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Concordia Library Accessibility Enhancement Internship: Final Report and Recommendations
Get PDFPreface: In the winter of 2025, Concordia Library initiated a project under Concordia’s Doctoral Student Internship Program and hired Balam Kenter, a doctoral candidate at Concordia University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture. They were tasked with developing recommendations to make the Library’s services more accessible to all.
The limited-term internship was short and focused, and as such, the following report is necessarily preliminary and incomplete. It is best understood as a working draft – a provisional, evolving document that is a starting point, not an endpoint, for future accessibility initiatives.
Originally intended as an internal document, any identifying information has been removed, so that we may share this report with other libraries who may find useful insights and/or recommendations in their own contexts.
Concordia University Librar
Critique de traduction de Los traductores en la historia, version espagnole de Les traducteurs dans l’histoire / Translators through History de Jean Delisle et Judith Woodsworth (dir) (1995)
Get PDFCe mémoire porte sur une critique de traduction de Los traductores en la historia, version espagnole de Les traducteurs dans l’histoire / Translators through History (Delisle & Woodsworth, dir., 1995). Réalisée en 2005 par un groupe d’étudiants hispanophones de l’Université de Antioquia (Colombie) sous la direction de Martha Pulido, cette traduction collaborative soulève des enjeux méthodologiques et théoriques que nous analysons sous l’angle de la "critique productive" d’Antoine Berman (1995). Notre étude examine les répercussions de la traduction collaborative sur les choix traductifs et explore les approches contemporaines de la traduction pour mieux comprendre les spécificités du texte espagnol. Enfin, nous abordons la question de la retraduction en tant que processus d’évolution et d’adaptation du discours traductologique, ouvrant ainsi une réflexion sur la pertinence d’une mise à jour de cette oeuvre dans le contexte actuel des études en traduction
Development of User-Friendly Tablet Sensors for Detection of Copper and Nitrite
Get PDFThe development of portable, easy-to-use, and reliable analytical tools is essential for environmental monitoring of contaminants, particularly in settings with limited access to laboratory infrastructure. In diagnostics area, recent advancements in tablet-based sensing technologies have shown the promise for enabling simple, rapid and user-friendly detection with minimal preparation. Motivated by the need to support and improve public health, this thesis is dedicated to the development of tablet-based sensors that enable rapid, user-friendly, and affordable detection of environmental contaminants. In this context, this research focuses on the development of innovative tablet-based sensors for on-site detection of (1) copper in water and (2) nitrite in soil, which provide precise reagent dosages, enhanced portability, and reliable performance in resources with limited facilities.
In the case of copper detection, the sensor utilizes an auto-mixing tablet that simplifies the process by incorporating all necessary reagents into a single solid form. This ensures precise dosing, offering a simple, quick, and user-friendly alternative in compare with traditional methods such as including inductively coupled plasma detector, atomic absorption spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance detector and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Copper detection is vital as excessive copper levels in drinking water and natural water bodies can pose serious health risks, including gastrointestinal distress, liver or kidney damage, and neurodegenerative diseases, also contribute to environmental pollution. The tablet initiates a colourimetric reaction with 2,2’-biquinoline-4,4’-dicarboxylic acid (bicinchoninic acid) within two minutes, producing a measurable color change indicative of copper concentration. Unlike conventional tablets that require manual mixing, the effervescence and auto-mixing feature enhances reagent dissolution and improves usability. The sensor demonstrated working range of 0 to 2.5 ppm, with a detection limit of 0.3 ppm, which are adequate for monitoring copper contamination considering that The World Health Organization (WHO) has set the permissible limit for copper ions (Cu²⁺) in drinking water at 2.0 mg/L (2 ppm). However, Cu²⁺ concentrations in some local water sources exceed this threshold. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop highly sensitive and selective methods for Cu²⁺ detection.
Interference tests confirmed the sensor’s selectivity for copper. The sensor’s selectivity complements its sensitivity, providing reliable detection of copper at low concentrations with minimal influence from other potential contaminants. While analyses of real water samples validated its accuracy and practical applicability. Stability assessments over three months of room temperature showed consistent performance, highlighting the sensor’s long-term usability. The tablet format provides a portable, pre-measured detection system that eliminates the need for laboratory preparation, making it an effective solution for real-time copper monitoring, particularly in regions with restricted access to analytical tools.
