VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Balancing interruption frequency and buffering penalties in VBR video streaming

We study the optimal streaming of variable bit-rate (VBR) video over a random VBR channel. The goal of a streaming application is to enable the successful decoding of each video object before its displaying deadline is violated. Previous literature has described solutions to estimate the interruption-free probability by assuming either independence in the encoded data process or simplistic channel models. In this thesis, we first present an analytical framework to bound the probability of un-interrupted playback. When a Markov VBR channel model is available, we quantify the distribution of the number of interruptions under the constraint of initial playback delay, receiver buffer size and different recovering schemes. Both the infinite and finite buffer cases are considered. Experimental results with MPEG-4 VBR encoded video validate our analysis. Finally, we show that the proposed analysis provides a theoretical foundation to quantify the tradeoffs between different system parameters.
Disclosure decisions and search costs in the mutual fund industry

This thesis examines empirically the relationship between voluntary disclosures and investor search costs, and the concomitant effect of disclosure on the flow of funds to mutual funds. We examine the frequency and timeliness of the portfolio disclosures of a sample of retail S P 500 Index Funds. We also build a disclosure index based on the amount of voluntary disclosures of their index tracking strategies in the 2003 annual prospectuses of a sample of fifty-two S P 500 index funds. Our results show that mutual funds provide more information voluntarily when investor search costs are high, after controlling for their demand for information. This finding makes the case for the role of search costs in investors' information acquisition, which has not been previously documented in the empirical disclosure literature. We also examine endogenously the costs and benefits associated with mutual fund managers' voluntary disclosure decisions. We find that funds disclose less information when the proprietary costs of the voluntary disclosure are high. However, we did not find capital market benefits to voluntarily disclosing funds, perhaps because the information contents of portfolio and indexing strategy disclosures are not fully recognized by retail fund investors. One possible explanation for funds disclosing voluntarily, despite the lack of capital market benefits, is to lower litigation risks as suggested by disclosure literature. By outlining specific descriptions of their indexing strategy, funds protect themselves from potential attacks based on their management. Consistent with the prior literature, we find support for the impact of investors' demand for information on fund disclosure. Funds disclose information more frequently and in a more timely fashion when return volatility is high. Using the disclosure index as the measure of voluntary disclosure, we find that funds disclose more about their strategies, including stock selection strategies, when their absolute tracking errors are high.
Design of retrofitting FRP for concrete columns

A systematic review of the available research on seismic behavior of circular steel-confined columns is presented. The limitations of the available experimental results are discussed. Based on the available results, the existing design approaches for confinement reinforcement, several confinement models, and the ACI Code's confinement provisions for circular columns are critically evaluated. It is concluded that the Code's requirements are insufficient to provide ductile behavior in circular columns under certain circumstances. Several areas in which the Code's provisions need revisions and the direction of future research are identified accordingly. A review was also conducted on the previous research on FRP-confined columns tested under simulated seismic loading. Based on these results, procedures for the design of confining FRP for square and circular columns are proposed. The procedures relate the required amount of confining FRP to axial load level and column performance. The research areas needed for FRP-confined columns are also suggested.
Biofilm structures under different flow loadings in a hybrid reactor

This study investigated some physical properties, and morphological and internal structural features of growing biofilms on suspended moving media in a pilot hybrid reactor. The studied biofilm physical properties were thickness and density; the structural features were boundary/surface roughness, porosity, Sierpinski Fractal Dimensions (S.F) and pore boundary fractal dimensions. This study was undertaken at both low and high flow loading conditions, and as a follow-up of the previous study done by Xiao (2004) that characterized the matured biofilms' structural features under the same loading conditions in the same hybrid reactor.Comparisons of the experimental results from both studies show that the growing biofilms had less compact structural features (higher porosity) and less rugged surface than the matured biofilms. The growing biofilms had more heterogeneous internal pore size distributions than those of the matured ones. The pore boundary roughness (Db) of the growing biofilms showed increased heterogeneity and irregularity with the increase in the biofilm growth to a peak value, then, decreased with time to some degree of uniformity when the biofilms matured.
Web-based GIS system for prompted recall of GPS-assisted personal travel surveys: System development and experimental study

The advancement of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies over the past decade has offered an opportunity to develop interactive prompted recall personal travel/activity surveys over the Internet. This thesis project has resulted in the development of a new web-based software system to support emerging GPS-assisted personal travel surveys. The system, called TRIPS, enables data processing and data display, and it provides editing tools for prompted recall and post validation of GPS-based survey data. An experimental study was conducted using TRIPS to investigate various issues related to prompted recall surveys. This study showed the importance of providing human assistance to survey participants, particularly in tasks of activity/link editing. It also addressed other challenges associated with implementing TRIPS, including online data processing performance, multi-task handling, and browser variability.
Duality of diversification: the effect of internal and external configuration of diversification on firm performance

