VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ultrafast tuning and probing of two-dimensional silicon photonic crystals

The linear and nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional silicon photonic crystals are studied using ultrafast laser pulses. Third order optical nonlinearities were used to tune the long (1.6 mum) and short wavelength (1.3 mum) band-edges of a stop-gap. From the pump-probe reflectivity experiments, a 140 fs, 1.5 mum pump pulse was observed to induce optical tuning of the 1.3 mum band-edge via the Kerr effect whereas a 1.76 mum pulse induced tuning of the 1.6 mum band-edge via both Kerr and Drude effects with the latter related to two-photon induced generation of free carriers. The optical tuning response of the photonic crystal was further shown to be influenced by the spatial characteristics of the pump eigenmode. This was demonstrated using 1.5 mum pump pulses and monitored via time-resolved reflectivity measurements at the 1.9 mum band-edge. Electron-hole pairs generated by two-photon absorption of the pump pulses spatially modify the refractive index of the crystal. For a pump eigenmode producing an initial inhomogeneous carrier distribution, diffusion is responsible for an initially fast (10 ps time scale) component of the recovery of the probe reflectivity with surface recombination accounting for a slower response (700 ps time scale) after the carriers are nearly uniformly distributed within the silicon backbone. When carriers are initially generated homogeneously, surface recombination alone controls the time evolution of the probed mode. The phase characteristics and temporal shape of reflected pulses were shown to be strongly influenced by coherent Bragg scattering and incoherent, multiple scattering in the photonic crystal. The shape of Bragg reflected pulses differs insignificantly from the incident pulse as expected, however for pulses outside the stop-gap, multiple scattering distorts the specular pulse shape and the pulse width is broadened by as much as 46% depending on sample location. On the gap-edge, Bragg scattering dominates over multiple scattering and the reflected pulse shape is mostly influenced by the asymmetric reflectivity spectrum and the input pulse characteristics such as its bandwidth and chirp.
Durability of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) and FRP bond subjected to freeze-thaw cycles and sustained load

Existing infrastructure in North America has now reached an age when it requires extensive repairs and upgrades which can often be expensive. A quick and effective solution that can also be economical is the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP). Despite its promising short-term results, the long-term durability of FRP has not been investigated enough where designers can recommend the application with the same confidence as they have for traditional materials. Current research addresses this issue in detail. This report presents the durability test results of FRP laminates and FRP bonding characteristics. Specimens included 48 FRP coupons, 48 FRP-to-FRP single-lap-bonded specimens and 48 FRP-to-concrete prisms. These specimens were subjected to 300 freeze-thaw cycles and/or sustained load. After which, they were tested to failure for their post-exposure mechanical properties. In most cases, FRP and FRP bond were found to be durable, except bond stiffness suffered significant damages due to combined exposures.
Understanding the effect of particle-size on UV disinfection: Kinetics, mechanism and modeling

This study aimed to better understand the impact of suspended particles on ultraviolet disinfection of municipal effluents. The results showed that particles of sizes greater than 45 gm accounted for more than 90% of the surviving coliform in the tailing region of secondary effluent UV dose-response curve. Particles in larger size fractions also showed a greater tailing propensity---the probability of particle surviving UV doses beyond 30 mJ/cm2. In modeling the disinfection performance of secondary effluents, this was found to be the summation of the disinfection of all its particulate constituents. It was therefore possible to predict UV dose-response curve based on measurements of effluent particle-size distribution and particle disinfection kinetics. Finally, the tailing propensity was found to greatly depend on treatment processes. Trickling filter particles exhibited ten times greater tailing propensity than activated sludge particles, owing to their greater UV resistance and percentage viability.
Gametophytic apomixis, hybridization, and polyploidy in Crataegus (Rosaceae)

