identifier: Rafeh, Rami  (2016) AtCLO4, a stress responsive calcium binding protein, interacts with the heterotrimeric Gα subunit in Arabidopsis thaliana.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Heterotrimeric G-proteins have been shown to be involved in plant responses to abiotic stress. Recent evidence has shown that a caleosin, RD20/AtCLO3, is involved in stomate and root responses to ABA treatment in addition to interacting with the G alpha subunit (GPA1) in Arabidopsis thaliana. The role of the other caleosin gene family members and their interaction with G-proteins still remains largely unknown. This work demonstrated the interaction of another caleosin, AtCLO4, with GPA1 by Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC). Phenotypic analysis of clo4 mutants showed significantly less inhibition of lateral root formation during salt and mannitol stress compared to wild type; while CLO4 gene expression was characterized in the roots by GUS staining during periods of stress. These results present a novel interaction between CLO4 and GPA1 and indicate a role for CLO4 in regulating GPA1 during periods of stress that culminate in inhibition of lateral root formation.


identifier: Joyce, Alexandre  (2016) A proposal for a Design Approach to more Sustainable Business Models: Tools, Process and Outcomes to Envision the Future of an Organization.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

type: Thesis NonPeerReviewed

abstract:
Stories of organizations transforming their business model is nothing new. At some point in time, any organization, big or small, reaches a crossroad where strategic thinking points towards reinvention. However, we argue that most business model changes are not specifically designed for environmental or social benefits but predominantly economic gains.
From our literature review, we determine that most research in the nascent field of sustainable business models is concerned with the ends of integrating a sustainability dimension to business models, however there is little empirical research on the means towards that transformation. Our research endeavour is constructivist and multidisciplinary and focuses on the convergence of design, management and sustainability. Our interest lies in the creative aspect of business model innovation when an organization conceptualizes future business models for sustainability. At that phase, we perceive a need for a structured design approach to more sustainable business models. Our research question is 'What could constitute a design approach to envisioning sustainable business models?' We define a sustainable business model as the rationale of how a business creates, delivers and captures economic, environmental and social value. Our goal is to lay the foundations for the emerging practice of designing sustainable business models. We create a conceptual framework where we propose three inherent elements of a design approach: design tools, design process and design outcomes.
We justify each element of a design approach to more sustainable business models by reporting from our empirical fieldwork. By following an action based research methodology, we prepared 18 workshops with over 450 participants and 13 manufacturing companies to develop and validate our design approach. During this fieldwork, we created two design tools. The triple layered business model canvas tool that was born from a triple bottom line perspective expanding on the popular business model canvas. Twenty four business model pattern cards were also created to enhance the creativity of participants. For the design process element, we combined co-creation and design thinking processes to build on their strengths and answer for their weaknesses. Our third element focused on design outcomes. We generated 5 cases which demonstrated the coherence of our design approach at three organizational levels: strategic, tactical and operational.
In this dissertation, we join all three elements of a design approach together to envision more sustainable business models. From this we learn how the design tools support a structure, the design process builds on experience and the design outcomes offer direction towards. We then conclude on how our design approach relates to three types of practitioners. First, we recognize the link between our design approach with the creativity and instinctual qualities of designers. Second, managers and entrepreneurs are well served by our design approach because their participation contributes to establishing a problem context before inviting them into an exploration space where they can embrace how the elements of a design approach favours learning. Lastly, because our design approach is applied at a system level of a business model, sustainability experts are empowered to conceive radical improvements with new forms of analysis concerning the sustainability of organization as a whole. That is why we see our design approach as the means to initiate change in organizations by providing a positive vision of what a sustainable business model can be. In the end, we contribute to research on business models for sustainability by exposing how a design approach can serve organizations in supporting the process, tools, and outcomes of their transformations. To conclude, we address how our design approach is relevant to the research fields we explored and its practitioners. We then comment on how this practice of designing sustainable business models will influence the next century's paradigm.


identifier: Mondal, Briti Sundar  (2016) BinType: A Scalable Type Inference Tool for Compiled C Programs.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Reverse-engineering program binaries often relies on the recovery of high-level data abstractions. In particular, recovering variables and their type is challenging as most such information is lost during compilation. Although past proposals seem to have addressed this problem, their approaches are either not scalable and suffer from coverage issues (e.g., dynamic analysis), or yield insufficient precision by staying too conservative (e.g., static analysis). Furthermore, most recent works lift assembly to Intermediate Representation (IR), which standardizes low-level operations, and may lose some useful semantics for type inference. In this thesis, we propose BinType, a static analysis-based, scalable, precise and conservative tool that works directly on x86 assembly to automatically reveal type information of variables and function arguments. BinType is 45% more precise than TIE (NDSS’11) on a dataset 3.5 times larger, and orders of magnitude faster than its underlying algorithm. We also show that our tool makes a significant impact on the accuracy of a recent tool on binary to source matching.


identifier: Thivierge, Sigwan  (2016) Failure to Agree in Nishnaabemwin Inverse-marking.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis presents a model of inverse-marking in the Nishnaabemwin (Algonquian) agreement system. An abstract 'person hierarchy' ranks discourse participants as 2nd person > 1st person > 3rd person > inanimate, which seems to determine the form of a suffix on the verb stem often called a 'theme sign' (Valentine 2001). The highest ranked discourse participant is marked by a prefix on the verb. A so-called 'direct' theme sign appears if the subject outranks the object, while a so-called 'inverse' theme sign appears if the object outranks the subject. However, these descriptions imply that agreement mechanisms in the verbal domain obligatorily consult an abstract hierarchy in order to encode a concrete relationship between the subject and object. This is problematic as it requires the controversial property that abstract hierarchies are directly encoded in the grammar.

A growing body of research analyzes languages with person hierarchy effects as complex systems of person agreement (e.g. Béjar and Rezac 2009, Lochbihler 2012, Oxford 2014, Preminger 2014, among others). The model proposed in this paper is an application of Preminger (2014), an analysis originally meant to capture person hierarchy effects in Kichean, a Mayan language. Although Preminger's analysis elegantly accounts for the person hierarchy effects in Kichean, it cannot straightforwardly be extended to Nishnaabemwin inverse-marking.---namely, Preminger's model fails in contexts with two arguments that are speech act participants (i.e. either the speaker or addressee). To fill these gaps, this thesis builds on Oxford (2014) in analyzing Nishnaabemwin inverse-marking patterns as a complex form of object agreement. The proposed model is an agreement system in which two probes work together to license arguments. Though Nishnaabemwin inverse-marking reflects a complex form of object agreement in most cases, the morphosyntactic consequences of failed agreement show that, in some contexts, object agreement is overridden as a result of failed agreement.


identifier: Radwan, Dalia  (2016) Exploring the Dynamics of Transformative Learning, Social Action, and Web 2.0: The Case of Egyptian Student Activists.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The main objective of this study is to explore the nature of learning and the experiences of students involved in civic collective action, particularly during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and the role of Web 2.0 in the learning and collective action process. This study examines qualitative, in-depth interviews of five student activists in Egypt, and provides an interpretive analysis within and between participants. The study probes the participants’ conceptions of learning as they struggled against oppression, co-constructed new ways of understanding the world, and took collective actions to make political changes and achieve specific goals. Drawing on previous research and a broad spectrum of recent empirical developments, the study finds that the involvement in emancipatory struggle and social action, facilitated by Web 2.0 technologies, resulted in a transformational learning experience. That experience led to the acquisition of new knowledge and the development of new skills, which greatly enabled formerly voiceless students to break away from teacher-centered models of learning in Egypt, take control of their own learning, and consequently become autonomous thinkers ready for participation in a democratic society. Given the small sample size, the findings are limited to this study and are not suitable for statistical generalization, but the results are contextually transferrable to students in similar contexts in middle-eastern countries where teaching is still traditional and does not encourage critical thought. To apply the findings of this study more broadly, future research should explore similar instances in other countries, languages and cultural contexts.


identifier: Derayati, Ehsan  (2016) The Impact of Relative Institutional Challenge on the Process of Firms’ Internationalization.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In increasingly turbulent and competitive international environments, having a comprehensive and proper understanding of institutional environments at the country level is fundamental for success in international business. Many studies have examined how environmental and institutional factors affect the internationalization decisions of firms, and used different constructs for showing those institutional factors.
This dissertation demonstrates a comprehensive view of the challenge that firms perceive in countries’ institutional environment by developing a new construct called Relative Institutional Challenge and testing its effects on firms’ internationalization process.
For this purpose, this dissertation is structured in two main sections. In the first section, the construct of Relative Institutional Challenge was developed. Relative Institutional Challenge considers the effect of institutional differences between host and home countries (institutional distance), the state of institutionalization of the host country (institutional development) and rate of institutionalization of the host country (institutional uncertainty) simultaneously. Using extensive data from databases such as Global Competitiveness Report, Fragile States Index and Worldwide Governance Indicators, an index for measuring Relative Institutional Challenge was developed.
In the second part of this thesis, the effects of the Relative Institutional Challenge (RIC) on firms’ internationalization process were investigated. Three hypotheses were developed and validated. The hypotheses were demonstrating that the effect of the RIC, asthe independent variable on firms’ ownership structure and the variation of firms’ ownership percentage as the dependent variables. Empirical testing was performed based on an extensive dataset on international Joint Ventures (JVs) and acquisitions extracted from SDC Platinum dataset.  The obtained results show the significant relationship between the level of institutional challenges that firms perceive, measured through the RIC Index, and the firms’ internationalization process, measured by firms’ ownership percentage and variance of ownership structure. Also, the moderating effect of firm size on this relationship was supported.


