VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Optimal Control and Estimation of Stochastic Systems with Costly Partial Information

Stochastic control problems that arise in sequential decision making applications typically assume that information used for decision-making is obtained according to a predetermined sampling schedule. In many real applications however, there is a high sampling cost associated with collecting such data. It is therefore of equal importance to determine when information should be collected as it is to decide how this information should be utilized for optimal decision-making. This type of joint optimization has been a long-standing problem in the operations research literature, and very few results regarding the structure of the optimal sampling and control policy have been published. In this thesis, the joint optimization of sampling and control is studied in the context of maintenance optimization. New theoretical results characterizing the structure of the optimal policy are established, which have practical interpretation and give new insight into the value of condition-based maintenance programs in life-cycle asset management. Applications in other areas such as healthcare decision-making and statistical process control are discussed. Statistical parameter estimation results are also developed with illustrative real-world numerical examples.

Keywords: Operations Research
Industrial Engineering
Applied Probability
Stochastic Control
Optimal Stopping
Partially Observable Markov Decision Process
Hidden Markov Model
Maximum Likelihood Estimation
Advisor: Makis, Viliam
Producing Korean Women Golfers on the LPGA Tour: Representing Gender, Race, Nation and Sport in a Transnational Context

This research focuses on the contexts of Korean women professional golfers’ transnational migration, and the ways that US and Korean media represent those athletes. A theoretical framework informed by sociology of sport, postcolonial and transnational feminist studies was employed to illustrate the contexts of the women’s golf migration, and to investigate how transnational Korean women professional golfers are represented in both US and Korean media from 1998 to 2009. Elite discourses—941 media texts from both nations together with government/institutional documents—were collected, Korean texts were translated into English, and document analysis, critical discourse analysis and intersectional analysis were employed. The results illustrate that globalization and neoliberal capitalism, patriarchy, and colonial and imperial history all help to shape the women golfers’ transnational migration paths. The complex contexts also shape the media representations of the women golfers in the two nation-states. In US media, the Korean women golfers are constructed as a racialized and gendered Other within the context of Orientalism, and selective knowledge production in the media maintains and ensures global White supremacy. In Korean media, the women golfers are portrayed as winners under hypermasculine Western forms of globalization and neoliberal reformation of the world order but, at the same time, as keepers and performers of Korean traditional Confucian values. Further, Korean media explain the women’s transnational success as a result of following traditional Korean values and norms; therefore, the women are represented as proud symbols of Korean nationalism and ideal models of productive female subjects in neoliberal globalization. In sum, the Korean women professional golfers are taken up by media in both nation-states as an effective discursive contact zone for making sense of the changing power dynamics of race, gender, and nation under a period of rapid changes of world order.

Keywords: Golf, LPGA, Korean women, Transnational migration
Advisor: Donnelly, Peter
Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners with Interruptions in their Formal Schooling: A Comparative Case Study of Two Teachers' Classrooms

An increasing number of newcomer English language learners (ELLs) in Canadian high schools are from refugee backgrounds, have a history of interrupted formal schooling (IFS), and do not have alphabetic and numerical literacy skills in their first language (MacKay & Tavares, 2005; Yau, 1995). While ELLs with IFS pose challenges for Canadian high schools and teachers, the struggles faced by these learners to integrate and succeed in their new educational environments are far more complex. This study aimed to gain insight into how two teachers are attempting to support the academic, linguistic and social integration of ELLs with IFS. Through classroom observations, interviews and document analysis, I examined the envisioned, enacted and experienced stages of two Manitoba high school programs that were created specifically for ELLs from refugee backgrounds who have disrupted or limited formal schooling and are at high risk of academic failure. The findings from this study revealed how teacher agency and divisional as well as administrative input significantly alter current and future learning opportunities for ELLs with IFS. The unique circumstances of each school’s Intensive Newcomer Support classrooms, i.e. student population, support services, teaching practices and administrative decisions, were found to impact the design and delivery of each school’s program and thus the experiences of the students. This study identifies how two teachers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, attempted to provide a meaningful and relevant education for their ELL with IFS students. It is the researcher’s hope and intent that this study will inform educational policy, teacher education and educational development initiatives both in Canada and in the various international contexts that serve refugees.

