VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Subcategorial Considerations in Statistical Categorial Parsing

Research in categorial grammars (CGs) is fortunate to have had a storied, decades-long history, with contributions from scholars of diverse research disciplines such as linguistics, mathematical logic, and computer science, among others. In natural language processing, categorial grammars have played critical roles in the development of efficient, wide-coverage statistical parsers, and have further provided an essential compositional framework for various semantic parsers and corpora. One aspect that has been missed in the vast majority of computational work in statistical CG parsing, however, is a treatment of CG lexical categories that reflects their structured nature. In this dissertation, I argue for a decomposed, subcategorial consideration of CG lexical categories for statistical CG parsing. In particular, my work focuses on combinatory categorial grammar (CCG) and Lambek categorial grammar (LCG), two important members of the categorial family. I demonstrate how subcategorial awareness is uniquely beneficial to three important aspects of statistical CG parsing. First, I introduce an LSTM-based CCG supertagger that can predict supertags one primitive at a time. This enables more effective incorporation of prediction history than is otherwise possible, resulting in a supertagger with improved accuracy, a parser with improved coverage and F1, and even allows for the generation of novel supertags, an entirely new capability for supervised CCG parsers. Second, for LCG parsing, I show how to express LCG proof net validity conditions as neural network loss functions, all of which are critically enabled by structured decomposition of the lexical categories. I apply these loss functions to the training of a Transformer-based LCG parser, thereby presenting the first statistical parser for LCG. I further show that the loss functions enable training the parser without ground-truth derivations. Finally, I investigate CCG parser evaluation, and show that the standard metric is prone to overamplifying minor errors. I introduce a new, decomposed version of the metric that relies on subcategorial labelling and alignment. Expert judges unanimously agree that the decomposed method better isolates parser errors. In examining their judgements, I find that expert judges show difficulty agreeing with each other when comparing parses for different sentences, raising important questions for statistical parser evaluations more generally.

Keywords: Categorial Grammars
Combinatory Categorial Grammar
Computational Linguistics
Lambek Categorial Grammar
Natural Language Processing
Syntactic Parsing
Advisor: Penn, Gerald
Exploring The Efficacy and Neural Correlates of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) as an Adjunctive Treatment for Tobacco Dependence

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Even with first-line pharmacotherapies, smoking cessation rates remain low, partially due to the inability of current treatments to treat underlying aberrant neuropathology. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) targets cortical circuits to reduce craving and nicotine consumption among cigarette smokers. However, the efficacy of tDCS as an adjunct to smoking cessation pharmacotherapy has not been studied. This dissertation aims to investigate the efficacy and neural correlates of anodal left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tDCS in combination with varenicline for smoking cessation. This was investigated in a double-blind, sham-controlled randomized clinical trial where 41 smokers were randomized to either active tDCS (20 minutes at 2 mA) or sham tDCS (19 minutes at 0mA) for 10 daily sessions plus 5 booster sessions, occurring every two weeks for 10 weeks. All participants were also given standard varenicline treatment (1 mg b.i.d. for 12 weeks) concurrently with tDCS. Multi-modal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were conducted at baseline and end of treatment to investigate the neural correlates that might be altered by this treatment combination. Findings at end of treatment show that active tDCS was associated with higher quit rates than sham (67% vs 38% respectively, χ2(1)=1.47, p=0.12, effect size=0.6) in treatment completers. Active tDCS significantly decreased cigarette consumption over time but had no additional effect on nicotine craving over varenicline. A trend was also observed whereby smokers in the active group quit later than the sham group. There were no significant adverse events associated with active stimulation compared to sham. Neuroimaging findings show that active tDCS and varenicline treatment was also associated with decreased smoking cue reactivity in prefrontal areas of the brain, and increased white matter connectivity of white matter bundles connecting to the prefrontal cortex. This is the first study to show the efficacy of adjunct tDCS with pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation, establishing a medium effect size between active vs sham tDCS. These novel findings illuminate the potential for adding tDCS to varenicline treatment in future clinical settings, thereby decreasing the burden of smoking and smoking-related diseases on our society.

