VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Mapping Multiliteracies onto the Pedagogy of K-12 Teachers

This qualitative research maps multiliteracies onto the pedagogy of teachers of kindergarten through grade 12. It examines how teachers ready their students to become multiliterate beings, that is, how teachers approach literacy in a manner that is reflective of the diversity of students in order to prepare them for their futures in a competitive digital world. Twenty teachers from Northwestern Ontario were selected using intensity sampling to participate in audio-taped interviews. The sample included three teachers from each of the elementary grades (kindergarten, primary, junior and intermediate) and eight teachers from the secondary panel (intermediate/senior). Teachers were nominated by school administrators and curriculum leaders based on a provided list of multiliteracies indicators. An interview guide was used to isolate elements of the content of multiliteracies (designing processes) and the form (situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice). One teacher from each of the four elementary grade divisions, as well as two teachers from the secondary level were observed and participated in follow-up interviews. Individual interviews were coded using a deductive frame as well as constant comparison. The observational field notes and follow-up interviews were used as triangulation to enrich the interview data. Excel and macros were used to organize the data. Findings document teachers’ conscious inclusions of content reflective of student subjectivities as well as the need for teachers to continue to challenge the role of literacy as more than compensatory education. Teachers’ pedagogies were rooted in engaging students and demonstrated a focus on the affective needs of students that reached beyond multiliteracies theory. Both critical literacies and information technology were integrated into pedagogy, although teachers reported feelings of low confidence and the desire for additional professional development opportunities. Other findings that emerged emphasized a range in orientations to student risk in literacy learning and strong alignments with provincial protocol. This study advances the research field by describing connections between multiliteracies as a theoretical frame and teachers’ perceptions of their literacy practices across grades K-12 and highlights ways in which multiliteracies can extend literacy pedagogy.

Keywords: multiliteracies
pedagogy
K-12
Advisor: Peterson, Shelley Stagg
A Heterogeneous, Purpose Built Computer Architecture For Accelerating Biomolecular Simulation

Molecular dynamics (MD) is a powerful computer simulation technique providing atomistic resolution across a broad range of time scales. In the past four decades, researchers have harnessed the exponential growth in computer power and applied it to the simulation of diverse molecular systems. Although MD simulations are playing an increasingly important role in biomedical research, sampling limitations imposed by both hardware and software constraints establish a \textit{de facto} upper bound on the size and length of MD trajectories. While simulations are currently approaching the hundred-thousand-atom, millisecond-timescale mark using large-scale computing centres optimized for general-purpose data processing, many interesting research topics are still beyond the reach of practical computational biophysics efforts. The purpose of this work is to design a high-speed MD machine which outperforms standard simulators running on commodity hardware or on large computing clusters. In pursuance of this goal, an MD-specific computer architecture is developed which tightly couples the fast processing power of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) computer chips with a network of high-performance CPUs. The development of this architecture is a multi-phase approach. Core MD algorithms are first analyzed and deconstructed to identify the computational bottlenecks governing the simulation rate. High-speed, parallel algorithms are subsequently developed to perform the most time-critical components in MD simulations on specialized hardware much faster than is possible with general-purpose processors. Finally, the functionality of the hardware accelerators is expanded into a fully-featured MD simulator through the integration of novel parallel algorithms running on a network of CPUs. The developed architecture enabled the construction of various prototype machines running on a variety of hardware platforms which are explored throughout this thesis. Furthermore, simulation models are developed to predict the rate of acceleration using different architectural configurations and molecular systems. With initial acceleration efforts focused primarily on expensive van der Waals and Coulombic force calculations, an architecture was developed whereby a single machine achieves the performance equivalent of an 88-core InfiniBand-connected network of CPUs. Finally, a methodology to successively identify and accelerate the remaining time-critical aspects of MD simulations is developed. This design leads to an architecture with a projected performance equivalent of nearly 150 CPU-cores, enabling supercomputing performance in a single computer chassis, plugged into a standard wall socket.

