VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Constructing Parental Choice in Deaf Diagnostic and Intervention Practices in Ontario

The goal of Ontario’s Infant Hearing Program (IHP) is to screen all babies at birth, to identify the 3 or 4 out of 1000 babies expected to be deaf or hard of hearing from birth, and to provide supports and services to identified children under the age of six. Situating my research within disability studies to question normative assumptions about speech, language, and hearing, through interpretive analyses of IHP documents and parental interviews I examined how language and deafness are made meaningful through text and lived experience, and how parents come to make hearing technology and communication modality choices for their children amongst competing discourses of deafness and language. Although the identification of these few children is the IHP’s justification for screenings, I found the discourse of screening constitutes these children’s hearing levels as problematic and unwanted. Normative assumptions construct parental choice by presenting deafness as an unthinkable outcome of screening and spoken language services as the ‘right’ way to deal with this outcome. I also found the services and hearing technologies offered, and when they were offered, differed depending on whether a child has additional diagnoses and are assumed able to learn spoken language, demonstrating a hierarchy of normalization. Furthermore, the IHP’s principle of fully informed choice and consent was found to narrowly reflect medical knowledges of deafness; comprehensive information about sign language and Deaf culture was not included. My analysis also found parents may resist medical knowledges of deafness and request alternate services as they get to know their child beyond diagnostic assumptions. These findings indicate parents and their children may be better aided by services that promote a wider variety of communication options from infancy, regardless of expected outcomes. My dissertation concludes with an exploration of ways the IHP can imagine deafness as something other than a problem.

Keywords: cochlear implants
communication
deaf children
language
parental choice
(re)habilitation
Advisor: Titchkosky, Tanya
Essays in Empirical Asset Pricing

In my dissertation, I study different channels through which shocks in the real economy can affect financial asset returns. The first chapter studies immigration policy shocks as a source of risk in the financial markets. Using a comprehensive set of data on H-1B visa petitions, I construct an occupation-level measure for labor market competition between skilled immigrant and local workers. I find that stocks of firms with a high share of labor for which skilled immigrants are close substitutes outperform their peers with a low share. I show that this premium is explained by firms' differential exposures to priced immigration policy shocks that shift the supply of skilled immigrant labor. These shocks differentially impact wages across occupations, leading to an asymmetric effect on firms' cash flows through labor expenditure. In the second chapter, based on a joint work with Esther Eiling and Raymond Kan, we investigate the asset pricing implications of sectoral labor reallocation shocks that change the optimal allocation of workers across industries. We find that a proxy for this type of labor market shocks has very strong predictive power for future stock market returns. We propose a production-based asset pricing model that links the return predictability to time-varying labor adjustment costs. When human capital is tied to the industry, hiring workers from other industries involves more search and training costs. Hence, sectoral reallocation shocks lead to lower returns to hiring and therefore lower future stock returns. In the third chapter, we identify inter-sectoral trade networks as important conduits of industry shocks and provide the first explanation for an empirical regularity in the term structure of industry returns. Specifically, my co-author Mikhail Simutin and I show that industry shocks propagating along this network can feed back to the originating industry, causing an "echo'' - intermediate-term autocorrelation in returns. Adopting techniques from graph theory, we find that the strength of the trade network feedback is a crucial determinant of the echo effect in industry returns. Consistent with limited-information models, the relation between feedback strength and echo profits is strongest in industries with information diffusion frictions along the feedback loop.

Keywords: Asset Pricing
Financial Econometrics
Human Capital
Investments
Advisor: Kan, Raymond
Simutin, Mikhail
ADC-based Receivers for Wireline Communication

Power efficient analog to digital converter (ADC) based receivers are desired for wireline communications as the industry transitions to 4-PAM at data-rates above 50Gb/s. A high power time-interleaved successive approximation register (SAR) ADC with 7 or 8 bit resolution is usually used to cover high loss (>=30dB at Nyquist frequency) channels with cross-talk. However the majority of links within a data-center between servers and switches are around medium loss (20dB) or lower. In order to take advantage of the direct correlation between loss and power consumption, a novel greedy search based power scaling scheme with BER metric is proposed so that the ADC can be adapted to work at the minimum power required by any given link. Unlike prior art, this strategy does not require finer threshold levels and works in conjunction with any equalizer. In addition, system level simulations are developed to aid receiver design and dynamic error sources such as jitter, skew and dynamic non-linearity are investigated. It is shown that typical ADC design targeting an effective number of bits across the entire Nyquist band may be over-designed as dynamic effects are reduced due to channel attenuation. A 64Gb/s 4-PAM ADC-based receiver prototype was tailored for link power scaling and fabricated in a 16nm FinFET technology. The receiver analog front-end consists of a single stage half-rate sampling continuous time linear equalizer, and 6-bit flash (1-bit folding) ADC taking advantage of sampled input distribution symmetry to enable non-uniform quantization. For a channel with -8.6dB loss at Nyquist, the ADC can be configured in 2-bit mode, achieving BER