Keywords: language
literacy
interrupted schooling
refugees
Advisor: Gagne, Antoinette
Investigating the Influence of Micro-scale Heterogeneity and Microstructure on the Failure and Mechanical Behaviour of Geomaterials

The mechanical response of geomaterials is highly influenced by geometrical and material heterogeneity. To date, most modelling practices consider heterogeneity qualitatively and the choice of input parameters can be subjective. In this study, a novel approach to combine detailed micro-scale characterization with modelling of heterogeneous geomaterials is presented. The influence of micro-scale heterogeneity and microcracks on the mechanical response and brittle fracture of a crystalline rock was studied using numerical and experimental tools. An existing Combined Finite-Discrete element (FEM/DEM) code was extended to suit heterogeneous, discontinuous, brittle rocks. By conducting grid micro-indentation and micro-scratch tests, the Young's modulus and fracture toughness of the constituent phases of the rock were obtained and used as accurate input parameters for the numerical models. The models incorporated the exact phase mapping obtained from a MicroCT-scanned specimen and the existing microcrack density obtained from thin section analysis. The results illustrated that by incorporating accurate micromechanical input parameters and the intrinsic rock geometric features, the numerical simulations could more accurately predict the mechanical response of the specimen, including the fracture patterns and tensile strength. The numerical simulations illustrated that microstructural flaws such as microcracks should be included in the models to more accurately reproduce the rock strength. In addition, the differential elastic deformations caused by rock heterogeneity altered the stress distribution in the specimen, creating zones of local tensile stresses, in particular, on the boundaries between different mineral phases. As a result, heterogeneous models exhibited rougher fracture surfaces. MicroCT observations emphasized the influence of heterogeneity and, in particular, biotite grains on the fracture trajectories in the specimens. Favourably oriented biotite flakes and cleavage splitting significantly deviated the cracks. The interaction of the main crack with perpendicular cleavage planes of biotite caused strong crack deviation and termination. Considering heterogeneity and the strength degradation caused by microcracks, the simulations captured reasonably accurate mechanical responses and failure mechanisms for the rock, namely, the nonlinear stress-strain relationships. The insights presented in this study improve the understanding of the role of heterogeneity and microstructure on damage and mechanical behaviour of brittle rock.

Keywords: micro-scale heterogeneity
microstructure
mechanical behaviour
rocks
numerical modelling
micro-mechanical testing
Advisor: Grasselli, Giovanni
Calculating Values, Changing Organizations: Governance Rankings and the Transmission of Institutional Logics

In a world where the actions of firms have profound consequences, and in which existing corporate norms frequently have controversial impacts on the broader society, the issue of transforming corporate institutions is of increasing importance. What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? There is an accelerating use of social movement theory and organization theory to understand and explain campaigns for social change and corporate responses. In this study, I explore the influence of governance activists on the norms of corporate governance in Canada. In the years immediately after the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, Canadian governance activists began to advocate a new model of the role of corporate boards. They wished to strengthen the independence of board from management, and their model quickly became normative. Institutions changed swiftly and unmistakably. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate the means by which institutional entrepreneurs introduce new practices to an organizational field, how the practices they advocate acquire value, and the conditions under which new practices are integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations. I first conduct a multi-practice study that examines the importance of rankings as an algorithm or calculative device that is congruent with corporate logics. I then examine the diffusion of these practices using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new and divergent practices.

Keywords: Institutional change
performativity
Advisor: Amburgey, Terry
Nationalism and Internationalism: Theory and Practice of Marxist Nationality Policy from Marx and Engels to Lenin and the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland

