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Bright Shadows
Get PDFThis graduate project explores the relationship between the body, disability, and printmaking, using the body as both a subject and a matrix for artistic expression. It examines how the body's presence and absence can be visually and physically recorded through tactile processes. By engaging with concepts such as embodiment, sensory perception, and haptic visuality, the research challenges conventional representations of the disabled body.
The project investigates how body printing can capture the lived experience of a body that does not conform to normative structures. The impressions left on surfaces serve as traces of movement, memory, and self-perception, transforming personal narratives into tangible forms.
By positioning the body as a medium and a subject, this research offers a space for reimagining physicality and difference. It invites a deeper engagement with how bodies, particularly disabled bodies, are perceived, experienced, and understood within social and artistic contexts
Book Review: Practicing Privacy Literacy in Academic Libraries: Theories, Methods, and Cases edited by Sarah Hartman-Caverly and Alexandria Chisholm
No full textAcute Effects of a Resistance and Aerobic Intervention with Blood Flow Restriction on Vasodilation, Blood Flow and Muscle Oxygenation in Young Adults
Get PDFBlood flow restriction (BFR) training, a technique combining low intensity exercise with blood flow occlusion, has been shown to be safe and effective in eliciting gains in muscle mass and strength across multiple populations including athletes and rehabilitating individuals. Benefits such as producing less muscle damage leading to faster recovery after training and the deterrence of muscular atrophy after surgery have made this an increasingly popular technique. Currently, much of the literature has probed the long-term effects of BFR on the human body, often testing participants over a few weeks or months. Despite this, little is still known about the immediate effects of BFR. A study was conducted to examine the acute effects of BFR on a young and healthy population. Chapter 1 provides theoretical context to this project and examines the current literature. Chapter 2 describes the study that was conducted to gain greater insight into the acute effects of BFR training, specifically looking at the effects on vasodilation, blood flow and muscle oxygenation. Lastly, chapter 3 includes a conclusion and future research directions
Menstruation Beyond “Womanhood”: Understanding and Inscribing Queer Experiences of Menstruation in Montreal
Get PDFThis thesis problematizes the assumption that menstruation is exclusively a woman's issue. Inspired by my own personal discomfort around menstruation, the question this research seeks to answer is “how do queer— more specifically, trans and non-binary—individuals in Montreal experience and talk about menstruation?” To address this question, I detail the menstrual experiences of three nonbinary individuals, one transgender man, and one transgender woman. I engage with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interpret their accounts. The method was developed by Jonathan A. Smith, Paul Flowers, and Michael Larkin (2009) to understand life experiences and embodied phenomena through a rigorous engagement with participants’ narratives. The method has been adapted for anthropological use in the current thesis and has been used in conjunction with a digital ethnography of Instagram and TikTok to analyze how menstruation is discussed on social media platforms. The most significant theme that emerged from data analysis is that neoliberal policies and bio-power influence how transgender and nonbinary people experience menstruation. Some participants experience the effects firsthand when trying to access medical care, while others feel it more discretely in the ways that menstrual products are marketed. This theme is explored at length in the thesis’ third chapter but runs as an undercurrent throughout the rest of the chapters. This thesis contributes to research on trans and nonbinary experiences of menstruation and aims to promote an understanding of menstruation outside of womanhood. I conclude that menstruation is a gender-neutral bodily function and should be understood as such
Investigating the Conceptualization of Divinity in the Eden Narrative (Gen 2 ̶ 3): An Exegetical Project
Get PDFGenesis 3:22 is like a proverbial fork in the road for advocates of the doctrine of monotheism who argue for the belief in the existence of one God in ancient Israelite religious life. The pericope implicitly posits a version of divinity that contradicts the monotheistic claim because it briefly depicts Yahweh conversing with other entities he acknowledges as divine, like himself. Consequently, this thesis paper aims to critically revisit the representation and conceptualization of the divine in the Eden narrative. The purpose is to discover how the text represents this concept despite traditional presuppositions. A qualitative approach centered on the synchronic evaluation of the Hebrew text is prioritized in this research. A macro syntactic analysis is used to dissect the text. Additionally, a hermeneutics informed by methods from text linguistics and some elements of semiotics is employed to produce an innovative translation that exhibits biblical Hebrew’s modal and volitive nuances and reveals rhetorical and literary techniques the authors designed to convey their message. This investigation is supplemented by a comparative study of the biblical writers’ use of concepts like the Divine Council and words like the abstract plural אֱלֹהִ֔ים with cognates from the late Bronze Age ancient Near East, which is the period and geographical milieu for the emergence of ancient Israel as a people. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that the authors might have constructed this profound story based on typical ancient Near East primeval myths to establish Yahweh as governor over gods and humans but also meant to invite the audience to imagine divine governance that is non-coercive and relational