Keywords: molecular dynamics
biomolecular simulation
FPGA
HPRC
high performance reconfigurable computer
HPC
high performance computing
computer architecture
Advisor: Pomès, Régis
Efficient Time-domain Modeling of Periodic-structure-related Microwave and Optical Geometries

A set of tools are proposed for the efficient modeling of several classes of problems related to periodic structures in microwave and optical regimes with Finite-Difference Time-Domain method. The first category of problems under study is the interaction of non-periodic sources and printed elements with infinitely periodic structures. Such problems would typically require a time-consuming simulation of a finite number of unit cells of the periodic structures, chosen to be large enough to achieve convergence. To alleviate computational cost, the sine-cosine method for the Finite-Difference Time-Domain based dispersion analysis of periodic structures is extended to incorporate the presence of non-periodic, wideband sources, enabling the fast modeling of driven periodic structures via a small number of low cost simulations. The proposed method is then modified for the accelerated simulation of microwave circuit geometries printed on periodic substrates. The scheme employs periodic boundary conditions applied at the substrate, to dramatically reduce the computational domain and hence, the cost of such simulations. Emphasis is also given on radiation pattern calculation, and the consequences of the truncated computational domain of the proposed method on the computation of the electric and magnetic surface currents invoked in the near-to-far-field transformation. It has been further demonstrated that from the mesh truncation point of view, the scheme, which has a unified form regardless dispersion and conductivity, serves as a much simpler but equally effective alternative to the Perfectly Matched Layer provided that the simulated domain is periodic in the direction of termination. The second category of problems focuses on the efficient characterization of nonlinear periodic structures. In Finite-Difference Time-Domain, the simulation of these problems is typically hindered by the fine spatial and time gridding. Originally proposed for linear structures, the Alternating-Direction Implicit Finite-Difference Time-Domain method, as well as a novel spatial filtering method, are extended to incorporate nonlinear media. Both methods are able to use time-step sizes beyond the conventional stability limit, offering significant savings in simulation time.

Keywords: Periodic structures
Finite-Difference Time-Domain
Computational electromagnetics
Advisor: Sarris, Costas D.
Message Passing Algorithms for Facility Location Problems

Discrete location analysis is one of the most widely studied branches of operations research, whose applications arise in a wide variety of settings. This thesis describes a powerful new approach to facility location problems - that of message passing inference in probabilistic graphical models. Using this framework, we develop new heuristic algorithms, as well as a new approximation algorithm for a particular problem type. In machine learning applications, facility location can be seen a discrete formulation of clustering and mixture modeling problems. We apply the developed algorithms to such problems in computer vision. We tackle the problem of motion segmentation in video sequences by formulating it as a facility location instance and demonstrate the advantages of message passing algorithms over current segmentation methods.

Keywords: probabilistic graphical models
facility location
MAP inference
Advisor: Aarabi, Parham
Frey, Brendan J.
Exploiting Requirements Variability for Software Customization and Adaptation

The complexity of software systems is exploding, along with their use and application in new domains. Managing this complexity has become a focal point for research in Software Engineering. One direction for research in this area is developing techniques for designing adaptive software systems that self-optimize, self-repair, self-configure and self-protect, thereby reducing maintenance costs, while improving quality of service. This thesis presents a requirements-driven approach for developing adaptive and customizable systems. Requirements goal models are used as a basis for capturing problem variability, leading to software designs that support a space of possible behaviours – all delivering the same functionality. This space can be exploited at system deployment time to customize the system on the basis of user preferences. It can also be used at runtime to support system adaptation if the current behaviour of the running system is deemed to be unsatisfactory. The contributions of the thesis include a framework for systematically generating designs from high-variability goal models. Three complementary design views are generated: configurational view (feature model), behavioural view (statecharts) and an architectural view (parameterized architecture). The framework is also applied to the field of business process management for intuitive high-level process customization. In addition, the thesis proposes a modeling framework for capturing domain variability through contexts and applies it to goal models. A single goal model is used to capture requirements variations in different contexts. Models for particular contexts can then be automatically generated from this global requirements model. As well, the thesis proposes a new class of requirements-about-requirements called awareness requirements. Awareness requirements are naturally operationalized through feedback controllers – the core mechanisms of every adaptive system. The thesis presents an approach for systematically designing monitoring, analysis/diagnosis, and compensation components of a feedback controller, given a set of awareness requirements. Situations requiring adaptation are explicitly captured using contexts.

