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Learning a New Technology at Work: Age and Gender Effects
Get PDFOrganizations often invest considerable time and money to implement new technology in the workplace. Whether or not a new technology is adopted by an employee is often a function of the ease of use of the new technology, and how that technology impacts the productivity, and well-being of that employee. But the workforce is diverse, and employees vary in age, and gender. We expected that not all individuals would embrace new technology with the same degree of comfort. In this qualitative analysis, we interviewed 22 participants and asked them to describe their level of comfort learning new technology. These participants varied in age and gender, as we would expect in the workplace. This thesis explored whether individuals of different age, and gender would vary in their comfort, or self-efficacy, using a new technology. Self-efficacy is the degree with which one expects he or she will be able to complete a task. We found that as people age, self-efficacy with respect to new technology was lower, and they were less comfortable using new technology. Older participants, particularly women over 50 were averse to adopting new technology. We found that, despite their tendency to avoid new technologies, the older participants preferred a hands-on learning approach when available. This thesis offers recommendations for future research in how to make the implementation of new technology in the workplace more accessible based on employee age, and gender
Economic Independence and Women’s Marital Choice in England, 1400-1500
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the correlation between women’s economic independence and marital freedom in the late medieval period and its impact on marriage patterns. The analysis shows that that during the golden age of employment after the Black Death (1350-1450), marriage freedom of working women increased along with economic freedom, though the extent to which kind of freedom expanded for women in these years is a matter of scholarly debate. The thesis asks: is the relationship between women’s economic independence and marriage common and consistent? Does women’s freedom of marriage contribute to the pattern of fewer and later marriages? Comparative studies of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have found that throughout the late Middle Ages women’s land inheritance rights remained lower than those of men. As substitutes for the adult male workforce, women were often paid less than men and were disadvantaged occupationally and in terms of status. In the fifteenth century, economic stagnation and economic restructuring caused women more often to be unemployed. Social culture also strengthened the control of women, and their marriages were subject to greater outside interference. Therefore, the consistent social culture, that is, patriarchy, had a greater impact on women’s freedom of marriage than changing economic conditions. In addition, the pattern of fewer and later marriages also emerged during the economic stagnation of the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries; the thesis concludes that the main reason for women’s later and fewer marriages is largely poverty, not women’s economic independence
Identity and Religion among the Contemporary Cham Ahiér in Vietnam
Get PDFThis thesis examines contemporary Cham Ahiér identity and religion by asking two major questions: How has religion shaped (and how does it continue to shape) Cham identity; and how can the identity and religion of the Cham be understood through an analysis of rituals? To answer these questions, the author explores the ways in which Cham Ahiér identity was conceptualized by Western scholars and local Cham intellectuals and compares it with the identity construed through ritual activities conducted by ordinary Cham villagers. French colonial scholars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the first to suggest that Cham Ahiér are “Brahmanistes” or “Hindouistes” and thus categorized Cham identity on the basis of the assumption that the contemporaneous Cham villagers continued to practice the religion represented in medieval architectural and sculptural artifacts of the kingdom of Champa. This identification produced in the colonial period was used as the groundwork which numerous later researchers built upon. The Vietnamese term “Chăm Bàlamôn,” adapted from the French term “Cham Brahmanistes,” became a fixed category and now serves as the official state-sanctioned term for identification of this particular group of Cham. Contemporary overseas Cham scholars define this group of Cham as “adherents to an indigenized form of Hinduism” or “syncretic Hindu Cham.” In turn, prominent native Cham scholars and intellectuals residing in Vietnam challenged the use of the term “Chăm Bàlamôn” and claimed that it is a foreign term applied by outsiders. They suggested instead the term “Cham Ahiér,” a religious identity designation which is understood as being paired with the term “Cham Awal” through the dualistic cosmological concept of “Ahiér-Awal,” with communities of both “Cham Ahiér” and “Cham Awal” having been “Islamized” through their Malay neighbours. Stepping aside from all these propositions, this thesis takes a fresh look at the contemporary Cham Ahiér community by examining rituals conducted by ordinary villagers as the key to understanding Cham Ahiér identity, and most importantly, Cham Ahiér religion. The author argues that various contexts and discourses constitute different levels of the Cham Ahiér religious identity, and that it is necessary to investigate how it was constructed and perceived by both Cham intellectuals and ordinary Cham villagers. By exploring Cham Ahiér rituals, this thesis shows the extent to which both Hindu and Islamic elements have been adopted, and the means by which this adoption was accomplished. The objective of this thesis is not to categorize, label, or impose upon this group of Cham any specific term of identification that may relate to any other world religion, but to consider the ways that disparate elements cohere in the religion as currently practiced. In other words, this thesis describes how the Cham religion works on a practical ritual level. The author concludes that Cham Ahiér religion is neither systematic nor centralized, and that its rituals represent a mixture, patchwork, and juxtaposition coming from different sources of traditions accumulated over time
Blockbuster Resonance in Games: How Assassin’s Creed and Magic: The Gathering Simulate Classical Antiquity
Get PDFOver the past two decades, AAA game studios have refined corporate strategies for the adaptation of real-world cultures in analog and digital game technologies, as commodities met with enormous success. Among these, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering series have burgeoned from novel experimental projects into multi-decade franchises that constitute their brand backbone. Each franchise provides audiences with regular, unique, instalments simulating specific cultures, while also celebrating technological innovation. Further, the industrial strategies of each company have led to the formation of what this project theorizes as blockbuster resonance: a corporate strategy based on closely matching the perceived expectations of core audiences, overdetermined by motifs present in broader cultural trends and legacy media successes, articulated through technical maximalism and persistent marketing.
