VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Denaturalizing Information Visualization
Keywords: 3D Printing
Critical Data Studies
Data Literacy
Infovis
Representation
Visualization

This dissertation investigates how, behind the recent proliferation of information visualization technologies, a number of opaque epistemic conventions structure distinct practices of data analysis, sensemaking, argumentation, and persuasion. The dissertation's primary claim is that contemporary infovis practices and tools naturalize specific representational forms and modes of interaction (e.g. ocularcentric objectivity) at the expense of others. It examines this naturalization process through a series of four interconnected case studies that consider, in turn, the translation of 2D images and graphics into tangible 3D objects; the development of two multimodal visualization projects; scale experiments in a virtual reality-based visualization environment; and an empirical study of 14 blind and visually impaired citizens interacting with tactile data objects. By surfacing specific naturalizations and attempting to denaturalize them, these four case studies illuminate a host of critical issues (e.g. a long-simmering tension between truth and aesthetic concerns) raised by the appearance of new interactive approaches to visualization. In doing so, they also demonstrate alternative visualization methods that might be deployed in service of a more critical infovis practice. As a result, the dissertation contributes to an emerging body of critical infovis research that spans domains ranging from HCI to critical data studies. Visualization media has become the de facto currency of data interpretation, and a rich and nuanced understanding of the epistemology of information visualization is absolutely necessary. Discussions around the challenge of multimodal representation, the tendency for new media to produce epistemic conflict, and the benefits of critical data literacy, all of which appear in the dissertation, will help colour in this rich and nuanced picture of visualization.
Looking for Beyond the Standard Model Physics in Dijet-Plus-Lepton Final-State Events Collected with the ATLAS Detector
Keywords: ATLAS
BSM
CERN
dijet resonance
leptons
LHC

A search for a new resonant state decaying exclusively to two quarks in events with at least two jets and one isolated charged lepton using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at √ s = 13 TeV is presented. Requiring a charged lepton in dijet final states provides sensitivity to extensions of the Standard Model which predict the production of dijet resonances in association with leptonically-decaying vector bosons or top quarks. Whereas inclusive searches are limited to resonance masses greater than 1 TeV due to jet-based triggers which have a minimum jet transverse momentum of about 400 GeV, lepton triggers can be as low as 24 GeV, thereby permitting access to resonance masses of order 100 GeV. The search presented in this thesis considers a dijet invariant mass range between 0.22–6.3 TeV. The largest deviation between the number of observed events and the Standard Model background estimate was found at a dijet invariant mass mjj = 1.3 TeV with a global statistical significance of 0.5 standard deviations. In the absence of a statistically significant deviation of the data from the background expectation, exclusion limits are set at a 95% confidence level on the presence of generic Gaussian-shaped signals of different masses and widths. Such signals are excluded with cross sections ranging from 40–0.03 fb between 0.25–6.0 TeV. Limits are also set in the context of a Technicolor model and a Simplified Dark Matter model. A follow-up search using a machine learning approach is discussed last.
Subgraph Density and Graph Clustering
Keywords: Data Science
Graph Clustering
Unsupervised Learning

Graph clustering, also often referred to as network community detection, is an unsupervised learning task. It is the process of grouping vertices into sets of vertices that share common relations. Graph clustering is a pivotal topic in the field of network science. It has applications in various areas such as the analysis of chemical, biological and social networks and any other area where a macroscopic systems point of view is important. Currently, three open problems emerge from the literature: determining if a graph is clusterable before any clustering effort is undertaken, assessing the quality of clusterings identified by an algorithm and the development of fast accurate clustering techniques. In this dissertation, we attempt to answer these three open questions. We use heterogeneity in local densities to determine whether a graph is suited for clustering, if it has a clustered structure to begin with. We also compare global, mean intra-cluster and mean inter-cluster densities to assess the quality and strength of the clusters identified by any clustering algorithm. Finally, as a minor contribution, we examine the possibility of using intra-cluster density maximization as a clustering algorithm. Our clusterability test is shown to be more accurate than techniques proposed in the very recent literature and to rely on fewer assumptions. We demonstrate how heterogeneous densities can be used to identify graphs that display a clustered structure. On the topic of clustering quality assessment, we offer an alternative to the very widely used and problematic modularity quality function. This alternative is consistent with the sets of axioms defining good clustering quality functions, which have been presented by numerous authors. We base our measures on our own definition of clustering quality and accompanying necessary and sufficient conditions. Our approach is shown to be more responsive to connectivity patterns than both modularity and conductance measures. Finally, we also explore intra-cluster density as an objective function to be maximized, for the purpose of clustering. We show how an ensemble optimization meta-heuristic may offer a solution to the clustering problem.
How to Work Wisely: Work Wisdom Arising from Three-dimensional Mindfulness
Keywords: Buddhist wisdom
mindfulness
organizational values
virtue
well-being
work stress

