprinting technique using spectral graph theory. The main idea is to partition a 3D model into sub-meshes, then apply eigen-decomposition to the Laplace-Beltrami matrix of each sub-mesh, followed by hashing each transformed sub-mesh. The experimental results using a benchmark of 3D models demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fingerprinting technique


identifier: Zbarcea, Danut  (2008) Métaphotohistoire--les allégories du regard : stratégie d'exploration artistique et d'analyse visuelle et éducationnelle.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Réalisée à partir de cinq séries de photographies et de textes interrogatifs (représentant le contexte socio-politico-culturel du monde contemporain publié sur Internet), la présente recherche qualitative est, en fait, une exploration subjective d'une étape de mon propre processus artistique. Dans le cadre de ce projet, chaque série a été architecturée et amplifiée de façon répétitive à partir d'un prétexte représenté par un moment considéré très important dans l'histoire de la photographie et de la culture humaine en général. Il s'agit de Mo Ti, Al Hazen, Edweard Muybridge, Harold E. Edgerton et de la photographie numérique. Ce qui fait tourner la roue critique et qui unifie le tout est le voyage imaginaire de Marco Polo (dans un temps aléatoire) sur la Route de la Soie du monde contemporain. Cette problématique (annoncée dans les deux premières séries unifiées) a été réinterprétée, réinterrogée dans les autres séries, mais d'une perspective différente.  L'objectif principal de cette recherche est d'explorer divers types de procédés de production artistique qui permettent la mise sur pieds d'une stratégie éducationnelle destinée au niveau d'études post-secondaires. Cette stratégie vise le développement d'un esprit interrogatif et critique, capable de générer un comportement averti concernant l'exploitation de la connaissance construite dans le cyberespace


identifier: Kaner, Ece  (2008) Integrated approach to information risk assessment.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The primary intent of this thesis is to contribute to information risk assessment process conducted in large organizations, by addressing important aspects within the process, its principles, the steps followed within a structured methodology. In this thesis, first, the existing methodologies, best practices, standards, and tools in information risk assessment are compiled and evaluated according to well-defined criteria. Besides this evaluation, an integrated information risk assessment methodology is developed that uses the high potential of the previous methodologies and addresses their identified deficiencies. The new methodology is validated with a case study.


identifier: Elguebaly, Walid  (2008) Statistical spatial color information modeling in images and applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Image processing, among its vast applications, has proven particular efficiency in quality control systems. Quality control systems such as the ones in the food industry, fruits and meat industries, pharmaceutic, and hardness testing are highly dependent on the accuracy of the algorithms used to extract image feature vectors and process them. Thus, the need to build better quality systems is tied to the progress in the field of image processing.  Color histograms have been widely and successfully used in many computer vision and image processing applications. However, they do not include any spatial information. We propose statistical models to integrate both color and spatial information. Our first model is based on finite mixture models which have been applied to different computer vision, image processing and pattern recognition tasks. The majority of the work done concerning finite mixture models has focused on mixtures for continuous data. However, many applications involve and generate discrete data for which discrete mixtures are better suited. In this thesis, we investigate the problem of discrete data modeling using finite mixture models. We propose a novel, well motivated mixture that we call a multinomial generalized Dirichlet mixture.  Our second model is based on finite multiple-Bernoulli mixtures. For the estimation of the model's parameters, we use a maximum a posteriori (MAP) approach through deterministic annealing expectation maximization (DAEM). Smoothing priors to the components parameters are introduced to stabilize the estimation. The selection of the number of clusters is based on stochastic complexity


identifier: Kolahi, Siamak  (2008) Composition and verification of formal behaviors.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis, we present a platform and a tool support for formal modeling, automated composition, and formal verification of partial system behaviors defined as Use Case Automata (UCAs). Based on research works [24, 31, 32], the Use case Composition, Modeling and Verification (UCOMV) is presented as tool support for the visual modeling of formal behaviors and their merging through the notion of composition expression. The composition expressions determine the extension points in the use cases where the composition is performed, and the operators for the semantics of the composition. The theory and the tool supports a new incremental approach of building the desired system specification with a formal automated mechanism of composition. In addition, it allows the verification of UCAs over temporal properties defined as part of the system requirements specification using an integrated model verification tool. The UCOMV also provides features on traceability of the requirements, and an XML based schema for the introduction of new operators for UCAs composition.


identifier: Arasteh, Ali Reza  (2008) Forensic analysis of WIndows physical memory.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the ubiquitous application of IT in different industries, digital forensic has become an essential element in IT security for discovering and mitigating the root causes of IT incidents. In this context, forensics memory analysis has recently gained great attention in cyber forensics community. However, most of the proposals in this area have focused on the extraction of important kernel data structures such as executive objects from the memory. This thesis discusses techniques for forensic analysis of Windows physical memory. The state of the art on digital forensic with focus on memory forensic is elaborated in this thesis. Additionally the thesis introduces new techniques for Windows memory forensics. The techniques that are elaborated in this thesis are classified into two categories; physical memory parsing, and execution history analysis. The first category introduces different in-memory structures of Windows operating system that are of forensic value during a digital investigation. The second category proposes an approach to analyze the stack memory of process threads to reveal partial execution histories of processes. The result of applying this technique enables the investigator to discover what actions performed by processes at the time of the incident. An algorithm was developed for this purpose that produces all the possible execution history paths. At the end, the introduced techniques are evaluated and empirical results are provided.


identifier: Chikh Al Souk, M. Molham Hasan  (2008) Optimum design and control of hydraulic systems driven by swash plate pumps using vibration based diagnosis.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Swash plate pumps are widely used to drive hydraulic systems, especially because they offer high specific power. In order to improve their performance and make them more reliable, it is necessary to reduce the flow fluctuations, incorporate a control system that is more responsive, and minimize vibration levels. Furthermore, the flow should be controlled according to load requirements and pipe response at the design level. Moreover, there is a need to monitor the health of the system by analysing its vibration signatures.  A novel port plate design is used with a pair of deep silencing grooves on the edges of delivery and suction ports, which reduces the flow fluctuations and improves the pump output. In addition to the load information, the pipe dynamics are also used as a control input. Hence, pipe instabilities with different boundary conditions are studied, where simple, accurate and comprehensive expressions to describe the pipe instabilities are produced, solved, and plotted.  In swash plate pumps, the control unit changes the pump output according to the load requirements. The current pump design is equipped with a double negative feedback strategy. The inner loop controls the spool position, and the outer loop controls the swash plate angle. Since this design has a high rise time, it was suggested to equip the pump with a single feedback PD controller. Although this reduced the rise time, it introduced high levels of vibration. The present research proposes a new control strategy with a single feedback PID controller that minimizes vibration levels. Results are obtained experimentally. The control strategy is generalized to control the pump flow according to load requirements and pipe vibration levels. A compensation factor is introduced to moderate the negative impact of the pipe vibrations, and to generate a new set value for the inclination angle.  For timely detection of faults, the application of wavelet analysis to detect different defects is examined. Some defects are produced, such as pipe flutter, pump dynamic instability, and voltage unbalance in the driving electric motor. Continuous wavelet and discrete wavelet analyses are used to analyze the vibration signature by using Debauches' mother wavelet. The data is collected experimentally. The results show that wavelet analysis is very efficient at identifying defects in the pipe or pump. The results are discussed and appropriate conclusions are drawn based on the present research. Suggestions for future extensions of the research are proposed