In the case of nitrite detection, this study presents two tablet-based sensors: (1) a Dual Reagent Tablet, which contains separate sulfanilamide (SUL) and N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine (NED) reagents in two distinct tablets; and (2) an All-in-One Integrated Reagent Tablet, which combines all necessary reagents into a single tablet, simplifying the detection procedure. Nitrite contamination harms ecosystems by reducing oxygen levels, disrupting biodiversity, and producing toxic compounds such as nitrosamines, while posing human health risks such as methemoglobinemia, neurological disorders, and increased cancer risk. Therefore, effective soil monitoring is crucial for pollution control and sustainable agriculture. Both utilize a pullulan matrix to encapsulate reagents in solid form, enhancing stability and practicality. Each sensor enables rapid soil nitrite measurements within 2 minutes through a colourimetric reaction, producing a pink/purple azo dye as an indicator. Furthermore, unlike traditional methods requiring manual pH adjustment, these tablet sensors incorporate a buffering system to maintain optimal acidic conditions for the reaction, ensuring reliable performance across diverse sample environments without external acidification. The tablets also ensure consistent reagent dosages, removing the need for laboratory preparation and providing a portable, pre-measured platform for on-site nitrite detection in complex soil matrices. The Dual Reagent Tablet demonstrated a detection limit of 3 µM, while the All-in-One Tablet achieved a detection limit of 5 µM, both with a working range up to 400 µM. Interference experiments confirmed selectivity for nitrite, and analyses of real soil samples validated the method’s accuracy and applicability. Stability assessments over six weeks at room temperature showed consistent performance, demonstrating the long-term usability of these sensors
Spectral embeddings through nonstandard samplings
Get PDFThe Spectral Embedding Theorem, one of the formulations of the Spectral Theorem, states that any densely-defined symmetric operator A on a separable Hilbert space H can be extended by a multiplication operator through an isometric embedding of H in an L_2-space.
In this research project, the goal is to study a novel process. This process starts with a (real or complex) separable Hilbert space H and a densely-defined symmetric operator A. It results with a compact metric space Ω, a probability measure μ on Ω, an isometric embedding U : H ⟶ L_2(Ω, μ) and a multiplication operator T on L_2(Ω, μ) such that U ∘ A ⊂ T ∘ U, satisfying the Spectral Embedding Theorem.
The process uses two parameters, which are objects of Nonstandard Analysis: the nonstandard sampling and the standard-biased scale. We see in this Thesis that these objects allow for a new proof of the Spectral Embedding Theorem, as well as other forms of the Spectral Theorem.
Furthermore, we will observe that with specific operators, the process can result in explicit and natural objects through the careful tweaking of the parameters. Specifically, we work with landmark examples of the theory, the shift operator and the differential operator on the line, to derive the Fourier series and the Fourier Transform from the process
Context Mining for Visual Object Counting
No full textVisual object counting is a fundamental task in computer vision that aims to accurately estimate the number of objects of interest within an image. This task has widespread applications across various domains, including environmental monitoring, surveillance, retail analytics, and medical imaging. Traditional counting methods often face challenges such as object occlusion, variation in scale and appearance, and complex scene backgrounds. Although deep learning has significantly advanced this field, there are still limitations, particularly regarding the accurate capture of contextual information.