Prior scholarship on Assassin’s Creed has focused on individual installments’ stakes, while research on Magic: The Gathering has centered on the audience formations around the game, to great effect. However, this dissertation argues that each company’s franchises development unfolds over a decades-long span, where articulated resonance is instantiated at a macro level and requires the analysis of multiple titles to understand how resonance is sought and deployed. That level deals with the development of a technical structure of simulation. Therefore, this project also circumscribes resonant simulation, an applied simulation form simulation (in a cultural studies sense), arising from adherence to blockbuster logics, which reconstitutes cultures through references to legacy media and entrenched institutions.
To discuss the twin concepts of blockbuster resonance and resonant simulation, this project centers four case studies as mirrors inside and in-between each franchise: Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Amonkhet and Theros: Beyond Death. These examples examine the reconfiguration of Egyptianness and Greekness: iconic simulations of Ancient Egypt and Classical Greece, themselves often juxtaposed in imperialist manners across legacy media, classical history, and museum exhibition, and here through photorealistic and systematic renditions popular culture references. The purpose of this juxtaposition is to demonstrate how each culture is simulated anew, according to the resonance present in today’s popular media, along orientalist or exceptionalist lines, for the enjoyment of modern Western audiences
Navigating Sustainability: Investigating the Impact of Mimetic Pressure on SMEs’ Adoption of Solar Panels
Get PDFThis study examines the impact of mimetic pressure on the adoption of sustainable strategies, specifically solar panels, for SMEs in Lebanon. Based on the institutional theory and resource-based view, the study hypothesizes that mimetic pressure would positively influence top management awareness of sustainable practices and the adoption of sustainable strategies, with financial benefits playing a moderating role. The study surveyed 52 SMEs and found that mimetic pressure positively affects both top management awareness and the adoption of sustainable strategies. Additionally, the study found that top management awareness partially mediates the relationship between mimetic pressure and the adoption of sustainable strategies. However, the results indicated that perceived financial benefit do not play a moderating role. Overall, the study highlights the importance of mimetic pressure and top management awareness in driving the adoption of solar panels in SMEs in developing countries
Narrative Debris: Counter-Mapping Overlooked Socio-Political Stories of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles
Get PDFNarrative Debris: Counter-Mapping Overlooked Socio-Political Stories of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles
Patricia Enns, M.Des.
Concordia University, 2023
This thesis-creation bears witness to overlooked social and political narratives of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, a historically and culturally rich area undergoing rapid gentrification and commercialization since 2003 (Lam, 2007).
The creation project, Narrative Debris (2021) consists of a public facing website and participatory kit. The website presents an illustrated map of the Quartier des Spectacles which invites visitors to explore experiential feedback from participants of an audio walk. The participatory kit offers the public an accessible tool to create their own paper-making debris-mapping of the neighbourhood. The goal of the research is to challenge the area’s current monolithic narrative as a place of commercialized entertainment by using embodied, materially engaged, and participatory methods. The research emerges from a series of iterative walks leading to new sensory, temporal and qualitative approaches to mapping. These techniques captured the subjective, material, and gestural dimensions of Quartier des Spectacles, and examined how maps could amplify alternative socio-political narratives.