identifier: Nabavi, Majid  (2008) Numerical and experimental investigations of the acoustic standing wave resonator, pump, and micropump.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The interactions of acoustic waves and thermoviscous fluids in closed cavities lead to some important physical phenomena such as, linear and nonlinear acoustic standing waves, and acoustic streaming which are very important in a wide range of engineering applications. The present dissertation is focused on the detailed investigation of standing wave dynamics in closed cavities. As a part of this research, novel numerical and experimental techniques are developed to analyze different phenomena caused by acoustic-fluid interaction. Using these techniques, the behavior of pressure, acoustic and streaming velocity fields inside the standing wave resonator, as well as the valveless acoustic pump and micropump are investigated.  A new sixth-order accurate compact finite difference method for solving the Helmholtz equation with Neumann boundary conditions is developed. This scheme showed a better performance at higher wave numbers than the finite element method. A new fourth-order numerical scheme is also developed for solving highly nonlinear standing wave equations with no restriction on nonlinearity level and type of fluid. For highly nonlinear waves, the simulation results show the presence of a wavefront that travels along the resonator with very high pressure and velocity gradients. The slopes of the traveling velocity and pressure gradients, and the asymmetry in the pressure waveform are higher for CO 2 than those for air.  The spatial and temporal variations of the nonlinear pressure and particle velocity fields inside a resonator are experimentally investigated at different frequencies and intensities. The effects of the excitation frequency and displacement on the streaming structure are also studied. It is found that, the classical streaming is not developed for Re s 1 <6.5, and the irregular streaming patterns are observed at Re s 2 >50. Acoustic streaming patterns are also found to be significantly affected by transverse temperature gradient.  A valveless acoustic standing wave pump is developed and the velocity fields inside this novel pump are analyzed. It is found that, the net flow rate of the pump increases with an increase in the pressure amplitude. The behavior of a novel acoustic micropump is also studied at a high frequency. The effect of the diffuser geometry on the pump performance is investigated. The results show that the maximum diffuser efficiency is achieved at the diffuser-nozzle element's half-angle of approximately 45°


identifier: El-Hamwi, Yazan  (2008) Security analysis of an e-commerce solution.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The escalation in the number of people with access to the Internet has fuelled the growth of e-commerce transactions. In order to stimulate this growth in e-commerce, the adoption of new business models will be required. In this thesis, we propose the idea of bringing the multi-level marketing business model into the e-commerce world. For e-commerce applications to take advantage of the business potential in this business model, some challenging security problems need to be resolved.  Our proposed protocol provides a method for fair exchange of valuable items between multiple-parties in accordance with the multi-level marketing business model. It also provides the required security services needed to increase the overall customers' trust in e-commerce, and hence increase the rate of committed online transactions. These security services include content assurance, confidentiality, fair exchange and non-repudiation.  The above security services are usually attained through the use of cryptography. For example, digital rights management systems deliver e-goods in an encrypted format. As these e-goods are decrypted before being presented to the end user, cryptographic keys may appear in the memory which leaves it vulnerable to memory disclosure attacks. In the second part of this thesis, we investigate a set of memory disclosure attacks which may compromise the confidentiality of cryptographic keys. We demonstrate that the threat of these attacks is real by exposing the secret private keys of several cryptographic algorithms used by different cryptographic implementations of the Java Cryptographic Extension (JCE)


identifier: Thivierge, Constance  (2008) Evaluation of wetting and drying processes of different wall assemblies submitted to water penetration.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Leclerc-Chevrier, Marie-Évelyne  (2008) Modeler l'image et le mouvement en animation en volume : quand la matière entraîne le corps dans une relation d'échange.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: L'animateur est au service de la matière en animation. Voilà la prémisse de ce mémoire. Que ce soit en animation en volume, en animation en dessin ou en animation informatique, tout le processus créatif--la relation de l'animateur avec son animation, la composition du mouvement à l'écran et la manière dont le regardeur conçoit le mouvement animé--est influencé et dirigé par l'existence matérielle ou l'absence de matérialité de l'animation. Par le biais de l'animation en volume et des diverses relations entre la matière et la forme, l'animateur et la matière ainsi que le regardeur et le mouvement animé, il est possible d'observer et de sentir la complexité du mouvement. Les théories de Gilbert Simondon sur la prise de forme et l'individuation de la matière sont utilisées dans ce mémoire pour comprendre l'importance de la matière et le contrôle de celle-ci sur toutes les étapes de formation d'une figurine de pâte à modeler. Le contact, le toucher et l'expérience relationnelle de l'animateur avec le corps-personnage proposent une médiation entre les deux parties où l'échange est constant, infini et en continuel devenir. Cette hypothèse est illustrée à l'aide des théories d'Erin Manning sur le toucher et l'intervalle ainsi que celles de Gilles Deleuze sur le mouvement, la durée et le virtuel. Ces théories et celles de Thomas Lamarre sur l'intervalle à l'intérieur de l'image, permettent également d'examiner le ±fonctionnement du mouvement animé» et comment il est perçu et conçu par le regardeur.


identifier: Abdollahi, Farzaneh  (2008) An H {592}[infinity] dynamic routing control of networked multi-agent systems.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This research aims to introduce an analytical solution to the routing problem of Networked Multi-Agent Systems (NMAS) by taking advantage of control theory machinery. Routing problem can be defined as that of finding a route for messages among networked agents by adjusting the output flow of each link according to the traffic information of the network, such that some objective functions are minimized. In this research, a new objective function, namely worst-case queueing length is introduced based on which a novel routing methodology is presented. The propagating, transmitting and processing delays are inevitable characteristics of the queueing dynamics which is considered in the model of the network. The proposed dynamic optimization problem is formulated as a feedback control problem.  First, a centralized [Special characters omitted.] optimal control scheme is proposed which can maintain a robust performance of the routing strategy in the presence of multiple and unknown time-varying delays for a fixed network topology. The routing problem is formulated as an [Special characters omitted.] optimal control problem for a time-delayed system. The resulting optimization problem is then recast as a minimization problem involving Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) constraints. The physical constraints are also formulated as LMI feasibility conditions. The proposed centralized routing scheme is then reformulated in a decentralized framework. This modification yields an algorithm that, obtains the "fastest route", provides robustness against multiple unknown time-varying delays, and enhances the scalability of the algorithm to large scale traffic networks. By stochastically changing the network topology due to the nodes' mobility the overall network model is described by a Markovian jump process. The proposed Markovian jump dynamics can also support changing number of nodes due to adding new nodes to the network or deleting them because of their low energy or faults/failures. The resulting problem which involves Markovian jump dynamics due to the time-varying delays appearing in control is more challenging to solve. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the interconnected terms also change at each switching mode. To stabilize this system, an [Special characters omitted.] controller is presented for the Markovian jump system for mode-dependent interconnected terms. Finally, the LMIs corresponding to the associated physical constrains are properly modified for the mobile networks.


