identifier: Jordan, Randolph  (2003) Starting from scratch : turntables, auditory representation, and the structure of the known universe in the films of David Lynch.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The films of David Lynch are considered here in terms of their use of sound and the presence of sound technology within their narratives. Drawing on recent work in media theory, sound theory, Lynch criticism, and the philosophy of music, it is argued that approaching Lynch from the perspective of sound yields highly productive ways of understanding his work. It is demonstrated that Lynch's films illustrate an awareness of the development of sound technologies in the 20 th century and the effect these technologies have on human psychology. His obsession with phonograph turntables is a specific case in point. Lynch's films are also considered in terms of artistic traditions that have embraced the use of sound recording technology as instruments of music production, particularly late 20 th century sample-based art. The theoretical implications of sampling are considered in detail, and these implications are applied to detailed analyses of Lynch's works as a way of understanding his place in contemporary sampling culture. Finally, it is argued that Lynch's films explore the state of anxiety that has arisen around the technological separation of the senses of hearing and sight, both from each other and from their grounding in the human body. As such, his films explore the very birth of cinema itself, and how people have responded to a medium which takes the separation of the senses as its basic operating paradigm.


identifier: McLeish, Anna  (2003) To recycle is to author is to create is to recycle : transitory film authorship, from popular European cinema to post-new Hollywood cinema.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract: This study explores the notion of film authorship as a transitory, fluid concept, one that is capable of acquiring new meaning and connotations as it shifts between different national, cultural, and cinematic contexts. It offers as its theoretical point of contextualisation the transnational practice of cross-cultural cinematic recycling, specifically popular European cinema into post-New Hollywood cinema. This study argues for the viability of the remake as a topic of research through which to consider the (re)positioning of concepts of authorship and the (trans)national, at the interface of postmodern, global/local concerns in film production, reception and interpretation. In particular, this study calls for the recognition of contemporary film authorship, specifically auteurism, as two-tiered ("traditional" and "popular" auteurism as necessarily separate yet interconnected concepts). Following this socio-cultural theoretical discussion, presented in its first two chapters, this study then applies the notion of authorship as a shifting, transitory concept to a case study of Alejandro Amenábar's Abre los ojos (1997) and its recycled version, Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001). This particular instance of cross-cultural cinematic recycling provides a pertinent illustration of the way in which contemporary authorial modes are both aligned and demarcated by their distinct cultural, cinematic contexts.


identifier: He, Huan  (2003) Re-examining the determinants in international news coverage : cross-news-category and cross-country comparisons.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Since the 1960's, communication scholars have conducted numerous studies to identify determinants of international news flow and coverage. Most of these studies have failed to recognize the fact that different news categories are governed by different criteria of newsworthiness. Also, there has been a lack of research that investigates non-Western, especially non-U.S. news media, and a lack of comparative studies examining media in different parts of the world. The current study was designed to address the two problems. Using quantitative content analysis, four newspapers, which were published in Canada, India, China and the United States, were investigated. Their international news outputs in four news categories were compared. The four categories were political news, military news, economic news and news on natural disasters. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) In a newspaper, the determinants of international news coverage vary among different news categories; (2) The determinants of international news coverage in a particular news category are similar among newspapers from different countries. Hypothesis I was generally supported by the data; however, hypothesis II was only partially supported. The results suggest that research should be conducted to understand news-making processes in different news categories. More comparative studies are required to further explore similarities and variations in news values and practices in different countries.


identifier: Porter, Natalie Louise  (2003) Female skateboarders and their negotiation of space and identity.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: I have considered how female skateboarders negotiate space and identity in a male-dominated subculture and question a society that is intent on perpetuating an attitude that subcultures are a domain for developing masculinity. Female skateboarders have always participated alongside the men, but it has been a constant struggle because their accomplishments are rarely encouraged by the skateboard media industry, and mainstream media representations reflect this practice. In recent years, girl skaters have taken it upon themselves to create their own visibility and develop networks of support by producing websites, videos, zines, and organizing "all-girls" skateboard competitions. As a result, a unique community of female skateboarders has been established.  Female skateboarders come from a variety of backgrounds, and I focus upon the experiences of a group of women skateboarders from Montreal, Canada by conducting interviews and observing how the group has evolved. Despite the diverse and even contradictory responses, it is apparent that when female skateboarders actively participate in the subculture they are redefining traditional notions of femininity and assumptions regarding who should be valued as an "authentic" skateboarder. My thesis traces a history of women in skateboarding, describes their activities as cultural producers, and offers insider accounts, such as acts of resistance. I also make comparisons with the situation of sportswomen and challenge past subcultural research that limit the participation of girls to their relationships with male members. It was my goal to exhibit how women can adopt, share and innovate their subcultures' ideals.


identifier: Sullivan, Caroline  (2003) The benefits of parent-child play for the social development of preschoolers with varying levels of anxiety problems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study examined the contributions of parent play behaviors to children's positive social adjustment at preschool or daycare 4-6 months later. Fifty-five mothers and fathers were compared on their play behaviors, both in terms of types of play and roles used in play, to examine whether fathers make unique contributions to children's social development. Father contributions may be especially relevant for children with internalizing problems. Compared to mothers, fathers engaged in significantly more physical play, and were more likely to give their children control of play activities. Mothers' tendencies to observe rather than actively play with their children predicted teachers' reports that children were less socially competent and less well adjusted. On the other hand, fathers who engaged in fantasy play or who used play to teach their children about real-life things, had children who were rated as better adjusted overall, as reported by the children's teachers. Finally, mothers' use of a more peer-like approach in play predicted both social competence and general adaptation in their children. Taken together, the present findings indicate that children are having different play experiences with their mothers and their fathers, and the implications that these differential parent play behaviors have for children's development are outlined.


identifier: Malengret, Martine  (2003) A process of self discovery through the eye of the photographic lens : bridging the analytic and the intuitive.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This studio-based thesis is a self reflective study of the analytic and intuitive cognitive modes involved in the creation of a text and image installation. The intuitive mode is examined as a vital component of the intellect, its relation to the analytic and how their dualistic nature influences the work. The importance of self reflective analysis while engaged in the creative process, as well as the use of photography as a tool for acquiring deeper self awareness, are investigated. The thesis is accompanied by a body of work which includes a series of photographs and texts.


identifier: Georgescu, Michaela  (2003) Role of ventromedial hypothalamic glutamate receptors in the regulation of sexual behavior of the female rat.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Bilateral infusions of glutamate or kainate to the VMH have been shown previously to produce a rapid inhibition of lordosis induced by manual flank stimulation in estrogen (E)-primed female rats. The first experiment of this study examined whether glutamate and its specific receptor agonists AMPA, NMDA, and kainate, produce the same effect on lordosis, other proceptive, receptive, and defensive behaviors and ejaculations by males when administered to the VMH of E and progesterone (P)-primed female rats receiving olfactory, flank and vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) from sexually vigorous males. The obtained results suggest that glutamate specific receptor agonists, but not glutamate, have inhibitory effects on the entire battery of sexual behaviors. The second experiment investigated whether glutamate receptor antagonists AP-5, CNQX and DNQX have a facilitative effect on proceptivity and receptivity in E-, and E and P-primed females. Indeed, glutamate receptor antagonists had a facilitative effect on proceptive and receptive behaviors in both E-, and E and P-primed females, mirroring those of the agonists. Experiment 3 examined the effect of AP-5 on estrus termination induced by VCS with a lubricated glass rod. The hypothesis was that glutamate may be involved in the sexual inhibition observed during estrus termination, therefore administration of a neurochemical that would block its effects should counteract the effects of VCS. Contrary to this hypothesis, AP-5 heightened the behavioral effects of VCS by increasing defensive behaviors and reducing solicitation rates. Altogether, this data set suggests that VMH glutamate receptors play an inhibitory role on female sexual behavior, but that these receptors are not involved in estrus termination.


identifier: Hoang, Quyen  (2003) First Nations people mining the museum* : a case study of change at the Glenbow Museum.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is an examination of the representation of First Nations cultures at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada. Focusing on public display, I look at four in-house exhibitions that illustrate some of the decolonizing strategies Glenbow has employed following the controversial exhibition in 1988, The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada's First Peoples and the subsequent Task Force Report, Turning the Page: Forging New Partnerships Between Museums and First Peoples , released in 1992. I engage the concept of museumism as a strategy used in all four exhibitions, an approach that uses the museum as a format to reclaim and revise history and shifts museological practices that once negated Aboriginal knowledge and protocol. Aboriginal participation in exhibition development has reclassified the museum from interpreter and preserver to facilitator and collaborator. The Museum is transformed into a space for dialogue where issues of representation, consultation, access and self-determination can be played out and anticipates a future of mutual goals and shared histories.  *The phrase "Mining the Museum" is borrowed from Lisa G. Corrin., ed., Mining the Museum: An Installation by Fred Wilson (New York: The New Press, 1994).


