VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Queries, Data, and Statistics: Pick Two

The query processor of a relational database system executes declarative queries on relational data using query evaluation plans. The cost of the query evaluation plan depends on various statistics defined by the query and data. These statistics include intermediate and base table sizes, and data distributions on columns. In addition to being an important factor in query optimization, such statistics also influence various runtime properties of the query evaluation plan. This thesis explores the interactions between queries, data, and statistics in the query processor of a relational database system. Specifically, we consider problems where any two of the three - queries, data, and statistics - are provided, with the objective of instantiating the missing element in the triple such that the query, when executed on the data, satisfies the statistics on the associated subexpressions. We present multiple query processing problems that can be abstractly formulated in this manner. The first contribution of this thesis is a monitoring framework for collecting and estimating statistics during query execution. We apply this framework to the problems of monitoring the progress of query execution, and adaptively reoptimizing query execution plans. Our monitoring and adaptivity framework has a low overhead, while significantly reducing query execution times. This work demonstrates the feasibility and utility of overlaying statistics estimators on query evaluation plans. Our next contribution is a framework for testing the performance of a query processor by generating targeted test queries and databases. We present techniques for data-aware query generation, and query-aware data generation that satisfy test cases specifying statistical constraints. We formally analyze the hardness of the problems considered, and present systems that support best-effort semantics for targeted query and data generation. The final contribution of this thesis is a set of techniques for designing queries for business intelligence applications that specify cardinality constraints on the result. We present an interactive query refinement framework that explicitly incorporates user feedback into query design, refining queries returning too many or few answers. Each of these contributions is accompanied by a formal analysis of the problem, and a detailed experimental evaluation of an associated system.

Keywords: Database Systems
Advisor: Koudas, Nick
Transitional Justice and the Quest for Democracy: Towards a Political Theory of Democratic Transformations

The overall purpose of the dissertation is to make a contribution to a political theory of democratic transformations by drawing attention to one of the less theorised dimensions of a polity’s public culture: public affect. More precisely, I deal with the role that institutions in general and courts in particular can play in the education of public moral sentiments within transitional justice processes. A cognitive constructivist approach to emotions provides the background for my attempt to show, first, the legitimacy of negative public emotions of resentment and indignation in the aftermath of violence, and second, their positive potential for the reproductive efforts of the democratic community. These affects are barometers of injustice and can act as signals of alarm for institutions to intervene correctively. As such, they bear normative weight and should be a proper object of concern for any society attempting to make the transition to democracy; however, left unfiltered and unmediated institutionally, they can either degenerate into political cynicism and apathy, or be expressed in ways that are incompatible with the democratic value of equal concern and respect for all citizens. I argue that courts dealing with transitional justice issues can recognise, engage constructively, and fructify negative moral emotions for democracy. The exemplarity of judicial reflective judgment—both in the context of constitutional review of transitional justice bills and of criminal trials—can inspire citizens to reflect on what they want to do in the name of their violated sense of justice and encourage them to internalise democratic norms of social interaction. A series of case studies from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are used to illustrate how the judiciary has historically chosen to engage negative emotions in the aftermath of oppression and violence.

Keywords: transitional justice
moral psychology
democratization
Advisor: Chambers, Simone
Deconstructing the Transhistorical in Contemporary Productions of The Merchant of Venice

This dissertation critiques four stagings of The Merchant of Venice observed in three theatrical cultures of the Anglophone world and argues that engaging productions of this script take into account its self-deconstructive character as one of its most decisive ordering principles. The dissertation draws on Derrida's Deconstruction, stressing that, according to the acknowledged father of the movement, texts do have transcendental traces. It discusses themes such as anti-Semitism versus ethnic intolerance,homosexuality verus somody, carnivalization, and the representation of emotions.