identifier: Boffa, Gilda  (2008) The journey of a mystical filmmaker : the influence of mystical thought, poetry and aesthetics on the cinema of Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1991-2001).  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The internationally acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf has had a highly dynamic artistic evolution. When he first started making films after the Islamic Revolution, he supported his country's regime with his highly propaganda tinged work which carried a very dogmatic view of Islam. Gradually however, he became disillusioned with the politics of the Iranian government and his filmmaking shifted as he became inspired by the great Persian poets, namely Rumi. His films now make use of poetic and mystical imagery to convey more open and relativistic meanings. Much standard poetic imagery which is inspired by the Persian literary tradition has been translated to cinematic imagery to create his version of a poetic cinema. However, his films have remained imbued with spirituality, and his faith in God is as strong as ever, but in a more open sense. Western critics and scholars have often failed to see this dimension of his filmography, and this thesis attempts to shed some light on these aspects in five of the films he made between 1991 and 2001; Time of Love (1991), Gabbeh (1996), A Moment of Innocence (1996), The Silence (1998) and Kandahar (2001)


identifier: Kyriakopoulos, Pelagia  (2008) Using practiced improvisation and role-play to improve oral communication skills for English second language learners.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Many secondary school students from French schools across the province are graduating with a limited ability to communicate orally in English.  Based on the work done by educator Dorothy Heathcote in England, I developed a new method of practicing oral communication. This method incorporates elements of improvisation and drama. Participants were required to portray the role of a particular character to resolve a conflict that was presented in the form of a scenario. They had the opportunity to discuss the conflict and practice their arguments while using idiomatic expressions and key vocabulary in the conflict resolution. Once participants completed the practice, they presented it to an audience, demonstrating how the conflict was discussed and finally resolved. Throughout the study, two experienced ESL teachers and one language arts teacher observed the participants in action to provide me with further insight and feedback on the effectiveness of this new method of practicing oral communication.  Participants discussed their reactions and thoughts on the activity during the focus group interview. The teachers who observed the group discussed their responses to the activity and the effect it had on the participants during a separate focus group interview. The results show that participants were able to use the English language with more effectiveness, fluency and accuracy. They were also able to use the target vocabulary and English expressions appropriately. Participants were also more engaged and felt less stressed about using the English language to communicate.


identifier: Fauteux, Brian  (2008) Campus frequencies : the "Alternativeness" of campus radio broadcasting.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the construction of "alternativeness" on Canadian campus radio broadcasting, using the CKUT Radio-McGill program Underground Sounds as a case study. It is the purpose of this thesis to situate campus broadcasting within the contemporary terrestrial broadcasting environment, looking at literature that theorizes and conceptualizes ideas about what makes campus broadcasting alternative from other broadcast forms, and what factors influence and structure the boundaries and limitations of "alternativeness" on campus radio. Included in this topic is an examination of how terms and concepts such as "alternative," "local," "independent," "community," and "scene" are used on campus-community radio programming, and how these terms construct a broadcasting ethos that may or may not be similar to notions of the alternative/independent/local/community in music scenes and identities. The on-air treatment of these terms are juxtaposed to the way they are discussed in the popular music and cultural industries literature. As well, prominent Canadian broadcast history and policy as it relates to campus radio is a significant component of this thesis, particularly its role in shaping the structure and mandate of Canadian campus radio.


identifier: Jérôme., Conraud-Bianchi  (2008) A methodology for the optimization of building energy, thermal, and visual performance.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Buildings are under the scope of environmentalists since they are the biggest energy consumers and polluters. Building performance could be greatly improved thanks to optimization. Yet, optimizing for different aspects of a building's performance is a conflicting process and building designers have to rely on their experience to make decisions.  The present work proposes a method to assess the optimal configuration for a building in terms of energy and indoor environment performances. The method relies on the good performance of Genetic Algorithms (GA) for complex optimization problems. However, GAs require extensive computations. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were used to alleviate the computational burden. The main concern has been to make this method as universal and easy to use as possible, resorting to widely used tools only.  The method was first successfully tested on a small-scale, four-room section of an office building and on a full-scale school. In both cases, the ANN model performed well with prediction errors in the order of 5%. Finding a better design for the school building was rather difficult since the building performed well already, but thermal comfort could be improved without increasing the energy demand or decreasing visual comfort. The limits of the method were tested by playing with the number of inputs and outputs. The ANN performed well though its performance decreased as the number of design parameters increased. The limits of the method were established regarding the performance of the ANN and the number of cases required to train and validate the ANN


identifier: Ayed, Souha  (2008) Avoidance of idioms : an ethnic group identity issue?  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The intimate link between language and ethnic identity is well documented in the literature. Language choice, accents, phonetic segments, and specific vocabulary items have been shown to be easily manipulated to express ethnic group affiliation. Idiom use is often socially motivated, suggesting the possibility that they could also be manipulated to express identity issue. This paper reports a study investigating, whether Tunisian students resist learning North American English idioms and whether this resistance, if it exists, is an identity negotiation strategy.  Forty intermediate proficiency Tunisian learners of English as a foreign language listened to the matched-guise recordings peers reading three versions of a scenario, differentiated from one another only on the basis of their idiom content. After listening to each voice, the participants rated the speaker in terms of personality traits and perceived in-group and out-group loyalty as measured by an ethnic group affiliation questionnaire. They also completed an idiom recognition test to assess their idiom familiarity. Finally, they indicated their pride and loyalty to the Tunisian ethnic group by filling out self-rated loyalty scales.  The findings highlighted a significant association between idiom use and Ethnic group affiliation, particularly Engagement in Tunisian culture, which affects the participants' perception of idioms. In terms of status and refinement, the participants rated the American text and the neutral text positively. Thus, contrary to what was predicted, they had a positive view towards idiom use. The participants' ability to recognize idioms and gender had an effect on their reactions to idiom use


identifier: Elisa., Martinez Avilés  (2008) Boundary conditions in laboratory and field compaction.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Dynamic compaction of soils is an efficient and cost effective ground improvement technique, allowing for the use of sites previously considered unsuitable for construction. The technique consists of densifying loose granular materials by applying high energy impacts to a soil's surface by dropping a heavy weight carried by a crane at a given height.  Field compaction predictions based upon laboratory Proctor test results generally result in great discrepancies with the obtained field results. A Proctor test sample is restrained both laterally and at its bottom, whereas a field sample is free to move in three dimensions. Therefore, the boundary conditions of the Proctor test are incompatible with those of field compaction.  This thesis presents a numerical model capable of examining both the field and laboratory boundary conditions of a soil sample undergoing dynamic compaction. It was found that the boundary conditions of the Proctor test are incompatible with those of dynamic field compaction and that the stiffness of the underlying layer plays a role in determining the level of compaction experienced by the overlying layer. This relationship was further explored by accounting for varying thicknesses of the upper layer with a range of stiffness values for the underlying layer. A trend of decreasing compaction with increasing upper layer thickness was observed when the underlying layer's modulus of elasticity exceeded that of the upper layer. Also, compaction of the upper layer increased as the elasticity modulus of the lower layer increased for upper layer thicknesses of 1 and 2 m


