VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Stable Matching with Generalized Preference Assumptions: Algorithmic and Incentive Compatibility Challenges

Matching markets are ubiquitous, including college admissions, school choice, reviewer paper matching, and various labour market matchings. Many of these matching markets run centralized matching schemes, using algorithms to determine the resulting match. An important property for the matches provided by the clearing house is stability. The notion of stability, where no one in the market has both the incentive and the ability to change their partner, has been empirically shown to be a very valuable property in real-world markets. However, the mechanisms used in practice make assumptions that do not hold in practice. In this thesis, we investigate problems in this gap between theory and practice. We focus on assumptions regarding participants’ preferences: the standard algorithms for this problem assume participants are able and willing to provide a full preference list, sometimes over tens of thousands of alternatives. The standard algorithms also assume participants’ preferences can be expressed by a simple ordered list over individual alternatives: a false assumption when a pair of participants, a couple, are looking for a job in the same city. We use a variety of techniques to address these issues, ranging from heuristic preference elicitation schemes, to equilibria analysis of participants’ behaviour in the market as-is, to using SAT solvers to develop new matching mechanisms with couples. Our SAT encoding exhibits improved performance, and allows for more guarantees regarding participants’ strategic behavior under certain circumstances. We find, under some settings, a common interviewing strategy is not an equilibrium. This provides further evidence for the need of elicitation schemes; ours find stable matches with much less information than traditional methods.

Keywords: Algorithmic Game Theory
Artificial Intelligence
Computational Economics
Stable Matching
Advisor: Borodin, Allan
Larson, Kate
The Misfolding Pathway of SOD1: Implications for Drug Design in ALS

With the development of modern medicine, many diseases and maladies have been eradicated or rendered non-fatal. This has allowed human beings to live longer and more comfortably. As the average lifespan has increased, however, diseases that tend to occur late in life have become more prominent. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimerâ s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affect the brain and nervous system, killing neuronal cells necessary for proper bodily function. In almost all cases, protein misfolding and the accumulation of aggregated material are involved in these toxic effects. In the case of ALS, protein misfolding and aggregation occur in motor neurons, causing them to die which leads to a progressive full-body paralysis and death by respiratory failure. In ~20% of ALS cases showing familial inheritance, over 180 mutations in the Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase protein (SOD1) have been recognized as causing the disease. These mutations do not have the common property of compromising the superoxide scavenging activity of this protein. Rather, mutations increase its propensity to adopt non-native conformations that acquire some toxic properties. The structures of the pathological misfolded protein are not known, but identifying them and the misfolding pathways that produce them are crucial for developing treatments that target the toxic conformations themselves or prevent SOD1 from misfolding and reaching those states. In this thesis, a battery of techniques was developed and applied to kinetically track multiple processes during SOD1 unfolding which has produced the most detailed mapping of the SOD1 misfolding pathway. Using this information, a computational screen was used to find molecules that might bind to and stabilize the dimer interface to prevent an early event in the pathway, dimer dissociation. Two molecules were found that inhibited misfolding and aggregation in vitro which may be the beginnings of a treatment for this currently incurable disease.

Keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Chemical chaperones
Cu
Zn superoxide dismutase
Misfolding pathway
Native state stabilizers
Protein misfolding
Advisor: Chakrabartty, Avijit
Pious Critique: Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī and the 11th Century Practice of Juristic Disputation (Munāẓara)

The 5th/11th century Shāfi‘ī jurist Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī (d. 476/1083) rose to scholarly fame in the context of a Baghdad culture of pious critical debate. The emergence of the practice of disputation (munāẓara) within the 10th century Muslim lands of Iraq and Persia had shaped a class of jurists dedicated to open and continual face-to-face debate in their search for God’s law (ijtihād). Jurists debated each other on contentious legal issues (al-khilāf): one jurist would adopt a thesis and try to defend it in the face of his opponent’s objections. They structured their practice around the boundaries of school affiliation and hierarchies. They debated those of equal rank and defended their doctrines from outside-school detractors. Their intended audience was fellow-jurists who could benefit and learn from exposure to critical debate. The ideal setting for the disputation was a space like the mosque because it was removed from the court of rulers and their potential influence on the debate. The pedagogical ethics of the disputation demanded that all present treat the practice with the seriousness and sincerity characteristic of acts of religious devotion. The jurists’ exclusion of lay Muslims from their debates entrenched their role as religious guides of the community and re-inforced the gender-hierarchy that marginalized women’s voices in the shaping of the law. Transcripts of Shīrāzī’s disputations reflect the impact of the disputation on the development of Shāfi‘ī legal doctrine. The jurists’ acknowledgement of the epistemic uncertainty of legal proofs led them to posit the need and sometimes even the obligation to have their ideas subjected to rigorous objections. Moreover, legal uncertainty justified that this process of debate continue even on issues that had already been examined over generations. The disputation did not typically resolve differences of opinion and did not spell the end of the debate. Records of Shīrāzī’s disputations show how this process of critical engagement with opponents inside and outside of the Shāfi‘ī school allowed the jurist to continue to test, develop, and refine his arguments for the law. Shīrāzī’s freedom to explore his legal tradition free from the demands of the courts and the petitions of lay Muslims permitted him to turn to building his own rendering of the Shāfi‘ī tradition with the greatest rigour possible. The impact of this process on the eventual formation of school doctrine was less certain. The canonization of Shāfi‘ī doctrine in the 13th century in the works of Yaḥyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī (d. 676/1278) show that the eventual authoritative position of a school was not necessarily dependent on the force of argument but rather on the fame of the person who subscribed to it.