Keywords: ADC
FinFET
Greedy Search
PAM
receiver
SERDES
Advisor: Chan Carusone, Anthony
‘For the Happiness of the World’: The Geopolitics of Great Power Intervention, 1815-2015

Why do great powers sometimes invest significant resources in efforts to secure approval from other great powers for their interventions, but other times do not? This dissertation argues that explicit or implicit agreements between great powers called geopolitical bargains have shaped great power intervention by delineating where they can acceptably intervene. When a great power intervenes in an area that a geopolitical bargain delimits as its own area of preponderance—its sphere of influence—it need not worry about making its intervention acceptable to its peers, and it can tailor its intervention coalition to closely meet its military needs. When it intervenes outside of its sphere, the great power must resort to other methods to legitimize its actions, such as formal multilateralism and legal approval. I trace the effects of geopolitical bargains across three periods of great power peace: the Concert of Europe, the Cold War, and the post-Cold War era.

Keywords: Cold War
Concert of Europe
Geopolitics
Great powers
military intervention
spheres of influence
Advisor: Bernstein, Steven
Exploring the Existence of a Unique Neurodevelopmental Profile of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

There is a general lack of consensus in the diagnostic criteria of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), which has ultimately resulted in the overlapping of the diagnostic criteria with those of other neurodevelopmental disorders. As a result, FASD is associated with multiple potentially comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders, namely externalizing disorders. However, the extent to which FASD co-occurs with such disorders is largely unknown. Furthermore, the lack of universally accepted diagnostic criteria, and the high rate of comorbidity make diagnosing FASD difficult. Accordingly, in an effort to improve the diagnosis of FASD, researchers have explored the existence of a neurodevelopmental profile of FASD – defined as the outward expression (behavioral and developmental) of the central nervous system damage caused by prenatal alcohol exposure – however, a neurodevelopmental profile unique to FASD remains to be identified. Therefore, the objective of the current thesis project was to i) determine to what extent neurodevelopmental disorders with prominent externalizing behaviors co-occur among children with FASD; and ii) determine if children with FASD exhibit a unique and discernible neurodevelopmental profile that will differentiate them from a) typically developing control children, and b) children with other neurodevelopmental disorders. The first objective was achieved by way of a comprehensive systematic literature search, followed by disorder-specific random-effects meta-analyses. The second objective was achieved by performing latent profile analyses on two samples – i) children with FASD and typically developing control children, and ii) children with FASD, children with other neurodevelopmental disorders and typically developing control children – using data on neurodevelopmental status and behavior. With respect to the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders with prominent externalizing behaviors among children with FASD, of the disorders investigated, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was found to be the most common disorder, followed by Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder, in that order. In relation to the identification of a neurodevelopmental profile, the profile was successful in differentiating children with FASD from typically developing control children; however, it was unsuccessful in differentiating children with FASD from children with other neurodevelopmental disorders. These findings are reflective of the complexity of FASD and highlight the need for diagnostic refinement.

Keywords: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Neurodevelopmental profile
Advisor: Rehm, Jürgen
Popova, Svetlana
Spectrum, Power, and Storage Management in Device-to-Device Networks

Device-to-device (D2D) communication allows direct data transmission among devices, which has been considered a cost-effective means to improve system performance in future networks. Potentially, D2D communication may reduce data transmission delay, increase network throughput, expand network coverage, and enhance network robustness. In spite of these promising benefits, the management of D2D wireless resources, such as spectrum, power, and storage, remains a challenging problem. In this thesis, we focus on the spectrum, power, and storage management in D2D networks. First, we focus on optimizing the transmission probabilities of D2D pairs, where the D2D pairs share spectrum resources in a random access manner. We aim at maximizing α-fairness in D2D networks with exact topology information or with only spatial statistics. Then, we consider power control among D2D pairs in D2D networks with delayed feedback of the network state information via an on-line learning approach. We aim at maximizing the long-term averaged sum-rate of D2D pairs with performance guarantee for cellular communication. Finally, we study probabilistic caching in D2D networks in order to leverage file storage in devices. We jointly optimize spectrum allocation between cellular communication and D2D communication and file caching probabilities to maximize the logarithm utility.