identifier: Mangel, Daniel  (2016) The Advancement of Palladium-Catalyzed Decarboxylative and Desulfinative Cross-Couplings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Aryl-substituted heteroaromatics play a key role in medicinal chemistry, natural products, advanced materials, and the agrochemical industry. Therefore, developing novel methods to access these scaffolds is of the upmost importance. The most common methods to access these scaffolds are through palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Classically, these methods used harsh conditions and dangerous organometallic compounds; however, more recently an emphasis on using less harsh conditions and environmentally safe compounds has pushed towards developing novel methodologies. Palladium-catalyzed desulfinative and decarboxylative cross-couplings have emerged as powerful alternatives to the classical methods, yielding environmentally benign by-products with high atom economy and great efficiency. These methods use carboxylic acids and sulfonates as nucleophilic coupling partners with aryl-halides as the electrophilic partner.
To expand the desulfinative methodology, synthetically versatile aryl triflates have been employed as electrophilic coupling partners. Good yields were obtained in aqueous and alcoholic media without the use of base, additives, or co-catalysts.  Furthermore, mechanistic studies on the decarboxylative cross-coupling have been investigated using computational methods. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to determine the complete reaction profile as well as transition states. It was determined that the key decarboxylation step occurs via an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. These results are important for the development of alternative methods and the advancement of our current understanding of these methodologies.


identifier: Vu, Nhat Linh  (2016) Some Fluctuation Identities of Hyper-Exponential Jump-Diffusion Processes.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Meromorphic L´evy processes have attracted the attention of a lot of researchers recently
due to its special structure of the Wiener-Hopf factors as rational functions of infinite degree
written in terms of poles and roots of the Laplace exponent, all of which are real numbers.
With these Wiener-Hopf factors in hand, we can explicitly derive the expression of fluctuation
identities that concern the first passage problems for finite and infinite intervals for
the meromorphic L´evy process and the resulting process reflected at its infimum. In this
thesis, we consider some fluctuation identities of some classes of meromorphic jump-diffusion
processes with either the double exponential jumps or more general the hyper-exponential
jumps. We study solutions to the one-sided and two-sided exit problems, and potential measure
of the process killed on exiting a finite or infinite intervals. Also, we obtain some results
to the process reflected at its infimum.


identifier: Ratnayake, Kumara  (2016) Motion-Augmented Inference and Joint Kernels in Structured Learning for Object Tracking and Integration with Object Segmentation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Video object tracking is a fundamental task of continuously following an object of interest in a video sequence. It has attracted considerable attention in both academia and industry due to its diverse applications, such as in automated video surveillance, augmented and virtual reality, medical, automated vehicle navigation and tracking, and smart devices. Challenges in video object tracking arise from occlusion, deformation, background clutter, illumination variation, fast object motion, scale variation, low resolution, rotation, out-of-view, and motion blur. Object tracking remains, therefore, as an active research field. This thesis explores improving object tracking by employing 1) advanced techniques in machine learning theory to account for intrinsic changes in the object appearance under those challenging conditions, and 2) object segmentation.

More specifically, we propose a fast and competitive method for object tracking by modeling target dynamics as a random stochastic process, and using structured support vector machines. First, we predict target dynamics by harmonic means and particle filter in which we exploit kernel machines to derive a new entropy based observation likelihood distribution. Second, we employ online structured support vector machines to model object appearance, where we analyze responses of several kernel functions for various feature descriptors and study how such kernels can be optimally combined to formulate a single joint kernel function. During learning, we develop a probability formulation to determine model updates and use sequential minimal optimization-step to solve the structured optimization problem. We gain efficiency improvements in the proposed object tracking by 1) exploiting particle filter for sampling the search space instead of commonly adopted dense sampling strategies, and 2) introducing a motion-augmented regularization term during inference to constrain the output search space.

We then extend our baseline tracker to detect tracking failures or inaccuracies and reinitialize itself when needed. To that end, we integrate object segmentation into tracking. First, we use binary support vector machines to develop a technique to detect tracking failures (or inaccuracies) by monitoring internal variables of our baseline tracker. We leverage learned examples from our baseline tracker to train the employed binary support vector machines. Second, we propose an automated method to re-initialize the tracker to recover from tracking failures by integrating an active contour based object segmentation and using particle filter to sample bounding boxes for segmentation.

Through extensive experiments on standard video datasets, we subjectively and objectively demonstrate that both our baseline and extended methods strongly compete against state-of-the-art object tracking methods on challenging video conditions.


identifier: Zhang, Xinyao  (2016) The Analysis of Parallelism of Apache Storm.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Big data processing is rapidly growing in recent years due to the immediate demanding of many applications. This growth compels industries to leverage scheduling in order to optimally allocate the resources to the big data streams which require data-driven big data analysis. Moreover, optimal scheduling of big data stream process should guarantee the QoS requirements of computing tasks. Execution time of tasks within the streams is specified as one of the most significant QoS factors.
In this paper, I will introduce the currently widely used stream processing framework Storm, a distributed real-time computation platform, and study the scheduling and execution strategies of big data stream processes within it. First, a queueing theory approach to the modeling of the streams as a collection of sequential and parallel tasks is proposed. It is assumed that heterogeneous threads are required to handle various big data tasks such as processing, storing and searching which may have quite general service time distributions. Then, with the proposed model, an optimization problem is defined to minimize the total number of resources required to serve the big data streams while guarantying the QoS requirements of their tasks. An algorithm is also proposed to mitigate the complexity order of the optimization problem.  The objective of this research is to minimize the stream processing resources in terms of threads with constraints over the task waiting time of the application tasks. I apply the proposed scheduling algorithm to Apache Storm to optimize the cloud resource requirements. The experiment results validate the analysis.


identifier: Ahmed, Sameh  (2016) Investigation of Multi Suppressive Layers under Impact Load.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recently, mitigation of blast effects has become one of the major challenges in structural engineering. In this regard, sandwich panels are considered attractive systems for blast mitigation applications. This is contributed to their considerable energy absorption capability compared to solid panels of the same weight. These sandwich panels can have different inner core configurations to provide adequate stiffness, strength, and energy absorption for resisting different blast loads.
This research evaluates numerically the effectiveness of using woven shapes as a new core topology in sandwich panels to act as a suppressive layer for resisting blast loads. The new shape has been studied for both fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) sandwich panels and metallic sandwich panels. The numerical models have been created using nonlinear explicit finite element simulation. Each model has been validated using available data in the literature that uses honeycomb and folded shapes. The results of proposed woven shapes have been compared to those of honeycomb and folded shapes to examine the effectiveness of using woven shape in blast mitigation.
Throughout the study, twelve FRP panels with different inner core configurations are proposed to enhance panels' performance by reducing their peak deformation and increasing their energy dissipation. A parametric study was conducted on the best performing inner core configurations to achieve the highest resistance for blast loads. Moreover, the study investigates the effect of filling the FRP sandwich panels with sand, polyurethane foam, and dytherm foam on the panels' blast resistance. In order to generalize the findings of this research, other panels with the new proposed inner core configurations are simulated using stainless steel instead of FRP. Finally, the effect of changing the outer layers' thickness, applying successive blast loads on the same sandwich panels, and changing scaled distance has been investigated for metallic sandwich panels. Comparing woven shapes to honeycomb and folded shapes shows that using sandwich panels with woven shapes provides a better impulsive resistance.


identifier: Vikram, Shardul  (2016) A New Approach to the Planar Fractional Minkowski Problem via Curvature Flows.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The Lp-Minkowski problem, a generalization of the classical Minkowski problem, was defined by Lutwak in the ’90s. For a fixed real number p ≠ n, it asks what are the necessary and sufficient conditions on a finite Borel measure on Sn−1so that it is the Lp surface area measure of a convex body in Rn. For p = 1, one has the classical Minkowski problem in which the Lp surface area is the usual surface area of a compact set embedded in Rn. Under certain technical assumptions, the planar Lp-Minkowski problem reduces to the study of positive, π-periodic solutions, h : [0, 2π] → (0, ∞) to the non-linear equation h1−p(h′′ + h) = ψ for a given smooth, π-periodic function ψ : [0, 2π] → (0, ∞). In this thesis, we give a new proof of the existence of solutions of the planar Lp-Minkowski problem for 0 < p < 1. To do so, we consider a parabolic anisotropic curvature flow on the space of strictly convex bodies K in R2 which are symmetric with respect to the origin. The case 0 < p < 1 has been considered before by K.S. Chou and X.J. Wang, [5], by studying the corresponding̀̀̀̀̀ Monge-Amprère type equation. The connection between solutions to a parabolic equation, the flow, and a corresponding elliptic equation, the Lp-Minkowski problem, has been long conjectured by the specialists and this is yet another instance where it has been used.