Pseudogamous gametophytic apomixis in flowering plants can be a flexible type of asexual reproduction because pollination is required. Ploidy-level changes are possible if a meiotically reduced egg cell develops by parthenogenesis or if a meiotically unreduced egg cell is fertilized. In North American Crataegus, pseudogamous gametophytic apomixis exists among polyploids in several taxonomic sections of the genus, and many hybrids have been identified. Polyploidization and selection for apomixis have been attributed to diploid-diploid hybrids, but evidence for that evolutionary process is slight. Ploidy-level increases and hybridization may instead result from apomixis, which possibly occurs occasionally in diploids. This thesis explores the taxonomic distribution of ploidy levels in Crataegus and how the ploidy levels of seeds relate to the breeding systems of the parent plants. Quantification of nuclear DNA amounts by flow cytometry revealed the ploidy levels of various tissues. The ploidy levels of the embryo and endosperm in seeds revealed whether sexual or apomictic reproduction and fertilization occurred. Inter-ploidy pollinations between different taxonomic series were compared with intra-taxon and open pollinations. Some post-pollination crossing barriers apparently exist in the genus. Triploids formed from diploid mothers in some diploid-tetraploid inter-serial pollinations, and tetraploids formed from some triploid-diploid inter-serial pollinations. Tetraploid-diploid pollinations produced hybrids only if the mother plant was a largely sexual tetraploid. Fertilization of unreduced egg cells was also indicated by pentaploid and hexaploid embryos, and rare pentaploids and hexaploids occur as adults. A largely sexual tetraploid also produced diploids when pollinated from a diploid species, consistent with parthenogenesis in sexual embryo sacs. These results greatly expand what is known about the formation of endosperm in Rosaceae, and the mechanism differs from what is thought to occur in related genera. Triploid hybrids may be a vital, although sometimes ephemeral, factor in maintaining gene flow from sexual diploids to apomictic tetraploids. Diploid-triploid-tetraploid-diploid gene flow appears to be possible, with pentaploid and hexaploid derivatives. One exceptional seed appears to indicate rare apomixis in a diploid, and a hypothetical model is proposed to explain the greater success of apomixis in polyploids of Rosaceae than in diploids.
The role of attention and organization in emotional memory enhancement

Emotionally arousing events are remembered better than neutral events, an effect termed Emotionally Enhanced Memory (EEM). The 'modulation model' explains prolonged EEM through the direct influence emotion has on modulating neurobiological processes involved in the consolidation of memory traces. Since the postulated neurobiological consolidation processes take hours to complete, a strict modulation model does not account for EEM when memory is tested at relatively short delays. The cognitive mediation hypothesis suggests that an emotion leads to EEM indirectly, through the mediation of cognitive factors, an effect that can manifest immediately after study. Emotional stimuli are associated with allocation of more attentional resources as well as better organization (semantic relatedness) at encoding. Attention and organization are known to enhance memory on their own, independent of emotionality. The present work examined the role of attention and organization in immediate EEM to determine whether the effects of emotion on memory are mediated through them. The first two experiments provided a stringent test of the hypothesis that EEM is mediated through attention by means of mediator analysis. Results showed that while recall of positively-arousing stimuli was mediated by attention, memory for negatively-arousing stimuli was not, but instead was directly predicted by emotional arousal. Following experiments thus focused on negative emotion. Experiments 3 and 4 provided further empirical support for the claim that the effect of emotion on recall is independent of attention by examining memory for equally-attended emotional and neutral items. Experiment 5 ruled out differential distinctiveness as accounting for the effects of emotion on attention and memory. Experiments 1-5 showed that organization accounts for part, but not all, of EEM. Experiment 6 suggested that recollection was enhanced directly by emotion, but that familiarity might be attentionally-mediated. Experiment 7 examined the neural substrate that underlies EEM with functional magnetic resonance imaging, and showed that in contrast with the mediation hypothesis, none of the regions activated by attention accounted for EEM. Instead, EEM was correlated with activation in the amygdala, a region associated with the direct modulation account. A combined model of modulation and mediation is used to account for the data.
The examination of allocative and overall efficiencies in DEA using shadow prices, and the introduction of an omni-oriented radial DEA model

This research presents a couple of important theoretical developments to the field of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The original models developed by Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes [CHAR78], and Banker, Charnes and Cooper [BANK84b] were both radial models. These models, and their varied extensions have remained the most popular DEA models in terms of utilization. Radial models presented in the DEA literature employ either and input- or output-orientation. Furthermore, the benchmark targets they determined for inefficient units were mostly based on the notion of maintaining the same input and output mixes originally employed by the evaluated unit. New DEA models were formulated here to extend the capabilities of DEA in both of these areas. The omni-oriented radial DEA simultaneously considers both input reduction and output expansion, and provides a single efficiency measure based on both of these goals. A methodology was also developed to estimate allocation and overall efficiency in the absence of defined input and output prices. The benchmarks determined from models based on this methodology will consider all possible input mixes, output mixes, or both. Both of these developments were illustrated on a model of the financial intermediary function of a bank branch network.
Decision Field theoretical analysis and modelling of dynamic route choice deliberation process