Advisor: Liang, Ben
National Partiality and War

Many people believe that nations are morally permitted, and perhaps even morally required, to give at least some preference to the lives of their own civilians and combatants in a variety of circumstances—perhaps most notably, in war. Most philosophers writing on the ethics of war, however, either assume or argue explicitly that this common view is mistaken. I aim to challenge this broad philosophical consensus by articulating and defending a modest account of national partiality and by illustrating its application both to the conditions governing entry into war (jus ad bellum) and the conditions governing conduct within war (jus in bello). On my view, nations are morally permitted (and in some cases required) to give some preference to their co-nationals, but this must be balanced against their obligations to outsiders. My account therefore offers some measure of support to our pre-theoretical intuitions on national partiality in war, but stops well short of endorsing the extreme view according to which nations can give unbridled preference to their own.

Advisor: Hurka, Thomas
The Role of Expectations of Science as Promissory Discourses in Shaping Research Policy: A Case Study of the Creation of Genome Canada

This thesis examines promise of science discourse and its impacts in shaping research policy. Through a single case study of the origins of Genome Canada, the research was guided by the question: How did expectations of genomics, as promise of genomics discourse, shape the creation of Genome Canada? Background is presented on the long-standing, but largely unacknowledged, relationship between the promise of science and research policy. Theoretical grounding for the study is provided by concepts from the discursive policy analysis and sociology of expectations of science and technology literatures. Promise of genomics discourse, expectations of genomics of story-lines and a conceptualization of knowledge-based discursive power provide the theoretical and analytical basis for an in-depth examination of the ideational effects and material impacts on research policy decisions over three years (1997 – 2000) that sought to position Canada as a leader, internationally, in genomics research. As discourse, the promise of genomics fulfilled an essential role in shaping policy decisions. The promise of genomics discourse and expectations of genomics story-lines functioned in a complex interplay of discursive practices and dynamics among diverse policy actors within a promise of genomics discourse-coalition to produce a range of ideational and material impacts. The promise of genomics discourse produced powerful promise of genomics subject-positions from which policy actors perceived their interests, identities and preferences and gained agency, which led to various material impacts, including the transformation of Canada’s research policy framework. The thesis derives valuable insights about how the diverse policy actors involved in the research policy process perceive and are influenced by the promise of science. With the increasing importance of research policy to a range of broader policy priorities underpinned by expectations that science will resolve societal challenges and contribute to socio-economic benefits, this thesis sheds light on how complex research policy decisions are made; it further contributes to understanding the processes that lead to those decisions that increasingly must reconcile the relationship between science and society.

Keywords: discourse analysis
expectations of genomics story-lines
Genome Canada
promise of science
research policy
sociology of expectations of science and technology
Advisor: Sa, Creso
Turbulent Non-premixed Swirl-Stabilized Flames of Gaseous and Liquid Fuels in a Gas Turbine Model Combustor

Turbulent non-premixed swirl-stabilized flames of gaseous and liquid fuels were investigated experimentally in an optically-accessible gas turbine model combustor. Propane/air and ethylene/air flames were operated at three global fuel-air equivalence ratios. Spray flames of liquid n-heptane fuel were stabilized at six global fuel-air equivalence ratios. The velocity, reaction zone structure and soot measurements were performed using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry, planar laser induced fluorescence of OH radicals and laser induced incandescence, respectively. In all the experimented test flow cases, the time-averaged velocity data show the presence of two large recirculation zones, separated by a zone of high velocity swirled inflow. The inner recirculation zone, which surrounds the combustor axis, shows high turbulence intensities. In gaseous fuel flames, the inner recirculation zone also contained most of the combustion-generated soot concentration of the flow field of gaseous fuel flames. The flow field regions exterior to the inner recirculation zone showed negligible soot values mainly due to the soot oxidation caused by the high intensity turbulence as well as strong OH intensity near the recirculation zone boundary. The time-averaged soot values showed strong sensitivity to changes in the air flow rates. The changes in the air flow rate mostly increased the soot intermittency, while the instantaneous soot concentrations stayed nearly constant. Intensified turbulence as well as shortening of flow time for soot chemistry are speculated to be the reasons for the high sensitivity of soot values to air flow rates. Further, in n-heptane/air flames, the velocity data showed a region of high velocity fuel droplets, positioned in-between two large recirculation zones. The boundary of the inner recirculation zones showed the heat release events, thereby leading to high OH counts. The OH fluorescence profiles showed the major role played by the recirculation zones in fuel droplet evaporation, forming the evaporated fuel-air reactant mixture, and subsequently, igniting the reactant mixture in the presence of hot combustion products and active radicals.