Keywords: Addiction
Nicotine
TDCS
Varenicline
Advisor: Zawertailo, Laurie A
The Role of Mosques in Promoting Well-being in Muslim Communities

The mosque holds an invaluable role in Islamic tradition; it has historically offered many religious and health services for its communities while also addressing relevant social and political affairs. With the steady increase in Muslim populations in Canada comes the need for more services and programs geared towards supporting Muslim individual and community well-being. It is important to utilize the full potential of mosques in supporting Muslim communities and revive the Islamic notion that mosques are hubs for service provision. My thesis research used digital qualitative methods to understand the ways in which mosques in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) support the well-being of Muslim communities. The main question that drove my research is: How do mosques in the GTHA support the holistic well-being of Muslim children, youth, and families through their programs and services? The digital qualitative methods comprised of 17 semi-structured interviews as well as three sources of observational data: 40 hours of observation of live and archived video and audio content; website content analyses; and environmental scans. Analyses of the interview transcripts were the most detailed form of analysis. Analyses of the observational data were used to support and strengthen the themes that were generated from the interview transcripts. My findings demonstrate that mosques strive towards promoting individual and community growth by strengthening individuals’ spiritual relationships with Allah; developing programs and services for individuals across the lifespan; and serving as social service providers for marginalized groups. Furthermore, while equity, diversity, and inclusion emerged as elements of practice that are being integrated into service provision, there was also recognition of the need to better implement equitable practices in mosques. Overall, my research illustrates that mosques function as therapeutic spaces for Muslim communities and foster individual and community well-being. It is essential that the practice of psychology recognize mosques as complex institutions that can serve and benefit Muslim individuals and communities.

Keywords: community
Islam
mental health
mosques
psychology
well-being
Advisor: Pyle, Angela
The Association of Platelet Count on Cancer Incidence and Survival

Platelets are cellular fragments in the blood that have a primary purpose of forming blood clots during a blood vessel injury. Platelets have been shown to play an important role in cancer development and progression. Activated platelets promote tumour growth and angiogenesis in the early stages of tumour development, and mediate tumour cell dissemination and metastasis. It remains unclear to what extent platelet count is influenced by the presence of cancer and with which types of cancer. This dissertation is composed of four studies. In the first study I investigate the association between platelet count and a new diagnosis of cancer. Individuals with a high platelet count were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer. The association was most pronounced for gastrointestinal cancers (colon, stomach, esophageal), lung cancer, kidney cancer, and ovarian cancer. In the second study I aimed to determine if there is an elevated risk of cancer among individuals with a high platelet count (i.e. thrombocytosis). Among individuals with newly developed thrombocytosis there was an elevated risk of cancer of the colon, lung, ovary, stomach, kidney, and esophagus. Individuals with thrombocytosis may benefit from subsequent cancer screening. The third study looked at platelet count as a marker of cancer survival among cancer patients. Platelet count was associated with cancer survival for several types of cancer. The findings suggest that platelet count could potentially be used as a risk stratification measure for cancer patients. The fourth study was a descriptive analysis on trends in platelet count in a cohort of cancer patients. Platelet count increased in the months preceding a cancer diagnosis. After diagnosis, platelet count was elevated among patients that died from the cancer. This dissertation work highlights a profound relationship between platelet count and cancer outcomes. Clinical implications of this work include screening for cancer among patients with newly developed thrombocytosis, risk stratify cancer patients according to platelet count, and monitor patients for an increase in platelet count after diagnosis. I hope these findings will advance the literature and provide motivation to pursue clinical research on platelet mechanisms and cancer outcomes.

Keywords: Cancer
Platelet count
Platelets
Thrombocytosis
Advisor: Narod, Steven A
The Application of Data Science to Highway Asset Management Investment Strategies

Decision-making in project management is a complex process. A multitude of criteria are involved, their values are dynamically changing, and there is limited knowledge about their interactions and the influence of context on them. While causal decision-making systems over the last seven decades have contributed extensively to analyzing and understanding the complexity of decision-making, policy-makers still face many of the challenges listed above. The thesis showcases the role of non-causal decision-making. It showcases the use of machine-learning in supporting decision-making. This data-driven approach relies on discovering patterns from real-world data. In addition to bypassing the causality dilemma, good practice in machine-learning systems relies on the use of constantly updated data: as the world, in all its complexity and contextual changes, evolves, the outcome of the machine-learning systems changes accordingly. To narrow down the scope of the research, this thesis considered highway maintenance projects. In doing so, and given the non-causal nature of machine-learning, the contribution of this thesis is methodological: how to create approaches and means to implement machine-learning in decision-making given the scope and context of project management. As such, the outcomes of this research work should be valuable in guiding the decision-making process in other domains of project management. Two real-world datasets were used in the analysis: one from the national highway database of Iran and the other from the asset management database of the City of Oshawa, Ontario. Given that the aim of this work was not to theorize about the role of machine-learning in project decision-making, the selected analyses were driven by the available data. The outcome is four different systems that can be part of a bigger puzzle, i.e. the aim was not to create a generic overarching and comprehensive model. This can be antithetical to the whole notion of data-driven systems. To this end, four research questions were addressed. The results of this thesis indicate that the road functional class and climate mattered to maintenance policy-making. Furthermore, the developed methodologies can improve budget allocation and levels of service; guide climate action policies; promote preventive maintenance; and enhance creating and effectively communicating sustained funding policies.