This thesis is the first to connect the diversification literature in strategic management with the literature on multi-market contact. I argue that there exists a duality of diversification, and that both sides of the duality have an impact on firm performance. The internal configuration, which potentially generates the synergistic use of resources, minimizes transactional costs among business divisions, and cross-fertilizes social capital of the corporate umbrella, is represented by the multi-divisional corporate structure of a diversified firm. The external configuration, which influences firm performance in that a focal firm can benefit from a coexistence with its rivals in a coordinated way, includes the first- and second-order multi-market contacts among firms, and the macro-level pattern of the inter-firm network. The second-order multi-market contact is further divided into Simmelian ties and quasi-Simmelian ties. Simmelian ties are referred to as triadic ties. Quasi-Simmelian ties are a focal firm's connections with the rivals of the focal firm's directly connected rivals. My arguments are tested in the Canadian general insurance industry through the use of spatial econometrics modeling. The analyses do not provide support for the beneficial effects of the internal configuration and the first-order multi-market contact. However, my results find evidence for the performance advantage of establishing Simmelian ties and quasi-Simmelian ties with rivals. Finally, my results reveal that the inter-firm network in the Canadian general insurance industry is negatively connected. A given firm's performance in such a network is harmed by the existence of all other firms, and weakened by those firms with which the given firm is directly connected. In addition, the given firm benefits from those far away rivals, whose existence undercuts the competitive blunt of those rival firms with which the given firm is directly confronted.

Keywords: Strategic planning
Dissertations, Academic, Canada
K-clique and k-cycle counting in the streaming model

In this thesis, we give algorithms for two graph problems: k -clique (Kk) and k-cycle (Ck) counting in the streaming model. The streaming model is a computational model to solve problems on large sequential data sets. Compared to the conventional computational model, the streaming model requires efficient space and small time per item. The input of the problems is the number of vertices n v, for a given graph G, constants epsilon', delta> 0, an integer k isin; (0, nv), and a sequential set of edges of G in "an arbitrary order. The algorithm reduces the counting problems to Frequency Moment problems using a sketch over alpha - stable random variables for alpha isin; (1,1.9] and pseudorandom generators. Our algorithm is based on Indyk's technique. Indyk claims his technique is provably correct for general alpha other than 1 or 2 but he does not aware any practical applications [16]. This thesis shows that k-clique (Kk) and k-cycle (C k) counting are such applications involving general alpha isin; (1,1.9]. Our algorithm achieves space efficiency when k is small and the density of Kk or C k in G is large.
Appetitive stimuli and consumption impulsivity: The out-of-domain effect of motivationally appetitive stimuli

Prior research has documented the effect of tempting stimuli (conceptualized as motivationally appetitive stimuli in this dissertation, e.g., dessert) on a relevant behavior domain (e.g., eating the dessert). Drawing on Metcalfe and Mischel's (1999) hot and cool system metaphor, this dissertation predicts that a tempting stimulus can induce a time preference change in a subsequent unrelated consumption decision. It is argued that the time preference change results in a greater immediate gratification tendency observed in an apparently irrelevant intertemporal choice. The hypothesis was tested in a series of experiments. In experiments 1 and 2, participants were more likely to choose smaller sooner (vs. larger later) cash rewards or vice (vs. virtue) options after being exposed to tempting stimuli of unrelated categories. Experiment 3 demonstrated that tempting stimuli induced greater intertemporal discount rates in monetary tradeoffs. In experiment 4, participants were found to be more likely to purchase unplanned products under a very tight budget if they were aroused by the tempting stimuli prior to making the decision. The first four experiments provided converging evidence showing that the impulse induced by a tempting stimulus is a generalized consumption urgency. In experiment 5, it was shown that the measured present-orientation tendency was greater in the presence of appetitive stimuli; and participants who rated higher on the present-orientation tendency evaluated future gains less than those who rated lower on the measure. Finally, experiment 6 showed that a time interval of ten minutes between exposure to the appetitive stimulus and the subsequent intertemporal decision would weaken the effect. Taken together, by putting time in perspective, this dissertation suggests and shows that appetitive stimuli can have a motivational impact (i.e., changes in time preference) on subsequent intertemporal decisions, resulting in greater consumption impulsivity across behavioral domains.
Category learning in perception and visually guided grasping