identifier: Pretula, Lesley  (2003) The sociability of new urbanism : a comparative study of two communities in Montreal, Angus Park and Bois-Franc.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study focuses on the neighbourhood square and explores the perceived levels of sociability and satisfaction that residents experience within two newly constructed New Urbanist communities in Montreal, Bois-Franc and Angus Park. From an early age, we are socialized to live within a community. One can envision communities consisting of a series of concentric circles beginning in the centre with the family unit and widening out to include schools, neighbourhoods and entire geographical regions. The community in which we live shapes our characters, influences job and education decisions and prepares us for interactions with broader segments of society. Most people seek and are comforted by the sense of belonging and connection to those they physically live close to. New Urbanism recognizes this human need and attempts to address it through physical design. The study concludes with a discussion of interview and questionnaire results from a sample of residents in each community, regarding the relationship between the physical design and presence of the neighbourhood square and levels of social interaction experienced.


identifier: Moosaei, Mohammad  (2003) Fault recovery in control systems : a discrete event system approach.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Fault recovery is a challenging task that is crucial in achieving stringent reliability and safety goals. In this thesis, the problem of fault recovery is studied in discrete-event systems (DES), assuming permanent failures.  A diagnosis system is assumed to be available to detect and isolate faults with a bounded delay. Thus, the combination of the plant and diagnosis system can be thought of having three modes: normal, transient, and recovery. Initially the plant is in the normal mode. Once a failure occurs, the system enters the transient mode. After the failure is diagnosed by the diagnosis system, the system enters the recovery mode.  This framework does not depend on the diagnosis technique used, as long as the diagnosis delay is bounded. As a result, the diagnosis and control problems are almost decoupled.  In general, for each mode there is a set of specifications that have to be met. We propose a modular switching supervisory scheme. The proposed framework contains one normal-transient supervisor and multiple recovery supervisors each corresponding to a particular failure mode. Once a fault is detected and isolated by the diagnoser, the normal-transient supervisor is removed from the feedback loop and one of the recovery supervisors will take sole control of the system. The issue of non-blocking is studied and it is shown that essentially if the system under supervision is non-blocking in the normal mode, then it will remain non-blocking during the recovery procedure. Supervisor admissibility is also studied.  This approach is developed for untimed DES and then extended to timed DES. In the process, previous results on supervisor design for untimed DES with partial observation are extended to timed DES. Various examples from manufacturing and process control are provided to illustrate the approach.


identifier: Luo, Ling  (2003) A new z - domain continued fraction expansion and its use in the generation of stable transfer functions.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A new z -domain continued fraction expansion ( CFE ) has been proposed. It is shown that the ratio of an anti-mirror-image polynomial to a mirror-image polynomial originating from the denominator of a transfer function can be expanded into this new type of z -domain CFE . Unlike the earlier types of z -domain continued fraction expansions, this new type is not unique for a given polynomial, and there will be a large number of possibilities. Algorithms have been proposed to obtain the various possible CFEs , which are implemented using MATLAB software. For the denominators of some well-known filters like Butterworth lowpass filters, Butterworth lowpass Complementary Pole-pair Filters (CPPF) and Chebyshev lowpass filters, the required coefficients of the CFEs are obtained. Also, starting from the coefficients of the CFEs , algorithms have been presented to generate stable transfer functions for filters such as lowpass, highpass and bandpass in the z -domain.


identifier: Mhamdi, Tarek  (2003) On the embedding of multiway decision graphs in HOL.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The increasing complexity of hardware systems requires more and more sophisticated methods of verification. While model checking suffers from the state space explosion problem, theorem proving is quite tedious and impractical for verifying complex designs. In this thesis, we propose a verification framework in which we attempt to strike the balance between the expressiveness of theorem proving and the efficiency and automation of state exploration techniques. To this end, we propose to integrate a layer of checking algorithms based on Multiway Decision Graphs (MDG) in the HOL theorem prover. We embedded the MDG underlying logic in HOL and implemented a platform that provides a set of algorithms allowing the user to develop his/her own state-exploration based application inside HOL. While the verification problem is specified in HOL, the proof is derived by tightly combining the MDG based computations and the theorem prover facilities. We have been able to implement different state exploration techniques within HOL such as MDG reachability analysis, equivalence and model checking.


identifier: Li, Duo  (2003) Simulation of QoS based call admission schemes for DS-CDMA.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Code division multiple-access (CDMA) has been receiving considerable attention as the core multiple-access technology in the development of upcoming ubiquitous personal communication service (PCS) system with flexible quality of service (QoS) requirements at any time and anywhere. Moreover, future wireless networks are expected to integrate different types of multimedia traffic, such as voice, data, and compressed images and video.  This work aims to investigate the resource allocation problem for wireless direct sequence spread-spectrum CDMA cellular networks supporting heterogeneous multimedia applications where individual users have different QoS requirements. We propose optimal rate and power distribution approaches for source allocation to individual users, subject to a constraint on the total available bandwidth, to maximize the per-cell capacity and maintain the quality of service (QoS) for different multimedia services.  Connection oriented admission control schemes based on the required QoS are proposed in this thesis. Several policies are introduced for use in CDMA network. Simulation results show that the proposed Radio Resource Management scheme can achieve both effective QoS guarantee and efficient resource utilization.


identifier: Wu, Bin  (2003) A criterion based hybrid slicing algorithm for object-oriented programs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Program slicing, a program reduction technique that is used to simplify programs by removing non-relevant parts with respect to a slicing criterion, is gaining more and more attention in the software comprehension and maintenance community. In this research, we provide an overview of program slicing approaches, which are categorized into static, dynamic and hybrid slicing. Moreover, we present our own hybrid slicing algorithm that is based on the notion of removable blocks and computes executable slices for Java programs. The algorithm is implemented as part of the CONCEPT (C[barbelow]omprehension O[barbelow]f N[barbelow]et- CE ntered P[barbelow]rograms and T[barbelow]echniques) project. One advantage of our hybrid slicing algorithm is that it takes user inputs into account to customize the precision of the algorithm accordingly to a user's needs. As a result, our hybrid slicing algorithm provides the user with the ability to take advantage of both static and dynamic slicing, by avoiding at the same time their disadvantages


identifier: Li, Rong Ding  (2003) A very wideband operational transconductance amplifier and capacitor (OTA-C) filter in CMOS VLSI technology.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Wideband analog signal processing systems are useful in many applications, such as telecommunication, multimedia and consumer electronics. An analog filter is an important subsystem in such systems. Among the existing realization methods of continuous-time domain integrated analog filter, OTA-C topology is the most useful one, and it offers good performances with lower power consumption and high frequency operation.  In this work, several existing OTA cells selected from literature are studied. Based on the comparison of g m value, bandwidth, output resistance, and dynamic range in terms of DC power dissipation and substrate area requirement, an optimum OTA cell is selected for the implementation of wideband OTA-C filter.  Using selected OTA cell as the basic building block, a fully differential highly linear, very wideband sixth-order filter is designed using 0.18 om CMOS technological process. Three identical biquads are connected using PRB (Primary Resonator Block) technique to realized a sixth order bandpass filter that has a passband from 2 MHz to 400 MHz. Simulation results show that the filter consumes 80.70 mW of power with supply voltages of ±1.5 V. The dynamic range for % THD with 0.42 V (peak-to-peak) at 100 MHz is close to 40 dB and the third order intermodulation intercept (IIP 3 ) is -27.29 dBW (i.e. 2.71 dBm)


identifier: Layouni, Mohamed  (2003) On the formal verification of an intrusion-tolerant group communication protocol.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Intrusion-tolerance is the technique of using fault-tolerance to achieve security properties. Assuming faults to be unavoidable, the main goal of intrusion-tolerance is to preserve an acceptable, though possibly degraded, service of the overall system despite intrusions at some of its parts. In this thesis, we are concerned with the formal specification and verification of the Enclaves protocol: an intrusion-tolerant platform for secure group communication. We formally specify the three modules of Enclaves, namely, Authentication, Leaders Agreement and Group Key Management. Then we derive a correctness proof for the whole protocol using an adaptive combination of techniques, namely, model checking, theorem proving and mathematical analysis. We use the Murphi model checking tool to verify authentication , then the PVS theorem prover to formally specify and prove proper Byzantine agreement , agreement termination and integrity , and finally we analytically prove robustness and unpredictability of the Group Key Management module.


identifier: Guo, Pei Fang  (2003) PalmPrints : a cooperative co-evolutionary clustering algorithm for hand-based biometric identification.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The thesis first introduces a new adaptive technique of finger upright reorientation by using the Principle of Coordinate System Rotation . The empirical results demonstrate that reorienting the images of fingers of a hand prior to any feature extraction consistently leads to more stable feature values, regardless of the features measured. Hand shape analysis included Central Moments, Fourier Descriptors and Zernike Moments is characterized based on I-D contour transformation.  The main contribution of the thesis is the first to use a genetic algorithm to simultaneously achieve dimensionality reduction and object (hand image) clustering. A novel Cooperative Coevolutionary Clustering Algorithm (COCA) with dynamic clustering and feature selection has been developed to search for a proper number (without prior knowledge of it) of clusters of hand images into these clusters based on a smaller set of new features. In addition to the main contribution of the study, an MSE Extended Fitness Function is presented which is particularly suited to an integrated dynamic clustering space.  The proposed design and experimental implementation show that the dimensionality of the clustering space can be cut in half, and the GA evolves an average of 4 clusters with a very low standard deviation of 0.4714. Average hand image misplacement number is 5.8 out of 100 hand images. These results open a new way towards other cooperative co-evolutionary applications, in which 3 or more populations are used to co-evolve solutions and designs consisting of 3 or more loosely coupled subsolutions or modules.