identifier: DesRoches, Sarah  (2008) Globalization(s)/discourse/education : redefining educational space.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Post-secondary education in North America is submitting to the cultural and economic trends set out by globalizing, or neo-liberal, processes. Some of these processes include the standardization of knowledge and an increasing pressure to produce in a speedy manner. These impacts perpetuate the Dominant (neo-liberal) discourse: that knowledge which is 'productive' or can be commodified is more valuable that that which is not. Students, then, begin performing the needs of the market, perpetuating hegemonic power structures.  In this paper I argue that education is a unique space in that while it is undeniably a product of the Dominant Discourse, it is not inherently destined to maintain the values and goals of this Discourse. Educational spaces are fluid in that they are acted upon by neo-liberal political and economic ideologies. They also have the potential to act upon these dominant power structures. Simply put, post-secondary education should acknowledge that there are, in fact, many competing discourses in any social/educational space.  I explore the use of discourse analysis (from a Foucauldian framework) to describe how discourses represent more than use of language but how to interpret and portray various (possibly diverging) realities and identities. Using Lyotard's concept of performativity , I elucidate how post-secondary education is a space in which social values and norms are present and should therefore play active roles in modifying how these spaces are enacted.


identifier: Karilian-Konyalian, Sarine  (2008) Acculturation stress and academic performance among foreign-born Armenian youth in the United States and Canada : an exploratory study.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The purpose of this research is to better understand the acculturation process and academic performance as experienced by a small group of foreign-born Armenian youth in Montreal, as a case study of immigrant youth in relation to their experiences of acculturative stress and its manifestations--psychologically, linguistically, socially and on the level of academic performance, as they tell their stories.  The process of acculturation and the role played by the school, peers and parents was examined through an exploratory study interviewing 4 graduates from French language public schools in Montreal and 4 graduates of an Armenian community high school in Montreal. Participants were between ages 18 to 31. The findings of acculturation studies on foreign-born Armenian students in the U.S.A. were used to set a foundation and as a guideline for conducting similar research among foreign-born Armenian youth in Montreal. The narratives illustrate the process of acculturation of these eight Armenian foreign-born youth who completed their high school in Montreal as they recount their experiences of the role of schooling and family in this process.  Results show that there is no apparent negative effect on academic performance that stems from acculturation stress experienced by the eight participants in this study. Language was one area of major initial difficulty. All participants exhibited areas of acculturation stress which were manifested in different ways. The acculturative strategy adopted by each participant was that of integration and was not influenced by the degree of ethnic identity, the country of origin nor the type of schooling in Montreal. Gender did not play a major role in influencing acculturation stress. Students are satisfied that they did well academically although they all experienced the effect of cultural differences and initially some degree of linguistic incompetence. The study has implications for teachers, school counsellors and school administrators.


identifier: Cooper, Makeba  (2008) "The salt lick".  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: "The salt lick"

abstract: My thesis project, The Salt Lick , a collection of poems, explores the contemporary effects of industry and nature on the human psyche, approaching the subject via themes such as desire and consumption; industry and futility; lost potential and renewal as they intersect with animal, human and world.  Many of the poems oscillate between discretion and deviance. The actual and concrete, explored in some poems--in terms of objectivity or historicity, are often subverted by implicit or metaphorical meaning. Subjectivity, in poems like, "The Salt Lick", moves away from pure linearity, interrogating, instead, the perceptions of the subject operating outside of temporal constraints--a departure which also creates agency. The work of both D.H. Lawrence and Joyce Carol Oates, could be said to influence this project in terms of its gothic elements and interest in "sexual psychology", as it relates to seduction and corruption; social observation and estrangement; unconsious forces and violence.  Whether explicit or restrained, this project revisits experiences born from an American mill town; where poems are narrative, or imperative, in tone and tense, this thesis hopes to remain unified thematically by the prosperity and poverty--both material and psychical that derives from a collision between industry, nature and man.


identifier: Ahmed, Essam Arshed  (2008) Enhancing coverage based verification using probability distribution.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Functional Verification is considered to be a major bottleneck in the hardware design cycle. One of the challenges faced is to automate the verification cycle itself. Several attempts have been made to automate the verification cycle using Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches. On the other hand, coverage based verification is an essential part of functional verification where the objective is to generate test vectors that maximize the functional coverage of a design. It uses a random test generator that can be directed by some AI algorithms. This process of adapting AI to direct the test generator according to coverage is called Coverage Directed Test Generation (CDG). CDG is a manual and exhausting process, but it is vital to complete the verification cycle. To increase the coverage, a Cell-based Genetic Algorithm (CGA) is developed to automate CDG. We propose a new approach of using CGA with random number generators based on different probability distribution functions such as Normal (Gaussian) distribution, Exponential distribution, Gamma distribution, Beta distribution and Triangle distribution. We apply the new approach on a 16{604}16 packet switch modeled in SystemC, where we define appropriately several static and temporal coverage points and study the effect of the probability distribution on the coverage rate using CGA as an optimization tool. Furthermore, we model the same 16{604}16 packet switch using Verilog and express the same coverage points using SystemVerilog and run the simulation using Verilog simulator and random number generator based on Normal distribution, Exponential distribution and Uniform distribution to show their effect on coverage and compare the results with our approach. Then experiments show that some probability distributions have more effect on the coverage than other distributions.


identifier: Khabir, Bechir  (2008) Framework for indoor video-based augumented reality applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Augmented Reality (AR) has been proven to be useful in many fields such as medical surgery, military training, engineering design, tourist guiding, manufacturing and maintenance. Several AR systems and tracking tools have been reviewed and examined. Taking into consideration the different shortcomings of the available AR systems, a framework for indoor video-based AR applications is proposed to integrate four main components of AR applications, which are large scale virtual environment, mobile devices, interaction methods and video-tracking, in one system. The proposed framework benefits from the rapidly evolving technology in virtual modeling by combing GIS maps and 3D virtual models of cities and building interiors in one single platform. Interaction methods for AR applications are introduced, such as the automatic 3D picking which allows for a location-based data access. In addition, a practical method is proposed for the configuration and the deployment of video tracking. This method makes use of the XML mark-up language to allow for future extensions and simplified interchangeability. An implementation of the proposed approach is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the framework. Different case studies are carried out to validate the applicability of the system and identify its benefits and limitations.