Keywords: Shakespeare
performance
theory for scripted stagings
Advisor: Astington, John H.
Life Histories of Women in Coaching

The Canadian sport system is challenged by the lack of representation of female leaders and coaches. This is, in spite of statistics showing that female athletes account for almost half of all participants in sport, a number that is still growing (Sport Canada, 1999). Women have acquired equity in many areas of life and are accepted in leadership roles, however in the area of sport, women have yet to gain the full credibility and professional respect equal to their male counterparts. Previous research indicates that women who pursue a career in coaching face many adversities and struggle to attain a level of leadership where they can achieve their highest potential (Acosta & Carpenter, 2002). The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of elite female coaches, using Erikson’s (1950) theory of psychosocial development. In this study, the qualitative method of life history was used to learn about the experiences of female coaches, specifically the process of becoming and being elite coaches. Five elite Canadian coaches were interviewed. The major themes that developed through the analysis of the interviews were: (a) Support, (b) Overcoming Obstacles, (c) Personal Qualities and (d) The Bigger Picture. The study noted the importance of various support systems through one’s lifespan and some of the challenges a female athlete and coach must overcome to become a successful athlete, coach and mother. The study shares insight into the five women’s personal qualities that helped them grow into elite coaches. Finally, the participants described the process by which they came to find a leadership style with which they were comfortable, as coaches and as women.

Keywords: Women in Coaching
Life Span Development
Coaching Behaviours
Leadership
Advisor: Kerr, Gretchen
Ethics, Rhetorical Accommodation, and Vernacularity in Gower's Confessio Amantis

Many critics have seen Confessio Amantis as a work of reformist rhetoric that, drawing deeply on medieval Aristotelian conflations of ethics and politics, urges readers toward personal moral reform as the crucial means by which to heal the body politic. In such a view, the moral and public interests on full display in Mirour de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and elsewhere remain central to Gower’s purpose in Confessio. However, while Mirour and Vox also foreground religious concerns, Confessio is often seen as “secular” in a modern sense. I argue in this dissertation that Confessio indeed bears strong affinities to Gower’s other religious-ethical-political works, and that the main differences that set it apart from them must be understood in connection with Gower’s decision to write this work “in oure Englissh.” Notwithstanding its debt to aristocratic culture, Confessio imagines a broader and more popular audience than do Vox and Mirour. Gower’s novel language choice has major implications especially for Confessio’s uncharacteristically delicate handling of religion. Chapter 1 examines Confessio’s Ovidian debt and suggests that Confessio’s many invocations of Metamorphoses, given that poem’s fourteenth-century reception, align Confessio with Ovidian universal satire in a way that suggests totalizing religious-ethical-political synthesis. However, Confessio departs from the mainstream of fourteenth-century commentated Ovids by stripping Metamorphoses of its clergial patina and, crucially, adopting a markedly lay stance. Investigating Gower’s attitude to English vernacularity, chapter 2 notes Confessio’s association of translation with decay and demonstrates that scientific and theological passages in Gower’s English works adopt a lower register than analogous passages in his Latin works. Chapter 3 investigates the probable causes of these downward modulations, comparing Gower’s sense of linguistic decorum to those discernible in contemporary English vernacular theology. Chapters 4 and 5—on metamorphosis and art, respectively—argue that Gower finds in Ovidian writing rich resources particularly adaptable to the most delicate of Gower’s rhetorical tasks in Confessio: to address, as layman, a lay audience on matters that are unavoidably, and indeed largely, religious. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that Gower’s voice of lay religious critique plays an important role in the histories of laicization and secularization.

Keywords: Gower, John
Vernacularity
Vernacular theology
Confessio Amantis
Advisor: Akbari, Suzanne Conklin
Structural Characterization of Disordered States of Proteins

Disordered states of proteins include the biologically functional intrinsically disordered proteins and the unfolded states of folded proteins which are important for protein folding and stability. Just as solving the structures of folded proteins has been extremely valuable in understanding their functions and properties, obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the structural characteristics of disordered states at a molecular level is crucial. The focus of this thesis is on combining experimental data with computational methods in order to probe the structural characteristics of disordered states at a molecular level. I developed a new method that combines different chemical shifts into a single residue-specific secondary structure propensity (SSP) score which I used to compare fractional secondary structure in alpha- and gamma-synuclein. Significant differences between the two suggested that gamma-synuclein might be protected from fibrillation due to increased helical propensity. I also introduced a new method for calculating residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) from disordered state ensembles by calculating local alignment tensors for short protein fragments. Using this method, I was able to predict experimental RDCs from statistical coil models containing far fewer structures than when global alignment is used, demonstrating that RDCs in disordered proteins are primarily determined by local structure. Finally, I made major improvements to the ENSEMBLE program which is used for calculating structural models of disordered states. I utilized large amounts of experimental data in order to calculate ensemble models of the Drosophila drkN SH3 domain unfolded state. Although highly heterogeneous and having broad molecular size distributions, the calculated ensembles have very different properties than expected for random or statistical coils and possess significant non-native alpha-helical structure and both native-like and non-native tertiary structure. This has significant implications for our understanding of the structural properties of protein disordered states in general.