identifier: Zhou, Hao  (2003) Application of 3D facial animation techniques for Chinese opera.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Among China's rich cultural heritage is Chinese opera, a kind of folk art that combines singing, reciting, acting and dancing. Over more than 13 centuries, varied styles have evolved--the more famous being Beijing opera, Yue opera, Huangmei opera, Kunqu opera and Sichuan opera. In the 20 th century with the popularity of movies and pop music, Chinese opera underwent a serious decline and some of these styles are on the verge of extinction. Recognizing this, in May 2001, UNESCO proclaimed Kunqu opera as one of the 19 "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The Chinese government has also taken many initiatives for preserving and recording this art form, primarily using more conventional media like text, photographs, illustrations, sound, film and video.  In this thesis we propose the use of 3D computer animation techniques for the same purpose. More specifically, since exaggerated facial expressions and falsetto singing are distinguishing aspects of this art form, we have experimented with application of 3D facial animation techniques first. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


identifier: Hanumantharaya, Anil  (2003) Incorporating component-based design in the category-theoretic framework for composition of fault-tolerant software.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the increasing use of software in many systems like telecommunications, e-commerce, manufacturing, etc., and the need for reliable services in these systems, there is an ever-growing demand for providing fault-tolerance. Generally, software is built without concentrating much on the fault-tolerant aspect, and fault-tolerance is typically an additional feature to ensure reliability if ever a failure has been encountered. However, there are many legacy software systems that are being deployed in highly critical applications where fault tolerance is inevitable. Various methods have been put forth in the literature for designing fault-tolerance, including a component-based methodology, wherein fault-tolerance is separated from the functionality, and fault-tolerant components, such as correctors and detectors, are added to achieve the desired reliability. Utilizing the concepts of the component-based design, we propose a category theoretic framework for the composition of these fault-tolerant components with a fault-intolerant program. We illustrate our proposed approach to compose the fault-tolerant components with a fault-intolerant program to result in a final fault-tolerant program through two case studies. In our first case study, we show the feasibility of our approach by composing the fault-tolerant components for a distributed mutual exclusion algorithm using our proposed approach. In the second case study, we decompose the fault-tolerant Label Distribution Protocol and prove the correctness of the design of the fault-tolerant components. Furthermore, the formal specification and verification of these case studies has been conducted using Specware. Some of the benefits of the proposed approach include (a) traceability of all the sorts, operations and properties used to derive the composed program, (b) well-defined interfaces, that allows components to interact in a well-specified behaviour, and (c) reuse of specification for subsequent similar system design.


identifier: Zhang, Yonggang  (2003) Automatic design pattern recovery.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Automatic design pattern recovery

abstract: An approach for recovering design patterns from source code is presented. The approach addresses software comprehension issue in reverse engineering domain, by providing a design pattern based representation of the system to facilitate software understanding.  Design patterns are formalized by a simplified version of the LePUS language, which eliminates some higher-order concepts to reduce the complexity and at the same time, incorporates some extensions on entity and relation. Source code is semantically parsed and is further interpreted by a language analysis framework. Entities and relations are extracted and are used to generate a algorithm is adopted to match the design pattern specifications with the program model to identify design patterns implemented in the source code.  The approach has been implemented and can be used to identify several design patterns listed in GoF book. Three initial experiments are conducted on some open source software to demonstrate its suitability for recovering the specified design patterns. The results are discussed in terms of the performance and the precision of pattern recovery


identifier: Li, LianZhong  (2003) Dynamic modeling and optimal operation of district heating systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: District Heating Systems (DHS) are widely utilized for space heating in residential and commercial buildings. They offer economic benefits to consumers in terms of lower heating costs. The energy efficiency of DHS can be further improved by optimally controlling the operating parameters of the system. With this as a motivation, dynamic modeling and optimal operation strategies of DHS are explored in this thesis.  Two typical District Heating Systems namely Direct District Heating System (DDHS) and Indirect District Heating System (IDHS) are considered. Using typical system configurations the components of the DHS were sized. Dynamic models of the designed DHSS useful for control analysis were developed. Open loop tests subject to constant inputs and loads were conducted to evaluate the time response characteristics of DHS.  A methodology for computing optimal operating parameters of DHS is presented. These optimal parameters so computed are used as set points for PID controllers. The DHS by virtue of its long distribution network is subject to large transportation time delays. To compensate such time delays, a PID controller augmented with a Smith Predictor is developed. The designed controller is used to simulate closed loop operation of DHS under variable load conditions. Results show that the optimal set point strategy can save 10%-15% energy compared to conventional control strategies


identifier: Bani Baker, Mousa Ibraheem  (2003) Passive earth pressure of overconsolidated cohesionless backfill overlaying natural deposit.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This work presents a theoretical study of passive earth pressure exerted behind a retaining structure, for homogeneous normally consolidated and overconsolidated sands, then for normally and overconsolidated cohesionless backfill overlaying natural deposit. The theoretical data were compared with the available test results for both homogeneous and layered sands.  It was found that the coefficient of passive earth pressure in the case of homogeneous overconsolidated cohesionless soil increases while increasing the internal frictional angle of the sands ([straight phi]), soil-wall frictional angle (e P ) and overconsolidation ratio (OCR).  For the case of two layers of different types of cohesionless soils it was found that coefficients of passive earth pressure of strong homogeneous are more than that of strong overlaying weak sands. For the case of weak sand layer overlying a very strong layer, the coefficient of passive earth pressure remains as that of the weak layer and the failure plane will not go through the strong layer. Results are given in terms of design charts, which are simple and easy to use.


identifier: Paul, Ashutosh  (2003) Achieving usability via design architecture and patterns : the things we implement that affect usability.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Current, software architectures for interactive systems assumed that usability is only important when designing the user interface component including the presentation and dialogs. Therefore, most of the architectural models such as MVC and PAC de-coupled the application semantic and the user interface, which was essential for achieving usability. However, this fallacious dichotomy does not address all the usability concerns. For example, semantic feedback leads tight coupling between the application and the user interface, because it has to be analyzed at both the application and the presentation levels. There are two approaches to cope with semantic feedback. We can either place semantic feedback in the presentation or in the application. The two approaches result in much communication between the model and the views. This thesis proposes a new architectural model, called MVCforUsability, for incorporating usability concerns in software architecture. In particular, we discuss the cause/effect relationships that exist between the internal attributes that we generally use to assess the software quality and the usability factors that we use to quantify the usability of the software system. Our investigations propose the following methodological approach: (1) Identify the internal software attributes that affect software usability, such as modularity, functionality, etc. (2) Define the relationship between these internal attributes and external usability factors in terms of typical scenarios. (3) Describe design patterns or improve existing ones for each typical scenario. (4) Discuss how these patterns can be used to improve the MVC model.


identifier: Kessin, Katja  (2003) To lend the dead a voice : second-generation German visual art.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This dissertation is a study of five second-generation German visual artists (i.e., artists born between 1940 and 1970 who are the descendants of Jewish and Gentile Germans of the Third Reich) who deal with the legacy of the Third Reich in their artwork.  Informed by contemporary trauma theory, the project traces how the psychological residue inherited from their parents' Third Reich experience has ingrained itself in the social life of contemporary Jews and Germans, finding expression both directly and obliquely in the works of second-generation artists. It is my conviction that the legacy of the Third Reich must be addressed productively in order to accomplish what psychoanalysis has coined the labour of mourning. Because public discourse around World War II and the Holocaust is still subject to a significant reticence, especially among Jews and Germans, alternate means of communication may be found in visual art production.  I conducted personal interviews with selected artists in Canada and Germany, namely Brigitte Radecki, Suse Rumland, Eva Brandl, and Bettina Hoffmann, followed by a thorough theoretical analysis of their work and examination of their personal data. As a second-generation German visual artist, I also included my own work in the study. My study establishes that second-generation German visual artists are in a unique position to contribute to a necessary labour of mourning that was bypassed by their parents' generation and that they approach this difficult task in significant ways.  As a visual artist, my studio art practice habitually informs my theoretical investigations. Therefore the first part of this thesis consisted of a series of three solo exhibitions ( Speechless, The Grim Reaper , and 2001 Earth Odyssey ), which were exhibited simultaneously in Montreal in August 2002. They addressed issues of trauma and recovery as experienced by one second-generation artist, with the intent of establishing community and opening new venues for discussion.