Advisor: El-Diraby, Tamer
The Effect of Ionizing Radiation on the Oral Innate Immune Response, Oral Microbiome and the Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Head and Neck Intensity−modulated Radiotherapy for the Treatment of Head and Neck Tumours

Radiotherapy (RT) to the head and neck region has devastating and life altering effects. Using the Modified Delphi Technique, guidelines were reached and developed in which radiation dose at which participants would prophylactically remove teeth to prevent osteoradionecrosis (ORN) was established at 70 Grays (Gy) in the maxilla and 60 Gy in the mandible. Treatment pathways were developed for maxillary and mandible anterior/premolar and molar teeth receiving a dose at or above this threshold. Risk factors were established for carious, periodontally involved and third molar teeth. In general, periodontally involved teeth and mandibular molars were most frequently recommended for extraction. Only symptomatic third molars were recommended for extraction when adequate healing time was available prior to commencement of RT. Clinicians can recognize, anticipate and possibly reduce the risk of oral complications associated to RT to the head and neck region. However, the use of potential biomarkers in the form of oral innate immune cells and oral microbiome to potentially predict the development and progression and possibly to treat RT induced oral complications has not been thoroughly investigated and thus not well understood. The role of oral polymorphonuclear leukocytes/oral neutrophils (oPMNs), and the oral microbiome before, during and post−RT and their interaction with one another has not been extensively studied to be used as potential biomarkers in the development and progression of oral complications associated with RT treatment. When controlling for all relevant factors, intensity-modulated RT was found to decrease both the number of oPMNs post−RT as well as impair oPMN activation (priming) states through statistically significant decreases in the oPMN markers CD11b, CD16, CD18, CD64 and H3Cit. Exposure to RT can cause significant alterations in the oral microbiome by reducing the relative abundance of commensal Gram-negative microbes and increasing the commensal Gram-positive microbes. The University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire version 4 (UW−QoL) was administered prospectively before and during RT. Taste, saliva and swallowing scores worsened during and post-RT. The results of this study suggest that RT impairs the load and function of critical oPMN markers as well as shifting the oral microflora and contributing to poorer patient self-reported QoL.

Advisor: Azarpazhooh, Amir
Glogauer, Michael
Communicating Jesus Through an “Aboriginal Lens”: The Growth of a Self-determining Indigenous Evangelicalism in Northwestern Canada, 1950-2000

For Indigenous peoples in Canada, the second half of the twentieth century was a period of monumental and lasting change. Bolstered by demographic growth and the mobilization of intertribal alliances, Indigenous organizations pursued agendas of justice with renewed fervour. At the same time, Indigenous communities reckoned with the intergenerational traumas wrought by colonization and invested in projects focused on communal and cultural recuperation, materializing as the Aboriginal Healing Movement. In this same period, the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission launched a new evangelism program in the northwest aimed at conversion. They encountered Indigenous communities badly vandalized by the prolonged policies of coercive colonization but equally attuned to pan-Indigenous empowerment and healing. By the 1960s, an independently administered, Indigenous-led evangelical network emerged, coalescing institutionally as the Native Evangelical Fellowship in 1968. This study contends that the emergence of an Indigenous evangelical network in the twentieth century only makes sense in relation to the destructive fallout of colonization and the wider socio-cultural projects of the era. Indigenous communities were keen to rupture with their colonial pasts, achieve greater sovereignty, heal from trauma and dysfunction, and reconnect with fractured cultural identities. Fundamentalism’s anti-Catholic rhetoric and emphasis on independent congregations and outreach inadvertently meshed with the broader Indigenous pursuits of decolonization and autonomy. The “contextualization movement,” representative of a post-colonial branch of Indigenous evangelicalism, arose in the 1980s as a response to unheeded longings to reconnect with identity, a process ultimately instigated by the North American-wide Indigenous cultural resurgence. Through an analysis of the contours of Indigenous fundamentalist evangelicalism – from its origins in the 1940s to the turn of the twenty-first century – this dissertation places its trajectory of development within the wider social, cultural, and psychological contexts demarcating Indigenous life. By utilizing under-examined Indigenous evangelical publications and personal conversion narratives, this dissertation examines the most salient points of interface between Indigenous communities and the fundamentalist tradition, adding a thematically diverse and analytically rich Indigenocentric chapter to the winding history of Indigenous Christianity.