Debris-maps: hand-made paper sheets created using debris collected from the Quartier des Spectacles, were developed as a counter mapping strategy. Examining what discarded remnants can tell us, the process highlighted local social phenomena such as the opioid crisis and the impacts of the recent acceleration of gentrification. This process exposed the importance of inviting others into the research. Informal interviews, an audio walk, and participatory kits were used to engage with local participants’ experiences and histories of the area
Metal Health: Three Music Therapists’ Perspectives on Using Extreme Music in Music Therapy with Adolescents
Get PDFThe importance of music for adolescents is well-documented. While music therapy has been used to support adolescents who are experiencing mental health and other challenges, applications of Extreme music are rarely addressed in the literature even though it is a preferred genre of many adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of music therapists on the use of Extreme music in their music therapy sessions with adolescents. Three certified music therapists participated in qualitative interviews that were analyzed using directed content analysis techniques. Several themes emerged within three pre-determined categories: (a) Using Extreme Music in Music Therapy with Adolescent Clients, (b) Identified Clinical Benefits of Extreme Music for Adolescent Clients, and (c) Contraindications for the Use of Extreme Music in Music Therapy with Adolescent Clients. Implications of the results for practice, education, and future research are presented along with limitations of the study. It is the researcher’s hope that this study will encourage music therapists to gain new and enhanced understandings on how they might incorporate Extreme music into their practice with adolescents when clinically indicated
“Shadows of Reality” and “Documentary Tools”: An MA Research-Creation Thesis Project on Facing Ethical Dilemmas in Documentary Filmmaking
Get PDFThis research-creation explores my interest in documentary-making and the ethical dilemmas that filmmakers face in the process. Though research reveals two main themes related to ethics in filmmaking, truth in documentary films and protocols, there are no adequate pre-made standardized ethical tools to guide protocols and explore the various approaches that filmmakers take to address these dilemmas, such as using guidelines, manifestos, and other more organic approaches. Through self-reflection, critical research, creative video and virtual reality productions, I analysed and approached them. A research-creation process led to the creation of two final interactive video installations: “Shadows of Reality,” a 360 Virtual Reality video, and “Documentary Tools,” a 3D stereoscopic video installation. These works speak to the ethical challenges in documentary filmmaking and provide a practical self-reflection tool for the independent documentary filmmaking community
Uncertainty of risk and information limitations shape neophobic antipredator responses in Trinidadian guppies
Get PDFThe combined effects of changing climates, anthropogenic disturbances, and invasive species lead to short and long-term ecosystem changes. As a result, prey populations may be faced with increased uncertainty of risk (i.e., inability to predict predation events due to limitations on the quantity or quality of information). This uncertainty impacts decision-making and risk-assessment abilities among prey. Therefore, it is critical to understand the ecological factors driving uncertainty, and how prey deal with information limitations. Recently, phenotypically plastic neophobic predator avoidance (NPA, increased vigilance towards novel stimuli) has been suggested as a response of prey to uncertainty, without the costs associated with learning specific predator cues. Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from high-predation populations exhibit NPA, and NPA can be induced in predator-naïve populations after increasing mean predation risk. However, it remains unclear what specific factors drive uncertainty and the resulting NPA. Using Trinidadian guppies as a model system, I conduct a combination of laboratory and field experiments to identify potential drivers of uncertainty of risk within prey populations. I use an information ecology framework to argue that uncertainty of risk may arise from prey experience during risk information detection, from the risk information source (i.e., conspecifics and/or predators), and from the environment through which risk information must travel. I demonstrate that NPA increases when prey experience multiple novel cues, simultaneously or over time. After repeated encounters with a single novel cue, NPA is lost unless the cue is spatially unpredictable. Furthermore, NPA to a novel cue is mediated when paired with a social safety cue. I also assess predator guild composition and demonstrate that increased predator density (i.e., mean risk), and to a weaker extent predator diversity, increases NPA. Lastly, I show that NPA is greater in microhabitats with greater water velocity and habitat complexity, smaller dimensions, and decreased substrate heterogeneity and substrate diversity. Uncertainty of risk may have deleterious impacts on the distribution and abundance of predator and prey species. My thesis identifies factors contributing to uncertainty, enables prediction of prey responses to such conditions, and can contribute to conservation and management efforts of socio-economically important, endangered, or invasive species
Attack detection in PV-integrated power distribution systems using Machine Learning and Deep Learning methods
Get PDFThis master's thesis presents a comprehensive study on false data injection (FDI) attacks in photovoltaic (PV)-integrated power distribution systems (PDSs) and proposes two data-driven detection frameworks to identify such attacks against voltage regulation in both steady-state and transient modes. With the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for voltage regulation, PDSs are exposed to cyber threats, including FDI attacks.
The first proposed framework employs a supervised machine learning (ML) approach based on a support vector machine (SVM) to detect FDI attacks during the transmission of data from the centralized controller to PVs in a transient state. The framework collects a dataset of different operating points, such as loading conditions, to train the SVM. The performance of the trained framework for attack detection is compared with other supervised and unsupervised ML-based techniques. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed framework in detecting FDI attacks against modified IEEE 33-bus PDS.
The second proposed framework is a convolutional neural network (CNN) approach to detect FDI attacks against voltage regulation in steady-state. The framework creates a comprehensive and realistic dataset that covers all normal conditions and unpredictable changes of a PDS during two years, including features such as voltage measurements, season, weekdays/weekends, load conditions, and PV generation power. The CNN is trained to distinguish normal grid changes from FDI attacks. The performance of the trained framework has been compared with other supervised ML-based and deep-learning techniques for FDI attacks against a modified IEEE 33-bus and 141-bus PDS to show the scalability of the proposed method, and the results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed framework in detecting FDI attacks.
Overall, this study aims to enhance the cyber-security of PV-integrated PDSs by proposing two effective and reliable detection frameworks against FDI attacks in both steady-state and transient modes. By utilizing ML and deep learning techniques, the proposed frameworks are capable of accurately detecting FDI attacks, thereby improving the overall resilience of PDSs against cyber threats