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Andean Epistemology in the Art Gallery: The Presence of the Kipu in Contemporary South American Art
Get PDFThis thesis analyzes the presence of the Andean kipu in the work of Contemporary South American Art to discuss its potential as a decolonial tool within art spaces. With a focus on the artistic kipus of Jorge Eduardo Eielson, Cecilia Vicuña, and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado, I identify aspects of their practices that reflect Andean epistemology and ontology. By choosing this Andean textile as a source of artistic inquiry and inspiration, these artists go beyond the kipu’s aesthetic properties, employing it to explore and question historical narratives, social issues, identity, and ancestry. Their professional practices show the continued presence of the kipu as a form of art in the museum and beyond.
In order to understand the kipu’s materiality in relation to the Aymara notion of uywaña (mutual nurturing) as explained by Elvira Espejo Ayca, I begin with a historical overview of the kipu’s usage and evolution. The next section analyzes Eielson’s kipu artwork as a relevant precedent for artistic kipus. The following sections explore the works of Vicuña and Torres respectively, in connection with notions of the Andean weaver, decolonial praxis, and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui’s proposal of a ch’ixi (mottled) identity. Finally, by considering the distinctive approaches of these artists as contemporary kipuskamayocs (kipu experts), and the notion of yanak uywaña (mutual nurturing of the arts), this thesis explores where and how the kipu can introduce aspects of the Andean knowledge into the art gallery and how it can function as a potential decolonial tool in these spaces
Constructed Atmospheres: Synesthesia and the Senses in Contemporary Art
No full textThis dissertation appropriates the term “synesthesia” from the neurological condition synesthesia, wherein the stimulation of one sense results in the stimulation of another sense. In this study synesthesia is referenced in the proposed terminology “plastic synesthesia,” a term used to define multisensorial contemporary artworks and stretch the neurological definition of the condition to encompass the concept of sensory “layering.” The concept of “layering” refers to the multiple senses induced by the case studies that are felt at the same time. Plastic synesthesia is also used to define the non-ocularcentric methodology demonstrated in this study. As a methodology, plastic synesthesia identifies the senses and affects involved in multisensory artworks to emphasize how the senses are layered to produce embodied and immersive experiences that augment the “visual” art experience.
This study posits that plastic synesthetic artworks draw attention to the multisensorial nature of perception distorted by the ocularcentric and sensorially segregated model established in the modern period. This point is demonstrated first with an analysis of Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s sculptures, which stimulate the “lower” senses of touch and smell to facilitate an immersive art experience. It also examines Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s pieces that use non-art materials to produce multisensory atmospheres. Finally, this dissertation analyzes London-based design group Flying Object’s 2015 multisensory installation Tate Sensorium, Tate Britain, London, which layers visual artworks with non-visual stimuli. In utilizing these two iterations of plastic synesthesia in this dissertation, this study demonstrates an approach to analyzing artworks that considers all of the senses
Acts of noticing in an immersive urban garden : for intergenerational community care and resilience
No full textReaching beyond anthropocentrism and seeking meaningful collaborations for social transformation, my research and creative practices coalesce in environmental humanities and are both inter and transdisciplinary as they bridge communication and education studies, socially engaged practices, sensory and food studies, and urban human geography to cast a critical lens on environmental injustices and inequalities in times of social, health, economic and ecological crises.
Using a mixed methodology of research-creation and iterative and participatory practices, I have created a replicable intergenerational vegetable garden to contemplate embodied, embedded, relational and affective interactions with the materiality of urban ecology and multispecies ethnography with a focus on the parallels between subjective individual and cultural disconnectedness within and to the community, the natural world, and food production.
This innovative project has been devoted to fighting food injustices while synergistically empowering socially marginalized vulnerable individuals and providing empowering opportunities of becoming through learning together and participating in community care and life. Working with New Hope, a community organization serving a population living with poverty, food insecurity, social isolation, and health challenges, we engage in garden activities with Concordia University students against the effects of a capitalist, neoliberal hegemonic society where older adults are often left behind.