Keywords: Gas Turbine Combustion
LII Soot Measurement
SPIV and OH-PLIF
Spray Combustion
Swirl Stabilized Combustion
Turbulent Non-premixed Combustion
Advisor: Gulder, Omer L
Adaptation and Differentiation in Introduced Plant Species

Introduced species offer an opportunity to study evolutionary responses in colonizing populations. My dissertation explores local adaptation in two introduced plants, Arabidopsis thaliana and Ambrosia artemisiifolia. North American Arabidopsis populations have a clinal pattern in flowering time, with populations closer to the coast flowering later than those further inland. To test the source of this differentiation, my coauthors and I grew 50 lines from 25 North American populations in a chamber and simulated winter conditions. We found support for the hypothesis that winter precipitation is the selective force driving differentiation among introduced A. thaliana populations. Adaptation can be critical in the ability of a colonizing species to persist and spread. Assessing the adaptive capacity of a population is difficult, and cannot be extrapolated from invasion history or molecular genetic metrics. To estimate the adaptive capacity of A. artemisiifolia populations, I needed to perform controlled crosses. To this end, I developed a system for isolating plants in individual chambers. I then performed crosses for 50 sires with 3 dams each for three native and three invasive populations. This allowed me to isolate estimates of additive genetic variance and generate G matrices for each population. I found that introduced populations did not have a lower ability to respond to selection than native populations. To explore phenotypic divergence in A. artemisiifolia populations, I grew up seeds from 18 introduced and 20 native populations in a common garden. I found parallel clines in flowering time and size. I compared this quantitative differentiation with neutral genetic diversity in 20000+ SNPs. I concluded that the parallel patterns of differentiation seen in native and introduced ragweed are likely the results of local adaptation, and not neutral processes. My thesis integrates multiple approaches and study organisms to investigate the patterns and processes of contemporary adaptation in non-native plants.

Keywords: Adaptation
Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Clines
G matrices
Invasive species
Advisor: Stinchcombe, John R
Essays on Asset Pricing

This thesis consists of three chapters that empirically investigate issues pertaining to asset pricing. In the first chapter, I find evidence of return predictability across intra-industry trading partners in international financial markets. Stock returns of importers significantly predict returns of corresponding exporters at the country-industry level. An investment strategy exploiting this effect generates average abnormal returns exceeding 6% annually. The magnitude of the effect is larger for smaller and less financially sophisticated countries, consistent with the return predictability being driven by frictions in the speed of information diffusion. However, this return cross-predictability cannot be explained by other country characteristics, including capital controls, exchange rate risk, and proxies for investor attention at the aggregate level. The second chapter analyzes the role of distance between foreign countries and the U.S. and foreign countries' talent in foreign mutual funds' performance in the U.S. I find that the correlation of distance and talent with returns is negative and positive, respectively. However, the effects are small and not statistically significant. For volatility, the effects are both economically and statistically significant: Distance is positively correlated with returns' standard deviation among mutual funds and with returns' standard deviation over time, while talent is negatively correlated with returns' standard deviation over time. The third chapter, co-authored with Jordi Mondria and Thomas Wu, decomposes attention allocation into two components, the familiar and the surprising, with opposite implications for US purchases of foreign stocks. On the one hand, familiarity-induced attention leads to an increase in US holdings of foreign equities. On the other hand, surprise-induced attention is associated with the net selling of foreign stocks because US investors tend to pay more attention to negative than to positive economic surprises from foreign countries. Our findings suggest that information asymmetries between locals and non-locals are more pronounced when it comes to good news, with information regarding bad news being relatively symmetric.

Advisor: Mondria, Jordi