identifier: Lutchman, Vicky  (2016) Discovery of Plant Extracts That Delay Yeast Chronological Aging through Different Signaling Pathways.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a beneficial organism for the discovery of genes, signaling pathways and chemical compounds that slow cellular and organismal aging in eukaryotes across phyla. As a first step towards uncovering novel aging-delaying chemical compounds, I conducted a screen of a library of plant extracts for those that can extend yeast chronological lifespan. My screen revealed six plant extracts that increase yeast chronological lifespan considerably more efficiently than any of the longevity-extending chemical compounds yet described. I show that each of the six plant extracts is a geroprotector which delays the onset and decreases the rate of yeast chronological aging by eliciting a hormetic stress response. Because the rate of aging in yeast is controlled by a network of integrated signaling pathways and protein kinases, I assessed how single-gene-deletion mutations eliminating each of these pathways and kinases affect the aging-delaying efficiencies of the six plant extracts. My findings imply that these extracts slow aging in the following ways: 1) plant extract 4 decreases the efficiency with which the pro-aging TORC1 pathway inhibits the anti-aging SNF1 pathway; 2) plant extract 5 mitigates two different branches of the pro-aging PKA pathway; 3) plant extract 6 coordinates processes that are not assimilated into the network of presently known signaling pathways/protein kinases; 4) plant extract 8 diminishes the inhibitory action of PKA on SNF1; 5) plant extract 12 intensifies the anti-aging protein kinase Rim15; and 6) plant extract 21 inhibits a form of the pro-aging protein kinase Sch9 that is activated by the pro-aging PKH1/2 pathway.


identifier: Abdessameud, Saida  (2016) Thermodynamic Modeling of the Mg-Al-Li-Na-H System for Solid State Hydrogen Storage Applications.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
In this work a thermodynamic database describing the Mg-Al-Li-Na-H system was constructed using thermodynamic modeling through the CALPHAD method. The constructed database was used to assess the hydrogen storage properties of the system at different pressures and temperatures and to understand the phase relationships and reactions mechanisms.
The liquid phase in the binary systems was reassessed using the modified quasichemical model (MQM) or taken from the literature. Since hydrogen atoms occupy the interstitial positions in the solid phases, terminal solid solution phases were described using the compound energy formalism (CEF). Two sublattices were used where Mg, Al, Li, and Na atoms mix randomly in the first sublattice to allow for their mutual solubility and H atom and vacancy mix in the second sublattice. All the gases included in this study were considered ideal. The calculated phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties were compared to experimental data from the literature and showed good agreement. The ternary systems were extrapolated from the corresponding binaries using the asymmetric Kohler-Toop technique where H is singled out as the asymmetric component. In this study, all the calculations were performed using the FactSage software where all the cited models are already coded and implemented.
The constructed database allowed the calculation of pressure-composition isotherms of MgH2-10 wt. % NaH, Mg-10 at. % Al and Mg-4 at. % Al. Phase diagrams, pressure temperature diagrams, and reaction pathways of the composites MgH2-AlH3, MgH2-NaAlH4, MgH2-Na3AlH6, and MgH2-AlLiH4/AlLi3H6 were calculated and showed good agreement with the experimental data from the literature. The results provided more details about the de/hydrogenation processes, the amount and composition of phases, and the effect of the pressure and temperature. It is found that Al and Li when added to Mg improve the hydrogen potential of the system and the most promising compositions were predicted.
The strategy used in this study will allow the experimental investigations to focus on the kinetics aspect of the de/hydrogenation reactions for these alloys.


identifier: Singh, Samneet  (2016) Empirical Evaluation and Architecture Design for Big Monitoring Data Analysis.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Today, monitoring data analysis is an underrated but important process in tech industries. Almost, every industry gathers and analyzes monitoring data to improve offered services or to predict critical issues in advance. However, the monitoring data constitutes V's of big data (i.e. Volume, Variety, Velocity, Value, and Veracity). Exploration of big monitoring data possess� several issues and challenges. Firstly, a wide range of monitoring data analysis tools are available and these tools offer a variety of features (i.e. functional and non-functional) that affect the analysis process. However, these features come with their own setbacks. Therefore, selection of a suitable monitoring data tools is challenging and difficult to decide. Secondly, the big monitoring data analysis process contains two main operations of querying and processing a large amount of data. Since the volume of monitoring data is big, these operations require a scalable and reliable architecture to extract, aggregate and analyze data in an arbitrary range of granularity. Ultimately, the results of analysis form the knowledge of the system and should be shared and communicated. The contribution of this research study is two-fold. Firstly, we propose a generic performance evaluation methodology. The method uses the Design of Experiment (DoE) evaluation method for the assessment of tools, workflows and techniques. The evaluation results generated from this methodology provide a base for selection. Secondly, we designed and implemented a big monitoring data analysis architecture to provide advanced analytics such as workload forecasting and pattern matching. The architecture offers these services in an available and scalable environment. We implement our design using distributed tools such as Apache Solr, Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark. We also assessed the performance aspects (i.e. Latency and Fault-tolerance) of the architecture design using the proposed evaluation method.


identifier: El-Helou, Joseph  (2016) Reflective writing for a better understanding of scientific concepts in high school.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: This study evaluates the impact reflective writing has on high school students’ understanding of scientific concepts and their attitudes and opinions toward learning science. Reflective writing is a part of the writing-to-learn movement (Connolly, 1989), the aim of which is to incorporate informal writing into all disciplines. Reflective writing is a hermeneutic process during which a student writes, metacognitively on a paper, his or her ideas about a specific scientific topic, in an informal manner. The research done on the use and impact of Reflective Writing involved post-secondary students. This study aims to shed light on how reflective writing affects high school students’ understanding of science. Participants in this study are high school students, from a Montreal school, who were asked to complete reflective writing tasks as a part of their science course work. Their writings are analyzed and compared to their attitudes and opinions toward the subject as probed by interviews conducted towards the end of the course.


identifier: Dadaei-Noushabadi, Maryam  (2016) Women and Literacies in Iran: A historical exploration of the late Qajar Era.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Over the course of the Qajar period (1796-1925), Iran underwent multiple processes of change in the attempt to modernize the country. The two social institutions of education and gender bore unprecedented scrutiny in that era. The shift from traditional maktab literacies, which mainly centered on Islamic education, to new European-style schools marked the fundamental change in the realm of education in Iran. The centrality of education in the modernization processes was due to the perception of a causal relationship between literacy levels and, progress and democracy. For women, this educational shift involved a double-twist process. First, the epistemological questions on knowledge had to be tackled as a distinction was made between so-called Islamic and scientific or spiritual and material knowledge. On the other hand, the question of Iranian modern woman had to be faced.
In this historical study, relying on sociocultural theories of literacy I locate the above educational transition in its social context. From there with the interaction model of literacy in mind, I strive to show that the literacy shift in Qajar era was neither a direct result of modernization attempts nor was it a cause for the country's development. Instead, I propose that the dynamics involved in literacy changes present a matrix pattern rather than a linear relationship.
To demonstrate the inner working of this conceptual framework in the historical analysis of literacy in Iran, I present historical data from the Persian travelogues of the nineteenth century, women’s press of late Qajar Era, and the visual data of two digital historical archives. I show that maktab literacies in the nineteenth-century Iran were not merely recipients of change under the influence of modernization processes, but maktab literacies had a formative role in the formation of the modernization dilemma as well. This historical data confirms how the interaction model of literacy explains a coevolving relationship among various spheres in the society. Some elements of the social matrix in this study are the emergent technologies such as print, economic trade, and literacy practices such as travelogue reading/writing, and the collective reading of materials in social gatherings. I also presented that the main
iii
components of traditional maktab literacies and European-style education in Iran were not mutually exclusive.


identifier: Grimshaw, Jennica  (2016) Activate space rats! Mobile gaming and L2 pronunciation.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Oral fluency development, the automatization or fluidity of speech (Derwing et. al., 2009), is recommended as one of the last steps in the development of oral skills (Nation & Newton, 2008). However, because fluency development activities focus on speeding up and automatizing language use rather than introducing language new structures, they are often avoided by teachers (Nation & Newton, 2008).

Spaceteam ESL, a team-building game for smartphones and tablets, provides L2 learners with the opportunity to practice English by giving and receiving time-sensitive instructions; the game, therefore, has the potential to motivate fluency development (via speed) by lowering pronunciation anxiety and increasing willingness to communicate (WTC). While players must be in the same room to play, communication is mediated via mobile devices.