Crafting Authenticity: How Heritage Shop Owners Shape the Consumer Subject
Get PDFFrom the mid-1980s through the early-2020s, Montreal’s commercial landscape saw a proliferation of heritage shops selling imported items from South-Asia such as incense, crystals, clothing, jewelry, home décor, and more. Today, the city’s zeitgeist has changed, but these shops still remain. Hence, what efforts do these shop owners exert to construct their authenticity and keep this heritage consumer subject alive? Previous research has either taken too vast of an institutional approach in studying this phenomenon or has focused too closely on the product that is the consumer subject itself. Thus, the literature does not take a balanced approach by studying the retail market actors themselves and the actions they specifically take to shape their ideal consumer subject. To fill this gap, this research employs a qualitative approach, combining three research methods: in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and secondary data. Overall, this thesis uncovers the muti-layered process that heritage shop owners undertake to shape consumer subjects. It contributes to the marketing literature by applying existing notions of authenticity to a new commercial niche and geographical context and by investigating the role that shop owners specifically play in the ethnic market sphere. For managers, this study can serve as a beginner’s guide for opening a business—or filling in any gaps of an existing business— that employs the construct of authenticity as understood, perceived, and crafted through managers’ very own eyes
Techniques to Improve the Parsing of Unstructured Logs for AIOps
Get PDFArtificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) is revolutionizing IT management by incorporating AI, machine learning, and big data analytics to automate and enhance system operations. Logs are the backbone of AIOps—they provide the fundamental data on system events, user activities, and performance metrics that AIOps needs for proactive monitoring, predictive analytics, and maintaining system health. Log management, especially log parsing, is therefore critical for identifying anomalies, diagnosing failures, and ensuring overall operational efficiency. However, challenges such as diverse log formats, insufficient logging guidelines, the sheer volume of logs, and the need for real-time insights significantly limit the precision, scalability, and effectiveness of AIOps.
This thesis develops novel methods for universal log parsing, introduces accurate evaluation metrics, proposes a comprehensive taxonomy of log characteristics, and addresses privacy compliance, collectively advancing the efficacy, scalability, and trustworthiness of AIOps.
Inaccurate log parsing can lead to inaccurate insights—misleading or incorrect conclusions drawn from analysis. Such errors may cause AIOps to misclassify events, overlook crucial anomalies, or generate noise that obscures genuine issues. To address this, the first major contribution of this thesis is the development of ULP (Universal Log Parser), which leverages a frequent token counting method to identify recurring patterns and extract log templates efficiently. By reducing computational complexity, ULP enables faster, more accurate log parsing, making it highly effective for large-scale IT environments—a key capability for the automation and responsiveness required in AIOps.
The second contribution is AML (Accuracy Metric for Log Parsing), a structured framework for evaluating the accuracy of log parsing. Traditional metrics are insufficient for heterogeneous log formats, leading to errors and subsequent misguided AIOps decisions. AML offers nuanced metrics that account for both omission and commission errors, enabling detailed and reliable comparisons across different log parsers.
The third contribution is a taxonomy of log characteristics, categorizing logs based on their structural and contextual properties. This taxonomy not only guides parser design by clarifying how logs differ across applications but also informs logging practices, helping practitioners tailor log writing strategies for better analytics.
The fourth contribution focuses on enhancing log privacy compliance, a crucial aspect in AIOps —especially as automated processes handle large volumes of sensitive log data. The thesis provides guidelines for evaluating and managing privacy risks associated with log data, ensuring that the automation capabilities of AIOps remain compliant with stringent privacy regulations and best practices.