Through storytelling based in observation and interviews, this paper presents my activist participatory work through which academic research and social responsibility merge by exploring ways to build intergenerational community care and resilience, share adequate learning, and promote social transformation by developing and supporting alternative, just and inclusive social care models
Plan S et libre accès au Québec: quels sont les impacts de la politique de diffusion en libre accès révisée des FRQ sur les chercheurs et chercheuses
Get PDFRésumé
Objectif: Notre article s’intéresse aux effets de la mise à jour 2022 de la politique de diffusion en libre accès des Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) sur les chercheurs-es. La version révisée de la politique est consécutive à l’adhésion des FRQ à la cOAlition S, qui implique d’endosser les principes du Plan S. Nous fournissons une vue d’ensemble des options pour le libre accès offertes aux chercheurs-es au regard des politiques 2019 et 2022 du FRQ et prenons en compte les effets des ententes de transformation (ET) sur les possibilités de publication en libre accès ainsi que les impacts financiers sur les chercheurs-es.
Méthode: Les auteurs ont extrait la liste des publications subventionnées par les FRQ entre 2020 et 2022 à partir des données d’enregistrement de DOI de l’agence Crossref. À partir de cet échantillon, nous avons analysé quantitativement les options pour le libre accès selon la politique précédente (2019) et la politique révisée (2022) en les comparant. Afin de déterminer les effets des ententes de transformation (ET), nous avons analysé les ententes de ce type du consortium national canadien Réseau canadien de documentation pour la recherche (RCDR).
Résultats: Nous avons découvert que l’option de l'auto-archivage pour le libre accès est réduite avec la politique révisée (2022). D’après nos résultats nous anticipons une pression accrue sur les auteurs-es qui seront contraints de payer les frais de publication pour se conformer à la politique révisée.
Conclusion: Les chercheurs-es subventionnés par les FRQ publient principalement dans des revues hybrides, non incluses dans des ententes de transformation. Ainsi, ils devront faire face à des coûts additionnels s'ils maintiennent leur habitude de publication. Des efforts conjoints de la part de toutes les parties prenantes (chercheurs, université, bibliothèque et organismes subventionnaires) seront nécessaires afin d’assurer une transition vers le libre accès immédiat
A Linked Data Approach To SpokenWeb Collections
No full textThis paper will present the possibilities of Linked Data within the SpokenWeb collections of audiovisual (AV) recordings documenting literary events and activities held in Canada since the 1950s. Over the past six years the SpokenWeb research network has digitized and described with a bespoke SpokenWeb metadata schema approximately 7000 AV recordings of literary readings, talks, radio programs, interviews, spoken word performances, and other forms of literary speech. This metadata has been entered into the SpokenWeb Collections project in the custom-developed Swallow Metadata Management System that stores metadata information in no-SQL format, and that allows manual and batch ingest and export of data to and from different systems. These configuration files are defined as JSON objects. With an extensive range of fields and subfields in the SpokenWeb schema, including technical and material data, information about production context, genre, date, location, related works, and the contents of the recordings, there is great potential for the enrichment of this data through interlinking the metadata we have produced with other data sources.
Simply defined, linked data is structured data that is interlinked with other data. Among other benefits, linked data expands interoperability and reusability, and improves search and discovery within and beyond a data set. In the SpokenWeb metadata schema, this interlinking occurs through different fields such as location, creator, contributors, and most notably within the content’s field, which is the most robust and complex field of the entire schema. In this presentation, we wish to share the approaches we have taken thus far to enhance our metadata through a tool developed for the supervised integration of wikidata links to data that appears in our contents fields.
To this end we will first describe the nature of SpokenWeb data, its purpose and potential uses, and will show what it looks like in the Swallow database. We then will demonstrate how Swallow handles linked data as a step towards providing a demonstration of a tool we have developed to integrate the task of interlinking select terms of our metadata task into the cataloguing process. We will explain how the Wikidata import function works within the Swallow system and reflect on some of the lessons we have learned from our experiments with this tool about achieving greater accuracy and speed in the links produced. Finally, we will share some ideas (through examples) of potential uses of the linked data we have integrated into SpokenWeb metadata to generate temporal and location-oriented visualizations of select data sets.