Intelligent Transportation Systems applications require a thorough understanding of drivers' route choice behaviour in a complex network under real-time information. This research attempts to describe and model route choice behaviour at the disaggregate individual level and from a psychological decision-making process perspective. We base our proposed behavioural route choice theory and model of the drivers' mental deliberation process on the scientifically-sound Decision Field Theory (DFT). DFT is a process-oriented modelling ground of individuals' decision making that simulates the evolution of preferences during deliberation. Laboratory experiments are conducted that expose human subjects to realistic network and traffic conditions while monitoring and recording their route choices under varying experimental conditions. Recorded data are used for analyzing drivers' route choices and for the development and calibration of a DFT-based route choice theory and framework. A simple "mixed reality" simulator is developed to serve as an experimentation platform. The mixed reality platform enables a driver to use a Backpedal steering device to navigate through a microscopic simulation model of the waterfront portion of downtown Toronto. Analysis results reveal the significance of the impacts of some situational factors (e.g. information content, information reliability, and inertia effects), and some personal factors (e.g. gender differences), on drivers' route choice attitudes. Estimation of the DFT route choice model parameters is performed based on the experimental observations. Genetic algorithms are used as the optimization tool to calibrate model parameters and minimize the discrepancy between model output and observed behaviour. The developed DFT model is used to study the impact of time pressure constraints on drivers' compliance behaviour. Variations in impact trends are estimated with varying information characteristics (form and reliability). Finally, an alternative structural-oriented parameter estimation methodology is adopted for comparative purposes. In the structural-oriented methodology, the deliberation time dimension is completely ignored during the estimation of the model parameters. Analysis results reveal the superiority of the process-oriented DFT route choice model in improving the credibility of route choice predictions. Furthermore, the developed DFT model contributes to enhancing the understanding of the impact and the influence mechanisms of personal/situational factors on drivers' route choice attitudes.
Social identity negotiation in critical literacy learning: a case study in a Japanese heritage

A critical literacy perspective suggests that literacy is a social process embedded in a sociopolitical context and history, and implies that classroom literacy learning contains an important aspect of identity. Building on this perspective, I examined how and which social identities emerged through discussions of a novel describing Japanese Canadian history. In a Japanese heritage/community language classroom in Canada, I organized literature discussion groups with 12 youths and a teacher. I analyzed the contents and the procedures of interactions in focal episodes where participants talked about themselves and the texts simultaneously, by using the analytical framework for social identity, The analysis revealed that different social identities emerged depending, on the interpretive discussion of the text and also depending on the power dynamics within the classroom. These results have implications for pedagogy and curriculum development for classroom critical literacy with learners crossing multiple borders of ethnicity, language, and national identity.

Keywords: Japanese language, Study and teaching
Japanese language, Ontario
Group identity, Ontario
Japanese, Education
Japanese, Ontario
Japanese language, Ontario
Employee protection and pension fund governance: possibilities for convergence?

The question raised in this thesis is whether the power granted by employee ownership of a significant amount of shares through pension funds can be used to promote employee interests rather than solely shareholders' interests. Chapter I studies the impact of globalization on employee rights' protection and concludes that a market-based approach, using the power generated by the ownership of shares on corporate management should be privileged to ensure that employee issues are taken into account. However, a study of the legal and practical limits facing shareowners willing to exercise some influence on corporate management needs to be done, which will consist of Chapter II. A review of the practical and legal constraints in investments in the context of fiduciary duties will form Chapter III. The conclusion, taking account of the different limits facing pension funds, will recommend a more active approach to pension fund governance, but in line with the interests of employees as pension fund shareholders.

Keywords: Employee rights, China
Pension trusts, China
Employee ownership, China
The specificity of training model: a mathematical systems model relating training and performance incorporating structural elements

Previous mathematical models have been developed to describe the relationship between training and performance. Analysis of these models indicates that they are limited to describing and predicting performances that are highly similar to those used for estimation of parameters. Using a method that calculates the respective influence of the aerobic or anaerobic energy system, the specificity of training model (STM) incorporates the structural elements of energy system contributions to exercise. The increased flexibility allows prediction of performances that are different in energy system contribution than those used to estimate parameters. In laboratory cycle ergometer testing, results indicated that the STM was able to predict changes in performance in maximal cycling from training inputs that were both longer and shorter in duration than those used in parameter estimation. A trend indicated that the time course for aerobic training was longer than that of the anaerobic system. In subsequent field testing using rowing winter training, future shorter duration test times were predicted using training inputs with a mean error of 1.6%. The results indicate that the STM is able to predict alternate duration performances and increase the knowledge about periodization of training schedules to achieve optimal athletic performance.
Inventory management and sourcing decisions in the presence of upstream uncertainty