While research on the benefits of mindfulness for organizational well-being and performance has dramatically increased during the past decade, rarely has it revealed obstacles experienced by practitioners in integrating mindfulness into work. Further, I argue that the literature on mindfulness fails to fully integrate three dimensions of Buddhism: virtue, concentration and wisdom, referred to as ‘Three-Dimensional Mindfulness,’ which together increase the effectiveness of mindfulness in ending stress. To facilitate this integration, I explore two research questions: 1) ‘How do Buddhist-informed and secular-informed mindfulness practitioners reduce work stress and improve work performance through mindfulness practice in work-life?’ and 2) ‘What obstacles do they experience in integrating mindfulness into work?’ Critical reflexivity and critical phenomenology are employed as a methodological framework for qualitative interviewing. Data are drawn from interviews with 21 long-term Buddhist mindfulness practitioners, 16 of whom are from Buddhist traditions and 5 from secular traditions. Findings show that practicing Three-Dimensional Mindfulness helped both groups reduce work stress and improve work performance. However, both groups constantly experienced internal difficulties of not being able to accept stress instantaneously and external difficulties due to unsupportive external work conditions and attributing causes of stress to these conditions. To embrace, transform or overcome these difficulties, participants tried to put more effort into practicing Three-Dimensional Mindfulness and/or change or accept external work conditions. However, some external difficulties, such as the contradiction between compassion and competition, were viewed by some participants as more complicated to overcome. In handling these difficulties, participants showed four patterns: A) prioritizing work, B) prioritizing Three-Dimensional Mindfulness, C) not prioritizing either, and D) combining them. Most Buddhist-informed participants fell within the first three patterns; secular-informed participants and one Buddhist-informed participant fit the last pattern. Patterns A and C show positive organizational outcomes of resilience and retention, while Patterns B and D have mixed results of resilience or resistance and retention or turnover. To remedy this disconnect between Three-Dimensional Mindfulness and work, I propose that organizations align their values with Buddhist values. These findings contribute to the fields of adult education, Buddhist studies and human resources management in transforming work-life. Keywords: mindfulness, Buddhist wisdom, work stress, organizational values, well-being, virtue
A Cognitive Work Analysis of a Pedagogical Documentation Technology in Ontario's Kindergarten Program
Keywords: Digital
Documentation
Kindergarten
Ontario
Pedagogical
Technology

Abstract Research has shown that factors related to the home learning environment are roughly twice as significant in influencing the social and cognitive development of young children as any factors related to preschool (Siraj-Blatchford, Taggart, Sylva, Sammons, Melhuish, 2008). Therefore, maintaining a reciprocal connection between the home learning environment and school has become a critical component of early childhood educational programs in Canada. Recently, early childhood practitioners have been turning to pedagogical documentation technology (PDT) to forge this connection. This study examined the impact of a PDT, called Storypark, on the home-school connection in 11 kindergarten classrooms at four schools in a large, urban school district in Ontario. By applying Vicente's (2003) Human-tech framework to cognitive work analysis (CWA), this study followed a design research methodology to examine the impact of and promising practices for PDT use in Ontario’s Kindergarten Program. Eight lessons pertaining to PDT and two lessons pertaining to CWA resulted from these analyses. PDT lessons showed that PDT supported: 1) Parent-educator communication, 2) The parent-educator relationship, 3) Parents’ understanding of their children’s classroom learning, 4) Educators’ and parents’ understanding of The Kindergarten Program curriculum, 5) Conversations between parents and their children, 6) Student learning and 7) Parents’ involvement in their children’s learning. However, while PDT supported these areas of the home-school connection, the eighth PDT lesson showed that the Human-tech relationship could be improved to support a stronger home-school connection. CWA lessons showed that CWA: 1) Predicted the extent to which a PDT was successfully adopted and 2) Provided useful information about which Human-tech factors need to be modified in order to support a more effective adoption of PDT. More specifically, factors pertaining to the political and organizational levels of the work environment were identified. This thesis makes important contributions to a growing evidence base, which demonstrates the positive impact that PDT can have in promoting educator-parent communication and partnerships, parent-child conversations and student learning in early childhood educational settings. Furthermore, it is the first study of its kind to identify promising practices for PDT use in the context of an early learning program in Canada.
Ligand Chemistry and Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics of Perovskite Quantum Well Photovoltaics
Keywords: Exciton
Ligand
Perovskite
Photovoltaic
Quantum Well
Ultrafast