identifier: Bruce, Jean Marietta  (2003) A melodramatic imagined nation : the unruly subject of Canadian cinemas.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Canadian cinema comprises a corpus of work that is not easily unified by a recognizable national style or a singular mode of production. The unruliness in the identity of Canadian cinema, including the imprecise distinction between popular and art cinema, has contributed to the ongoing difficulty of attaching critical definitions to it. This dissertation argues that the films made between 1972 and 1992, during the burgeoning discourse on Canada as a multicultural nation, represent narratives of difference. In the cinema of this period, anxieties around sexuality, immigrant identity and cultural imperialism are highlighted. A selection of films emblematic of the conflict between multiculturalism and popular culture in Canada have been selected for analysis in this thesis. The critical tensions in these films are examined by using melodrama as an analytic method. As a mode of expression in film, literature, stage productions and television, melodrama is a discourse of cultural conflict and contradiction. It also straddles the distinction between popular and art cinema. As a film and cultural theory, and as a critical method of analysis, therefore, melodrama illuminates Canadian cinema and exposes it as an exemplary site for constructing national subjectivity. Melodrama functions as an intervention into the various models of Canadian subjectivity that have been produced in film spectatorship and theorized in film criticism.


identifier: Russo Garrido, Anahi  (2003) Creating sexuality : female same-sex subjectivities in Mexico City.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis explores the subjectivities of females practicing same-sex sexuality in Mexico City. These subjectivities are here viewed in relationship to recent economic transformations in Mexico and to ideas on gender and sexuality produced by diverse actors such as the gay and lesbian and feminist movements, government programs, the media, and the Catholic Church. While the individual subject is constructed through different dominant ideas, female same-sex sexuality in Mexico, offers an interesting case because most dominant ideas suggest that it cannot exist. Analyzing dominant ideas is, then, not sufficient to understand how subjectivities are constructed. Hegemonic ideas are pieced together to form subjectivities, but meanings on gender and sexuality are also produced by subjects that are here viewed as possessing a creative potential. Subversive ideas are not only considered reactive responses to hegemonic ideals but rather as an active shaping of life to make the everyday experience possible. The presentation of subjectivities here focuses on three main themes: Gender and sexual self-representation; love and sexuality; and, life with the family. The second part of the thesis presents three testimonies that have the potential of challenging fixed definitions of these women's identities and realities. This thesis contributes to the understanding of gender and sexuality in Mexico City from the unexplored location of female same-sex sexuality, and to the understanding of the effects on sexualities and subjectivities of the social and economic changes that have taken place in Mexico during the past decades.


identifier: Xi, Youhao  (2003) Distributed point-of-use power supply architectures for low-voltage semiconductor circuits.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The low-voltage semiconductor circuit boards in advanced telecom systems require the power supplies to have some key features such as the very low voltage, very high current, very high slew-rate load transients, high power density and low cost. The objective of this thesis is to find solutions to satisfy these requirements without sacrificing the cost, efficiency and usable on-board space. In order to achieve this objective, this thesis proposes two distributed point-of-use power supply architectures (DPUPS) suitable for different configurations of the low-voltage semiconductor circuit boards.  In order to implement the proposed DPUPS architectures, this thesis presents two improved soft switching forward converter topologies (Type 1 and Type 2). These two topologies both employ the simplified power transformers that achieve self-reset without using the conventional resetting winding, and they both guarantee the soft switching under all operating conditions without complicating the control scheme.  Based on the two improved soft-switching converter topologies, two DPUPS architectures are developed. Both architectures have common merits such as the soft switching, single stage power conversion, minimized length of the high current PCB tracks and reduced PCB copper area, independent and tight voltage regulation at the point of load, instantaneous response to the system dc bus variations, elimination of the cross regulation between multiple outputs, inherent protection against overloading or the output short-circuit condition, capable of high closed-loop bandwidth, and reduced number of power components for multiple output applications. In comparison between these two DPUPS architectures, the one that is implemented with the proposed Type 1 topology is optimal for a circuit board with the heavy current loads collocating, while the other one that is implemented with the Type 2 topology serves better for a circuit board with the heavy current loads distributed at different points.  In this thesis, detailed steady state and small signal analyses are performed, the performance of the proposed architectures are characterized, and the design procedures are generated. Simulation and experimental results obtained from prototype circuits are used to verify the analyses and design and to serve as the proof of concepts. The results indicate that the proposed DPUPS architectures provide promising solutions to satisfy the power requirements of the low-voltage semiconductor circuits.


identifier: Bahar, Abid S  (2003) The religious and philosophical basis of Bhasani's political leadership.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Bhasani was born in 1885, two decades after the famous Indian revolt of 1857. Following the revolt, in the tumultuous political arena of South Asia many notable politicians emerged. One of these was Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, best known as Bhasani. As a religious seer-wise person and holy person, with a number of loyal followers and devotees, he had two over-lapping groups of followers--those who responded to him as a pir (a religious mystic) and those who responded to his political positions.  Political observers and academicians in the South Asian subcontinent have repeatedly claimed that Bhasani was a "Communist," a "fundamentalist," and that he had "no direction in politics." This research examines the socio-political contexts of Assam, Pakistan and Bangladesh within which Bhasani worked, and discovers that, contrary to the claims, Bhasani used a model of Islamic liberal ideas. The research findings suggest that Bhasani's religious perspective is present in several ways: (a) in his sense of calling--as a kind of mystic; (b) in his vision of a human community not rent by divisions and oppression; (c) in the Islamic rhetoric of his discourse; and (d) in his sense of being called upon to respond to contemporary exigencies. This latter feature seems especially important. He acted in ways that were principled and consistent with rubúbiyah : the Sufi-inspired views of the unity of being, simple living, and serving humanity as a religious duty. As a political leader, his lifestyle of a Bengali peasant was not a result of his destiny, but of his choice and his use of religion in politics suggests that he was a complex figure.


identifier: Redila, Van Allan  (2003) Effects of acetaldehyde, GABAergic, and glutamatergic manipulation on an ethanol discriminative taste aversion.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The primary objective of the present thesis was to examine the contribution of acetaldehyde, as well as GABA receptor agonists and glutamate receptor antagonists in mediating the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol using a discriminative taste aversion (DTA) procedure. The DTA procedure trained animals to associate the stimulus effects of ethanol or acetaldehyde with either a saccharin-LiCl or a saccharin-saline pairing. Animals in the LiCl group learned to decrease their saccharin intake following ethanol or acetaldehyde injections but not after saline injections. Animals in the Saline groups did not decrease their saccharin intake when injected with either the training drug or saline.  Experiment 1 a showed that acetaldehyde partially substituted for ethanol while experiment 1b showed that ethanol partially substituted for acetaldehyde. Administration of the catalase inhibitor aminotriazole failed to block the discriminative cue of ethanol. Animals in experiment 2 and 3 were trained to discriminate ethanol from saline. Generalization tests showed that administration of the gamma-aminotransaminase inhibitor AOAA, the GABA A agonists THIP and pentobarbital, the GABA B agonist baclofen failed to substitute for ethanol while the GABA A antagonist picrotoxin failed to block the ethanol cue. Experiment 3 showed that the NMDA antagonists MK-801 and memantine substituted for ethanol while the AMPA antagonist GYKI 52466 did not, suggesting that inhibition of the NMDA receptor, but not the AMPA receptor contributes to the stimulus effects of ethanol. Overall, the findings from the present thesis showed that the DTA procedure could quickly and reliably train animals to discriminate ethanol, and acetaldehyde, from saline. Generalization tests demonstrated that acetaldehyde and the NMDA receptor, but not the GABA A receptor, contributes to the stimulus effects of ethanol.


identifier: Horn-Miller, Kahente  (2003) The emergence of the Mohawk warrior flag : a symbol of indigenous unification and impetus to assertion of identity and rights commencing in the Kanienkehaka community of Kahnawake.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: For centuries the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) have struggled to maintain a certain level of autonomy by acting in accord with the principles of our constitution, the Kaienerekowa or Great Law of Peace. In the past, our interpretations of our law and of the core values of our society were greatly eroded and almost lost because of colonial influences. As Indigenous peoples we have found it necessary both to react to and to differentiate ourselves from the beliefs, values and practices that have been imposed on us. In recent decades, members of our communities have begun to take action, speaking up and creating artistic works about Indigenous culture and values. Our attempts to break free from foreign systems of governance, learning and religion sometimes use the tools of the dominant society. The work of Louis Karomaktajeh Hall is one example of this phenomenon. The Mohawk Warrior Flag he designed has been flown all over the world, serving as a symbol of the unity of Indigenous peoples in our common struggle, becoming a beacon of hope, and illuminating the discordant relationship between the dominant society and Indigenous peoples. My research, which deals in part with the appearance of the Flag during the Oka Crisis and Lobster Dispute at Esgenoopetitj (Burnt Church), is part of this movement. It introduces a Kanienkehaka perspective on the Flag, reconstructing its history and applying the philosophy of the Kaienerekowa to give a voice to the people who turn to it for support in their ongoing struggles with colonialism.