Keywords: intrinsically disordered
unfolded proteins
Advisor: Forman-Kay, Julie Deborah
Oxidative Stress and Nutrition in Lung and Liver Transplant Recipients

Transplantation is an acceptable treatment for end-stage lung and liver disease patients. In lung transplantation, long-term survival is limited due to Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS) and in liver transplantation, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) disease recurrence significantly impacts long-term survival. Treatment options are limited and often not successful. It is therefore important to conduct research on the factors contributing to the pathogenesis and disease severity of BOS and HCV to improve our understanding of the mechanisms and potentially reduce morbidity and mortality. Several factors may play a role. The focus of this thesis is to assess the role of Oxidative Stress (OxS) and nutrition on these patient populations. BOS is a frequent complication of lung transplantation. OxS may contribute to its pathogenesis and induce further tissue injury and inflammation. OxS can be influenced by several factors including nutrition. The cross-sectional study showed that BOS lung recipients have elevated markers of OxS in their Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid (BALF) compared to those without BOS. However, there was no difference in nutritional factors potentially affecting OxS. HCV reinfection post transplant is universal, significantly increasing morbidity and mortality. OxS is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic HCV but its role in HCV disease recurrence is unknown. A first study determined whether HCV liver recipients (HCV-LT) were more oxidatively stressed when compared to controls or HCV non-transplant patients. A second study assessed OxS at six-and 12 months post transplant and compared results between those with and without recurrence. The results showed that HCV-LT were more oxidatively stressed, vitamin A intakes were significantly lower and plasma gamma- tocopherol was significantly higher in HCV-LT. Additionally, those with recurrence were more oxidatively stressed at six-months (before recurrence) and 12 months compared to those without recurrence. No differences were seen regarding nutrition parameters. These results suggest that OxS is present in transplant recipients but that nutritional factors do not play a significant role. Other causes of OxS likely play a more significant role such as the presence of inflammation due to immunological reactions associated with BOS and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS/RNS) seen in patients with HCV disease.

Keywords: nutrition, oxidative stress, antioxidants
Advisor: Allard, Johane
The Effects of Maternal Deprivation, Through Artificial Rearing, on Impulsiveness in Rats

Mammalian brain and behaviour are plastic, particularly early in development when offspring are under the care of their mothers. Adverse early life events, such as maternal and social deprivation, have short- and long-term consequences for neurobiology and consequently for behaviour. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effects of maternal and social deprivation, through artificial rearing (AR), on adult impulsive behaviour. Rats were raised in isolation from mothers and siblings (AR) or with their mothers and siblings in the nest [maternal rearing (MR)]. In addition, half of the AR rats were provided with replacement somatosensory stimulation designed to simulate mothers’ licking (see Gonzalez et al., 2001). As adults, rats were tested on impulsive action using the differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) operant task and locomotor activity. Both male and female AR rats were more impulsive than MR rats; they made more responses and they were less efficient at earning rewards. In addition, they displayed greater levels of locomotor activity. These effects were partially reversed by replacement somatosensory stimulation. Furthermore, impulsivity was positively correlated with locomotor activity. Impulsive choice was then assessed using a delay discounting operant schedule. On this task, AR rats were less likely to discount the value of large-delayed reward, suggesting that they were better able to tolerate delays to large reward and were less impulsive. However, performance on a modified version of delay discounting revealed that AR rats were less efficient at switching their responses; that is, they displayed reduced behavioural flexibility. To address this finding, impulsive choice was next assessed in fixed consecutive chain operant schedule of reinforcement, but there were no differences between AR and MR animals. Finally, the relationship between impulsive action and a species-characteristic behaviour, maternal behaviour, was investigated. Consistent with the literature, AR rats were less maternal and more impulsive. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between impulsivity and maternal behaviour. Overall, this set of studies demonstrates that maternal and social deprivation produces an increase in impulsive action without an effect on impulsive choice. Furthermore, increased action impulsiveness is a significant moderator of disrupted maternal behaviour observed in artificially reared rats.