Metal halide perovskites are solution-processed materials that exhibit remarkable optoelectronic properties combined with the prospect of inexpensive manufacturing. Bulk 3D metal halide perovskite lattices exhibit limited stability, in part a result of ions within their lattice that are labile; and rapid decomposition in the presence of moisture. 3D perovskites can be rendered into two-dimensional perovskite quantum wells (PQWs), and these are stabilized and protected by van der Waals-bonded organic molecular ligands, leading to longer material lifetimes. Mixtures of variably confined PQWs lead to new photophysical properties that have important consequences for light harvesting and light emitting devices. In this thesis I present new ligand chemistry and ultrafast photophysical properties of next-generation mixed dimensionality perovskite materials. First, I use the novel ligand allylammonium to synthesize PQW thin films with superior well width monodispersity compared to conventional ligands. This results in a smooth energy landscape and enhanced photovoltaic performance and is the first study to determine that highly confined PQWs act as traps in otherwise dimensionally pure films. Next, I use another novel ligand, 4-vinylbenzylammonium, to form 2D/3D mixed dimensional heterostructures whose interfaces can be photochemically crosslinked to improve the ambient and operational stability of solar cells, while also improving their performance to exceed 20% PCE. Lastly, I study ultrafast energy and charge transfer processes between mixed PQWs and organic dye ligands. I use ultrafast transient absorption and two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to determine that interwell exciton transfer occurs on timescales of 100s of femtoseconds, whereas charge transfer occurs over 10s – 100s of picoseconds. When PQWs are synthesized using naphthalenediimide ligands, subpicosecond electron transfer from PQWs to organic ligands is observed, leading to the formation of charge separated states between the organic and inorganic components of the type-II heterostructure. The contributions within this thesis provide new understandings of how PQW ligands can be used to alter ultrafast photoinduced dynamics; tailor molecular interfaces; and control size polydispersity in lead halide perovskite quantum wells towards more efficient and stable optoelectronic devices.
Listening to Writers and Riders: Partial Contrast and the Perception of Canadian Raising
Keywords: Canadian English
dialect variation
psycholinguistics
speech perception

Listeners generally have a greater perceptual sensitivity to native contrasts compared to allophones (Whalen et al., 1997; Boomershine et al., 2008) or non-native contrasts (Goto, 1971; Sundara et al., 2006) in discrimination and other tasks. Recent research has emphasized the gradient nature of contrast, showing that many phonological relationships are intermediate or variable between contrast and allophony (Hall, 2009, 2013). This dissertation presents a series of experiments investigating the perception of what has been called marginal contrast or partial contrast using Canadian Raising as a testing ground. Experiment 1 tests discrimination of raised and non-raised diphthongs ([ʌj]~[aj] and [ʌw]~[aw]) in different phonological environments, finding better discrimination in the contrastive environment where they can create different words than in the allophonic environment where they cannot, but only for one of the two diphthongs (/aj/ but not /aw/). This diphthong difference was ambiguous—it could be a property of the diphthongs themselves, or it could have been a result of the stimuli used, specifically that [ʌj]~[aj] has more recognizable minimal pairs (e.g., writing/riding) than [ʌw]~[aw] (e.g., clouting/clouding). Experiments 2, 3, and 4 clarify this partial contrast effect and diphthong difference, finding support for an inherent diphthong difference (using non-words in Experiment 2) and for an additional effect of the minimal pairs (Experiments 3 and 4). Experiments 1b, 1c, 2b, 3b, and 4b are semi-replications of these initial four experiments. They lack an additional experimental condition that was present in the original experiments, and in each case the original partial contrast effect fails to replicate, suggesting that partial contrast effects depend on quality/quantity of linguistic exposure. Finally, Experiment 5 tests discrimination of Canadian Raising diphthongs by Canadians and Americans, finding generally faster and more accurate discrimination by Canadians, with differences between different American regions as well. Together, these experiments provide insight first and foremost into the effect of contrast—specifically partial contrast—on discrimination, as well as other topics such as cross-dialectal perception (and the effect of dialect stereotypes and dialect exposure on perception) and regional differences in the production of raising (and related phenomena) in Canada and the United States.
An Investigation into Relationships between Organizational Structure, Regulation and Quality in Ontario Nursing Homes
Keywords: Econometrics
Nursing homes
Organizational structure
Ownership type
Quality of care
Regulation