The dissertation examines the roots of modernity at the turn of the 20th century through the prism of the relationship between nationalism and internationalism. This seemingly incompatible affiliation between the two ideological archenemies has produced one of the most intriguing paradoxes of modern history. While theoretically attempting to reject nationalism as a transient product of capitalism, Marxism has in practice oftentimes exploited its appeal and utilized its extensive institutional repertoire. The study traces the evolution of Marxism’s conceptualization of the nationality question—a slow shift from an outright rejection of nationalism to an acceptance of its progressive features, complexity, varieties and influences. Interweaving intellectual and cultural studies in history with the political and intellectual history of the European Left, the study offers an intricate narrative of the crossroads of two important ideologies in theory and practice. The dissertation’s comparative and transnational approach reveals several important hitherto superficially explored aspects of Marxism’s difficult dialogue with nationalism. Firstly, it re-evaluates Karl Marx and Friedrich’s views on the nationality question, from its outright denial to limited acceptance and application. Secondly, it re-examines the multitude of Social Democratic responses to nationalism before the Great War. The advent of mass politics and the popularization of Marxist ideas produced a range of diverse socialist responses to the national conundrum throughout Europe. A comparison of Western (French and German), East Central and Eastern European (Austrian, Polish and Russian) and Soviet attitudes highlights some of the startling similarities and differences between the various groups’ ideological constellations. Finally, the dissertation uses the case study of the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland (Komunistyczna Partia Robotnicza Polski, KPRP) to reveal certain insights about the cumulative heritage of Marxist thought on nationalism. An analysis of the KPRP reveals a lot not only about a national party’s struggles with nationalism (challenging many historiographical questions), but also about the diverse conceptualizations of Marx and Engels’ thought on nationalism, about European Social Democracy’s debates about the phenomenon, and about the Soviet nationality policy (within and outside the Soviet Union).

Keywords: Marxism
nationalism
Karl Marx
Friendrich Engels
Communist Workers’ Party of Poland
European socialism
Soviet nationality policy
Comintern
Advisor: Wrobel, Piotr
Structural and Functional Studies on the Escherichia coli Inducible Lysine Decarboxylase: Linking the Acid Stress and Stringent Responses

The Escherichia coli acid stress response allows the survival of cells over a wide range of pH challenges: down to pH 2.0 with the extreme acid stress response and down to pH 4.0 – 5.0 with the mild acid stress response. The cell employs a number of different acid stress response systems, including a number of structurally related, pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent amino acid decarboxylases, including the glutamic acid, arginine, lysine, and ornithine decarboxylases. The decarboxylases are large multi-domain enzymes that exist as homodimers or higher-order oligomers and have various activity optima at different pH values. By the proton-consuming decarboxylation of a target amino acid, these enzymes provide a response to a wide range of pH challenges. The primary focus of this work is the elucidation of the X-ray crystal structure of the inducible lysine decarboxylase LdcI, a homodecameric enzyme that has distinct 5-fold symmetry. A combination of heavy-atom derivatization, anomalous scattering and molecular replacement techniques were used to determine the X-ray structure and the model was refined to a resolution of 2.0 Å. The structure of LdcI revealed that the protein co-crystallized with the stringent response alarmone ppGpp. The stringent response is activated under nutritional and stress conditions and reorganizes cellular transcription and metabolism from exponential-phase growth into stationary phase growth. The primary target of ppGpp is the RNA polymerase, but other classes of enzymes are known to be affected. ppGpp was found to be a potent inhibitor of LdcI both in vitro and in vivo and this role provides the first evidence of a linkage between the stringent response and acid stress response. Among the decarboxylases related to LdcI (the constitutive lysine, the ornithine and arginine decarboxylases), a number of these enzymes were similarly regulated by ppGpp.

Keywords: Biochemistry
X-ray Crystallography
Acid Stress
Stringent Response
Escherichia coli
Inducible Lysine Decarboxylase
ppGpp
Alarmone
Advisor: Houry, Walid A.
Pathways to Successful Economic Integration: The Dynamics of Low Income and Low Wages among New Immigrants to Canada

Contemporary research on immigrant economic integration identifies growing economic disadvantages faced by immigrants and probes sources of the disadvantages by focusing on immigrants’ pre-migration and ascriptive characteristics. However, little empirical evaluation exists on how immigrants overcome their initial economic disadvantages over time. This dissertation departs from previous research by studying the roles of two post-migration factors – schooling (formal education and language training) and the employment of female spouses – in the exits from low wages and low family income (poverty) among recent immigrants. The analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) – a three-wave survey of immigrants who arrived in Canada in 2000-2001 – produces three main findings. First, investing in host country formal education is beneficial for the economic advancement of new immigrants – especially highly educated ones. This finding confirms the role of skill upgrading programs for adult immigrants as an effective immigrant settlement policy, given that the majority of recent immigrants have postsecondary education but that their initial economic hardships are growing. Second, the benefits of English/French language lessons are real. This finding counters a common criticism that language lessons for adult new immigrants, which are often funded by the governments, are not helpful. Indeed, standard logistic regression analysis of the LSIC data shows that immigrants who enrolled in language lessons have no advantage in exiting poverty or low wages. However, the bivariate probit model demonstrates that this is because unmeasured characteristics of the language lesson participants confound the true benefit of language lessons. Third, this dissertation research highlights the role immigrant women play in lifting their families out of poverty when they work. This finding has an implication particularly for women of Arab and Middle Eastern origins as their notably lower labour force participation rates explain much of their high poverty rates.