The current study examines the effect of Spaceteam ESL on oral fluency development, pronunciation anxiety, and WTC. The participants were from two classes (groups 1 and 2) of high-beginner ESL students at a college in Quebec, Canada. Group 1 played the game for 15 minutes as a classroom warm-up activity for a period of six weeks while group 2 acted as the control. Participants were recorded telling a short story about their summer vacation as a pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test to measure gains in fluency, measured by syllables produced per minute and judges’ ratings. Pronunciation anxiety and WTC were examined qualitatively via semi-structured interviews. Randomly selected participants also participated in interviews to gain insight into their views about the use of the game as a pedagogical tool to reduce anxiety and increase WTC. Results suggest that, overall, gameplay has the potential to assist in fluency development and may contribute to lower levels of anxiety in language students.


identifier: Rezania, Omid  (2016) Anelastic Behavior of Suspension Plasma Sprayed Ceramic Coatings.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) is a rising coating technology producing fine nanostructured coatings with promising mechanical and physical properties while taking advantages of the well-established Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) process. Anelastic behavior of the coatings can be a specific identifier of their mechanical behavior which is related to the strength of coatings interlayers bonding and defect architecture. To better understand the relationship between SPS conditions and anelastic responses, post-deposition characterization technique under multiple thermal cycles using ex-situ coating property (ECP) sensor, which is based on thermal mismatch strain of coating-substrate system is applied.  This technique makes it possible to determine the elastic modulus, non-linear degree and hysteresis degree of the spray coatings through the curvature-temperature response in a dependable and repeatable way. In this work, suspension plasma-sprayed YSZ ceramic coatings are produced under different spray conditions, and their anelastic characteristics are compared. The results show that the samples coated in high plasma power condition have a higher elastic modulus at low strain which is attributed to better inter-splat/inter-layer bonding due to higher particle impact velocity and temperature. However,  samples produced in low raster speed condition have a relatively lower elastic modulus and higher compliance at an elevated temperature which describes the higher flexibility of these coating at higher temperature. These results make it possible to better understand the relationship between sprayed coating microstructures and mechanical properties in SPS coatings.


identifier: Kingdon, Danielle  (2016) Linking Temperament and Parenting Dimensions to the Co-occurrence of Internalizing and Externalizing Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Child psychological disorders co-occur at a much greater rate than would be expected by chance. Comorbidity is known to occur both within and across diagnostic classes, such that even disorders lying at opposite ends of the diagnostic spectrum (i.e., internalizing and externalizing disorders) commonly co-occur. Although patterns of concurrent comorbidity have been widely studied, relatively little is know about how internalizing and externalizing disorders co-occur and influence one another over time.

The overall aim of this research was to investigate patterns of sequential comorbidity in a community-based sample of children, followed longitudinally from age 3 to age 16. Data was drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, intergenerational study of children from disadvantaged neighborhoods (Study 1: N = 154; Study 2: N = 143). Three pathways to comorbidity were considered: 1) that symptoms of internalizing and externalizing disorders influence one another over time; 2) that common temperament risk factors are implicated in the co-development of internalizing and externalizing problems; and 3) that disorders co-occur over time because of the high degree of symptom overlap across disorders. Study 1 examined longitudinal patterns of internalizing and externalizing problems, finding an inhibitory effect of internalizing problems on the development of future externalizing problems. Results demonstrated that the presence of common risk factors (i.e., temperamental negative emotionality) best explained the co-occurrence between internalizing and externalizing problems and additionally, unique temperamental risk factors (i.e., sociability, activity) predicted their differentiation. Study 2 examined patterns of sequential comorbidity within the diagnostic class of internalizing disorders (i.e., anxiety and depression). Results from this study indicated a sequential progression from anxiety to depression, but that this association was primarily attributed to symptom overlap among questionnaires used to assess anxiety and depressive symptoms. Instead, the co-occurrence between anxiety and depression (at both the symptom and diagnostic level) was best explained by a common temperamental style characterized by high negative emotionality and low positive emotionality. Additionally, both studies revealed significant interactions between child characteristics (gender and temperament) and parenting in the prediction of children’s internalizing and externalizing problems.

The present studies build on previous work linking temperament and parenting practices to the development of specific childhood psychopathologies. Findings of common temperamental styles predicting the co-development of internalizing and externalizing problems across time, however, are novel. More broadly, these findings suggest that temperamental styles explain a large portion of the co-variation in symptomatology, both within and across diagnostic classes. Additionally, other temperamental styles and parenting practices, both separately and in combination, predict the differentiation of problems. These findings highlight the need for future studies to consider both concurrent and longitudinal patterns of comorbidity, as well as multiple potential pathways to comorbidity. This line of research has implications for etiology, intervention, prevention, and classification of child psychopathology.


identifier: Chorush, Alden  (2016) The Narrator Who Wouldn't Shut Up.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: The Narrator Who Wouldn't Shut Up

abstract: The title of the collection refers to mental noise, the chatter in the mind that never stops. It also refers self-reflexively to the act of fictional narration from which the collection was created. The opening tale establishes the meta-fictional terms of the collection’s creative process, and stories thereafter explore the interpersonal conflicts and ethical dilemmas that arise from the contradictions, often between social conscience and personal appetite, inherent in mental chatter. In these stories, brief moments of inner silence offer a measure of hope, or a reprieve perhaps from the more nightmarish aspects of consciousness. Although “the narrator who wouldn’t shut up” is essentially gender-neutral, the vehicle for its exploration in each story is the “marginalized” white male in his various guises: henpecked husband, guilty boyfriend, inadequate father, talentless son, indifferent brother and, finally, impotent narrator. My hope is that a reader might get the “we’re all in this together” feeling from reading these stories, and perhaps be reminded of the therapeutic value of silence.


identifier: Nooraei Ashtiani, Negarin  (2016) Building a sustainable lean culture: a holistic lean leadership model.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Surprisingly, a high failure rate of lean initiatives in delivering promised business results calls into question the practicality and fruitfulness of lean as a change methodology. Many lean experts and scholars have tried to reveal the determining factors that affect the chance of success or failure of a lean initiative under different labels such as inhibitors, barriers, obstacles, or key success factors. One prominent concept, which is directly or implicitly mentioned in many of these studies, is profound role of ‘leadership’. This study pursues two objectives in two phases, mainly through conduct of a survey among lean practitioners in different industries. The research objectives are: to investigate the role of leadership in achieving favorable business results, and to formulate a holistic lean leadership model. This model is based on practical and realistic leadership experiences of two iconic lean companies, and also verified, and modified as appropriate, according to the findings of the survey. Ingraining the culture of respect for people, commitment to (leadership) self-development, establishing (lean) overarching and supporting structures, and reinforcing lean in day-to-day management activities, are 4 main layers of the model that enable a leader to reach to the ideal state of a lean organization, which is kaizen (continuous improvement)


identifier: Chicoine-Marinier, Isadora  (2016) Symbiose au jardin (art, environnement et communauté) : Les Paradis de Granby de Catherine Bodmer au 3e impérial.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Ce mémoire porte sur les pratiques collaboratives qui relient art, environnement et communauté. Il prend pour étude de cas le projet Les Paradis de Granby (2014-2015), réalisé par l’artiste Catherine Bodmer, dans le cadre d’une résidence en art infiltrant au 3e impérial, centre d’essai en art actuel. Alliant photographie et pratique relationnelle, ce projet repose sur une collaboration avec des jardiniers et jardinières membres de la Société d’horticulture de Granby, mais aussi avec l’équipe du 3e impérial et le contexte investi par la pratique, c’est-à-dire les jardins. Le rapport entre l’humain et l’environnement y est interrogé à partir des remises en question de l’imaginaire d’une nature sauvage (William Cronon), de l’anthropocentrisme et des catégories binaires entre nature et culture (Felix Guattari). Un survol historique de l’art environnemental permet de contextualiser l’émergence, dans le champ de l’art contemporain, de préoccupations écologique et communautaire. La dimension participative du projet est discutée à la lumière des théories sur l’esthétique relationnelle (Nicolas Bourriaud) et sur la collaboration en art (Grant H. Kester). La relation aux autres et à la nature est analysée à travers différents aspects du projet, par exemple les visites de jardins, les échanges avec les participant.es, le blogue, les rencontres publiques et la publication d’une collection de cartes postales qui rassemble photographies et citations. Au final, cela permet de comprendre comment l’idée de réciprocité s’est manifestée de façon transversale dans toutes les étapes du projet.


identifier: Naccache, Gabriel  (2016) CFD Based Analysis and Parametric Study of a Novel Wind Turbine Design: the Dual Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Small Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are good candidates to extract energy from wind in urban areas because they are easy to install, service and do not generate much noise; however, the aerodynamic efficiency of small turbines is low. Here-in a new turbine, with high aerodynamic efficiency, is proposed. The novel design is based on the classical H-Darrieus VAWT. VAWTs produce the highest power when the blade chord is perpendicular to the incoming wind direction. The basic idea behind the proposed turbine is to extend that said region of maximum power by having the blades continue straight instead of following a circular path. This motion can be performed if the blades turn along two axes; hence it was named Dual Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (D-VAWT). The analysis of this new turbine is done through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with 2D and 3D simulations. While 2D is used to validate the methodology, 3D is used to get an accurate estimate of the turbine performance. The analysis of a single blade is performed and the turbine shows that a power coefficient of 0.4 can be achieved. So far, reaching performance levels high enough to compete with the most efficient VAWTs. The D-VAWT is still far from full optimization, but the analysis presented here shows the hidden potential and serves as proof of concept. The study of the D-VAWT is concluded with a preliminary parametric study of the turbine sensitivity to different incoming wind angles, turbine axes spacing, number of blades, airfoil profile and blade mounting point.


identifier: schmidt, mark  (2016) Lily's Story.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

title: Lily's Story

abstract:
Technology is in a constant state of evolution, and our history is littered with miraculous inventions. However, one invention stands out with particular significance: the internet. In the future, I imagine people will look back and realize that what we created was not just a series of interconnected computers but—godlike— a whole new world.