identifier: Findlay, Megan  (2008) Lockburn steady : a novel.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Lockburn steady : a novel

abstract: Lockburn Steady is the story of a fictional farming community in Central Ontario, told through the perspectives of four dissimilar figures. Ramsay Lockburn, the novel's central figure, returns to Garland after an absence of nearly six years, weighed by the news that he has promised his family's abandoned farm to a team of investors hoping to establish a profitable recreational ranch. His very presence threatens the fragile community and aggravates the tensions between Garland's various inhabitants, including Jimmy Loeber, once a teenage farmhand on the prospering Lockburn estate, now an apprentice in a failing junkyard business. Like Ramsay's young niece and nephew, also narrators of the novel, Jimmy fosters private reasons for wanting to keep the farm away from Ramsay. Rivalling interests intensify in Garland until an impulsive act of arson, and its resulting tragedy, violently reunite the community and restore in Ramsay a forgotten sense of belonging and responsibility.  Each chapter of Lockburn Steady is told in the third person but from the alternating perspective of one of four characters. This technique of rotating subjects is often employed by writers as universal as William Faulkner ( As I Lay Daying is one example) and as precise and devastating as Kent Haruf, whose novel Plainsong closely informs this text. By revealing Garland through these contrasting figures, this novel builds a rural community from the perspective of both the inexperienced child and the insecure adult, and attempts to explore the possibility of reconciliation between these divergent, often adversarial figures


identifier: Sze, Gillian  (2008) Tending ice gardens.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Tending ice gardens

abstract: Tending Ice Gardens is a collection of poetry based on visual art from a range of cultures (European, Canadian, Asian, and Aboriginal) and time periods. Unlike the traditional take on ekphrastic poetry, I approached this project in the modern mode and refrained from merely describing the piece, but also interpreted, confronted and spoke to the art-object. The selection process for the artwork was primarily aleatoric. The works of art and artefact acted as catalysts, providing the imaginative setting, figures or circumstance for my own imagination to work off. These poems "spin off" visual art, moving beyond the artwork to explore imaginative and emotional possibilities.  What holds the poems together in Tending Ice Gardens are themes of love, loss and hope which thread their way throughout the collection. The poems explore emotional experiences: for example, the suffocating affection of a dying aunt and the impossible love between a woman and her married, female lover. The poems include narrative, lyrical and imagistic elements.


identifier: Lim, Mun Loong Jeremy  (2008) Robert Louis Stevenson and Scottish Calvinism.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis researches Stevenson's Protestant inheritance and the ways in which the Calvinist doctrine of predestination is incorporated in his major Scottish historical novels.  Chapter 1 draws on biographical accounts of Stevenson and the writer's commentary on Scottish Calvinism to discuss his critical views of religious doctrine and literary writing. I argue that Stevenson's essay on John Knox sensitizes us to the writer's attitudes towards the tension between moral narration and folklore. The tension is then examined in Chapter 2, where I analyze the Calvinist professionals portrayed in Kidnapped and Catriona who are committed to encouraging the Scots to narrate and adapt their identities and traditions in alignment with Scotland's quest for cultural autonomy. I argue that this novel endorses predestination within a legalistic context. In particular, Catriona idealizes a complex of judicial functions by associating self-censorship and professionalism with the possibility of attaining agency and individuality. Chapter 3 explains that Stevenson's writing in The Master of Ballantrae questions a professional system of predestination as embodied in the memoirs of a Calvinist land steward. I argue that Stevenson's writing inhabits the steward's deterministic perspective to poignantly archive remnants of Scotland's local traditions.  Stevenson's Scottish novels represent an aspiration to bridge professional narration and vernacular traditions that involves associating Presbyterianism with pastoral imagery. In Chapter 4, I argue that this dream co-exists with the writer's recognition that only remnants of the past can be preserved.


identifier: Azmoodeh, Nika  (2008) Fabrication and characterization of nanoscale elements of a miniaturized gas ionization sensor.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In this thesis the nanoscale elements of a Gas Ionization Sensor (GIS) were studied, designed and fabricated. A GIS is working by fingerprinting the ionization breakdown voltage of unknown gases which displays good selectivity even in the very low gas pressure. In GIS, electron impact ionization mechanism leads to the breakdown of gas inside an ionization cell. Since breakdown voltage ( V b ) is a unique quantity of each gas, by measuring this voltage, the existence and type of the unknown gases can be found. To fabricate the GIS, vertically aligned arrays of AgNWs were employed. The AgNWs were synthesized by template-assisted electroplating method. To obtain freestanding metals nanowires without any bundling, Anodized Alumina Oxide (AAO) template with well ordered pore morphology was required.  The AAO templates were fabricated using the modified two steps anodization process. By applying various anodization conditions, AAO templates with interpore distance varying from 40nm to 150nm were fabricated. Besides, the dependency of the interpore distance and applied voltage in the AAO was confirmed.  The freestanding AgNWs fabricated in the pores of AAO were then used as the cathode in the two parallel plate ionization cell to act as the field amplifier to decrease the field ionization threshold voltage.  The GIS was characterized and compared to its AuNWs counterparts. This new device exhibit improvement compared to its previous AuNWs GIS, as the breakdown voltages were further reduced. The reduction of V b was attributed to the lower workfunction of silver compared to that of gold.


identifier: Rahmatian, Mohammad  (2008) Multi-objective reverse logistics network design and analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Implementing an efficient closed-loop recovery network requires establishing appropriate logistics systems for flows of new, used, and recovered products. Reverse logistics has received increasing attention from researchers in the last few decades. This research addresses logistics network design in an integrated reverse logistics context. We present a multi-objective facility location and allocation model with multiple commodities. Three objectives are considered: overall cost minimization, product returns collection maximization, and product recovery maximization. The purpose is to obtain a set of non-dominating solutions for facility arrangement among the potential facilities as well as the associated material flows between these facilities and customers. The facility capacities are treated as discrete parameters and are imposed on each product type independently. Numerical examples are presented to analyze the model performance while implementing the constraint method. Finally, the trade-off relationship between the three competing objectives are presented and analyzed.  Keywords. Reverse logistics; Multi-objective optimization, Constraint method


identifier: Blair, Mervin  (2008) An investigation of chunking and inhibitory processes in young and older adults using a sequential action paradigm.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The completion of a sequence of actions in a fixed order is necessary to perform everyday activities. One line of research posits that all actions in a sequence are activated simultaneously and inhibited upon completion whereas another viewpoint suggests the successive activation of chunks of to-be-performed actions. Previous work using a sequential monitoring task indicated that chunks of items were retrieved successively from long-term memory and inhibited upon completion, suggesting a hybrid model of serial behaviour. The objective of this thesis was to examine inhibitory and chunking processes in sequential behaviour and how they change with aging. Participants learned an 8-item sequence and subsequently responded to these items in the order learnt while ignoring distractors (items out of sequence). Chunking and inhibitory processes were simulated by training participants to use overt articulation of chunked items, either with or without suppression of completed items: One group of participants continuously recited both items in each chunk in an 8-item sequence (chunking only) whereas another grouped recited both chunk items initially but subsequently updated their recital to the last item of the chunk (chunking plus inhibition). The role of chunking in sequential behaviour was supported as the chunking strategies employed resulted in similar findings as previous research. Further, suppression of previous items from conscious awareness was evident in YA compared to OA, consistent with the inhibition deficit hypothesis, which states that the ability to suppress previous task-relevant information declines with aging. Together, these results support the proposed hybrid model of sequential performance.