Category learning is one of the most fundamental tasks that humans perform. According to Goodale and Milner (1992), the processing of object perception and visually guided action are mediated by different neural pathways. It is conceivable that categorization in perception task and action task might be associated with different neural pathways. We hypothesize that category learning is different in perception and action categorization tasks. This hypothesis leads to two competitive hypotheses. One is that category learning in action tasks is better than in perception tasks when decision boundaries are action related; the other is that category learning in perception tasks is better than action tasks. We tested these two hypotheses in two categorization learning experiments. Response accuracy and reaction time were recorded as the measurements of learning performance. Results revealed that in the two-dimensional category learning tasks, perception groups showed better performance in than grasping groups.
Bayesian classification and regression with high dimensional features

This thesis responds to the challenges of using a large number, such as thousands, of features in regression and classification problems. There are two situations where such high dimensional features arise. One is when high dimensional measurements are available, for example, gene expression data produced by microarray techniques. For computational or other reasons, people may select only a small subset of features when modelling such data, by looking at how relevant the features are to predicting the response, based on some measure such as correlation with the response in the training data. Although it is used very commonly, this procedure will make the response appear more predictable than it actually is. In Chapter 2, we propose a Bayesian method to avoid this selection bias, with application to naive Bayes models and mixture models. High dimensional features also arise when we consider high-order interactions. The number of parameters will increase exponentially with the order considered. In Chapter 3, we propose a method for compressing a group of parameters into a single one, by exploiting the fact that many predictor variables derived from high-order interactions have the same values for all the training cases. The number of compressed parameters may have converged before considering the highest possible order. We apply this compression method to logistic sequence prediction models and logistic classification models. We use both simulated data and real data to test our methods in both chapters.
A structure-function analysis of the smaug RNA-binding domain

Early development in the Drosophila embryo is driven by maternally encoded spatial determinants, one of which is Nanos. This posterior determinant directs abdominal segmentation. Localization and translational control of nanos mRNA, necessary for the proper expression and function of Nanos, is accomplished through the actions of several trans-acting factors. Smaug and Cup repress Nanos translation in the bulk cytoplasm and Oskar is responsible for localizing nanos transcripts to the posterior and activating their translation. A 180 amino acid region of Smaug mediates its interactions with nanos mRNA as well as its interactions with Cup and Oskar proteins. In an attempt to understand Smaug function further, I employed a mutagenesis approach to identify residues required for these interactions. Several mutants were identified that showed decreased binding to both Cup and Oskar. This suggests that Cup and Oskar bind to the same region of Smaug and could compete for Smaug binding.
Immunological reaction in cell transplantation into the infarcted myocardium

Myocardial infarction is a major health problem in developed countries. Autologous cell transplantation is a promising therapeutic modality to regenerate the damaged myocardium and prevent development of congestive heart failure. The improved outcome of this technique depends on survival of implanted cells in the myocardial infarct. However, experimental data showed that only 20% of the implanted cells survived. Immune reaction could be one of the possible causes for cell loss. I hypothesized that cultured autologous/syngeneic cell transplantation into the myocardial infarct elicits adaptive immune response. My data revealed that the profile of infiltrating leukocytes into autologous/syngeneic cell implanted myocardial infarct is close to that in immune rejection of an allogeneic graft, involving leukocytes that mediate adaptive immunity. My study, for the first time, investigated immunological problems associated with autologous cell transplantation and suggested that host immune reaction may hinder success of clinical cell transplantation.
An integrated signal acquisition an filtering scheme for power applications

Stand-alone equipment such as relays, meters and static power converters utilize the fundamental sequence components of power system signals. These applications require an initial data acquisition stage followed by signal processing stages whose properties are application dependent. This thesis proposes an integrated signal acquisition and filtering scheme based on the “system on a chip” concept. Various filtering techniques are investigated and several novel filtering schemes suitable for power applications are presented to achieve the objective. A fast extraction of sequence components algorithm is presented. The variable sampling multirate system realizes frequency tracking, disturbance/fault detecting, delayless filtering with good noise attenuation and with fast response, respectively. The thesis also explores hardware implementation issues. The prototyped models in VHDL are simulated with the MAX+PLUS II platform and tested in-circuit. Experimental results are in conformity with the simulations.
ELEMCOMP: an equilibrium model of combined electric generation and emissions competition using complementarity programming