Lily’s Story is a novel concerned with the role of humanity in this increasingly technological and internet-centric world. It aims to examine traditional conceptions of humanism in the face of post-humanism and artificial-intelligence, and the function of the physical in a society that is becoming exponentially more digital. By blurring the lines between the real and the unreal, I hope to inspire the reader to reconsider the line that divides the two.


identifier: Alexander, Kristopher Blair  (2016) Video Design and Interactivity: The Semiotics of Multimedia in Instructional Design.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

format: text video

abstract:
This creation-as-research thesis examines the semiotics of multimedia and interactivity within the context of instruction, focusing on theoretical and practical representations in video
game design, and the cultural models therein. There are 4 parts to this thesis 1) A traditional written document; 2) A 15-Module Online Course in video game design entitled Gaming, Interactive, and Multiplatform Media; 3) 15 Summary Videos of the online course in video game design; 4) The performative creation-as-research dissertation presentation. This thesis highlights the teaching practices surrounding video game design principles, while emulating those design principles as part of the instructional platforms. The 4 parts of this thesis, collectively, are a manifestation of the findings in the written component, which suggests that video games, through their innate interactivity via the inclusion of multimedia as part of their design, hold critical implementation frameworks for course-based instructional design, when multimedia is used as part of the instructional process.


identifier: De Macedo, Rodrigo  (2016) Seismic Response of Transmission Line Guyed Towers With and Without the Interaction of Tower Conductor Coupling.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Steel lattice transmission line towers (TL) are widely used as supporting structures for overhead powerlines. According to their supporting configuration, these free-standing tower structures are classified as: Self-supporting towers and guyed towers. In general, they are designed for conductors’ weight and environmental loads such as ice accretion and wind gustiness. Other exceptional loads, such as cable rupture and ice-shedding effects, are also considered. Due to an overall perception that these structures have a relatively low vulnerability to earthquake loads, the earthquakes effects are usually not considered in TL tower design. The current standards, for instance, do not require a design check for earthquake loads, although a significant percentage of transmission line infrastructure is located on Western and Eastern Canada where the seismic risk is considered high and moderate-to-high.
The main objectives of this research are: i) to assess the sensitivity of typical TL towers to earthquake loads, ii) to propose a simplified static method able to approximate the seismic response of TL guyed towers and iii) to study the dynamic interaction between the overhead powerlines and their supporting guyed towers.
In this study, two guyed towers (37.7 m and 53.1 m height) and two Self-supporting towers (36.7 m and 57.1 m height) designed according to current standard provisions were selected for investigation. Detailed three-dimensional finite element models developed in ANSYS-APDL software were subjected to nonlinear time-history analyses. To study the sensitivity of these TL towers to earthquake loads, two sets of ten seismic ground motions were selected as representative for Western Canada. The first set corresponds to site Class “C” and the second to site Class “D”. It is important to note that the frequency content of these records is close to the natural frequency of the studied towers. Each tower was subjected to the aforementioned sets of seismic ground motions and the responses in term of axial forces triggered in tower members were compared with those resulted from standard load cases used in design. It was found that guyed towers are the most sensitive to seismic ground motions.
To reduce the computation time, an equivalent static method is proposed herein in order to approximate the seismic response of the free-standing guyed towers.
Finally, the dynamic interaction between the overhead powerlines and their supporting guyed towers is evaluated. This is done by carrying out detailed nonlinear transient simulations of the coupled tower-conductor system for a set of earthquake ground motion records of different frequency contents and by comparing the results of these simulations with the ones carried out for the free-standing towers.


identifier: Pakarian, Paknoosh  (2016) Mapping of a Protein Interaction Network Required for Enterobactin Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Protein complexes are essential components of many biological processes. Therefore, protein-protein interactions are crucial for many essential cellular functions and are considered good targets for the development of novel therapeutics.
Siderophore biosynthesis is one of the biological processes that has an absolute requirement for protein-protein interactions. Siderophores are small iron-scavenging molecules that are synthesized and secreted by iron-starved bacteria to chelate ferric iron (Fe3+) from the environment. Ferric iron, which is essential for survival and growth of most bacteria, is insoluble at neutral pH, or is bound to host iron storage proteins such as transferrin. By taking up Fe3+-siderophore complexes, such bacteria can survive and proliferate in low-iron environments.
Enterobactin is a catecholate type siderophore of E. coli that is synthesized in its cytoplasm by seven enzymes, EntA-F and EntH. These sequentially-related enzymes function together to produce enterobactin, which is a cyclic trimer of 2,3-dihydroxy-N-benzoyl-L-serine. Enterobactin biosynthetic enzymes are organized in two functional modules: the DHB module  (EntCBA) and the non-ribosomal peptide synthesis (NRPS) module (EntBDEF). Interactions between EntBDEF in the NRPS module have been previously reported. Our research group has since reported in vitro evidence of an interaction between EntA and EntE, the enzymes at the interface of the DHB and NRPS modules.
The research presented here is focused on the identification of novel protein-protein interactions in the DHB module as well as the study of subunit orientation in the Ent complexes.
The first research chapter is centered on the subunit orientation in the intracellular EntA-EntE complex. In this study Chrome Azurol S (CAS) assays and bacterial adenylate cyclase two-hybrid (BACTH) assays were employed to study the EntA-EntE complexation in vivo. CAS assays were used to validate the functionality of EntA and EntE BACTH constructs. BACTH experiments were then performed to identify the intracellular complexation of EntA and EntE and to determine the orientation of EntA relative to EntE in the complex. BACTH results were further validated by automated docking simulations.
The second research chapter focuses on the construction of two Fur-controlled bidirectional protein expression vectors. Ferric Uptake Regulator (Fur) is a protein involved in iron homeostasis in E. coli. When intracellular iron is abundant, Fur forms a complex with Fe2+. This complex binds to the Fur box and inhibits the transcription of iron responsive genes such as ent genes. The Fur box is the consensus sequence that is located near or within the promoter region of iron responsive genes. The novel expression vectors are derivatives of low copy number plasmids pACYC184 and pBR322 and contain a bidirectional promoter, FLAG or HA tags, TEV cleavage site and a multiple cloning site (MCS) compatible with the MCS of BACTH vectors.
The third research chapter involves the identification of a novel protein-protein interaction between two enzymes in the DHB module, EntA and EntB. Furthermore, ternary complex formation between EntA, EntB and EntE was investigated in this chapter. BACTH was employed as the primary method for the detection of protein-protein interactions between EntA and EntB. Functionality of all the constructs used in the BACTH was confirmed using the CAS assay and growth studies. Automated docking simulations were also used to generate a model for an EntA-EntB-EntE ternary complex. The EntE-EntB interaction interface in the generated model was in accordance with the published crystal structure for the EntE-EntB complex and therefore supported our experimental results.