identifier: Fulton, Stephanie E  (2003) Functional heterogeneity in brain reward circuitry : characterization of a subpopulation of reward neurons linked to energy balance.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The neural circuitry that gives rise to the rewarding effects of goal-objects and goal-directed behaviors can be directly studied with the use of brain stimulation reward (BSR). Brief trains of electrical stimulation to some brain regions produces a highly rewarding effect that rats will learn to self-administer. Stimulation of some sites in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) has been linked to the regulation of energy balance, supporting the notion that brain reward circuitry is subdivided along functional lines. Finding from the Master's thesis showed that the rewarding effect of the stimulation is enhanced by chronic food restriction and weight loss in some rats. In contrast, a short-term period of food deprivation was unable to increase BSR in these same subjects. The adipose hormone, leptin, mimicked the effect of fattening by opposing the effect of food restriction on BSR. The present body of work examines whether the neurons supporting BSR comprise functionally distinct subcomponents and characterizes a subset of reward neurons that respond to weight loss and leptin. Alterations in the reward effectiveness of LH stimulation were measured following different manipulations of energy state by examining the willingness of the rat to work (lever-press) for varying strengths of stimulation. The first set of experiments in Chapter Two examines the contribution of some neuropeptides known to mediate the actions of leptin on restriction-sensitive and -insensitive reward circuitry. The divergent effect of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP) on BSR obtained at restriction-sensitive versus -insensitive sites further suggests that there are separate subpopulations of reward neurons with distinct neurochemical profiles. That CRH, AgRP, neuropeptide Y and melanin-concentrating hormone largely fail to alter BSR at restriction-sensitive sites suggest that these peptides are not involved in the modulation of BSR by food restriction. In Chapter Three, the ability of food restriction to enhance BSR in a leptin-resistant rat strain suggests that there may be other peripheral signals mediating the actions of weight loss on restriction-sensitive reward circuitry. Finally, data presented in Chapter Four demonstrate that the effect of food restriction on BSR is contingent on the placement of the electrode amongst a functionally heterogeneous population of directly-activated neurons. This evidence provides a basis for the distinction between restriction-sensitive and -insensitive stimulation sites. Together, these data describe a subcomponent of reward circuitry that carries reward signals relevant to the maintenance of long-term energy balance. Unraveling the identity, function and neurochemistry of these neurons will increase our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying body weight regulation and may shed light on the development of metabolic disorders such as obesity.


identifier: Mandache, Andreea  (2003) Constructing cultural identities : Romanian popular music.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: During the communist era in Romania, cultural activity was crippled by censorship. Any work of art, and especially literature and music (more accessible to the public) were examined and the officials decided what could be made available to the public. The fall of the communists brought cultural freedom and competition and it meant Romania's entrance in the context of globalization. This work examines the way in which the globalization of culture changes not only the relationships between different cultures and spaces but also between the nation state and cultural identities that are constructed and manifested on its territory. Also, it will be argued that globalization provides new grounds and custodians for the construction of cultural identities. One of these custodians is popular music, which is investigated here. The impact of globalization on local cultures, cultural identities and new strategies and processes of cultural identity construction will be analyzed through the case of four important trends in Romanian popular music.


identifier: Read, Robert J  (2003) The film noir collection and the legacy of nineteenth century modernity.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Film noir has usually been considered to be an autonomous cinematic movement and many critics have focused upon a variety of issues and concerns contained within the phenomenon. Frequently, scholars and critics have found it necessary to include filmographies, accumulated lists designed to illustrate what qualifies as a film noir. However, these lists have often proved to be inconsistent and capricious. Despite the uncertainty, filmographies continue to be key tools of noir criticism, and along with their accompanying theories, have become part of the film noir collection. In this thesis I will employ the film noir collection, including my own collection of film noir and noir criticism, as the basis for my study.  This thesis takes the position that the accumulated films and accompanying critical writings create an encyclopedic body of knowledge which reveals that film noir is not a solitary phenomenon, but rather a cohesive representation of modern American life. By concentrating upon the unifying image of the modern city, the noir collection is bound by its urban representation. Moreover, the image of the modern city as the unifying element of the noir collection presents the opportunity to see film noir as part of the greater breadth of modern urban representation. Therefore, I have opened the film noir collection to the critical writings of Walter Benjamin and like-minded scholars to illustrate the affinities between nineteenth century modernity and film noir. Specifically, I have chosen to focus upon the presence of the flâneur and flâneur-derived urban figures in the modern noir city. This perspective allows film noir to be examined in a new light, not as an independent cinematic movement, but as part of the larger and continuous representation of modern life.


identifier: Meng, Wenjun  (2003) Slicing-based coupling measurements.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Slicing-based coupling measurements

abstract: The market forces affecting today's software development have placed a greater emphasis on software quality. A variety of design measurements have been proposed to control the development of software systems and to evaluate the final software products after delivery. In this thesis, we propose a slicing-based coupling measurement framework to assess the complexity of different granularities in a slice. The proposed framework combines well-known and proven coupling measurements, namely CBO, RFC, and MPC, with program slicing-based source code analysis techniques. These slicing-based coupling measurements are further measurements are implemented as part of the CONCEPT project to provide an aid for programmers comprehending and assessing source code and to give some objective heuristics for software engineers in selecting and prioritizing maintenance tasks.


identifier: Shi, Yiqun  (2003) A proposal for RSVP over differentiated services networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Classical IP routing provides only a "best effort" service, which makes routing simple, but which cannot meet the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of streaming applications such as voice and video. End users negotiate their needs with the network using the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). One model for the management of the network is Integrated Services (IntServ), which provides for per-flow negotiation, but does not scale to many connections. It was designed to work together with RSVP, and is well-suited to managing connections in access networks.  For backbone networks, where there may be hundreds or thousands of connections, Differentiated Services (DiffServ) was introduced. It assigns flows to classes, and uses only the classes to assign priority for packet handling in the routers. However, Diffserv routers do not understand RSVP messages. Independent Diffserv domains may use different IntServ-to-Diffserv mappings.  Within a DiffServ domain, path assignment and admission control are handled by a "Bandwidth Broker" (BB). However, the BB concept does not extend well to access networks. Inter-BB communication can be achieved using a proposed protocol, SIBBS.  By making each BB aware of RSVP messages, and extending SIBBS to carry RSVP messages between an ingress router and its associated BB, between adjacent BBs, and between the "last" BB on a path and the associated egress router, we develop an architecture that permits retaining the advantages of IntServ in the access networks, retaining the advantages of DiffServ in the backbone networks, and minimizing the changes that have to be made to existing DiffServ networks. The set of DiffServ domains appear to the end user as a series of RSVP nodes, and the routers inside the DiffServ domains need not be aware of RSVP messages at all.  In this way, the user's needs are met, without impacting the scalability of the backbone network.


identifier: Liang, Wei Hua  (2003) WISH XML query composer.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: WISH XML query composer

abstract: WISH XML Query Composer is a tool for composing form-based queries and their associated reports for relational databases. This tool incorporates two industry standards to generate user-friendly customizable queries and reports. The Structured Query Language (SQL) has been a universal standard for accessing data in relational databases since 1989. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a relatively new standard documented by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that supports data exchange on the World Wide Web. Today, many different Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) utilize SQL as the primary means for accessing and manipulating data. The design of the WISH XML Query Composer is an attempt to use the very simple but flexible XML semantics to represent database schemas, SQL queries and result datasets, regardless of in what RDBMS the data is stored.  This thesis describes the design and implementation of the WISH XML Query Composer. The tool is written in Java programming language with Swing components, and connects to the database through Java Database Connectivity (JDBC). Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) is used to automate the mapping between XML documents and Java objects.


identifier: Liu, Ying  (2003) CSFS : a secure file system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: CSFS : a secure file system

abstract: In the twenty-first century, people are accustomed to using computers to deal with their daily work and personal affairs. However, in an increasing number of computer applications in various fields, the security issue has become very important. By "secure", we mean secrecy and tampering detection. Therefore, the issue of how to guaranty the security of computer applications comes up naturally. We need more secure and dependable software systems to provide stronger protection of our sensitive data. This thesis presents CINDI Secure File System (CSFS), which is based on the implementation of two secure systems. One is a simple Secure Database Management System (SGDBM), which deal with data and metadata uniformly. The Secure DBMS is based on the GNU Database Management System (GDBM) in Linux. The GDBM is transformed to be a secure database system by embedding encryption and hashing. The other is a Secure File System that is based on SGDBM previously mentioned. CSFS uses the SGDBM to store file passwords for the encrypted files. It provides a number of commands, which can be used in the same way as other basic commands in Linux, and a simple GUI application for the secure file operations.