This thesis focuses on developing novel approaches to enhance visual object counting, targeting key research problems related to accuracy, efficiency, and robustness in both class-specific and class-agnostic counting scenarios. To address these challenges, this thesis makes several key contributions. First, we propose a novel hybrid counting method that combines local detection with global estimation to accurately count objects in aerial imagery. This approach efficiently exploits both local and global information, enhancing counting accuracy in high-density situations. Second, we introduce a self-attention-based model for class-agnostic counting, which effectively encodes repetitive object patterns, allowing for precise counting even in the presence of object variations and background clutter. This method improves feature representation and matching, leading to enhanced robustness and generalization capabilities. Finally, we present a novel box-free counting model requiring only one annotation point per object, significantly reducing the annotation task. This method employs contextual transformers and a position-aware attention encoder to achieve accurate object counts with minimal annotation effort. The effectiveness of our proposed methods is rigorously demonstrated through extensive experiments conducted on both public and private datasets. By comparing our results to those achieved by state-of-the-art methods, we showcase the superior performance of our approaches in addressing several challenges in visual object counting. These contributions collectively advance the field of visual object counting by providing more accurate, efficient, and robust counting methods, opening new possibilities for automated object counting in various applications
Resonant Atmospheres: The Techno-Performance of Affection
No full textThis dissertation analyzes a series of live, time-based artistic events that subvert the logic of using biosensors as instruments of emotion recognition4associated with the field of affective computing4by repurposing them to structure affective atmospheres. The project focuses on how biosensing technologies, when removed from their intended function, can contribute to making the intensity of migration and exile felt by considering their capacity to mediate encounters between audiences, bodies, and media forms. To this end, Resonant Atmospheres
relies on the ways that biosensor data can be transformed into sound and visuals that reveal and conceal the context of exiled migration. Alongside the atmospheric conditions of each space, these elements create possibilities for incommunication4non-narrative style ways of exchange in which meaning is not clearly transmitted or resolved but feeling the affective charge is foregrounded. The first experiment, Breathless, foregrounds me as the performer and audience as onlookers who experience the intensity of the sound affected by my biosensor readings along with snippets of videos relevant to my experience of migration, revealing limitations in its ability to generate relational engagement. In response, Curves & Reverbs I-III introduces participation, testing how contributing to the construction of the atmosphere can shape a distributed affective experience across bodies. By analyzing these experiments and their unfolding, this dissertation contributes to a novel understanding of how the conglomeration of the technical, the artistic, and the socio-political can create situated scenarios beyond the limitations of each approach
Nurturing Neurodiversity in the Workplace: An Integrative Literature Review
Get PDFAbstract
Nurturing Neurodiversity in the Workplace: An Integrative Literature Review
Research problem: Despite increasing recognition of neurodiversity as a critical component of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, neurodivergent individuals still face barriers to employment and long-term career opportunities, often due to negative stereotypes, bias, and discrimination. This study attempts to provide a baseline of knowledge about this issue by analyzing trade and professional literature, a vital source of knowledge for Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals, to identify key strategies for supporting neurodiversity in the workplace.
Research question: What are the most prominently discussed HRD strategies—training and development, career development, organizational development—within professional publications in the past 10 years to support neurodivergent individuals in the workplace?
Literature review: Neurodiversity emerged in the wake of growing stakeholder activism and a perceived competitive advantage for organizations seeking innovation and productivity gains. Because it addresses a group with unique characteristics and needs within the workplace, neurodiversity is encompassed within the broader discussion on diversity within HRD. While there is ample literature exploring the conceptualization on neurodiversity and its potential value to organizations, gaps in peer-reviewed research on HRD and neurodiversity include the lack of applied research on strategies aimed at enhancing neurodiversity in the workplace.
Methodology: An integrative literature review was employed. Because so few peer-reviewed research exists on the subject of HRD for neurodiverse individuals in the workplace, articles from trade publications were systematically sought, categorized and analyzed. A sample of 282 articles was collected using replicable search parameters, with 176 articles retained for further analysis. The articles were then systematically reviewed by identifying first, particular characteristics of each article and then to find patterns among these characteristics concerning neuroinclusive strategies within training and development, career development, and organizational development.