identifier: Mesgari, Mostafa  (2016) Essays on an Ecological Approach to User-Technology Interaction.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
This thesis consists of three essays that propose an ecological approach to look into various aspects of user-technology interaction. The overarching theme of the thesis is the role of the technological artifact in how technology is understood and adapted by users in organizations. Organizing is the social process of achieving goals, and it is always tied to the way people understand and adapt to their environment, including the information technology in that environment. The way people make sense of new technology in organizations and adapt it into their work routines brings extensive consequences to organizations. Despite the extensive body of literature examining the social and cognitive aspects of user sensemaking and adaptation to technology, there is little known about the role of the technological artifact in shaping user sensemaking and adaptation to new technology.
The first essay reviews and synthesizes the extant literature on how people understand technological phenomena in organizations. Then it highlights the three shortcomings of existing sensemaking research: the neglect of the role of the IT artifact, of the discovery part of perception, and of the role of the individual action. There is limited understanding on the role that the material artifact plays in shaping users’ sensemaking of new technology, as well as how users’ actions affect their sensemaking. Moreover, the literature mostly neglects the discovery aspect of sensemaking, that is, the perception of the meaning already available rather than creating new meaning to rationalize users’ experiences. To address these issues, this essay provides a thorough review of literature on organization-technology sensemaking and synthesizes our current understanding of the phenomenon. Then it analyzes the major shortcomings in our knowledge and highlights the need to address those shortcomings. It subsequently discusses an ecological approach consistent with the tenets of critical realism that can address some of the existing shortcomings. The paper also offers some key implications of the ecological approach for research and practice.
The second essay addresses the role of the technological artifact in shaping users’ understanding of technology (i.e. technology sensemaking). It proposes an ecological approach to technology sensemaking that focuses on the relation between users’ perception of technology and the technological features to which they adapt. Moreover, it advances Information Systems (IS) research by providing new conceptual and analytical tools to examine the role of the IT artifact in IS research. To empirically illustrate the proposed approach and suggested methodology, we report the findings of an empirical study that applies and validates the framework.
The third essay focuses on the patterns of user adaptation to the technological artifact to contribute to research on user-centred system development. For more than a decade, the persona technique has been used in interface design practices to put user needs and preferences at the centre of all development decisions. A persona is a fictional character that represents potential users and what they want to accomplish. Persona development teams draw on qualitative or quantitative user data to develop representative personas. Despite the benefits of both approaches, qualitative methods are limited mostly by the cognitive capabilities of the persona developers, whereas quantitative methods lack contextual richness. To gain the advantages of both approaches, this essay suggests a mixed-methods approach to create user personas based on the patterns of affordances they actualize, rather than merely on the actions they take. It enriches personas by referring to the purposes fulfilled through affordance actualizations and grounds personas in readily available objective log data. This essay illustrates the practical value of the proposed methodology by empirically creating personas based on real user data. It also creates quantitative-only personas, presents independently developed qualitative-only personas, and compares them to the affordance-based personas to demonstrate the advantages of the suggested method.
The three essays together suggest and empirically illustrate an ecological approach to examine the role of the IT artifact in users’ sensemaking of and adaptation to new technology. They contribute to research and practice by a) proposing the theoretical and analytical tools needed to examine users’ sensemaking of technology in relation to their adaptation to the IT artifact, and b) suggesting the mixed-methods technique to create user personas based on the patterns of affordance actualization by users.


identifier: Osman, Ashraf Mohamed Ahmed  (2016) Design Optimization of Composite Deployable Bridge Systems Using Hybrid Meta-heuristic Methods for Rapid Post-disaster Mobility.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recent decades have witnessed an increase in the transportation infrastructure damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, high winds, floods, as well as man-made disasters. Such damages result in a disruption to the transportation infrastructure network; hence, limit the post-disaster relief operations. This led to the exigency of developing and using effective deployable bridge systems for rapid post-disaster mobility while minimizing the weight to capacity ratio. Recent researches for assessments of mobile bridging requirements concluded that current deployable metallic bridge systems are prone to their service life, unable to meet the increase in vehicle design loads, and any trials for the structures’ strengthening will sacrifice the ease of mobility. Therefore, this research focuses on developing a lightweight deployable bridge system using composite laminates for lightweight bridging in the aftermath of natural disaster. The research investigates the structural design optimization for composite laminate deployable bridge systems, as well as the design, development and testing of composite sandwich core sections that act as the compression bearing element in a deployable bridge treadway structure.
The thesis is organized into two parts. The first part includes a new improved particle swarm meta-heuristic approach capable of effectively optimizing deployable bridge systems. The developed approach is extended to modify the technique for discrete design of composite laminates and maximum strength design of composite sandwich core sections. The second part focuses on developing, experimentally testing and numerically investigating the performance of different sandwich core configurations that will be used as the compression bearing element in a deployable fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge girder.
The first part investigated different optimization algorithms used for structural optimization. The uncertainty in the effectiveness of the available methods to handle complex structural models emphasized the need to develop an enhanced version of Particle Swarm Optimizer (PSO) without performing multiple operations using different techniques. The new technique implements a better emulation for the attraction and repulsion behavior of the swarm. The new algorithm is called Controlled Diversity Particle Swarm Optimizer (CD-PSO). The algorithm improved the performance of the classical PSO in terms of solution stability, quality, convergence rate and computational time. The CD-PSO is then hybridized with the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to redirect the swarm search for probing feasible solutions in hyperspace using only the design parameters of strong influence on the objective function. This is triggered when the algorithm fails to obtain good solutions using CD-PSO. The performance of CD-PSO is tested on benchmark structures and compared to others in the literature. Consequently, both techniques, CD-, and hybrid CD-PSO are examined for the minimum weight design of large-scale deployable bridge structure. Furthermore, a discrete version of the algorithm is created to handle the discrete nature of the composite laminate sandwich core design.
The second part focuses on achieving an effective composite deployable bridge system, this is realized through maximizing shear strength, compression strength, and stiffness designs of light-weight composite sandwich cores of the treadway bridge’s compression deck. Different composite sandwich cores are investigated and their progressive failure is numerically evaluated. The performance of the sandwich cores is experimentally tested in terms of flatwise compressive strength, edgewise compressive strength and shear strength capacities. Further, the cores’ compression strength and shear strength capacities are numerically simulated and the results are validated with the experimental work. Based on the numerical and experimental tests findings, the sandwich cores plate properties are quantified for future implementation in optimized scaled deployable bridge treadway.


identifier: Yaghoubian, Aryan  (2016) A MULTI-SENSOR PROXIMITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM ON FPGA FOR AVIONIC APPLICATIONS.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Inductive proximity sensors are widely used in the aerospace industry for non-contact metal sensing. The main advantages are that they can operate in a harsh environment, providing a rapid response time and a long operational life. To overcome the problem of temperature drift, this thesis presents a novel excitation method that automatically compensates the temperature variations as well as providing precise distance outputs. The inductance and resistance values of the sensor are measured separately. These values can be used to determine the proximity distance and the temperature of the sensor independently. By having this methodology, a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design is implemented using look-up tables and DSP (Digital Signal Processing) blocks to accurately measure the proximity distance based on the measured inductance value. Our experimental data shows that we are able to measure the distance in the range of 0 – 5 mm with less than 2% error in the temperature range of -30 °C and +70 °C. Moreover, this method is scaled to support multiple sensors with different internal characteristics up to 10 sensors using a single processing circuit. This is a major improvement over existing electronic circuits which are limited to one sensor type. Finally, an automated test platform is designed to accelerate the test and development process.


identifier: Nguyen, Thanh An  (2016) Understanding Conceptual Design Activities: Extended Axiomatic Theory of Design Modeling and Physiological Experimentation.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Conceptual design is an early and critical phase of a design process. Decisions made in this stage can affect seventy five percent of the manufacturing costs. Therefore, one of the important factors to successful production is to have methods and tools that enable designers to work more effectively during the phase of conceptual design. To build such methods and tools, knowledge of design activities such as nature of the design process and factors affecting design activities is indispensable. The present thesis is a continuing effort to build a science of design which aims to discover knowledge of design activities through formal scientific process. The contribution of the current thesis includes the extended Axiomatic Theory of Design Modelling and methodologies to study design cognition physiologically. In particular, two postulates were added to the Axiomatic Theory of Design Modelling to support its explanatory power which was demonstrated through the interpretation of the impact of sketching on design performance and the occurrence of design fixation. An integrated experimental environment was developed to collect and analyze physiological signals during design processes. From this environment, several experiments recording physiological signals were conducted and findings of electroencephalography, heart rate variability, and skin conductance were reported.


identifier: Nolan-Poupart, Sarah  (2016) Modulation of reward-seeking by changes in energy balance: a 3D perspective.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Peripheral signals of energy balance modulate central reward processing and reward-seeking. Prior work has shown that negative energy balance potentiates the reward effectiveness of electrical stimulation evoked from the lateral hypothalamus (LH) when the electrode is located in the perifornical region of the LH but not neighbouring LH sites. Recent work has revealed however that the measurement methods by which these findings were obtained are relatively ambiguous and insensitive. Here we employed a new three-dimensional (3D) method, called the reward-mountain paradigm, which offers additional information on reward processing by measuring operant behaviour as a function of both the strength and cost of the reward. Ten male Long-Evans rats were trained to hold down a lever for electrical stimulation of the LH. Subjects performed reward-mountain sessions during four phases designed to manipulate long-term energy balance: a baseline phase during which subjects were fed ad libitum; a chronic food restriction phase that lasted until subjects reached 75% of their baseline body weight; a stable restriction phase during which subjects were maintained at the target weight; a recovery phase during which subjects were returned to an ad lib diet. During stable restriction, short-term energy balance was varied by feeding rats either before or after test sessions. Both chronic food restriction and meal time yielded mixed effects, supporting the conclusion drawn by prior studies that there exist functionally heterogeneous reward substrates in the LH which are differentially modulated by signals of energy availability.


identifier: Moore, Geoffrey  (2016) Filth on the Frontier: Examining Hygiene Narratives in the Writings of Alfred Fitzpatrick, Edmund Bradwin and the Early Decades of Frontier College.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Frontier College is one of the oldest and most venerable of adult education institutions in Canada. It has provided an invaluable service to generations of some of the most marginalized people in this country, histories of the college have been largely reverent. This thesis seeks to build upon the much rarer critical historiography. Frontier College founder Alfred Fitzpatrick, and his lieutenant and successor Edmund Bradwin both displayed a marked hygiene narrative throughout their writings. They similarly ascribed to a gendered, racist, nativist, colonial worldview which idealized a white, British Canada. Frequently there is a considerable overlap or even conflation between opinions about hygiene and those about immigration or race. This thesis argues that this is not due to an accident or confusion on their part, but that this sort of opinion is consistent with a broader, problematic discourse on eugenics to which they subscribed.