Keywords: requirements engineering
variability
adaptive systems design
self-adaptive software
Advisor: Mylopoulos, John
Being, Becoming, and Belonging: Exploring Students' Experiences of and Engagement within the International School in Hong Kong

An engaging education attends to the subjective quality of students’ perceptions and experiences within learning and school life: It converges on whether, how, and why students meaning-make and belong within the school; and focuses on the conditions for their attachment, participation, and commitment within school programmes, practices, policies, and people. Three main questions guided this two-phase, mixed-methods study: 1) What makes international schools engaging places for students? 2) What meanings do students attach to key areas of their day-to-day experiences within the international school in Hong Kong? 3) How might re-imagining student engagement through a cosmopolitan lens lead to clearer understandings of students’ experiences within the international school? In Phase 1, an achieved sample of 729 senior secondary students at 9 purposively selected schools were surveyed using a mainly Likert scale questionnaire: to describe their socio-demographics; to examine the relationships between their socio-demographics, attitudinal features, and schooling experiences, as measured by the researcher-designed Experience of International School – Revised (EIS-R) scale; and to cluster using their socio-demographics and attitudinal profiles. Building on the tripartite cluster solution, Phase 2 used observations and interviews with 30 purposively sampled teacher-leaders and 34 students, from across the three clusters, to investigate how the “institutional habitus” (Thomas, 2002) the students encountered at two international schools shaped their experiences of and engagement within the contexts of school culture, community, curriculum, and co-curriculum. A two-stage process of thematic content analysis revealed two super ordinate themes: 1) race/ethnic, linguistic, and nationality identities intersected to shape and challenge patterns of relationships amongst students (and between students/families) and the school to both include and exclude; and 2) the institutional contexts supported and constrained students’ sense of belonging therein. Overall, seen through a cosmopolitan lens the study implications are discussed as three lessons to achieve a better fit between students and the international school: 1) Attend to the school’s living and learning environment; 2) Take a cosmopolitan turn to school for cosmopolitan subjectivity; and 3) Adopt a student engagement-driven approach to improve and reform school policy, administration, and practice.

Keywords: student engagement
mixed methods
international education
international schools
Hong Kong
sociocultural
cosmopolitanism
identity
Advisor: Bascia, Nina
Integrating Probabilistic Reasoning with Constraint Satisfaction

We hypothesize and confirm that probabilistic reasoning is closely related to constraint satisfaction at a formal level, and that this relationship yields effective algorithms for guiding constraint satisfaction and constraint optimization solvers. By taking a unified view of probabilistic inference and constraint reasoning in terms of graphical models, we first associate a number of formalisms and techniques between the two areas. For instance, we characterize search and inference in constraint reasoning as summation and multiplication (or disjunction and conjunction) in the probabilistic space; necessary but insufficient consistency conditions for solutions to constraint problems (like arc-consistency) mirror approximate objective functions over probability distributions (like the Bethe free energy); and the polytope of feasible points for marginal probabilities represents the linear relaxation of a particular constraint satisfaction problem. While such insights synthesize an assortment of existing formalisms from varied research communities, they also yield an entirely novel set of “bias estimation” techniques that contribute to a growing body of research on applying probabilistic methods to constraint problems. In practical terms, these techniques estimate the percentage of solutions to a constraint satisfaction or optimization problem wherein a given variable is assigned a given value. By devising search methods that incorporate such information as heuristic guidance for variable and value ordering, we are able to outperform existing solvers on problems of interest from constraint satisfaction and constraint optimization–-as represented here by the SAT and MaxSAT problems. Further, for MaxSAT we present an equivalent transformation” process that normalizes the weights in constraint optimization problems, in order to encourage prunings of the search tree during branch-and-bound search. To control such computationally expensive processes, we determine promising situations for using them throughout the course of an individual search process. We accomplish this using a reinforcement learning-based control module that seeks a principled balance between the exploration of new strategies and the exploitation of existing experiences.

Keywords: Probabilistic Reasoning
Constraint Satisfaction
Advisor: McIlraith, Sheila Ann
Non-chainable Continua and Lelek's Problem

The set of compact connected metric spaces (continua) can be divided into classes according to the complexity of their descriptions as inverse limits of polyhedra. The simplest such class is the collection of chainable continua, i.e. those which are inverse limits of arcs. In 1964, A. Lelek introduced a notion which is related to chainability, called span zero. A continuum X has span zero if any two continuous maps from any other continuum to X with identical ranges have a coincidence point. Lelek observed that every chainable continuum has span zero; he later asked whether span zero is in fact a characterization of chainability. In this thesis, we construct a non-chainable continuum in the plane which has span zero, thus providing a counterexample for what is now known as Lelek's Problem in continuum theory. Moreover, we show that the plane contains an uncountable family of pairwise disjoint copies of this continuum. We discuss connections with the classical problem of determining up to homeomorphism all the homogeneous continua in the plane.

