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Rings of Meaning: The Judenring, Religious Symbols, and the Practice of the Christian Parable
No full textAt the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, Pope Innocent III enjoined upon the rulers of Europe the requirement to have their Jewish and Muslim subjects visually distinguished from their Christian counterparts by manner of their dress. What resulted was an uneven, patchwork series of regional ordinances on the matter of Jewish dress across Catholic Europe, some of which were repealed and later reinstated, reflecting the complex relationship between the authority of the Catholic Church, who sought to uphold the sacred canons, and the authority of European monarchs, who had their own political and financial interests. Nonetheless, the form in which the identifying dress took varied from kingdom to empire. In the Holy Roman Empire, later the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the most consistent identifier from the late 15th to the late 18th century for German Jews took the form of a badge in the shape of a yellow felt ring that was attached to the chest of the outermost garment, also known as a Judenring. This thesis is an investigation into the significance of the Judenring as a symbol in the Christian theology of the period, and how German Christians understood themselves and the Jewish ‘other’ in their society by way of the Judenring. First established in the sermons and treatises of both Catholic and later Lutheran thinkers, commentary on German Jews and the Judenring fascinated German Christians, appearing in popular moral stories and mass produced woodcuts and broadsides
Self-Care as Media Practice: Instagram as a Site of Everyday Mental Health Support for Women Living with Mental Illness
No full textSince the late 2010s, many women have been turning to Instagram for mental health care because of limited health care resources and increasing gendered pressures to take care of themselves. Mainstream media were quick to term this phenomenon “Instagram therapy”, creating a moral panic around the dangers of replacing individualized therapy with social media. This is not surprising since women’s emotions and media practices have been historically pathologized under a longstanding gendering of “insanity” in popular culture and discourses. Attending to women’s social media use through the concept of self-care as a media practice, this dissertation shifts the conversation to ask why and how women use Instagram to care for their mental health. The goal of this research is two-fold: 1) to contribute to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the relationship between women’s mental health and mediation within expanding health and social media landscapes, and 2) to complicate contemporary understandings of the intersections of mental illness, gender and self-care against a backdrop of scarce mental health resources and gendered pressures to self-optimize.
Through feminist qualitative methods, this dissertation gives voice to fourteen women aged between twenty-four and thirty-three who live with mental illness by documenting their use of Instagram, their motivations as much as their challenges, through in-depth interviews and media go-alongs. Three aims emerge from their stories: 1) to find validation for their experiences, 2) to care for each other, and 3) to find relief in everyday habits. These findings reveal that these women’s use of Instagram is not an alternative to therapy necessarily but adds to their existing (yet limited) resources. As such, they offer more accessible and sustained ways for women to care for themselves as they learn how to live with mental illness. These results reveal the nuanced ways in which women navigate Instagram and negotiate with the platform's affordances, publics and visualities to care for themselves, shedding light on the multiple realities that co-exist in the doing of care. Beyond the topic of mental illness, this dissertation calls for more attention to what we do to care for ourselves while living in a world that is designed to alienate and exclude us; how we create space for ourselves using the tools available to us; how we exist with each other within our complexities, contradictions and frictions as we learn to inhabit our bodymind/worlds
Numerical Investigation of the Unsteady Turbulent Wake Regimes of a Notchback Ahmed Body
No full textThis study investigates the influence of Reynolds number on the unsteady turbulent wake regimes of a notchback Ahmed body with an effective backlight angle of 17.8°. Three-dimensional improved delayed detached eddy simulations (IDDES) were conducted at two Reynolds numbers, Reh = 10000 (denoted as Re1E4) and Reh = 50000 (Re5E4), representing symmetric and fully asymmetric flow regimes, respectively. Detailed aspects of the wake dynamics, including the mean flow, Reynolds stresses, large-scale anisotropy, global instabilities, and the pumping motion (i.e., quasi-periodic expansion and contraction) of reverse flow regions, are used to characterize the effects of Reynolds number. The results showed that, unlike Re1E4, the wake of Re5E4 is associated with asymmetric reattachment on the deck and a directional bias of the vortical structures towards one side of the body. This asymmetry significantly enhances turbulence anisotropy and causes a spanwise imbalance in turbulence production in Re5E4 compared to Re1E4. The pumping motion of the reverse flow regions was found to be synchronized between the bubbles over the slant and behind the back for Re1E4, but out of phase for Re5E4. Additionally, for Re5E4, frequent contractions on one side of the body were accompanied by expansions on the opposite side, a behavior not prevalent in Re1E4