identifier: Bowlby, Patricia  (2016) A Case Study of Froebel Education in Practice.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. Aristotle
The field of education tends to separate early childhood education from adult education as if experience in one has little to do with the other. Indeed, much of a child’s early life is a journey of self-discovery that centers on creative, even imaginative, problem solving and self-actualization, qualities that ultimately are fundamental to the life of an engaged and purposeful citizen in our democratic society. As a reflection of this reality, this study will review the philosophy of Frederic Froebel, a German educational philosopher and practitioner through the case study of The Froebel School and Kindergarten.
The purpose of this study is to identify characteristics of the Froebel philosophy that can motivate and empower young people towards self-determination, a personal desire to reach their best potential. The case study used current and past teacher, parent and past student interviews that highlighted recurrent themes of co-construction, self- activity, and reflection. The narrative of Dr. Barbara Corbett, a Froebel practitioner for sixty years and the Director of The Froebel School and Kindergarten supported the case study.


identifier: Rabah, Jihan  (2016) At the Intersection of Gender & Technology: A Meta-Analysis.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
With the proliferation of novel technology-infused learning environments, there is a need to further our understanding of their impact on learners, the learning process, and the learning outcomes for diverse student bodies in various study programs. Investigating gender differences in usage and attitudes towards different technologies is important because educational institutions, especially public ones, are seen by policy makers as structures that aim to reform societal inequalities.
The objective of this dissertation is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to establish the relationship between (a) gender and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) usage and (b) gender and attitudes towards the use of ICT, in the context of formal educational settings from elementary to postsecondary levels. This dissertation takes an in-depth look at ICT attitudes in learning by avoiding treating it as one indivisible construct. I subdivided the attitudinal construct into the different theoretical frameworks embedded in the literature related to technologies in pedagogical settings. These include Computer Anxiety, Negative Attitudes Towards ICT, Computer Confidence, Perceived Ease of Use of ICT, Perceived Usefulness of ICT, Perceived Satisfaction with ICT, Positive Attitudes Towards ICT, Motivation to Use ICT, Computer Self-efficacy, Intention to Use ICT, and Mixed Perceptions Towards ICT.
After a systematic literature review, I synthesized the results of 213 studies and used random-effects meta-analytic techniques to evaluate gender differences across students’ reported usage and attitudes towards ICT in learning. Findings of this dissertation reveal significant gender differences between female and male students’ reported usage of ICT and attitudes towards ICT in favor of males. Average effect sizes ranged from small to moderate. The highest average effect size belonged to the construct of Computer Confidence where male students typically reported higher confidence with computers, with .38 standard deviations above the female students. The lowest effect size belonged to the construct of Perceived Satisfaction with ICT where male students typically reported higher perceived satisfaction with ICT, with .05 standard deviations above the female students.
A number of contextual factors impacted the results of the outcomes to differing degrees. These include ‘research country’, ‘grade level of students’, ‘technology type surveyed’, ‘questionnaire used’, ‘ethnicities’, ‘subject matter’, ‘participation rate’, ‘sampling selectivity’, ‘competency’, ‘publication date’, ‘technology acceptance model’, ‘class context’, and ‘socioeconomic status’.
This dissertation concludes with educational implications and suggestions for future research investigating gender differences in students’ usage and attitudes towards ICT in learning. Considerable effort should be made by researchers to contextualize the studies as possible and as such, I recommend that gender should not be researched as a homogeneous independent variable. After all, gender is embedded in many other variables, in the same way that it is embedded in the many structures of society. Gender therefore needs to be researched with other intersecting demographics, including but not limited to participants’ home country, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic background.

Intersectionality is a theory and a methodology that is suited to addressing the complexities of gender differences concerning the usage of and attitudes towards ICT. It imparts differences and particularities in social statuses in the hope of militating against those silent prejudices that result in social inequities. This theory allows us to inspect social demographic variables as they truly are: complex and interwoven. Adopting this theory does not mean that each study investigating gender differences needs to include all possible demographic variable interactions. However, it invites social scientists to be more comprehensive in their sampling selections and to be more aware of the complexity of social phenomena. Last but not least, intersectional methods require more than just an analysis of statistical interactions among social groups. They need to analyze the fundamental and significant impacts of these interactions.


identifier: Dickson, Daniel  (2016) The Governance of Developmental Disability Supports for Older Adults in Ontario and Québec.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
ABSTRACT

The Governance of Developmental Disability Supports for Older Adults in Ontario and Québec

Daniel Dickson

This project aims to analyze the effects of Canadian provincial governance structures on support work provision for older adults with developmental disabilities. Drawing from multilevel governance literature, it compares Ontario's more centralized and policy-driven governance structure with Québec's more disentangled and multi-jurisdictional structure, which gives more autonomy to developmental support agencies in planning support provision. To facilitate this comparison the project uses semi-structured interviews with personal support workers for older adults with developmental disabilities in both provinces. By using an 'institutional ethnography' interview methodology, the work experiences of primary support workers are situated within operant policies and rules, specifically with respect to supporting their clients in 'social inclusion', a widely recognized core domain for quality of life outcomes for adults with developmental disabilities. Owing to dramatic improvements in life expectancy resulting from healthcare advancements and deinstitutionalization, Canadians with developmental disability are increasingly living into older age. Consequently, support work practice is challenged by the intersection of social constructions of aged and disabled identities, which can act against the social inclusion of this ‘new’ population. By comparing these two divergent provincial governance structures from the important perspectives of frontline workers, this project contributes to a discussion of best practices in Canadian policy and administration.


identifier: Dalir, Elham  (2016) Three-Dimensional Modeling of Arc Voltage Fluctuations in Suspension Plasma Spraying.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: Considering the wide range of plasma jet applications including plasma cutting, plasma spraying, and plasma arc waste disposal, realistic simulation of a plasma jet would significantly help to better understand and improve various processes. In this research, firstly a three-dimensional DC plasma torch is modeled using Joule effect method to simulate the plasma jet and its voltage fluctuations. The plasma gas is a mixture of argon/hydrogen and the arc voltage fluctuation is used as an input data in the model. Physical and chemical properties of plasma gases are used to model the plasma jet having high temperature and velocity. Reynolds Stress Model is used for time dependent simulation of the mixing flow of the plasma gas with atmosphere. After modeling the plasma jet, the results are applied to investigate the plasma oscillation effects on the trajectory, temperature, and velocity of suspension droplets. Suspensions are formed of ethanol and Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ, 8 wt.%) sub-micron particles and modeled as multicomponent droplets. To track the droplets and particles trajectory, a two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method is employed. In addition, in order to simulate the droplet breakup, Kelvin-Helmholtz Rayleigh-Taylor (KHRT) breakup model is used. After the completion of suspension breakup and evaporation, the spray particles are tracked through the domain to obtain the in-flight particle characteristics.


identifier: Esseghaier, Mariam  (2016) “Proof of Purchase”: Navigating the Montreal Fashion Scene Muslim Style.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Representations of Muslim women in Western media tend to deploy Orientalist elements portraying them as oppressed, backwards, and in need of saving. These images establish Muslim women as unfashionable, identical to one another, and without personality.  However, at times, these representations are compensated with depictions of assimilated or “good” Muslim women in which they are portrayed as fashionable, sexual, and palatable to Western sensibilities and expectations.  These portrayals have been maintained and reinforced through governmental policies, popular culture, and consumerism.  However, these two dominant frames leave little room for any nuanced understanding of Muslim women themselves.

This dissertation explores the lived-experiences of dress and shopping practices of Muslim women in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Through interviews and fieldwork, I focus on the meaning-making and negotiations that Muslim women make in their consumption of media, their interpretations and development of their own religious practices, their navigation of the consumer sphere, as consumers as well as an entrepreneur, and finally of the place of Islam in relation to fashion. In this context, I explore the Muslim women’s relationship to Islam and fashion. To see fashion and Islam as oppositional and contradictory is to ignore the complex ways in which Muslim women incorporate and synthesize concepts to balance their own interpretations of what fashion means in their own lives.