Keywords: Christianity
Evangelical
Indigenous
Indigenous Christianity
Missionary
Native American
Advisor: McGowan, Mark
Left to Their Own Devices: Digital Media use among Youth in Residential Treatment an Exploratory Study

Introduction: Three individual but related qualitative studies, explore the phenomenon of digital media use among youth within residential mental health treatment settings, from the vantage point of both the youth (n=15) and the service providers (n=25) who support them. Method: McCracken’s Long Interview Method was utilized to conduct and analyze in-depth interviews for each of the three papers. The goal of this research is to contribute a rich understanding of the experiences of youth digital media use within residential treatment RT settings from both youth in RT and the service providers supporting them. Results: Findings are organized within three distinct papers The first paper, “Double-edged sword” of digital media use among youth in residential treatment: Perspectives of service providers” focuses on the complex interplay of factors that influence how service providers from four different RTs in southern Ontario Canada contend with youth digital media use in RTs. The second paper “Digital pathways to wellness among youth in RT” is a youth centered, developmentally informed, study that attends to the gap in the literature addressing the digital media use experiences among youth in residential treatment (RT). The third paper, “Digital Media Use in Residential Treatment: Anxiety, Adaptation, and the Role of Relationship between Youth and Service providers” explores the shared experiences of youth and service providers navigating digital media use in RT. Collective recommendations are drawn from the findings of paper three, offering a relationally grounded understanding of how youth and service providers contend with their respective positions on the role of digital media use in the lives of youth, and the anxiety generated by changes in digital media access in RT settings. Implications: The dissertation’s findings provide pathways forward to inform practice, research, and policy related to supporting and addressing digital media use among youth within residential treatment settings and those requiring intensive mental health supports.

Keywords: Adolescent mental health
Child and youth work
Information Communication Technology
Residential Treatment
Social media
Youth digital media use
Advisor: Mishna, Faye
Exploring Under and Overscreening to Address the Public Health Burden of Colorectal Cancer

Background: Cancer screening is only effective if eligible individuals participate in screening and do so at the recommended intervals. The objective of this dissertation was to explore two challenges in cancer screening: 1) strategies to mitigate non-participation (Studies 1 & 2); and 2) risk reduction after a complete colonoscopy (Study 3) to maximize patient outcomes and minimize risks for colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Study 1 included a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies evaluating the effectiveness of social media and mobile health (mHealth) interventions. In Study 2, we conducted a qualitative descriptive study with Facebook users of screen-eligible age to develop social media messages promoting CRC screening. Finally, we conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study to explore the association of complete colonoscopy with CRC incidence and mortality (Study 3) and the duration of risk reduction. A time to event analysis using a Cox-proportional hazards regression model with time-varying covariates was used to generate adjusted estimates. Results: In Study 1, we identified a total of 39 studies and the overall pooled odds ratio for screening participation was 1.49 (95% CI: 1.31–1.70) with effect sizes similar across all cancer types. In Study 2, we developed recommendations for 7 messages; 1 was classified as strongly consider, 4 as consider using this message and 2 as proceed with caution. Participants preferred social media messages that were believed to be credible, educational, and with a positive or reassuring tone. Finally, exposure to a complete negative colonoscopy was significantly associated with a lower risk of disease for more than 15 years (HR 0.710; 95% CI: 0.581-0.867 for females and HR 0.541; 95% CI: 0.436-0.672 for males) in comparison to those without a complete colonoscopy. A similar trend was observed for CRC-related mortality. Conclusions: Screening programs should consider incorporating mHealth and social media into their efforts to increase uptake. We have a provided a strong foundation of theory-informed social media messages that may be preferred by the target population. Finally, our data also suggest that more prolonged intervals than recommended by some guidelines could be considered after a complete negative colonoscopy.

Advisor: Baxter, Nancy N.