All of this will be offered as an invitation to participants in the conference to share their knowledge, ideas and observations about our approach, and about the myriad possibilities of linked data technology that might be of interest to a community of scholars interested in doing literary research with audiovisual collections, moving forward
Development and Characterization of a Novel Hybrid Magnetorheological Elastomer
Get PDFOver the past few decades, functional magnetorheological (MR) materials have been extensively researched due to their field-dependent adaptive mechanical properties, which hold substantial promise for implementing semi-active vibration control across various engineering applications. MR elastomers (MRE) are the solid analogue of well-known MR fluids (MRF), where micron-sized ferromagnetic particles are integrated within an elastomeric medium rather than a carrier fluid. In contrast to MRFs, which provide field-dependent variable damping properties, MREs exhibit adjustable stiffness and damping characteristics. MREs also do not experience the sedimentation of magnetic particles and leakage often encountered in MRF-based systems.
While there are several studies related to the characterization of MREs operating in shear mode under varying mechanical and magnetic excitation conditions, there are very few studies on the characterization of MREs under compression mode. In particular, the characterization of hybrid MREs, in which MRF is encapsulated within MREs, has been rarely investigated.
The objective of the present research is to systematically characterize and compare the viscoelastic properties and dynamic behavior of MREs, MRF-Es (where MR fluid is encapsulated within an elastomeric matrix), and new hybrid MRF-MREs (where MR fluid is encapsulated within MREs), considering the effects of design factors (i.e., shape factor and shape) and mechanical and magnetic loading conditions. To accomplish this, eight different samples of MREs, MRF-Es, and MRF-MREs were fabricated. Dynamic characterization was performed in compression mode under harmonic excitations with varying strain amplitude, frequency, and applied current, ranging from (2.5% to 15%), (0.088 Hz to 10 Hz), and (0 A to 8 A), respectively. Results suggested superior performance of MRF-MREs, exhibiting a relative MR effect of nearly 478%, almost three times that of its counterpart, the MRF-E, and surpassing the MRE by a factor of ten under identical loading conditions.
Finally, a phenomenological model was developed based on the modified viscoelastic Kelvin-Voigt model to predict the viscoelastic storage and loss moduli of MREs, MRF-Es, and MRF-MREs as functions of frequency, strain amplitude, and current. The developed model was subsequently used to derive the transmissibility response of an adaptive single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system to investigate its capability to tune the natural frequency. An experimental test setup was also designed to confirm the variation in natural frequency of the SDOF system under varying current
A Game Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Political Ideologies and Infant Mortality in U.S. and German States.
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the intricate relationship between political ideologies and health
outcomes, with a particular focus on infant mortality rates (IMRs). Utilizing a gametheoretical
framework, this study models the strategic interactions among political
actors and their implications on health policy decisions. The research integrates data
from 2007 to 2022, encompassing multiple electoral cycles and shifts in political ideologies,
to provide a robust analysis of how these factors influence public health outcomes
Associations between blood pressure and sleep: A comprehensive examination of pediatric blood pressure measurement and objective sleep dimensions
Get PDFHypertension is a significant public health concern in both adult and pediatric populations. With increasing prevalence of hypertension, there is growing emphasis on identifying risk factors for high blood pressure. Poor sleep has emerged as a significant predictor of hypertensive status. In particular, short sleep duration has been widely studied as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including hypertension. There is evidence that other dimensions of sleep, such as sleep disruption or timing, may influence blood pressure, but relatively few studies examine these associations. The objective of the present dissertation was to examine associations between blood pressure and specific sleep dimensions. Study 1 consisted of a scoping review of pediatric ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) measurement practices and meta-analysis of diurnal variation in pediatric blood pressure. Studies showed moderate fidelity to current measurement standards, but there was significant variability in data reporting. Youth showed pronounced diurnal variation in blood pressure, supported by significant differences in day and night blood pressure. Study 2 was a meta-analysis examining associations between casual blood pressure (i.e., in-office recording) and the following sleep dimensions in children and adults: sleep duration, awakenings, sleep efficiency, sleep irregularity, and sleep stages. Higher blood pressure was associated with shorter sleep duration, more frequent awakenings, and poorer overall sleep. There was evidence of changes across age, with older samples showing stronger associations between blood pressure and sleep. Study 3 examined associations between casual blood pressure and objectively measured sleep dimensions (i.e., actigraphy, polysomnography) in a community sample of children. Higher blood pressure was significantly associated with shorter sleep duration, later bedtime, more frequent arousals (i.e., sleep disruption), and less time spent in restorative sleep stages. Overall, findings from this dissertation indicate that blood pressure is associated with multiple dimensions of sleep from early in the lifespan. Further research is needed to examine how these associations progress over time in order to develop effective prevention and interventions for hypertension