The thesis combines inventory management and sourcing decisions in the presence of either price or yield uncertainty. First, we consider a continuous review inventory model in which suppliers make deal offers with random discount prices at random points in time. We assume that the demand is constant over time, lead times are negligible, discount offerings follow a Poisson process, and discount price is a discrete random variable with a known distribution. We propose an (R, s, Q1, Q2 ..., Q) policy under which an amount R is ordered when the inventory level hits zero, a discount offer is rejected if the inventory on hand is more than s, and the inventory level is raised to a target s+Qi when a discount offer at price ci (i = 1, 2 ..., n) is accepted. We then derive optimality conditions for the (n + 2) policy parameters. Though the model has been developed for the case of a single supplier, it can be used with the presence of multiple suppliers provided that suppliers are differentiated only by the discount price distribution and by the deal offer rate. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate cost savings due to discount offers as well as to shed light on the managerial insights in the problem of optimal supplier selection. Second, we develop two EOQ-based inventory models in which an inventory manager must determine the order size as well as the supply reliability level in the presence of uncertainty in the quality and/or quantity of supply. The number of acceptable units in the order is captured by the binomial yield model, and an improvement in reliability increases both the order setup cost and the unit price. For each model, we present an equation of which a solution is the optimal reliability level and a closed-form solution for the optimal order size given the optimal reliability level. We then compare the two models with regard to their reliability levels. Furthermore, these two models are extended to multiple-supplier cases where the suppliers' order quantities are to be optimized. Using each model, we then address the supplier selection problem and conclude that multiple sourcing is never optimal. This is contrary to the literature advocating diversification in supply base in the presence of uncertainty.
Japan: at the junctures of refining and transcending culture

In this paper I will examine the hegemonic grounds on which the articulations of an essential culture and the creation of an orderly nation were based following the Meiji Revolution of 1868 until the Kyoto symposium of 1942. I will argue that efforts made by key thinkers to defend a Japanese culture could only further affirm the penetration of a capitalist economy within people's everyday lives. The idea of an essential Japanese culture served as an important signifier that implicated the Japanese in their everyday lives, something which allowed all Japanese to identify with and conceive of as a natural "given". Within a modernizing world however, the assumption of a preexisting culture only provided a means to imagine an escape from the present existing problems. In failing to approach the unevennesses within everyday life, culture itself became commodified within a unified view of the nation.
Modeling seasonal hydrologic response to forest harvesting and road construction: the role of drainage organization

This study addresses several challenges in the application of hydro-ecological models as tools for studying the spatially distributed pattern of soil moisture and runoff production in the context of land use change. This research is comprised of two components: (a) The development and assessment of a methodology used to model hillslope drainage organization at the small basin scale and (b) application of this methodology for assessing forest harvesting and road construction effects on hydrologic response. This investigation focuses specifically on the Pacific Northwest region where the impact of forest harvesting on hydrologic response is an important and controversial issue. This work presents modifications to the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys) modeling framework and discusses specific issues related to modeling landscape drainage organization in hydro-ecological models. Within RHESSys, tradeoffs between using a spatially explicit routing approach versus a less detailed statistical approach to modeling distributed hydrology are explored. Results from this study illustrate the limitations of using a statistical approach in modeling drainage organization and the sensitivity of both routing methods to calibration and errors in topographic and soil input data. Different strategies for landscape representation are also compared. Results highlight the significant role played by fine scale topographic variability in areas adjacent to streams, and the importance of these local areas in controlling watershed hydrologic response. Application of the RHESSys modeling tool is further developed by incorporating a conceptual model of forest harvesting and road construction effects on hydrology. Comparing simulations with observed streamflow for a study catchment in the Pacific Northwest provides an illustration of forest harvesting and road construction effects on hydrologic response. The model illustrates how the effects of these disturbances are dependent upon road construction characteristics and the spatial distribution of vegetation and its water use. Road construction characteristics include both culvert drainage topology and the position of the road relative to hillslope drainage organization. Effects on downslope soil moisture and the spatial and temporal dynamics of seasonal runoff production illustrate the potential ecological significance of different disturbance scenarios.