This thesis demonstrates the myriad and complex ways in which Muslim women create definitions of fashion that are compatible with their own interpretations of culture, Islam, modesty, and practice. Their definitions of Islam and fashion are constantly renegotiated, reworked, and renewed throughout the course of their lives.  Adherence to fashion, then, does not necessarily mean assimilating to the West and rejecting Islam, but rather, can be interpreted as a means that Muslim women use to create their own way of representing themselves without succumbing to the binary of appearing either as liberated or oppressed.


identifier: Strachan, Lauren  (2016) Now you hear it, now you don’t: L1 and L2 perception of regular past –ed in naturalistic input.  Masters thesis, Concordia University.

abstract: A growing body of literature shows that the simple past is difficult to perceive (Bell et al., 2015; Klein et al., 2003; Solt et al., 2003), yet all perception studies to date have used experimentally-manipulated input, and none have investigated the impact of contextual cues beyond temporal adverbials on perception of the regular past, nor whether second language (L2) exposure and use are related to more accurate perception. This study investigated whether L2 learners and native (L1) speakers of English perceive regular past –ed in naturalistic input, whether phonological context (easy allomorph [əd] or hard allomorphs [t, d]) impacts perception, and whether language exposure and use are related to increased confidence or perceptual accuracy. Eleven L1 speakers and 28 L2 learners (14 intermediate and 14 advanced) watched 64 clips from television sitcoms (32 with utterances in simple past and 32 with utterances in simple present), indicated whether they heard –ed or no ending, and rated their confidence on an 8-point Likert scale. Results indicated no difference between learner groups in present versus past perceptual accuracy, but significant difference in perception of simple past. L1 speakers perceived the present versus past more accurately than both learner groups, but advanced learners showed no difference from L1 speakers in perception of past. Confidence ratings increased with proficiency, and advanced learners showed higher confidence in their ability to perceive past over present. All groups perceived the perceptually easy allomorph [əd] more accurately and with higher confidence than the two perceptually hard allomorphs [t, d]. A relationship was revealed between L2 learners’ perception accuracy, age of onset, and amount of time studying English. Increased confidence was related to length of time studying English. Only self-reported listening proficiency was associated with accurate perception in perceptually hard contexts. Exploratory debriefing interviews revealed that context cues were often used to interpret tense by advanced learners and L1 speakers. Findings are interpreted within emergentist views of language acquisition and discussed in light of implicit learning ability. Pedagogical implications are considered.


identifier: Jeihoonian, Mohammad  (2016) Closed-loop supply chain network design: Case of durable products.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Closed loop supply chains comprise, in addition to the conventional forward flows from suppliers to end-users, a reverse flow of products, components, and materials from end-users to the manufacturers and secondary markets. Designing a closed-loop supply chain is a strategic level planning which considerably impacts on tactical and operational performance of the supply chain. It refers to the decisions taken on the location of facilities involved in the supply chain network along with the management of the physical flows associated with forward and product recovery channels. Our problem of interest is mainly motivated by the case of durable products including but not limited to large household appliances, computers, photocopying equipment, and aircraft engines. Such category of products has a modular structure, composed of independent components. As opposed to simple structured products, e.g., printer cartridges, that can only be recycled, each of the components in the reverse bill of materials of durable products can be recovered by a particular type of recovery process.  Besides, durable products share a long life cycle characteristic which indeed makes designing their CLSC networks more complicated.

In this thesis, in keeping with the abovementioned motivation, we focus on designing closed-loop and reverse supply chains in the context of durable products that are of various quality conditions. The recovery decisions for product return include remanufacturing, part harvesting, bulk recycling, material recycling, and landfilling/incineration. Moreover, we take into account environmental concerns regarding the harmful impacts of used products in the closed-loop supply chain planning. As the closed-loop supply chains typically encounter uncertainty in quality and quantity of the profitable return stream, we further aim to consider the impact of uncertainty in designing the recovery network. For such purposes, in the first phase, we address a closed-loop supply chain planning problem in the context of durable products with generic modular structures. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model which is then solved by an accelerated Benders decomposition-based algorithm. The performance of the proposed decomposition approach is enhanced through incorporating algorithmic features including valid inequalities, non-dominated optimality cuts, and local branching strategies.

Next, in the second phase, we propose a precise approach to model the uncertain quality status of returns, in which the availability of each component in the reverse bill of materials is modeled as discrete scenarios. We propose a two-stage stochastic programming model to address this problem setting. Then, since the cardinality of the scenario set grows exponentially with the number of involved components, we detail on a scenario reduction scheme to alleviate the computational burden of the proposed model. The stochastic problem is solved by a L-shaped algorithm enhanced through valid inequalities and Pareto-optimal cuts.

Finally, we investigate designing a dynamic reverse supply chain where the quantity of the return flows is uncertain. We introduce a multi-stage stochastic programming model and develop a heuristic inspired by scenario clustering decomposition scheme as the solution method. It revolves around decomposing the scenario tree into smaller sub-trees which consequently yields a number of sub-models in accordance with sub-trees. The resulting sub-models are then coordinated by Lagrangian penalty terms. On account of the fact that each sub-model per se is a hard to solve problem, a Benders decomposition-based algorithm is proposed to solve sub-models.


identifier: Al-Quraan, Ayman  (2016) Contribution to Wind Energy Conversion Systems in Urban and Remote Areas.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Recently, there is a growing interest in the use of wind energy in buildings environment for distributed generation systems. However, the prediction of the wind speed and energy in such environment is difficult, due to the roughness and the frictional effects which reduce the wind speed close to the ground. Moreover, the adjacent buildings affect the wind regime around a specific building in the urban environment. Therefore, a method for appropriate estimating of the wind speed and energy over the buildings’ roofs is required for the initial stages of the wind energy development in the urban environment.
This thesis provides a novel method of estimating the wind speed and energy using a wind tunnel. The method has been validated using two case studies, homogeneous and non-homogeneous terrain.
The Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) is preferred in small Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) for stand-alone and remote areas. A new technique to control the flux of the PMG for WECS applications has been developed and used in this thesis for voltage regulation purposes. By selecting a suitable value of d-axis current, the terminal voltage of the PM generator can be regulated for variable wind speed. Consequently, the terminal voltage across the load is also regulated. No special mechanical techniques or additional electromagnetic coils are used for this purpose.
The effect of the PMG flux control on the reactive power compensating capability for a variable inductive load has also been studied for WECS applications.
The case study presented in this thesis shows how the reactive power consumed by the load was compensated using the flux control operation of the system. The controller shows highly effective response during steady state and transient.
A flux controller of a permanent magnet variable flux machine (PM-VFM) has also been designed and presented in the thesis for voltage regulation purposes. The controller is designed based on injecting d-axis current pulses for short periods of time. These pulses have negligible losses which reduces the machine losses and increases the machine efficiency.


identifier: Qi, Dahai  (2016) Analytical Modeling of Fire Smoke Spread in High-rise Buildings.  PhD thesis, Concordia University.

abstract:
Canada has a large number of high-rise buildings; according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code, a high-rise building is defined as a building with the height of more than 23 meters or that is roughly 7 stories tall.  Fires in high-rise buildings are often disastrous and cause huge losses if the buildings are not well protected against fires. Historically, a high-rise fire is more likely to happen in the lower floors according to the statistics. Driven by stack effect, the resulting smoke from fires may spread to the higher levels more easily via the vertical shafts, e.g. stairs, elevators, light wells, ventilation ducts, than through leakage openings in the building structure. It was reported that smoke spread through shafts counts for about 95% or more of the upward movement of smoke in typical high-rise buildings. Therefore, much attention has been paid to the study of the smoke movement in vertical shafts.

Analytical models, numerical simulations and experimental studies are the commonly used methods to study the smoke movement through building shafts. For simplification, most of the previous studies on the analytical models and numerical simulations assumed adiabatic shaft walls and did not take heat transfer between smoke and shaft boundaries into consideration. In fact, the smoke temperature strongly depends on the heat exchange with the shaft walls and may vary significantly depending on the height. An accurate estimation of the temperature profile in a shaft is crucial for the prediction of smoke movement during a fire, because the amount of smoke spreading through a shaft is closely coupled with the heat transfer during a fire. Numerical approaches normally include CFD model, zone model and mutizone network model, in which the mutizone network model is often used to study smoke movement during fires in high-rise buildings but temperature in each zone has to be specified by users due to the lack of energy model, which may results in errors in stimulation. In addition, full size experiments are often costly and unpractical to conduct, especially for high-rise buildings. Sub-scale experiment is the often used one but it lacks sound scaling law to maintain the similarity of scaled and full-size high-rise models.

The main objective of this research is to develop an analytical model and a numerical modeling approach of coupled heat and mass transfer of fire smoke movement through vertical shafts of high-rise buildings. Based on the analytical model, simple calculation method and empirical equation of neutral plane level were developed and validated by experimental data from the literature. It was found that the empirical equation is more accurate than the existing equation of neutral plane level. Studies on the dimensionless analytical solutions and similarity study were also conducted using the analytical model, which provide a new scaling method to sub-scale smoke spreads in high-rise shafts. The new scaling method was verified by experiments on different size and material shafts. The results indicated that compared to the common used scaling method, Froude modeling method, the new scaling method could achieve closer results between sub-scaled models and the full-size model. The numerical approach is based on a multizone program with an added energy equation, CONTAM97R, which can calculate the coupled heat and mass transfer inside the high-rise shafts. Different from floor zoning strategy (FZS) that is frequently used, a new zoning strategy called adaptive zoning strategy (AZS) was suggested by adapting the temperature gradient inside the shaft. Using this zoning strategy, a modeling method of smoke movement in shafts during high-rise fires by the mutilizone and energy network program was proposed. It was concluded that AZS could achieve similar accuracy results as FZS but with fewer zones.