identifier: Zuccheroso, Ettore  (2008) Mapping of local field potential oscillations in the rat cerebellar cortex granule cell layer.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Local field potential (LFP) oscillations in the granule cell layer of the cerebellar cortex could be a signal representing an organizing influence on its networks. However, little is known about the relative location of these LFP oscillations across the cerebellar cortex topography. LFPs and unit activity were recorded in the cerebellar cortex of 4 immobile adult male rats. Three to eight multiple moveable microelectrodes were simultaneously implanted at three targets (positions) perpendicular to the transverse plane. Recordings were made at regular 0.25 to 0.5 mm intervals, or upon a change in layers, or when capturing a single unit. LFPs were analyzed using Fast Fourier Transforms to calculate the proportion of the signal within 5-10 Hz for consecutive time windows of 500 ms. Recordings were made at multiple depths: for comparisons, track depth was divided in three regions (1/3 of the track depth, with region 1 being superficial and region 3 deep). All rats showed a tendency for increasing oscillatory activity with increasing depth and mean oscillatory activity increased from region 1 to region 3. Oscillatory activity was greater in electrodes located more lateral and caudal. All rats exhibited an interaction between position and region: increased oscillatory activity was found in lower depths of tracks more lateral and caudal, corresponding to position 1, region 3. 5-10 Hz oscillatory activity is isolated to specific subdivisions of the granule cell layer, corresponding to the Crus II and paramedian lobules and could be related to the specific combinations of afferents arriving in these lobules.


identifier: Sundharesan, Venkatraman  (2008) Generation of 2-D digital filter from an active analog network with application in image processing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A new approach to generate 2-D filters having variable magnitude characteristics from an active analog doubly terminated network has been proposed. An active analog circuit with reactance elements in T section in the feedback has been considered. Its stability has been ensured and a 2-D analog lowpass filter has been generated. The impedance values for the filter is obtained in comparison with type I Chebyshev filter with 1 db ripple in the pass band.  The 2-D analog lowpass filter has been transformed to digital domain by applying the generalized bilinear transformation. Similarly 2-D digital high pass filter has been obtained. The 2-D digital bandpass filter has been obtained by cascading the lowpass and highpass filters.  The 2-D digital filters are studied under five different cases. These five different cases are based on the coefficients of generalized bilinear transformation and the op-amp gain parameter. The effect of each generalized bilinear transformation coefficient and the op-amp gain on the filter output is studied by individually varying them.  Finally, performance comparison between the infinite gain and finite gain configuration has been done for the lowpass filter with a basic image processing application. A basic application for 2-D digital highpass filter with finite gain has been illustrated in image processing.


identifier: Ma, Zuhui  (2008) On the study of the optimistic unchoking algorithms and incentive mechanisms of BitTorrent.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Optimistic unchoking plays an important role in BitTorrent Peer-to-Peer (P2P)[46, 45, 48, 4] file sharing networks. Peers use optimistic unchoking to find upload bandwidth information about their neighbors. However, free-riders can also take advantage of optimistic unchoking and download from the network without uploading anything. In this thesis, a novel optimistic unchoking algorithm for BitTorrent is proposed. The main purposes of our algorithm are to prevent free-riding and to improve the efficiency of optimistic unchoking. A stochastic model is then proposed to analyze the performance of my algorithm. We also verify the results by simulations.  BitTorrent also have a built-in incentive mechanism called "Tit-for-Tat" [4] to prevent free-riding. Basically, a peer will upload to other peers (default is four) that give it the highest download rate. In this thesis, We will show that by adjusting the upload rate and the number of uploads, a selfish peer can take advantage of the "Tit-for-Tat" [4] to improve its download rate. However, this strategy of the selfish peer is harmful to the whole network. If many peers take the same strategy, the performance of the whole network will be significantly decreased. It is then theoretically proved that the "Tit-for-Tat" [4] is not an optimal incentive mechanism. To solve this problem, We propose a new incentive mechanism for BitTorrent. With this new mechanism, even if all peers are selfish, the performance of the whole network can still be maintained at a very high level


identifier: Lapalme, Julie  (2008) La mutabilité au sein de trois œuvres franco-ontariennes : une lecture du Malade imaginaire d'André Paiement, de L'Homme invisible/The Invisible Man de Patrice Desbiens et du Testament du couturier de Michel Ouellette.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.


identifier: Hébert, Paul C  (2008) "Feed the world" : food, development, aid and hunger in Africa, 1984-1985.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis evaluates African reactions to the 1984-85 Ethiopian famine and broader discourses about food, hunger, aid and agriculture through an analysis of reports, editorials and letters in the African press during the height of global concern about famine in Ethiopia. Africa's leaders blamed famine on agricultural underdevelopment as a consequence of the continent's marginality in the global economy. While these discourses revealed how food was a means by which the industrialised world maintained dominance over the developing world, they concealed how African states' political and social divides determined which groups starved and which groups continued to eat.  The Ethiopian famine amplified calls for the development of large-scale, technologically-advanced farming as a means to ensure Africa's political and economic independence on one hand, and valorisations of "traditional" African foods on the other. Debates over the fixture of African farming were shaped by a paternalistic attitude towards rural populations, especially women, on the part of Africa's urban elites, and revealed how the production and consumption of food is productive of local and transnational political and social networks. As well as examining discourses about food, I examine how Africans responded to events such as Live Aid, which raised millions of dollars for famine relief. While scholars have criticised these events for ignoring the politics of famine, my research shows how Africans saw these events as speaking to them as political subjects in a way that official relief efforts did not.


identifier: Bani-Melhem, Khalid Qasem  (2008) Development of a novel submerged membrane electro-bioreactor for wastewater treatment.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The principle objectives of this research were to design and investigate a novel approach to generate an excellent quality effluent, while minimizing the size of the treatment unit and energy consumption. To achieve these objectives a submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR) was designed and its performance was investigated. Membrane processes, electrokinetic phenomena, and biological processes take place simultaneously leading to the control of the problem of membrane fouling which has been considered one of the major challenges to widespread application of membrane bioreactor technology. This design is the first attempt to combine electrokinetic principles, using electro-coagulation (EC) processes and submerged membrane bioreactor in one reactor vessel.  Both water quantity and quality were monitored through different experimental phases to verify the feasibility of the SMEBR system for wastewater treatment under various operating conditions.  Firstly, a preliminary experimental phase was conducted on a small-scale electro-bioreactor (without the operation of the membrane module) to identify the best electrokinetic conditions in terms of the appropriate current density so as not to impede the biological treatment, and to determine the best exposure time of DC when it should be applied intermittently in the SMEBR system. DC field of 1 V/cm with an operational mode of 15 minutes ON/45 minutes OFF of DC power supply were found to be the adequate electrical conditions to operate the SMEBR system.  Two different anode materials--iron and aluminum--were used to validate the SMEBR system for wastewater treatment.  At the operating mode of 15 minutes ON/45 minutes OFF, the applied DC field in the SMEBR system enhanced the membrane filterability up to 16.6% and 21.3% using iron and aluminum electrodes respectively. However, the significant improvement in membrane filterability was 52.5% when using an aluminum anode at an operational mode of 15 minutes ON/105 minutes OFF, which indicated that the operational mode of DC supply is a key parameter in the operation of a SMEBR system.  In terms of pollutants removal, the overall removal efficiency for COD was greater than 96% and greater than 98% for phosphorus. In conjunction, the removal of NH 3 -N was on average 70%. It should be emphasized that the phosphorous removal efficiency was higher than other studies on MBR without the use of electrokinetics. Furthermore, the effluent of the SMEBR treatment, using synthetic wastewater, had no color and no odor.  The designed SMEBR system may find a direct application in the treatment of various wastewaters, including sewage, without an extensive pretreatment. Such a solution is required by several small municipalities, mining areas, agriculture facilities, military bases, and in cold regions. Finally, such a compact hybrid system can easily be adapted to a mobile unit