To address the emergence of electricity systems and environmental regulations that have been restructured based on market forces, we have created ELEMCOMP, a complementarity programming model of combined electricity generation and emissions competition. ELEMCOMP is a single-stage, deterministic, n-player, multi-product, multi-resource, emissions-based system model of oligopolistic competition in electricity generation and emissions permits markets. There are two formulations of ELEMCOMP, one in which there is an exogenously determined permit quantity and one in which permit quantity is determined by competition amongst two permit suppliers with quadratic cost functions. Imperfect competition is modelled with conjectural variations. Four primary measures of the interacting markets that we emphasise in the case studies are emissions reductions, prices, the profitability of retrofitting coal facilities to reduce emissions, and generation mix. The case studies are annual models of a regional system resembling markets in Ontario.
Family-based nonparametric tests of linkage and association

We propose a general framework for constructing nonparametric tests of linkage sensitive to allelic association as well as tests of allelic association in the presence of linkage. These tests make efficient use of all information available in nuclear families, including family structure, unaffected offspring, parental phenotypes, families with both parents homozygous and families with missing parental genotypes. The non-parametric property of these tests is obtained by conditioning on sufficient statistics for the hypotheses of no linkage or no allelic association, according to the framework developed by Rabinowitz et al. [37]. The test statistics are conditional likelihood ratios based on a parametric model of marker and trait data that includes allelic association, and where model parameters are estimated from the sufficient statistic under the null hypothesis in what is essentially a segregation analysis. Family-based tests of linkage that are sensitive to the presence of allelic association between a marker and disease loci have become a popular alternative to case-control based tests of allelic association. These tests can be more powerful than allele-sharing tests if the level of allelic association is high. Because they are not sensitive to allelic associations that do not occur in conjunction with linkage they are immune to the 'population stratification problem'. Many of these tests are also nonparametric tests of linkage thus providing protection against violation of assumptions commonly made in parametric linkage analysis such as random mating, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, monogenic disease or allelic homogeneity. The simplest and best known test of this class is the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) introduced by Spielman et al. [47]. Since its introduction in 1993 a large number of generalizations have been proposed to address some of the TDT's original limitations. However most of these extensions discard valuable information. The performance of an implementation of these tests based on the standard two point linkage model is evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations, and applied in a study of hypertension. We also propose easy to implement Monte Carlo methods to compute power and p-values for a large class of family-based tests of linkage and association, including the ones we proposed.
Synthesis of a cell-adhesive dextran scaffold crosslinked with protease-susceptible oligopeptides for use in neural tissue engineering applications

Novel macroporous dextran hydrogels were created by exploiting the liquid-liquid immiscibility of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and methacrylated dextran during radical crosslinking of the methacrylate moieties. A series of formulation diagrams were prepared to gain insight into which conditions led to the formation of macroporous interconnected-beaded scaffolds. This thesis investigates a neural tissue engineering strategy that would mimic aspects of the extracellular environment. Using a dextran hydrogel as a novel material to build extracellular matrix (ECM) analogues, different aspects of the ECM were investigated, including physical support, cell-adhesive character, and the potential for remodeling. The following study demonstrates that dextran hydrogels can not only be modified to be both macroporous and cell adhesive but also to be enzymatically remodeled, thereby mimicking different aspects of the extracellular environment. In conclusion, chemically-modified dextran hydrogels show great promise for neural tissue-engineering applications. Finally, p-maleimidophenyl isocyanate (PMPI)-modified dextran hydrogels crosslinked with collagen-derived peptides, GCRDGPQGIASQDRCG, were used to mimic ECM enzymatic degradation. These hydrogels were found to be hydrolytically stable for more than 200 days yet degraded when exposed to bacterial collagenase, within 30 hours, or human MMP-2 within 16 days, demonstrating enzyme-mediated digestion of the peptide crosslinks. Incorporating the laminin-based peptides enhanced cell adhesion and survival. Although the physical structure of the created macroporous dextran scaffolds was advantageous for tissue engineering, their application was limited due to their non-cell-adhesive nature. To overcome this, macroporous scaffolds of Dex-MA were copolymerized with aminoethyl methacrylate (AEMA) to introduce reactive primary amine groups for covalent immobilization of extracellular-matrixderived peptides (CGRGDS or a combination of CDPGYIGSR/CQAASIKVAV) while maintaining the macroporous geometry of the scaffolds. Both cell adhesion and neurite outgrowth increased significantly for CDPGYIGSR/CQAASIKVAV-derived poly(Dex-MA- co-AEMA) hydrogels. Moreover, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons penetrated the scaffolds, thereby demonstrating the potential of this scaffold for guided cell and axonal regeneration in vivo.