identifier: Barthe, Nathalie  (2003) Personas as a design tool for interactive systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis investigates the concept of personas, which are narrative representations of specific individuals of an interactive system's target audience. Personas aim at involving users in the design process to improve the usability of an interactive system before its development and deployment. This thesis first highlights the differences between design as defined in engineering and interaction design. Interaction design, which has its foundations in the human computer interaction community, is identified as an activity of researching, planning and modeling the software behaviours and services from the user's perspective. After discussion of user involvement in software development, we introduce a 3-steps model of the design process and review interaction design methodologies and their way to "know the users". Models of users' knowledge promoted in those methodologies are exposed and the persona model, rationale and lifecycle are described in details. Personas' uses and benefits are explained within the software engineering lifecycle and interaction design practices. Also, personas' mechanisms and effects are discussed in context of the design activity in terms of innovation, engagement and reflection-in-action. Then, with the help of two studies, a survey and an ethnographic report, personas are found useful and usable for software designers but their contribution in the overall software development lifecycle is questioned. Therefore, the need to formally assess the quality in use of personas and the challenges this tool faces in the software engineering community are identified.


identifier: Li, Yanhong  (2003) Enhancement of the CINDI system.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Enhancement of the CINDI system

abstract: Development of computer and Internet technology provides the necessary tools to develop digital libraries that could provide a cost-effective access to information for users on a global area. To address the problems, the CINDI (Concordia INdexing and Discovery) system proposes the semantic header for bibliographic index and the graphic interface for cataloging, searching as well as access, and provides feedback and annotation. In this project, our aim is to provide a high availability of the CINDI system, and improve the functionality of the system. A high availability solution presented herein is to use the file-based and database replication methods. In addition, we propose a scheme to integrate the CONFSYS (conference support system) with the CINDI system. We also address the issues of optimizing the database design and query processing.


identifier: Jin, Geng  (2003) A framework-based object-oriented design of BLAST.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Sequence databases are growing rapidly in size, so there is a need for faster algorithms. This requires reuse of existing code for data structures, algorithms, and heuristics in order for rapid development of new algorithms. Blast is one of the most heavily used programs for searching sequence databases. The original Blast is a procedural program, not particularly well-suited for reuse. In this thesis, we develop an object-oriented framework to meet the requirement of reusability. First we describe the methodology for Framework Programming. Then we use the methodology to develop the Blast framework. Finally, we apply the framework to develop BlastP, an instance of Blast, in order to evaluate the Blast framework.


identifier: Dong, Jianxiong  (2003) Speed and accuracy : large-scale machine learning algorithms and their applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Over the past few years, considerable progress has been made in the area of machine learning. However, when these learning machines, including support vector machines (SVMs) and neural networks, are applied to massive sets of high-dimensional data, many challenging problems emerge, such as high computational cost and the way to adapt the structure of a learning system. Therefore, it is important to develop some new methods with computational efficiency and high accuracy such that learning algorithms can be applied more widely to areas such as data ruining, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and bio-informatics.  In this thesis, we mainly focus on three problems: methodologies to adapt the structure of a neural network learning system, speeding up SVM's training and facilitating test on huge data sets. For the first problem, a local learning framework is proposed to automatically construct the ensemble of neural networks, which are trained on local subsets so that the complexity and training time of the learning system can be reduced and its generalization performance can be enhanced. With respect to SVM's training on a very large data set with thousands of classes and high-dimensional input vectors, block diagonal matrices are used to approximate the original kernel matrix such that the original SVM optimization process can be divided into hundreds of sub-problems, which can be solved efficiently. Theoretically, the run-time complexity of the proposed algorithm linearly scales to the size of the data set, the dimension of input vectors and the number of classes. For the last problem, a fast iteration algorithm is proposed to approximate the reduced set vectors simultaneously based on the general kernel type so that the number of vectors in the decision function of each class can be reduced considerably and the testing speed is increased significantly.  The main contributions of this thesis are to propose effective solutions to the above three problems. It is especially worth mentioning that the methods which are used to solve the last two problems are crucial in making support vector machines more competitive in tasks where both high accuracy and classification speed are required. The proposed SVM algorithm runs at a much higher training speed than the existing ones such as svm-light and libsvm when applied to a huge data set with thousands of classes. The total training time of SVM with the radial basis function kernel on Hanwang's handwritten Chinese database (2,144,489 training samples, 542,122 testing samples, 3755 classes and 392-dimensional input vectors) is 19 hours on P4. In addition, the proposed testing algorithm has also achieved a promising classification speed, 16,000 patterns per second, on MNIST database. Besides the efficient computation, the state-of-the-art generalization performances have also been achieved on several well-known public and commercial databases. Particularly, very low error rates of 0.38%, 0.5% and 1.0% have been reached on MNIST, Hanwang handwritten digit databases and ETL9B handwritten Chinese database


identifier: Javahery, Homa  (2003) Pattern-oriented design for interactive systems.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Patterns are a medium created to capture and disseminate design knowledge and are used extensively in the software engineering community. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Patterns focus explicitly on (1) providing design solutions to any problems relating to interactive systems and their users, and (2) aim to help developers with the design of more usable systems. We will address pattern use from a practical standpoint, as a working part of design, and investigate their applicability in different contexts of use. First, the evolutionary use of patterns will be traced from single pattern use to Pattern-Oriented Design. Secondly, the applicability of patterns in redesigning existing systems will be discussed with a practical example of a Bioinformatics web-based system. We will focus on how usability issues in the existing system drove the choice of patterns used in redesigning the site. Finally, we will illustrate the use of patterns in redesigning the user interface of existing systems to different platforms, such as mobile phones and Pocket PCs. This design domain has a number of constraints, such as screen size and image resolution. Design strategies need to be rethought to accommodate the challenges associated with such devices, and we will suggest some new design ideas and patterns.


identifier: Meadowcroft, Keith  (2003) The emergence, crystallization and shattering of a right-wing alternative to Congress nationalism : the All-India Hindu Mahasabha, 1937-52.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study traces the rise and fall of the first, all-India, Hindu nationalist or supremacist political party, the Hindu Mahasabha. It seeks to situate the Hindu Mahasabha in the political and social landscape of India by documenting the Mahasabha's actions and interaction with the British colonial regime, the Indian National Congress and other political forces. By so doing, it seeks to draw out what social and political groups gravitated toward Hindu nationalism and toward what end. A key conclusion is that the Hindu Mahasabha's late 1930's transformation from an organization ostensibly dedicated to Hindu unity and uplift into a political party advocating Hindu Raj was not simply a product of increasing communal-political polarization. The Mahasabha's transformation was also bound up with fears among India's propertied classes as to the emergence of socialist currents in and around the Congress and growing worker and peasant struggles.  This study documents the close collaboration between the Hindu Mahasabha and the British colonial regime during World War II and the Mahasabha's subsequent involvement in the attempts of the landlords, princes and other elite layers to oppose India's emerging bourgeois-democratic political order. It shows that in 1947-48 and again in 1950, the Hindu Mahasabha emerged, in the named of Hindu Raj and Akhand Hindusthan , as the ideologue of ethnic-cleansing.  Much of this dissertation is devoted to untangling the complex relationship between the Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress. It argues against facile approaches which either deny any antagonism between the two parties or maintain that the Congress was a secular organization that resolutely and consistently resisted Hindu nationalist pressure.


identifier: Cui, Zhi  (2003) Dynamic forward slicing for object-oriented programs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Program slicing, a program reduction technique, identifies codes that are related to a given function or variable of interest in a given program. It fulfills the task of decomposing and filtering a large program to restrict the focus to some specific parts. Program slicing has applications in software maintenance, reverse engineering, testing, and debugging. Program slicing can be mainly classified into static slicing and dynamic slicing. In this thesis, we introduce a new forward slicing approach for computing dynamic slices for OO programs. Our algorithm computes dynamically slices for all program components executed at run-time, without requiring any major recording of the program execution trace. We also propose an optimized algorithm as a solution to compute slices in the presents of exception handling in OO programs. The presented algorithm addresses additional issues related to the elimination of the notion of TopSlices from the based algorithm. Instead, our algorithm applies a registration strategy for slice computation, so that reduces the run-time storage overhead.


identifier: Pontikakis, Bill  (2003) A novel double edge-triggered pulse-clocked TSPC D flip-flop for high-performance and low-power VLSI design applications.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Clocking is an important aspect of digital VLSI system design. The design of high-performance and low-power clocked storage elements is essential and critical to achieving maximum levels of performance and reliability in modern VLSI systems such as Systems on Chips (SoCs). In this thesis, a pulse-clocked double edge-triggered D-flip-flop (PDET) is proposed. PDET uses a new split-output true single-phase clocked (TSPC) latch and when clocked by a short pulse train acts like a double edge-triggered flip-flop. The P-type version of the new TSPC split-output latch is compared with existing TSPC split-output latches in terms of robustness, area, and power efficiency at high-speeds. It is shown that the new split-output latch is more area-power efficient, and significantly more robust, than the existing split-output CMOS latches. The novel double edge-triggered flip-flop uses only eight transistors with only one N-type transistor being clocked. Compared to other double edge-triggered flip-flops, PDET offers advantages in terms of speed, power, and area. Both total transistor count and the number of clocked transistors are significantly reduced to improve power consumption and speed in the flip-flop. The number of transistors is reduced by 56%-60% and the Area-Period-Power product is reduced by 56%-63% compared to other double edge-triggered flip-flops. Simulations are performed using HSPICE in CMOS 0.5 om technology. This design is suitable for high-speed, low-power CMOS VLSI design applications.