Water Protection Imagery and the Future Imaginary in the #NoDAPL Movement
No full textA variety of images were created in solidarity with the #NoDAPL, a movement of nonviolent direct actions instigated in 2016 by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This thesis argues that the imagery created in solidarity with the #NoDAPL movement helped water protectors and their allies create a “future imaginary,” a concept theorized by the digital media theorist Jason Edward Lewis (Kānaka Maoli, Samoan). Employing the concept of the future imaginary as a theoretical framework, this thesis examines various materials designed by Indigenous artists in 2016 in solidarity with the #NoDAPL movement, including the anti-extraction graphic No Pipelines on Indigenous Land by Dylan Miner (Métis), the banner design Thunderbird Woman by Isaac Murdoch (Ojibwe), the banner design Thunderbird Woman’s Mom (Water is Life) by Christi Belcourt (Métis), and the Mirror Shield Project by Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota). Divided into three sections, this thesis defines the future imaginary and draws its connection to the organizing that took place at Standing Rock, analyzes some of the iconography shared throughout the imagery created in solidarity with the #NoDAPL movement—focusing specifically on prophecies and the figures of Zuzeca Sape, or the Black Snake, and the Thunderbird—and considers the modes of production and the means of dissemination employed by artists both within and outside the Standing Rock camps
Speaking About One’s Accent: The Subjective Experience of Accented Journalists in Quebec and Canadian Francophone Media
No full textAs Nathalie Freynet and Richard Clément (2018) write: “Le français est empreint de contradictions. Alors qu’il se veut standardisé, il figure aujourd’hui parmi les langues les plus diversifiées au monde” (p. 96). This contradiction is examined in this thesis, which looks at how the journalism industry can, on one hand, uphold strict linguistic standards while simultaneously incorporating journalists who do not necessarily correspond to these ideals. Accents are more than one’s “manner of pronunciation” (Giles, 1970, p. 213). They express individual and collective identities that can match or collide with the expectations of a professional-sounding anchor voice. Although sociolinguists insist that accents and language proficiency are unrelated (Gluszek & Dovidio, 2010), “accented,” non-standard speakers can face discrimination and self-stigmatization (Blanchet, 2019). Majority-group members’ perceptions and reactions to accented speech and sociolinguistic representations of the French language have been thoroughly analyzed. However, the lived experience of stigmatized speakers has not received the same attention (Freynet & Clément, 2018). In response, this thesis explores how accented journalists make sense of their “audible difference” in Canadian and Quebec francophone media. Data from twelve in-depth, semistructured interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Findings, organized across four themes, paint a contrasting picture of the journalistic field as a place of both belonging and exclusion, where accented journalists engage in ambivalent behaviour that simultaneously resists the silencing of their accents, while conforming to professional expectations
“Without Blemish or Defect:” Disability and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible
No full textThis dissertation is an examination of several key Hebrew Bible texts that feature disabled characters in prominent roles, and focuses on the ways in which those characters’ disabilities are used to construct the boundaries of normative Israelite experience. I consider disability as an intersectional category that overlaps with other marginal identities such as animality, age, gender and sexuality. These identities are used in conjunction with each other by the authors and redactors of the texts in question to draw a boundary around what an acceptable human body should be like, primarily by showing what it should not be like. The dissertation uses novel interpretations of the relevant texts to demonstrate that ableist understandings of humans and the world are not necessary, and that the texts themselves can be read as undermining that very ideology, in order to add to a growing movement in biblical studies that sees the necessity of not only including, but centralizing, the experience of disabled people in our textual interpretation
Modeling and Design of Building-Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal Systems with Embedded Thermal Storage
No full textHamidreza Zarrinkafsh, MSc.
Concordia University 2025
This thesis presents a novel prefabricated modular building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal (BIPV/T) system design that integrates semi-transparent bi-facial photovoltaic (STPV) panels and thermal energy storage (TES) using ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) to enhance electrical, thermal, and architectural performance. It investigates the development, modeling, and experimental validation of this system to address the need for scalable, efficient, and resilient renewable energy solutions for building envelopes.
A comprehensive literature review on various BIPV/T systems showed the necessity of enhanced air-based configurations that fulfill both mechanical and aesthetic requirements. In response, this research introduces three main innovations together: a prefabricated modular curtain wall concept, integration of STPV panels, and most importantly, the use of UHPC as an embedded thermal storage material. Among these, UHPC provides the greatest advancement by reducing outlet air temperature fluctuations, and making the building envelope more durable, and fire-resistant.