Together, these contributions form a framework for advancing log parsing within AIOps. It is a holistic approach—encompassing efficient universal parsing, robust accuracy evaluation, a guiding taxonomy, and built-in privacy compliance—that addresses the entire life cycle of log-based analytics. This framework ultimately strengthens the capabilities of IT operations to be more proactive, responsive, and compliant, paving the way for the next generation of AIOps-driven IT management
The Art of Uncertainty: Narrative Strategies in the Fiction of Daphne du Maurier
Get PDFThis research undertakes an analysis of Daphne du Maurier's novelistic achievements, challenging the standard genre classifications often assigned to her work and seeking to define the fundamental aspects of her narrative strategies. Moving beyond the constraints of genre conventions and biographical interpretations, the central aim is to illuminate the inherent literary power of her fiction. To this end, the study examines a carefully chosen selection of seven novels spanning her extensive literary career (nearly four decades): Jamaica Inn (1936), Rebecca (1938), My Cousin Rachel (1951), The Scapegoat (1957), The Flight of the Falcon (1965), The House on the Strand (1969), and Rule Britannia (1972), with the explicit exclusion of works based on factual or historical events.
The findings of this research reveal several key insights. Primarily, it argues that analyzing Daphne du Maurier's novels through the lens of genre conventions is not the most fruitful approach. Instead, it advocates for an analysis centered on the concept of Uncertainty. Furthermore, it identifies a discernible literary chronology, organized into three distinct cycles: the Gothic Romance cycle, the Masculine cycle, and the Speculative cycle. Finally, this thesis observes the author's dynamic relationship with genre conventions, emphasizing her consistent resistance to being bound by any single category and the proactive creation of her own writing conditions to sustain her exploration of uncertainty
Automation And Intelligence In IT Operation Management: Machine Learning for Capacity Planning and Load Testing Optimization
Get PDFThe increasing complexity and scale of modern IT infrastructures necessitate innovative strategies to maintain efficiency, reliability, and cost effectiveness. Large scale industrial systems require precise capacity planning to manage fluctuating demands, prevent downtime, and operate within optimal cost parameters. However, traditional capacity planning methods often fall short in today’s dynamic environments. This dissertation introduces an agentic approach to AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) aimed at enhancing the maintenance and operational stability of large scale systems. Effective capacity planning is essential for stable system operations. Over provisioning leads to resource waste, while under provisioning can cause failures and diminished performance. By utilizing load testing data and advanced machine learning (ML) models, we propose a blueprint process that optimizes system capacity planning. Integrating ML into this process enhances predictive capabilities, enabling proactive resource scaling, reducing costs, and increasing system resilience. A significant challenge in optimizing this process is the inefficiency and time consuming nature of traditional load testing. Existing methodologies often require substantial manual effort and considerable time to simulate large scale workloads. To address this, we propose a framework that streamlines load testing through automation and early stopping rules based on spike detection techniques for system Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). By leveraging a system’s ability to predict KPI spikes, we can dynamically adjust capacity as needed. We aim to integrate these processes into tools utilized by LLM (Large Language Model) agents within an AIOps system. These tools will act as intermediaries for monitoring and maintaining large scale systems. This integration will establish a fully managed architecture, where AIOps agents enhance the IT operations team’s ability to perform proactive maintenance, respond to new incidents, autonomously monitor system health, predict potential issues, and implement proactive measures to maintain optimal performance. This dissertation presents a novel approach to enhancing efficiency in large scale systems by combining automation and load testing improvements with machine learning and LLM agents. By developing a comprehensive, scalable framework, this research seeks to reduce operational overhead and establish a new standard for IT system management and load testing practices within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) in industrial settings
Performing MANUAL in the Library
Get PDFIn 2022, contemporary artists Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes approached Concordia University’s Webster Library with a proposal to have their performative artwork MANUAL hosted in the library under the auspices of the Offta Live Art Festival. The library served as a creative incubator and as an immersive platform for Kinner and Willes’s series of intimate, covert, and guided interactions with the public. After a successful run in the Webster Library, the artists continued to develop and present MANUAL in other libraries and festivals across Canada, the UK, Europe, and Asia.
This lightning talk focuses on the initial development of MANUAL as a library-based, exploratory and sensorial artist’s project; how the project evolved over time; and how it navigates through library institutional frameworks. The presentation draws on an interview with Kinner and Willes and, to better understand how MANUAL was experienced by the public, it addresses a selection of published accounts written by individuals who took part in the performance in various libraries. It is also informed by an interview with the coordinator of MANUAL when it was held at the Birmingham Libraries in 2024