identifier: Al-Khoury, Talal  (2003) A physical store for a relational database in the STL style.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: We introduce an object-oriented design of a physical store system for a relational database. The design and implementation of the physical store are in the style of C++ standard template library. They stress separation of memory allocation, iterators, container types, and the types of data in the store. The physical store system is part of the Know-It-All database project, under way at Concordia University. The contents of the physical store system are described using SQL data definition language. The main tasks of the physical store system are the bulk-loading of data, the support for the bulk creation of indexes, and data retrieval. The design hides the use of the secondary store. The problems with the existing physical stores are a lack of type checking and type safety. Our design and implementation draw upon advanced uses of C++ templates, as typified by the standard template library, type lists, the tuple library from boost.org, and dynamic loading. Furthermore we reuse design patterns, the mySQL parser, and the POST++ persistent object store.


identifier: Zhang, Yuanbei  (2003) Development of water simulation system for ultrasonic detection of inclusions in molten metals.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: In metal processing, metal cleanliness is a crucial process parameter for product manufacturing and recycling and, therefore, on-line ultrasonic methods to evaluate the cleanliness of molten metals are highly desired. In order to establish a procedure and to investigate the optimum system configurations, a water simulation system of ultrasonic detection has been constructed in this thesis. Measuring the concentrations, counting the numbers and measuring the size distributions of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) particles in water is performed with the ultrasonic pitch-catch configuration. Ultrasonic signals scattered by the particles are detected and the single particle movement is successfully identified. This study verifies that the water simulation system can be employed to evaluate the cleanliness in water.  Ultrasonic probes directly associated to the system sensitivity are crucial for ultrasonic techniques. In this thesis, several materials and shapes of metallic buffer rods are investigated experimentally using an ultrasonic longitudinal wave transducer (UT). Furthermore, the ultrasonic wave patterns of different cross-section shapes of rods are investigated by scanning a small ball bearing immersed in water with pitch-catch mode. Finally, evaluation and recommendations for the application of these high performance metallic buffer rods is presented in this thesis


identifier: Zabihollah, Abolghassem  (2003) Vibration and buckling analyses of tapered composite beams using conventional and advanced finite element formulations.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Tapered composite beams are being used in various engineering applications such as helicopter yoke, robot arms and turbine blade in which the structure needs to be stiff at one location and flexible at another locations. Laminated tapered beams can be manufactured by terminating some plies at discrete locations. Different types of ply drop-off can be achieved depending on the application. Due to the variety of tapered composite beams and complexity of the analysis, no analytical solution is available at present and therefore finite element method has been used for the calculation of response. In the present thesis, the free vibration response and buckling of different types of tapered composite beams are analyzed first using conventional finite element formulation. Conventional finite element formulation requires a large number of elements to obtain acceptable results. In addition, continuity of curvature at element interfaces can not be guaranteed with the use of conventional formulation. As a result, stress distribution across the thickness is not continuous at element interfaces. In order to overcome these limitations, an advanced finite element formulation is developed in the present thesis for vibration and buckling analysis of tapered composite beams based on classical laminate theory and first-order shear deformation theory. The developed formulation is applied to the analysis of various types of tapered composite beams. The efficiency and accuracy of the developed formulation are established in comparison with available solutions, where applicable, as well as with the results obtained using conventional formulation. A detailed parametric study has been conducted on various types of tapered composite beams, all made of NCT/301 graphite-epoxy, in order to investigate the effects of boundary conditions, laminate configuration, taper angle, the ratio of the length of the thick section to the length of the thin section and the ratio of the height of the thick section, to the height of thin section.


identifier: Ulysse, Nicolas  (2003) Investigation of aircraft yaw motion control.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: During production flight tests, a number of aircrafts of different types and constructors have exhibited small and uncommanded yaw shudders or 'kicks' which in some instances were accompanied by minute, poorly damped oscillations.  In a continuation of a collaborative research study carried out by Concordia University and Bombardier Aerospace, this thesis aims to understand and eventually eliminate this phenomenon. Based on previous work done on a detailed flight model that concludes that the yaw 'kicks' are most likely initiated by uncommanded small deflections of the rudder, this thesis investigates the possibility that discontinuous non-linearities in the rudder control system might be at the root of the problem. The research in this study is conducted through modeling and virtual testing of the rudder control system, and are also aims at producing an "industrially viable" model.  The research involved the modeling of the system including various non-linearities, as well as the integration of the hydraulic servo actuators, concluding with the validation of the model. Finally, an extensive "trial-and-error" investigation was performed where variations of the non-linearities within realistic/actual tolerances were used to instantiate a number of different model configurations, each of them being virtually "flown". This thesis demonstrates that under certain condition, the system can self-initiate a rudder deflection of the order of magnitude expected


identifier: Li, Deping  (2003) Servo controlled swash plate axil piston pumps operating under variable load demands with application to rolling mills.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Rolling mill automation systems started nearly in 1960s when the servo system was introduced to the metal forming industry. During the past decades, hydraulic control systems have found increased applications in rolling mills in an attempt to cope with the harsh environment conditions and the high power demands for metal forming. During the rolling process, both rolling speed and rolling load must be controlled in accordance with the independently varying torque that disturbs the control system.  This project is concerned with the development of an electro-hydraulic control system in order to control both rolling speed and rolling load with minimum number of components. A mathematical model of a pressure compensator is constructed and a simulation program based on Matlab-Simulink is developed to simulate both the static and the dynamic characteristics of the entire control system. The control system has very good flexibilities to various rolling mill requirements, and it is very convenient to adjust due to different variable load demands.  An experimental setup composed of real time control software and a hydraulic test bed is built in order to validate the compensator mathematical model and verify the control system simulation results. The simulation and experimental results are compared and discussed.


identifier: Dharanipathi, Vijayamohan Rao  (2003) Investigation of the semi-empirical method for force limited vibration testing.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Conventional vibration testing of aerospace hardware is normally performed by controlling the acceleration input to the base of a test item to the specifications, namely the envelope of the acceleration peaks of the flight environment. In the nineties, NASA JPL led the development and implementation of an improved method called Force Limited Vibration (FLV) testing. In addition to controlling the input acceleration, the FLV testing measures and limits the reaction forces between the test item and the shaker. This force limiting technique results in acceleration notching at predominant natural frequencies of the test item. Due to its partly empirical nature, the crucial coefficient, C 2 , still requires some judgment for its selection. Although the semiempirical method is very powerful and has been implemented successfully on several space missions, there is still some work required to realize it and make it acceptable to everyone.  The objective of this study is to present a comprehensive and complete analytical and experimental investigation on the semi-empirical method.


identifier: Ayadi, Mohamed A  (2003) Pricing kernel measures of Canadian fund performance.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The dissertation consists of four essays that address several issues related to the performance of Canadian equity and fixed-income mutual funds.  In the first essay, a general asset pricing framework is used to derive a conditional asset pricing kernel that accounts efficiently for time variation in expected returns and risk, and is suitable to perform (un)conditional evaluations of passive and dynamic investment strategies. The abnormal unconditional performance of Canadian equity mutual funds over the period 1989-1999 becomes negative with conditioning. The performance statistics are weakly sensitive to changes in the level of relative risk aversion of the uninformed investor. The reversal in the size-based performance results with limited information conditioning is alleviated somewhat with an expansion of the conditioning set. Estimates of survivorship bias due to the elimination of funds with shorter lives, which range from 36 to 58 basis points per year, are stable across performance models but differ across groupings by fund objective.  In the second essay, we examine the sensitivity of various measures of portfolio performance using various return-based linear benchmark models in both their unconditional and conditional versions for a sample of Canadian equity mutual funds. In a departure from the current literature, performance inferences are based on tests that incorporate the contemporaneous cross-correlations across fund returns.  In the third essay, we use higher-order moment and nonlinear asset pricing kernel models to estimate the risk-adjusted performance of a sample of Canadian equity mutual funds. (Un)conditional frameworks are developed that are suitable to perform evaluations of fixed weight and dynamic strategies. The results show that the weak unconditional performance becomes positive and significant with nonlinear and conditional kernel-based benchmarks.  In the fourth essay, we presents new evidence on the performance of Canadian fixed-income funds using various linear single- and multi-factor benchmark models based on a sample of Canadian fixed-income mutual funds over the period, 1985-2000. Frameworks are developed that are suitable to perform evaluations of fixed-weight and dynamic strategies. The results show evidence of negative performance, which improves with partial conditioning. The performance measures are weakly sensitive to the return generating process. Tests that do not incorporate the contemporaneous cross-correlations in the returns among individual funds consistently alter and reverse the conditioning information-based performance inferences and the large fund effect. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)


identifier: Helou, Issa  (2003) Thermal model and analysis of two zone passive solar house.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis presents a nonlinear transient finite difference two zone coupled thermal-air flow model for a solar house. The two zones may be adjacent to each other (Bungalow) or one above the other (Cottage). One zone is generally hotter than the other which can be used in summer for natural ventilation. The model developed includes floor heating and studies the effect of important design variables such as window area and thermal resistance as well as amount of thermal mass on energy consumption and room temperature swings. For natural ventilation, size of openings and shading strategy are considered.  Results are presented for winter and summer and optimal values for the design variables are discussed for a typical case. The model is validated by comparison with measured published data and simulations. The effect of modeling detail is also considered.