Finite element modeling of thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled processes in saturated and unsaturated frozen soils
Get PDFIn line with the sustainable development of northern Canada, extensive construction activities are taking place in local communities where the ground is composed of clay deposits. With a changing climate, the clay soil is expected to undergo more freeze-thaw cycles. This degradation poses a major threat to newly constructed infrastructure. Since soil is an essential part of the built environment, it is crucial to understand its behavior under freezing and thawing conditions. This thesis presents a comprehensive study on the mechanical and thermal-hydro-mechanical (THM) behaviors of frozen soils, focusing on both theoretical developments and practical applications. To achieve this, the research pays close attention to the interface between the compounds. It introduces a stiffness interface parameter to define complex interactions between clay-water composites and non-clay minerals at different temperatures. The key contribution of using this parameter includes developing a numerical homogenization model with the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) to estimate the elastic properties of frozen clay soils. Subsequently, considering the interface between air-water capillary pressure and cryosuction, a two-dimensional THM finite element model was developed using the Finite Element Method (FEM) to analyze the coupled processes in unsaturated freezing soils by incorporating temperature-dependent properties and phase changes. Finally, the behavior of permafrost under the operation of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems in thawing permafrost regions has been analyzed as part of a geo-energy and geological engineering project in the subarctic region of Umiujaq in northern Quebec.
The study begins with an extensive literature review to establish the current state of knowledge and identify gaps in existing research. It then details the development and validation of numerical models, including their application to real-world scenarios. The findings highlight the importance of considering imperfect bonds between soil components, the complex interaction between air-water capillary pressure and cryosuction, the influence of phase change-induced strain, and the benefits and challenges of using GSHP systems in cold climates.
Despite the significant advancements made, the research acknowledges several limitations, such as the need for more complex soil structure representations and broader validation efforts. Recommendations for future work emphasize enhancing model complexity, conducting long-term studies, and integrating field data to improve the accuracy and applicability of the models.
Overall, this thesis advances the understanding of frozen soil mechanics and provides valuable tools for engineering applications in Arctic and subarctic regions. It contributes to the development of sustainable and resilient solutions for climate adaptation
Evaluating System Robustness Against Single Effect Upsets with Triple Modular Redundancy Integration
Get PDFMany-core Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processors offer a promising solution
for meeting the performance and cost requirements of safety-critical avionics applications.
However, the increased transistor count in these processors makes them more prone to soft
errors, potentially leading to system failures. This raises challenges in integrating their use
in critical applications due to limited research on how to mitigate the radiation-induced
soft errors on open-source many-core processors. Various mitigation strategies have been
proposed, including hardware and software techniques. Despite these efforts, a significant
gap remains, largely due to the inefficient use of multi-core processor resources.
Our work addresses this gap by integrating Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) into
OpenPiton, an open-source many-core processor while maintaining minimal time and area
overhead. This integration enhances the system’s robustness against soft errors, leveraging
unused cores for redundant threads, thus improving overall reliability. Our methodology
includes detailed implementation strategies for multi-threaded TMR, addressing key issues
such as synchronization across cores and race conditions. This study contributes to the field
by introducing a novel TMR implementation for many-core processors and advancing the
integration of fault tolerance mechanisms in complex computing environments, offering a
robust solution for critical applications