A two-dimensional finite-difference numerical model was developed to simulate thermal behavior and predict system performance. This model was validated through experiments on a full-scale system tested in a controlled environmental chamber under extreme cold conditions (−15 °C and −25 °C) using a solar simulator with 800 W/m² irradiance. The system, designed with a curtain wall mounting system and frameless STPV panels. It was equipped with thermocouples, RTDs, and a data acquisition system to monitor temperature distribution. Uniformity and infrared imaging tests were conducted to confirm measurement reliability.
The experimental results showed thermal efficiencies of 37% and 50%, with outlet air temperatures exceeding ambient conditions by over 20 °C, demonstrating effective heat storage of the UHPC thermal storage. The developed model predictions matched the experimental data, validating the simulation with a correlation coefficient of R² = 0.92. The validated model was used to perform sensitivity analyses on various parameters, including airflow rates within the cavity (0.6 and 1.0 m/s), cavity depths (3 and 4 cm), solar irradiance (200 and 800 W/m2), and system height (2 and 6 m), as well as the thermal conductivity of the concrete (1, 2, and 3 W/m·K) and its thickness (1 to 2.5 cm). The system performance was also assessed for a two-story façade configuration to predict the adequacy of the produced heat for integration with HP or domestic hot water applications under realistic conditions on one of the coldest days of the year in Montreal, Canada.
Comparison of the system with and without UHPC panel on a two-story façade using real cold-climate data showed a 22.7% reduction in outlet temperature fluctuations and a ~5-hour delay in thermal response, confirming UHPC’s effectiveness as TES in cold climates. Since the system consistently maintained a temperature difference exceeding 20 °C even during the coldest week of the year, its temperature gain significantly reduces the heating load on HVAC systems and improves their operational efficiency. As a result, the system can contribute to peak load shaving and shifting, grid stability and reliability, and lowering overall building energy consumption and bills. Additionally, the passive preheating capability enhances indoor thermal comfort and supports resilient building operation during periods of extreme cold or power disruptions.
This thesis makes several key contributions: (1) it introduces ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) as a novel thermal storage material in BIPV/T systems, an area previously underexplored in the literature; (2) it presents a validated experimental and numerical framework for evaluating thermal and electrical performance under real-world conditions; and (3) it demonstrates a modular, prefabricated STPV system compatible with existing curtain wall techniques. These contributions offer a scalable pathway for improving energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and renewable energy adoption in high-performance building design. In conclusion, this thesis presents a novel BIPV/T system with a validated model for the design of enhanced air-based BIPV/T systems integrating UHPC thermal storage, modular curtain wall assembly, and semi-transparent PV modules
Narrative Signals from Bank Filings as Early-Warning Indicators: Unsupervised NLP with Regime-Switching Models
No full textFinancial distress in banks often surfaces first as shifts in narrative tone and content within
mandated disclosures. This thesis studies whether unsupervised Natural Language Processing(NLP) features extracted from U.S. bank 10-K/10-Q filings can anticipate transitions
into high-risk regimes. We build filing-level signals from (i) dictionary-based sentiment
with negation/intensity handling, (ii) topic-mixture drift measured by Jensen–Shannon
divergence, and (iii) section-focused embedding clusters (MD&A and Risk Factors) with
a cluster-change indicator. These features are integrated in a parsimonious two-state
Gaussian Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to produce a continuous distress probability per
filing.
Evaluation uses market-based forward drawdown labels (e.g., f −20% within 60–120
trading days) and emphasizes precision, recall, F1, AUC-PR, and lead time rather than raw
accuracy. Single-feature HMMs (sentiment only; cluster-change only) provide transparent
baselines. A multifeature HMM improves recall of distress episodes relative to those
baselines but can generate more false alarms. To increase actionability, we introduce a
hybrid regime–market filter that requires both an elevated HMM distress probability and
contemporaneous market stress (elevated trailing drawdown or volatility) with a short
persistence rule. This hybrid step substantially lifts precision and F1—typically by several
tens of percentage points—while retaining non-trivial lead time (often one filing) in case
studies such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) versus a non-failure peer Huntington Bancshares
(HBAN).