identifier: Wright, P. John  (2003) Analysis of TEMPO-adducts of protein-based radicals by mass spectrometry.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Heme peroxidases catalyze the one-electron oxidation of a wide variety of organic and inorganic substrates using hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) as an oxidant. Use of these enzymes in environmentally sound biotechnological and industrial applications is limited by their stability under harsh conditions such as high H 2 O 2 concentrations and extremes in pH.  In of this thesis, a detailed study on the characterization of the low-pH heme-pocket stability of horseradish peroxidase isozyme c (HRPC) is reported. FTIR y(CO) and Soret-CD spectra of HRPC-CO, and Soret absorption of ferric HRPC from two commercial sources were recorded to probe time-dependent heme-pocket changes at pH 3.0 in phosphate, citrate and formate buffers. Both HRPC-CO samples exhibit identical pH 7.0 y(CO) bands at 1934 and 1905cm -1 . However, in the pH 3.0 spectrum of sample A , the 1934cm -1 band was dominant while a broad 1969cm -1 band appeared in sample B , which was assigned to solvent-exposed heme. The intensity of this band was greater in citrate than phosphate buffer, but in formate the 1934cm -1 band remained dominant. In the presence of 1mM CaCl 2 , no time- or buffer-anion-dependent conformation changes were detected, revealing that buffer-anion-dependent leaching of the stabilizing-Ca 2+ from HRPC occurs at pH 3.0. Since the N-glycans present in HRPC are of the flexible-protein-surface-shielding type, the variation in low-pH conformational stability of the HRPC samples could be attributed to heterogeneous glycosylation which was detected by SDS-PAGE.  The second focus of this thesis is the reactive intermediates generated in the HRPC, cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP), and myoglobin (Mb) polypeptides upon their reaction with H 2 O 2 in the absence of donor substrate.


identifier: Wang, Kang Bin  (2003) Multicasting in MPLS networks.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Multicasting in MPLS networks

abstract: The explosive growth of the Internet has generated interests from researchers around the world. New applications of the Internet, such as video, audio and mission-critical applications, challenge researchers to develop more effective ways to deliver these applications to end users. Multicasting, QoS and MPLS emerge as new technologies and are being developed. The integration of MPLS, multicasting and/or QoS is still an open topic. RFC3353, released in August 2002, gives an overview of IP multicast in an MPLS environment. This thesis first presents RFC3353 in brief and then an extension to RFC for multicast aggregation and loop prevention in MPLS networks are discussed. FEC aggregation is proposed where IP header is not affected in the aggregation in MPLS networks. A mechanism to dynamically aggregate multicast traffic in MPLS network is presented in this thesis. Both source specific tree and shared tree are considered as network topologies. Multicast loops may exist in MPLS network during network transition. The multicast loop forming in PIM-SM, PIM-DM and DVMRP is discussed in MPLS networks. The Colored thread and the No thread mechanisms for multicast loop prevention are provided in this thesis. In addition to aggregation and loop prevention, DiffServ multicast traffic merging in MPLS networks is also considered in this thesis. Two multicast traffic merging modes, root-initiated and leaf-initiated, are discussed in such DiffServ-supported MPLS networks. Multicast routing protocols such as PIM-SM PIM-DM and DVMRP are considered here.


identifier: Sadeghi, Pouriya  (2003) Multi-channel processing of turbo codes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Multi-channel processing of turbo codes

abstract: A turbo decoder uses an iterative procedure and its performance is dependent on the number of iterations it performs. In a turbo decoder, the number of iterations required to achieve a certain FER is a function of the channel SNR. An example of this is a base station in a mobile communication system, where turbo decoder receives data frames from different users each with a given level of fading and as a result, with different SNR. If a fixed number of iterations is allocated to each frame, it is possible that certain frames remain erroneous while decoder is idle part of the time for other frames. In this thesis the idea of sharing the processing power among different frames, possibly belonging to different channels, is used. This time-sharing approach can increase the processing throughput and/or the performance of the turbo decoding scheme. We present two schemes and give their performance for the 3GPP and DVB-RCS codes. The first one is serial processing algorithm, which decodes the input frames one by one and the other one is parallel processing scheme that tries to decode all of those received channels simultaneously.  We investigated the implementation of these schemes using a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) chip (TI TMS320C6416 DSP CPU). We have developed an efficient implementation algorithm by combining those two multi-channel processing schemes. All the presented schemes can also be used for a single-channel communication system


identifier: Shuai, Song  (2003) Dynamic resource allocation under different traffic models in GPRS/EGPRS.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: With the increasing demand for information anywhere, any time, wireless data service is becoming more important than before. In 2G mobile cellular systems, emphasis is put on circuit-switched voice services that can only supply limited data services, which cannot meet nowadays data requirement. To meet the new challenge, 2G mobile cellular systems have taken an evolutionary approach in developing data based services, which is referred to 2.5G or 2.75G. GPRS, EGPRS and EDGE are standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and belong to 2.5G-2.75G standard. GPRS is only used for packet data service instead of voice traffic. In fact in a cell that supports GPRS, both GSM and GPRS systems operate in parallel to provide service for packet data and voice traffic. EDGE Phase one focuses on the non-real-time packet data services. This is also called EGPRS. The EDGE Phase Two aims at providing both real-time services such as voice and video delivering and non-real-time services in an end-to-end packet mode.  To provide various services and to achieve more efficient utilization of the scarce frequency spectrum, research on radio resource allocation is becoming a hot topic. To evaluate the advantage of dynamic resource allocation, the performances of fixed and dynamic resource allocation are compared in this thesis. To simulate various services, four different data rate classes, and four different traffic models are assumed. The result i of the simulations show that: the Dynamic Resource Allocation Scheme can bring much better performance improvement than the Fixed Resource Allocation Scheme. At the same average data rate and the same variance, the performance is the same and does not change with the traffic model. The resource allocation schemes show robustness to different traffic models.


identifier: Demelius, Yoko  (2003) Steps of a dance production : the working lives of professionals at a dance company.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic study of fine art dancers' identities, vocational life, and the dance culture. It explains the dancers' process of becoming and living as 'artistic beings,' and shows how dancers take on their journey of self-discovery, as well as how they are motivated through the feeling of empowerment and inspiration. The exploration starts with the analyses of the socio-cultural dynamics of a dance production team. Non-structured interviews are conducted with the director, ballet master, twelve dancers, two choreographers, and a few employees in the administration. In the process, the research objective develops into an investigation of the dancers' vocational life, their identities and philosophy, which keep them disciplined and focused. First, the structural characteristics of the dance community are explored, and characteristics such as mobility, 'connectedness,' and rich social networks become the focal point in analyzing the dance culture's structural frame. Second, the contextual characteristics of the culture are examined. Here, the dancers' identity construction, philosophy, objectives, reality, value/belief system are carefully analyzed. Finally, the empirical data are presented, incorporating the analyses of their notion of vocational life. The distinctiveness of their identities and reality will be highlighted, and the structural and contextual characteristics of the dance culture will fuse into each other.


identifier: Venditti, Rosa L  (2003) Women and ethnic language maintenance : a study of Italian immigrant family triads in Saint-Léonard, Montréal.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: During post WW II migration wave, Italians accounted for a large portion of immigrants and they settled extensively in Ontario and Quebec. Within Quebec, over 90 percent live on the Island of Montreal, and the Francophone municipality of Saint-Léonard has the highest concentration of Italians since 1971. Initially, assimilation was the expected outcome of immigrants' adaptation; however, since 1971, multiculturalism encourages the maintenance of ethnic culture and language, but loss of ethnic languages still occurs. The three-generation language shift model suggests that by the third generation, the dominant language will be this generation's mother tongue. However, the literature cites several factors as countering linguistic assimilation, such as residential concentration and intramarriage. Women have consistently shown higher retention rates than men, yet they have received little attention in the intergenerational process. In addition, research on the third generation is still recent and focuses at macro levels.  The objective of this thesis is to investigate the role of women in the inter-generational process of ethnic language maintenance and to identify the forces at work, specifically within the home domain, that encourage the retention of the ethnic language. This study is based on data collected from a pilot survey that served to identify potential family triads and from semi-structured interviews of the family triads of which the grandmother resides in Saint-Léonard. The results show that intergenerational linguistic change varies by family as a result of the many domains in an individual's life and the particular characteristics of each family history since migration