identifier: Rostad, Kristin  (2008) Domain-general categorization in 14- to 24-month-old infants.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The current experiments were concerned with the development of object categorization skills during the second year of life. Experiment 1 examined whether 18- and 24-month-old infants were capable of performing categorization at the domain-general level (i.e., very broad categories of animate and inanimate objects) using a sequential touching procedure. The 18-month-old infants categorized the objects at an above-chance level, but the 24-month-olds did not. However, the 24-month-olds demonstrated a higher percentage of cross-category touching (i.e., putting people on vehicles and furniture), which would make it difficult to demonstrate categorization using this particular procedure. In Experiment 2, 14-, 18-, and 24-month-old infants participated in a sequential touching task in which the part features of animate and inanimate objects were modified, allowing for a comparison of leg/wheel categorization (i.e., perceptually-based) and animate/inanimate categorization (i.e., conceptually based). None of the age groups performed either leg/wheel or animate/inanimate categorization at a level significantly greater than chance. Taken together, these results demonstrate that infants are capable of categorizing at a broad level during the middle of the second year of life, and that they do not use perceptual features as the sole basis for this categorization.


identifier: Chelin, Véronique  (2008) Le bourreau dans la presse écrite et la littérature : le cas du génocide au Rwanda.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Notre recherche a porté sur le génocide des Tutsi qui s'est déroulé au Rwanda en 1994. L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'explorer le rapport entre le discours littéraire et le discours journalistique à propos de la représentation du génocide en général et des bourreaux en particulier. En effet, nous avons décidé de mettre l'accent sur l'un des protagonistes principaux des massacres : le tueur.  Notre corpus littéraire est constitué de quatre oeuvres : deux ouvrages publiés dans le cadre de l'opération ± Écrire par devoir de mémoire » du Fest'Africa de Lille (Boubacar Boris Diop et Abdourahman A. Waberi), un roman d'origine québécoise (Gil Courtemanche) et un roman d'origine rwandaise (Benjamin Sehene).  Notre corpus journalistique est composé de plus de 2 500 articles provenant de la presse écrite québécoise et française. Plus particulièrement, il s'agit des articles écrits entre le 6 avril 1994 et le 31 décembre 2006 dans les quatre journaux suivants : La Presse, Le Devoir, Le Monde et Le Figaro .  Pour chacun de ces corpus, nous abordons le contexte de production, puis nous analysons les textes afin d'en dégager les thématiques principales ainsi que les choix narratifs et linguistiques significatifs. Dans le cas des journaux, nous procédons également à l'analyse quantitative du corpus.  Le premier chapitre définit le concept de génocide et décrit le cas rwandais, tout en expliquant les fondements historiques de cet événement. Le deuxième chapitre propose une réflexion discursive, philosophique et sociologique sur le langage et l'imaginaire du bourreau ainsi que les facteurs de son passage à l'acte. Les troisième et quatrième chapitre sont consacrés à l'analyse des corpus littéraire et journalistique


identifier: Landry, Karine  (2008) Du globule au pixel : étude comparative entre l'Ève future d'Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam et Corpus Simsi de Chloé Delaume.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Numerous literary works have offered different interpretations on the future of humanity; in the 19 th century, the work of Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam introduced, in "L'Ève future", the creation of an electric "Andréide", capable of replacing humans. A modern day work by Chloe Delaume entitled "Corpus Simsi" offers another interpretation which involves the integration of the human spirit into a video game, The Sims(TM), which simulates human life. In which way do these two works, these two "Eves", echo each other, complete and question each other beyond the century that separates them? To what extent do the literary discourses and the scientific and technological developments mutually influence each other? The answers to these questions will be explored through analysis of both interpretations.


identifier: Fadhil, Amineh  (2008) Onto VQL : Ontology Visual Query Language.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Applying visual techniques to access data has been a successful way of abstracting and simplifying the complexity of the operation to a user not versed in the technical domain. Visual querying systems have been developed to represent a database schema and to visually query its content. Similar effort has been done for visually representing the knowledge in an ontology. Since ontologies are gaining ground into playing an important role in representing knowledge of multidisciplinary domains, there grows the need for a simple way to query ontologies.  This thesis presents OntoVQL, a formal visual query language that allows to query OWL ontologies. OntoVQL hides the complexity of an OWL query language by abstracting the query as a graph that can be broken and reassembled and is designed to formulate more than simple queries with the and/or constructors. OntoVQI, a visual querying interface is introduced as the prototype that has been implemented to effectively formulate queries in OntoVQL and to view their results. This prototype facilitates query formulation by providing features such as query preview.


identifier: Gasse, Francis  (2008) Rewriting logical rules as SROIQ axioms : Theory and implementation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Description Logics (DLs) is a family of very expressive logics. But some forms of knowledge are much more intuitive to formulate otherwise, say, as rules. Rules in DLs can be dealt with by two approaches: (i) use rules as they are even though it leads to undecidability. (ii) or make the rules DL-safe, which will restrict their semantic impact and, e.g., loose the nice "car owners are engine owners" inference. Here, we offer a third possibility: we rewrite the rule, if it satisfies certain restrictions, inherited from [Special characters omitted.] , into a set of axioms which preserves the nice inferences. This rewriting also has the benefit of being compatible with existing tools and standards, and to make the most of this, software supporting this approach is provided.  In this thesis, we describe the rewriting technique and prove that it does really preserve the semantics of the rules and also present the software we developed to support the adoption of the proposed technique


identifier: Kazmi, Raza Ali  (2008) Isogenies and cryptography.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Isogenies and cryptography

abstract: This thesis explores the notion of isogenies and its applications to cryptography. Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is an efficient public cryptosystem with a short key size. For this reason it is suitable for implementing on memory-constraint devices such as smart cards, mobile devices, etc. However, these devices leak information about their private key through side channels (power consumption, electromagnetic radiation, timing etc) during cryptographic processing. In this thesis we have examined countermeasures against a specific side channel attack (power consumption) using isogeny, (a rational homomorphism between elliptic curves) and elliptic curve isomorphism. We found that these methods are an efficient way of securing cryptographic devices using ECC against power analysis attacks. We have also investigated the security and efficiency of implementation of a public key cryptosystem based on isogenies. We found that in order to implement the proposed cryptosystem one has to compute a root of the Hilbert polynomial H D ( X ) over F p . Since there is no known efficient way of achieving this calculation, the proposed cryptosystem cannot be used in practice.