Results and Conclusion: The findings revealed a total of 439 strategies spread across the three dimensions of HRD. The study found that the majority of strategies identified pertained to organizational development (205 strategies), followed closely by training and development (189 strategies), while career development strategies were the least represented in the literature (45 strategies). In light of the study, the dominant themes of each dimension of HRD are diversity training (training and development), career coaching and support (career development), and culture change (organizational development). The findings highlight the interconnected nature of HRD strategies used to foster a more neuroinclusive workplace. To ensure feasibility, this study was limited to trade and professional publications from the past decade written in English that are retrieved from the ABI/Inform (ProQuest) database, and as such, the findings may be influenced by the evolving nature of the topic, the variability in the literary genre, and validation through empirical studies. Future research can examine the effects of neurodiversity awareness or acceptability using non-training interventions, the relevance or effectiveness of tools powered by artificial intelligence to support neurodivergent individuals’ career progression, and explore how macro-systemic strategies to better foster neurodiversity in the workplace
Some Results in the Theory of Real Hardy Spaces and BMO
No full textThe results presented in this thesis concern several aspects of the theory of real Hardy spaces and BMO. The first problem we address is the extension problem for Hardy spaces, for which we provide a complete resolution. Specifically, we investigate: for which open subsets Ω can every element of H^(p ) (Ω), be extended to an element of H^p(R^n ), with comparable norms? We give a complete geometric characterization of such domains.
We then turn our attention to the behavior of maximal operators on the space BMO. In this context, we study four questions, including the discontinuity of the Hardy--Littlewood maximal operator, its boundedness on VMO, and the unboundedness of both the strong and directional maximal operators on BMO. This part concludes with a counterexample demonstrating the failure of the Fubini property for this class of functions.
The final part of the thesis focuses on paraproducts and their operator norms on Hardy spaces. We establish sharp lower bounds for the norms of these operators acting on various types of Hardy spaces, both in the one-parameter and multi-parameter settings. These results yield an alternative characterization of Hardy spaces as admissible symbol classes for such operators
Arathis Chronicles: The Beginning
No full textIn the impoverished village of Binbo, nine-year-old Cilde enters the forbidden forest in search of food and eats the fruit of the Alfheim—home to the evil alfkins that once enslaved humans. When she returns unharmed, she is denounced as a neverlisk—marked by the alfkin forever—and is sold by her parents to the buldwarks, a militant order sworn to defend humanity.
The buldwarks put her to the reapor test: if Cilde touches the stone and it transforms into a weapon, she will be identified as a synth—someone who can wield the second form of the reapor and use it to kill the alfkin. However, once Cilde does the test, the reapor enters her body and awakens within her, identifying her as a synth who can track others like her.
As Cilde rises through the buldwark ranks, she harbors a singular hope: to win back her parents’ love. But after the Exposium, a public trial in which Cilde officially wins her buldwarkian status, she discovers that her younger sister, Arina, is also a synth. Yet, unlike Cilde, Arina is cherished, protected, and kept hidden.
Realizing she has only been a tool, Cilde escapes the buldwarks with the help of her mentor, Andricus, who gifts her with a new ability called thirling. With these new powers, Cilde comes to the conclusion that if she cannot earn love, she will merely steal it.
Arathis Chronicles: The Beginning explores themes of fear, exploitation, and the consequences of childhood neglect as one seeks to fill one’s void through material gain
Collaboration and Diversity in Digital Platform Ecosystems: Insights from Streaming Platforms
No full textDigital platforms have become the dominant architecture for delivering goods and services. Major firms have incorporated platform-based strategies to leverage network effects and modular innovation. Platform growth depends on diverse offerings, which requires collaboration between platform owners and complementors (third-party developers or service providers). Prior work has examined either economic coordination mechanisms (e.g., pricing and revenue sharing) or organizational governance structures (e.g., decision rights and contractual control), yet their joint effects on platform diversity remain unexplored. Some argue that tighter owner control expands diversity by reducing opportunism, while others warn it stifles partner innovation. Moreover, platform market power is an essential factor in this relationship, yet its impact has received little attention. To address these gaps, we adopt an integrative framework that maps collaboration from loosely coupled partnerships to full integration and incorporates market power as a moderating factor. We examine our model in the streaming industry using regression analysis on data from 188 platforms and 11,461 content–platform pairs drawn from Watchmode and TMDB, capturing production partnerships, availability patterns, and genre metadata. We find that collaboration increases the breadth of diversity (genre novelty) but reduces structural diversity (runtime novelty), and these effects are attenuated on platforms with greater market power. We contribute a unified theoretical lens for bridging economic and organizational perspectives, introduce a novel genre-novelty metric that captures both range and rarity, and offer practical guidance on governance and collaboration strategies to optimize platform performance