Robustness checks vary distress windows, thresholds, persistence, and regime count,
and show qualitatively stable trade-offs between sensitivity and specificity. The contribution
is a transparent, reproducible pipeline that couples unsupervised narrative signals with
regime switching and a pragmatic market confirmation step, yielding an early-warning
signal suitable for supervisory screening and risk monitoring
Integrated Analysis and Modeling of Energy Demand, Emissions, and Lifecycle Impacts of Bus Electrification Under Low-Carbon Electricity Scenarios
No full textThe transition to net-zero transportation in urban areas requires an integrated understanding of clean electricity deployment, transit electrification strategies, and operational energy dynamics. This thesis presents an integrated analysis and modeling framework for evaluating energy demand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and life cycle impacts of electric bus deployment under low-carbon electricity scenarios in Canada. The research is structured into four interconnected studies, each addressing a critical layer of the energy transition.
The first study conducts a meta-analysis of 26 national decarbonization scenarios to evaluate the role of clean energy in achieving Canada's 2050 targets across electricity, transport, and heating sectors. Findings reveal consistent reliance on hydropower and nuclear (collectively ~80%), while the balance between wind, solar, and natural gas remains uncertain. The study highlights key challenges such as inter-provincial coordination and inadequate carbon pricing, particularly in the electricity sector.
Building on this, the second study proposes a regionalized modeling framework to assess electric bus penetration in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, and Halifax. Integrating capital costs, dynamic fuel prices, social costs of pollution, and carbon pricing, the study quantifies GHG reductions from 2019 to 2030, with emission cuts ranging from 18.7% to 34.6% under energy system decarbonization (ESD) scenarios. The results emphasize the need for localized strategies within a polycentric governance framework.
The third study analyzes real-world operational data from Montreal’s transit network to evaluate battery electric bus (BEB) energy performance under seasonal variations. Energy consumption peaks during winter due to auxiliary heating and road friction, while regenerative braking performs optimally at mid-speeds (30–50 km/h) in warmer conditions. Findings demonstrate the influence of climate and road conditions on BEB energy efficiency and operational cost.
The final study develops machine learning-based models to estimate trip-level BEB energy consumption using three years of operational data. The models incorporate external variables such as temperature, state of charge, traffic conditions, road gradient, and stop frequency. Key predictors of BEB energy demand are identified, offering insights for route optimization and energy-efficient scheduling. Together, these studies provide a multiscale, data-driven framework for understanding and advancing electric bus adoption in the context of clean energy transitions. The findings inform both national policy planning and local transit system optimization, supporting the broader goal of achieving sustainable, low-carbon urban mobility in cold-climate regions
Exploring Extracellular Vesicle-Based Enzyme Replacement Therapies Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae As A Model
No full textLysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) are a group of inherited metabolic diseases characterized by deficiencies in lysosomal enzymes, leading to the accumulation of undegraded substrates and progressive cellular dysfunction. Patients often present with symptoms such as developmental delay, vision and hearing impairments, seizures, and neurological decline. Current enzyme replacement therapies (ERTs) offer treatment for some LSDs but are limited by poor bioavailability, poor efficacy, high cost and development of resistance. Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis type 10 (CLN10), caused by cathepsin D deficiency, exemplifies this challenge. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as promising nanocarriers capable of crossing the blood brain barrier and effectively delivering functional cargo with low immunogenicity. In this study, we investigated the potential of EV-mediated delivery of Pep4, the yeast homolog of human cathepsin D, to restore lysosomal function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae models deficient in Pep4. I hypothesized that EVs containing Pep4 released from donor yeast cells would be endocytosed and delivered to vacuoles within target yeast lacking PEP4 (pep4∆). Here, Pep4 may cleave and activate the alkaline phosphatase Pho8, whose enzymatic activity was measured using an optimized colorimetric assay. Initial donor and target cell co-culture experiments with unmodified donor strains failed to restore enzymatic activity in target cells, indicating insufficient natural Pep4 packaging into EVs. To enhance Pep4 loading, I genetically modified donor cells to over-express Pep4 fused to the mammalian EV-sorting protein TSG101 and mNeonGreen (TSG101-Pep4-mNeonGreen). This strategy increased EV release but did not improve functional enzyme delivery. Characterization of engineered EVs revealed low TSG101-Pep4-mNeonGreen incorporation, with most tagged protein detected in soluble extracellular fractions rather than within EVs. Adding these EVs to pep4∆ target cells only marginally restored alkaline phosphatase activity. These findings highlight the challenges of efficient enzyme loading into EVs and suggest that additional engineering strategies are needed to improve cargo incorporation and therapeutic efficacy. This work establishes S. cerevisiae as a platform for exploring EV-based enzyme delivery and provides insight into the molecular constraints of EV cargo sorting, with implications for developing novel treatments for lysosomal storage disorders