Keywords: rats
maternal
deprivation
impulsivity
isolation
discounting
artificial
rearing
development
pups
Advisor: Fleming, Alison S.
Modulating Hedgehog Signaling can Attenuate the Severity of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is associated with the irreversible degeneration of articular cartilage. Notably, in this condition, articular cartilage chondrocytes undergo phenotypic and gene expression changes that are reminiscent of their end-stage differentiation in the growth plate during skeletal development. Hedgehog (Hh) signaling regulates normal chondrocyte growth and differentiation; however, the role of Hh signaling in chondrocytes in osteoarthritis is unknown. Here I examined human osteoarthritic samples and mice in which osteoarthritis was surgically induced and find that Hh signaling is activated in osteoarthritis. Using several genetically modified mice, I found that higher levels of Hh signaling in chondrocytes cause a more severe osteoarthritic phenotype. Furthermore, I show in mice and in human cartilage explants that pharmacological or genetic inhibition of Hh signaling reduces the severity of osteoarthritis and that runt-related transcription factor-2 (Runx2) potentially mediates this process by regulating a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motif-5 (Adamts5) expression. Together, these findings raise the possibility that Hh blockade can be used as a therapeutic approach to inhibit articular cartilage degeneration.

Advisor: Alman, Benjamin
Pattern Recognition Applied to the Computer-aided Detection and Diagnosis of Breast Cancer from Dynamic Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Breast Images

The goal of this research is to improve the breast cancer screening process based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In a typical MRI breast examination, a radiologist is responsible for visually examining the MR images acquired during the examination and identifying suspect tissues for biopsy. It is known that if multiple radiologists independently analyze the same examinations and we biopsy any lesion that any of our radiologists flagged as suspicious then the overall screening process becomes more sensitive but less specific. Unfortunately cost factors prohibit the use of multiple radiologists for the screening of every breast MR examination. It is thought that instead of having a second expert human radiologist to examine each set of images, that the act of second reading of the examination can be performed by a computer-aided detection and diagnosis system. The research presented in this thesis is focused on the development of a computer-aided detection and diagnosis system for breast cancer screening from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging examinations. This thesis presents new computational techniques in supervised learning, unsupervised learning and classifier visualization. The techniques have been applied to breast MR lesion data and have been shown to outperform existing methods yielding a computer aided detection and diagnosis system with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 70%.

Keywords: pattern recognition
breast cancer
Advisor: Martel, Anne L.
The Problem of Revenge in Medieval Literature: Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and Ljósvetninga Saga

This dissertation considers the literary treatment of revenge in medieval England and Iceland. Vengeance and feud were an essential part of these cultures; far from the reckless, impulsive action that the word conjures up in modern minds, revenge was considered both a right and a duty and was legislated and regulated by social norms. It was an important tool for obtaining justice and protecting property, family, and reputation. Accordingly, many medieval literary works seem to accept revenge without question. Many, however, evince a great sensitivity to the ambiguities and paradoxes inherent in an act of revenge. In my study, I consider three works that are emblematic of this responsiveness to and indeed, anxiety about revenge. Chapter one focuses on the Old English poem Beowulf; chapter two moves on to discuss Chaucer’s Reeve’s Tale and Tale of Melibee from the Canterbury Tales; and chapter three examines the Old Icelandic family saga, Ljósvetninga saga. I focus in particular on the treatment of the avenger in each work. The poet or author of each work acknowledges the perspective of the avenger by allowing him to express his motivations, desires, and justifications for revenge in direct speech. Alongside this acknowledgement, however, is the author’s own reflection on the risks, rewards, and repercussions of the avenger’s intentions and actions. The resulting parallel but divergent narratives highlight the multiplicity of viewpoints found in any act of revenge or feud and reveal a fundamental ambivalence about the value, morality, and necessity of revenge. Each of the works I consider resists easy conclusions about revenge in its own context and remains incredibly current in the way it poses challenging questions about what constitutes injury, punishment, justice, and revenge in our own time.

Keywords: medieval literature
English Literature
Beowulf
Chaucer
Canterbury Tales
Reeve's Tale
Melibee
Icelandic sagas
revenge
feud
Ljósvetninga saga
family sagas
Old English
Old Norse
Middle English
Advisor: Orchard, Andy