Ensuring the delivery of high quality nursing home (NH) care has proved complex to achieve. This complexity may stem in part from the uncertainty that exists around the determinants of quality and the effectiveness of policy tools that can be used to ensure quality across heterogeneous NH providers. Ontario has the highest proportion of for-profit, chain-owned NHs in Canada and witnessed significant change in its regulatory approach in 2010. Drawing on Ontario’s NH context, this thesis examines three research questions: 1. What is known about the effects of government regulation on NH quality? 2. Does NH organizational structure affect the production of quality and, if so, how? 3. What are the effects of government regulation on NH quality and do effects differ according to NH ownership type? These questions are examined as separate studies, including a systematic review and two empirical analyses. The systematic review revealed that the majority of the literature concerning the effects of regulation on NH quality comes from the US. The evidence suggests that quality tends to improve in dimensions explicitly targeted by the regulation, but that unintended consequences are not uncommon. The analysis of relationships between NH organizational structure and quality found that, with the exception of two quality indicators (QIs), statistically significant differences according to organizational structure were not observed. The seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) error correlation matrix revealed the presence of significant error correlations between different QIs, indicating complementary relationships and potential trade-offs in the pursuit of multidimensional quality. The analysis of the effects of regulation on NH quality revealed statistically significant improvements in three of seven QIs that were targeted by the regulation and improvements in four of the nine QIs that were not targeted. These results imply that quality improvements in targeted QIs did not come at the expense of declines in non-targeted QIs. By using a SUR framework, the empirical analyses modeled the production of quality in a manner consistent with the literature that recognizes quality as a multidimensional construct. In doing so, the model harnessed information on the correlations between objectives and the synergies and trade-offs NHs face when pursuing multiple goals.
Anaerobic Biodegradation of Chlorinated Benzenes and Hexachlorocyclohexane by Mixed Microbial Cultures Derived from Contaminated Field Sites
Keywords: anaerobic
benzenes
chlorinated
cultures
dehalogenation
hexachlorocyclohexane

Environmental contamination with toxic organohalides is of worldwide concern. Chlorinated ethenes, benzenes, and pesticides are organohalides frequently found in contaminated soil and groundwater. Bioaugmentation with mixed microbial cultures derived from contaminated sites has been successfully applied to remediate groundwater contaminated with chlorinated ethenes and ethanes, in which the halogenated compounds are electron acceptors in microbial respiration. On the other hand, in situ bioremediation of soil, sediment, and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated benzenes and the pesticide γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane) has yet to be comprehensively explored. Hexachlorocyclohexane has been reported to dechlorinate into a mixture of chlorinated benzenes, so the bioremediation of these two types of organohalides is highly interrelated. In this thesis, the organohalide bioremediation potential of previously established and novel anaerobic mixed cultures was investigated using analytical and molecular omics techniques. In the commercial chlorinated ethene-to-ethene dechlorinating culture KB-1, cobalamin (vitamin B12), an essential corrinoid cofactor for the reductive dehalogenation of vinyl chloride, was determined to be supplied to organohalide-respiring Dehalococcoides by a growing Acetobacterium population. After switching the electron acceptor from trichloroethene to 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, native KB-1 Dehalobacter populations that respire chlorinated benzenes were identified along with a KB-1 reductive dehalogenase enzyme that dechlorinates 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene to 1,3- and 1,4-dichlorobenzene. In addition, the metagenome-assembled genomes of three distinct KB-1 Dehalobacter spp. were shown to contain more than 70 reductive dehalogenase genes (rdh) which considerably increases the number of known KB-1 rdh genes and will allow for the examination of evolutionary relationships in Dehalobacter genomes. A Dehalobacter-containing culture (referred to as GT), enriched from soils and sediments contaminated with hexachlorocyclohexane, was shown to dechlorinate lindane to monochlorobenzene and benzene, and was found to contain a Dehalobacter population that use γ-hexachlorocyclohexane as terminal electron acceptor. A GT culture was combined with a KB-1 subculture that dechlorinates monochlorobenzene to benzene, and a benzene-degrading culture, to achieve complete biotransformation of lindane to non-toxic end products. Using metagenomics and proteomics data, a novel reductive dehalogenase enzyme, HchA, was for the first time identified. Altogether, this body of work demonstrates that the mixed cultures KB-1 and GT have bioremediation potential against the chlorinated benzenes and hexachlorocyclohexane, respectively.