Keywords: Sociology
General
Sociology
Demography
Sociology
Ethnic and Racial Studies
Advisor: Boyd, Monica
Crisis and Regeneration: the Conversos of Majorca, 1391-1416

In the summer of 1391 anti-Jewish violence spread across the kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. Unprecedented numbers of Jews were murdered and even more were forcibly converted. These converts, known as conversos, formed a new, self-perpetuating social group, which, together with the rest of Spanish society, remained deeply conscious of its distinct ethnicity and culture. A century later, testimonies to the Spanish Inquisition depict a converso community with a continued, if varied, affiliation to Judaism. This dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391. It employs previously unexamined and unpublished archival sources to argue that corporate fiscal obligations had a major impact in shaping the converso community in Majorca, just as they shaped Jewish social and communal life prior to 1391. Conversos organized collectively in order to meet royal fiscal demands, settle their corporate debt and fund social welfare following the disruptions of 1391, adopting administrative models of the former aljama. The monarchy continued to relate to the conversos as a distinct corporate entity in the same ways it had dealt with them as Jews. Royal efforts to prevent converso emigration to the Maghreb, where many fled to renege on Catholicism, carried overtones of the same proto-mercantilist policies that motivated its failed attempts to revivify the island’s Jewish aljama. Publicized restrictions against conversos, many of whom continued to cultivate prior commercial and family relationships with Maghrebi Jews, contributed to popular assumptions that Majorcan conversos at sea were Judaizers, spurring targeted anti-converso and anti-Jewish piracy. Conversos thus remained entrenched in the same socioeconomic structures, and employed the same licit and illicit strategies to cope with royal exploitation, as when they were Jews. This perpetuated a group identity that was unmistakeably anchored in their Jewish past, and which could promote other aspects of Jewish affiliation. In 1404 the conversos established a formal confraternity which replicated the social welfare programs and administrative techniques of the former aljama within the framework of a Catholic pious society, representing one of the first necessary adaptations to Christian life.

Keywords: Jewish History
Spain
Conversos
Majorca
Advisor: Meyerson, Mark
Molecular Genetic Study of Autism and Intellectual Disability Genes on the X-chromosome

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 150 children which makes it more common than childhood cancer and juvenile diabetes. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 individuals affected by autism in Canada and tens of millions worldwide. It is well established that genetic factors play important role in the pathophysiology of autism; still, our current understanding of these genetic factors is limited and cause of autism remains an important question. During the past decade, after completion of human genome, several new high throughput genome scan technologies have been developed such as microarrays. In the present study, we undertook the challenge of identifying X-chromosomal genes involved in autism by performing genome-wide copy number variation analysis of more than 400 probands with autism using Affymetrix 500K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarrays. We identified copy number variants implicating several genes on the chromosome X such as PTCHD1, IL1RAPL1, IL1RAPL2 and TSPAN7 as autism candidate genes. We also demonstrated that autism and intellectual disability may share some of these genes as etiologic factors. We performed a comprehensive analysis of PTCHD1 locus and showed that mutations at this locus are associated with autism in ~1 % of the cases. This study also demonstrated that PTCHD1 mutations can cause intellectually disability with or without autism, and that the PTCHD1 protein may act as a receptor in Hedgehog signaling pathway. We have also carried out a detailed analysis of TSPAN7 and IL1RAPL1 to explore the contributions of these genes in autism. We identified one family with intronic deletion of IL1RAPL1 and another case with a missense mutation in this gene, thus implicating this known intellectual disability gene in autism. Our findings highlight the importance of the X chromosome in the etiology of autism, and demonstrate the power of copy number variation analysis coupled with other technologies in identification of disease genes, in particular for complex genetic disorders such as autism.

Keywords: Autism, Genomics, X chromosome
Genetics, Genomics, Intellecutal Disability
Advisor: Vincent, John B.