identifier: Razmara, Majid  (2008) Answering List and Other questions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Answering List and Other questions

abstract: The importance of Question Answering is growing with the expansion of information and text documents on the web. Techniques in Question Answering have significantly improved during the last decade especially after the introduction of TREC Question Answering track. Most work in this field has been done on answering Factoid questions. In this thesis, however, we present and evaluate two approaches to answering List and Other types of questions which are as important but have not been investigated as much as Factoid questions.  Although answering List questions is not a new research area, answering them automatically still remains a challenge. The median F-score of systems that participated at the TREC-2007 Question Answering track is still very low (0.085) while 74% of the questions had a median F-score of 0. In this thesis, we propose a novel approach to answering List questions. This approach is based on the hypothesis that the answer instances to a List question co-occur within sentences of the documents related to the question and the topic. We use a clustering method to group the candidate answers that co-occur more often. To pinpoint the right cluster, we use the target and the question keywords as spies . Using this approach, our system placed fourth among 21 teams in the TREC-2007 QA track with F-score 0.145.  Other questions have been introduced in the TREC-QA track to retrieve other interesting facts about a topic. In our thesis, Other questions are answered using the notion of interest marking terms. To answer this type of questions, our system extracts, from Wikipedia articles, a list of interest marking terms related to the topic and uses them to extract and score sentences from the document collection where the answer should be found. Sentences are then re-ranked using universal interest-markers that are not specific to the topic. The top sentences are then returned as possible answers. To evaluate our approach, we participated in the TREC-2006 and TREC-2007 QA tracks. Using this approach, our system placed third in both years with F-score 0.199 and 0.281 respectively.


identifier: Arbabi, Navid  (2008) New CAD models for spiral inductors and EM coupling for EM based circuit design.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis contributes several techniques for electromagnetic-based computer-aided modeling, design, optimization and simulation of RF/microwave components and circuits.  First, computer-aided design (CAD) of spiral inductors exploiting full-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis is proposed. Traditional optimization methods for spiral inductors rely on circuit models and they are inaccurate compared to EM simulations. Space-mapping optimization combines the speed of circuit models and the accuracy of EM simulations. A space-mapping optimization algorithm is proposed which yields an EM-validated spiral inductor design/layout with considerable improvement over those obtained by traditional optimization methods.  Second, a very compact composite low-pass filter is presented. It offers good matching properties in the pass-band and features an attenuation pole near the cutoff frequency leading to a sharper attenuation response. The filter is implemented using spiral inductors and metal-insulator-metal capacitors. The filter occupies a compact area of 1.4mm{604}0.8mm which is much smaller than other filters operating in the same frequency range.  The measured response of the overall circuit might not match or could be entirely different from the expected response, even if the passive components are designed accurately. This is because coupling between components can play an important role in the circuit performance especially in dense circuits. An efficient and recent CAD model for EM coupling, previously applied to passive EM circuit simulation, is considered. This CAD technique is applied to EM coupling modeling of a nonlinear RFIC consisting of both active and passive components. The efficiency of the technique is demonstrated through an amplifier circuit simulation


identifier: Sedaghat, Nasim  (2008) Hair modeling and rendering using Ray-tracing on GPU.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Realistic human hair simulation, especially in real-time, is one the most challenging problems in Computer Graphics due to the unique nature of hair strands. The major obstacle is the large number of hairs and rather small diameter of individual hair strands. Specifically, we are dealing with four problems in hair simulation: modeling, rendering, collision detection, and animation. In this thesis, we focus our studies on hair modeling and hair rendering.  For modeling hair, we based our algorithm on key strand hair modeling where hairs are considered as wisps of similar hairs with one key strand per wisp. We added various parameters to this method to achieve more realistically-looking hair. Also, we introduced a new technique to produce short human hairstyles easily.  We proposed a new 3D geometric object called Continual Cylinders to represent hairs in 3D space based on the fact that the cross section of hairs can be approximated by ovals. Simulating hair strands with this rather simple geometric object helps us generate realistic hairstyles without affecting running time.  Rendering a sufficient number of individual hairs to convey realism in real-time is a very hard task in Computer Graphics. To be able to do this we rendered hair using GPU in this thesis and we successfully rendered about 10,000 hairs in real-time. Moreover, we used the ray tracing method, along with GPU, which is a time-consuming rendering technique that is mostly used to produce very high quality images. Here as well, we introduced and used various methods to achieve realism such as hairs self-shadowing, hairs fineness, slightly different hairs color between strands and within a strand itself.


identifier: Vashisth, Akanksh  (2008) Interactive shape editing techniques for 3D point models using an electronic glove.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The development of simple and intuitive interactive deformation techniques for 3D point-based models is essential if they have to find wide-spread application in different domains. In this thesis we describe an interactive technique for editing the surface of a point-based model by adapting a physically-based mesh-free shape deformation formulation to work in conjunction with data input from an electronic glove. Each finger tip of the glove forms an interaction point in 3D space, whose movement into/away from the surface is used as a directed force applied on the surface for deforming the model in an intuitive yet computationally stable manner. After the glove is spatially registered with the point-based model, one or more fingers can be simultaneously used for deforming the model. For editing large 3D point based models, we have proposed two heuristic techniques which yield interactive response times for both global and locally detailed deformations on a large model. The heuristics use a localized deformable region or use a reduced model set with offline transfer of shape modification to the larger model. The proposed technique is simple to implement and its effectiveness has been demonstrated through a number of illustrative examples and videos.


identifier: Ghosh, Amiotosh  (2008) Resource assignment for adaptively modulated interconnected WLANs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Deployment of large wireless local area network (WLAN) in outdoor environment to provide broadband wireless access (BWA) is gaining more attention. Although several standards have been developed for this purpose numerous research and development is going on to improve the performance of the standards. Management of the wireless resource is one of the key ingredients for providing BWA to the users and total number of serviceable users in a certain area.  In this thesis we investigate WLANs performance in a metropolitan area using HiperLAN type 2 standard. Inside the LANs user can move from one place to another and user rates are dynamically adjusted based on their distance from the Access Points. To manage the wireless resources of the network we propose resource allocation schemes and evaluate their performance. We develop a generic simulation software for the network and use it for three resource allocation policies namely Minimum Overhead Round Robin (MORR), which does not depend on user's buffer condition, Weighted Minimum Overhead Round Robin (WMORR) which is a function of user buffer as well as the waiting time for transmission opportunity and Weighted Round Robin (WRR) which is a function of user buffer only. We evaluate average buffer occupancy, packet delivery time, buffer packet drop probability, overhead in downlink and uplink phases for performance comparison of the new allocation schemes. Our results show that the second adaptive resource allocation technique i.e. WMORR outperforms the other two


identifier: Hassan, Ahmed  (2008) Non-coherent slot synchronization techniques for WCDMA systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This Thesis investigates a host of new synchronization techniques for WCDMA. We assume the presence of more than one base station (BS) (multi-target) in the vicinity of the mobile station (MS), and consider the effects of multipath, Raleigh fading, and different carrier frequency offsets. Through the Thesis, we concentrate on the first stage of the three-stage cell search procedure which is slot synchronization. The slot synchronization stage has been always the most challenging stage since it deals with the largest amount of uncertainty in the cell search, and it determines the timing resolution to the other two stages. We also introduce the concept of using parallel code verification circuits to be added to the state of art pipelined techniques to yield better synchronization results. The received WCDMA synchronization codes are combined in different scenarios according to the proposed non-coherent synchronization technique. The results are compared with recent approaches of combining the WCDMA synchronization codes. The comparison reveals some improvements in the mean synchronization time for some of our rules herein. It also shows superiority of the new rules for different carrier frequency offsets especially at low signal to interference ratios.