Concordia University

About: Concordia University is a education organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Control theory & Population. The organization has 13565 authors who have published 31084 publications receiving 783525 citations. The organization is also known as: Sir George Williams University & Loyola College, Montreal.

Cartography I Mapping narrative cartography

Abstract: This report focuses on the growing interest in the relationship between maps, narratives and meta-narratives. Following a brief historical contextualization of these relationships, this report explores their current state in the Geoweb era. Using the distinction between story maps and grid maps as an analytical framework, I review emerging issues around the extensive use of technologies and online mapping services (i.e. Google maps) to convey stories and to produce new ones. Drawing on literature in film studies, literary studies, visual arts, computer science and communication I also emphasize the emergence of new forms of spatial expressions interested in providing different perspectives about places and about stories associated to places. In sum, I argue that mapping both vernacular knowledge and fiction is central understanding places in depth.

Services Used and Factors Considered Important in Selecting a Bank: An Investigation across Diverse Demographic Segments

Abstract: Consumers perceive the following criteria as important in their selection and patronage of commercial banking facilities. Services relating to chequing accounts are of greater importance than those relating to savings accounts. Speed of service, locational convenience, competence and friendliness of bank personnel are also important. Significant differences in attitudes and opinions between the sexes, language, age, income and educational level groups are revealed. These results come from a study carried out in Montreal, which was chosen for its highly competitive banking environment. By tailoring their marketing strategies to stress the satisfaction of the above features, bank marketers may be better able to influence the target market segments dealt with.

The effect of early musical training on adult motor performance: evidence for a sensitive period in motor learning

Abstract: Developmental changes in the human brain coincide with and underlie changes in a wide range of motor and cognitive abilities. Neuroimaging studies have shown that musical training can result in structural and functional plasticity in the brains of musicians, and that this plasticity is greater for those who begin training early in life. However, previous studies have not controlled for differences between early-trained (ET) and late-trained (LT) musicians in the total number of years of musical training and experience. In the present experiment, we tested musicians who began training before and after the age of 7 on learning of a timed motor sequence task. The groups were matched for years of musical experience, years of formal training and hours of current practice. Results showed that ET musicians performed better than LT musicians, and that this performance advantage persisted after 5 days of practice. Performance differences were greatest for a measure of response synchronization, suggesting that early training has its greatest effect on neural systems involved in sensorimotor integration and timing. These findings support the idea that there may be a sensitive period in childhood where enriched motor training through musical practice results in long-lasting benefits for performance later in life. These results are also consistent with the results of studies showing structural changes in motor-related regions of the brain in musicians that are specifically related to training early in life.

Autonomic responses to heat pain: Heart rate, skin conductance, and their relation to verbal ratings and stimulus intensity

Abstract: In human pain experiments, as well as in clinical settings, subjects are often asked to assess pain using scales (eg, numeric rating scales). Although most subjects have little difficulty in using these tools, some lack the necessary basic cognitive or motor skills (eg, paralyzed patients). Thus, the identification of appropriate nonverbal measures of pain has significant clinical relevance. In this study, we assessed heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC), and verbal ratings in 39 healthy male subjects during the application of twelve 6-s heat stimuli of different intensities on the subjects’ left forearm. Both HR and SC increased with more intense painful stimulation. However, HR but not SC, significantly correlated with pain ratings at the group level, suggesting that HR may be a better predictor of between-subject differences in pain than is SC. Conversely, changes in SC better predicted variations in ratings within a given individual, suggesting that it is more sensitive to relative changes in perception. The differences in findings derived from between- and within-subject analyses may result from greater within-subject variability in HR. We conclude that at least for male subjects, HR provides a better predictor of pain perception than SC, but that data should be averaged over several stimulus presentations to achieve consistent results. Nevertheless, variability among studies, and the indication that gender of both the subject and experimenter could influence autonomic results, lead us to advise caution in using autonomic or any other surrogate measures to infer pain in individuals who cannot adequately report their perception.

The social construction of fairness: social influence and sense making in organizations

Abstract: This paper explores how the social relationships employees have with peers and managers are associated with perceptions of organizational justice. These relationships are theoretically modelled as the conduits for social comparison, social cues, and social identification, which are sources of sense making about fairness ‘in the eyes of the beholder.’ It is argued that perceptions of procedural and interactional justice are affected by this type of social information processing because: (1) uncertainty exists about organizational procedures; (2) norms of interpersonal treatment vary between organizational cultures; and (3) interpersonal relationships symbolize membership in the organization. A structural equations model of data from workers in a telecommunications company showed that an employee's perceptions of both procedural and interactional fairness were significantly associated with the interactional fairness perceptions of a peer. In addition, employees' social capital, conceived as the number of relationships with managers, was positively associated with perceptions of interactional fairness. In the structural model, both procedural and interactional justice were themselves significant predictors of satisfaction with managerial maintenance of the employment relationship. The discussion highlights the key role which the fairness of interpersonal treatment appears to play in the formation of justice judgements. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.