Keywords: continuum
span
chainable
Advisor: Weiss, William
Preparing Teachers for Effective Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades: Two-year Teacher Preparation Programs in Ontario

Research evidence suggests that quality teacher preparation sets beginning teachers on the right track for effectively teaching literacy. Given that most of the research has been conducted in the United States, there is a shortage of knowledge of the impact of teacher preparation for elementary literacy instruction in Canada. Similarly, little is known about the effect of program length and structure on graduates’ knowledge and skills. This thesis contains two studies aimed at addressing these gaps in the literature in the Ontario context. The majority of teacher preparation programs in Ontario are completed in one year, with the exception of 2 two-year teacher preparation programs. Study 1 is an exploratory investigation comparing the survey responses of 38 graduates from two-year programs with the responses of a matched sample of graduates from one-year programs on items related to their preparation for elementary literacy instruction. Paired-sample t-tests revealed that graduates from two-year programs reported spending significantly more time discussing literacy-related issues, had better knowledge of key literacy terms, felt better prepared for literacy instruction and were more likely to include evidence-based components as part of their literacy program. Study 2 is a qualitative investigation of two-year teacher preparation programs with a focus on literacy instruction. Thirty-eight graduates from both two-year programs in Ontario completed a survey. Ten of these graduates also completed an interview. Following a modified Grounded Theory approach, Study 2 presents a detailed analysis of two-year programs in Ontario including: a) the range of content regarding literacy instruction; b) the correspondence between the content and the evidence-based knowledge of effective literacy instruction; c) graduates’ knowledge base and skills for literacy instruction; and d) their feelings of preparedness. From a socio-cultural perspective, Study 2 also explored the processes and contexts that influence graduates’ formation as literacy instructors. The findings served as the basis for proposing a model for teacher preparation that encompasses the processes and contexts that mediate pre-service teachers’ development as literacy instructors. The proposed model outlines the necessary components to effectively prepare prospective teachers, based on scientific evidence, to ensure that all children learn to read and write.

Keywords: teacher preparation
literacy instruction
Advisor: Willows, Dale
The Structure of Multiple Tenses in Inuktitut

This thesis presents and analyzes the tense system of South Baffin Inuktitut (SB), a Canadian variety of the Inuit language. It demonstrates that, although closely related dialects are argued to be tenseless (Shaer, 2003; Bittner, 2005), SB has a complex tense system where the present, past, and future are distinguished, and the future and past are divided into more fine-grained temporal domains. I demonstrate that SB has present tense, which is indicated by the absence of a tense marker. A sentence without an overt tense marker may describe a past eventuality if it contains a punctual event predicate; otherwise, it describes an eventuality that holds at the utterance time. I argue that all zero-marked sentences have present tense and any past interpretation is aspectual. I also investigate six different past markers and demonstrate that they all instantiate grammatical tense. The analysis shows that these markers can be semantically classified into two groups, depending in part on whether or not they block more general tenses (e.g., -qqau, the ‘today’ past blocks the use of the general past -lauq when the time of eventuality falls within ‘today’). I label both the general tenses and the group which can block the general tenses as primary tense, whereas the other group which does not block more general tenses is labelled secondary tense. This distinction may have broad cross-linguistic applicability. I examine the distribution of four different future markers and argue that three of them indicate grammatical future tense. They are also grouped into two groups, in the same manner as the past tenses. Finally, I analyse the temporal interpretations of primary tenses in dependent clauses. I show that when tense is interpreted relative to the time of the superordinate eventuality, the domain of tense may not necessarily shift accordingly (e.g., the domain of hodiernal tense in a main clause is the day of utterance, and in an embedded clause the domain can still be the day of utterance). Embedded tenses with remoteness specifications have not been investigated before, and this thesis opens up a new area to our understanding of tenses in human language.

Keywords: tense
Inuktitut
Advisor: Johns, Alana