Keywords: Classical Schools of Law
Islamic law
Munazara
Usul al-fiqh
Advisor: Emon, Anver
Nightscape, Dreamscape, Nightmarescape

Inspired by unsettling dreams, this piece is an exploration of several – specifically three – soundscapes and their interactions, or how they can adapt and contort to each others' tempo, rhythms, and orchestration. In many ways they are inseparable even if their connotations diverge. All three of the soundscapes serve as important reflections of each other and are thus interconnected. On a personal level, the piece involves the re-usage of music that is nostalgic to me. In this case, much of the music written serves as a deconstruction and reconstruction of music from an obscure video game, “Alundra.” The game's story also serves as a parallel inspiration as it emphasizes exploring dreamscapes and the subconscious, with often lethal consequences. While not explicitly programmatically related to the music written, it does serve as the partial inspiration and is recognized as such.

Keywords: Music Composition
Wind Ensemble
Advisor: Palej, Norbert
The role of microRNA-132/212 in molecular circadian clock regulation

The mammalian central circadian clock is localized in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and is responsible for orchestrating ~24-hour rhythms in behavior and physiology. An additional property of timekeeping in organisms is seasonal adaptation, or adaptation to seasonal variations in environmental conditions. Melatonin signaling has been studied for its role in adapting physiology to seasonal light/dark variations, yet the SCN is responsible for encoding and relaying daylength information by unknown mechanisms. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. MicroRNA-132 is part of a microRNA cluster, miR-132/212, that is often expressed in tandem, with well-characterized roles in neuronal plasticity. MiR-132 has been shown to modulate photic entrainment in acute paradigms; however, the role of miR-132/212 in acute and long-term circadian plasticity has not been explored. I aimed to do so in this study using a loss-of-function approach. I found that miR-132/212 ablation alters entrainment to non-24 hour cycles and seasonal photoperiods, and is accompanied by heightened clock protein rhythm amplitude and altered photoperiod-dependent clock protein expression patterns in the SCN. MiR-132/212-deficient SCN neurons show decreased dendritic spine density, which could potentially underlie the perturbed rhythmicity in clock gene expression and behavioral phenotypes. In the seasonal mammal Mesocricetus auratus, adaptation to winter-like photoperiods correlates with decreased dendritic spine density in SCN neurons, and is independent from melatonin signaling. MeCP2 (methyl-CpG binding protein 2) is a miR-132/212 target with roles in brain development and plasticity. MeCP2 expression is altered in miR-132/212-deficient SCN, as is its downstream gene BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) signaling. I used in vitro and in vivo approaches to explore how MeCP2 modulates dendritic morphology phenotypes, and propose that the interaction between miR-132/212-regulated MeCP2, its downstream target BDNF, and the mTOR signaling pathway, is responsible for modulating SCN neuronal plasticity, which could be the basis for encoding seasonal time.

Keywords: circadian rhythms
dendritic morphology
microRNA
miR-132/212
seasonal timekeeping
suprachiasmatic nucleus
Advisor: Cheng, Hai Ying Mary
Inducible Rescue of N-methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Deficiency to Study Brain Plasticity

Although brain plasticity is thought to be highest in the developing brain, evidence has shown that the adult brain is capable of a number of mechanisms that underlie developmental plasticity. This is important for the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, where insults occur during plastic and vulnerable developmental windows, ultimately leading to symptoms that continue into adulthood. We investigated the plasticity of the brain by disrupting the glutamate system, and determined whether intervention during adulthood could ameliorate neurodevelopmental symptoms. We asked whether the adult brain is sufficiently plastic to allow for rewiring and amelioration of behavioural abnormalities. To address this, a mouse model was generated. The GluN1-inducible rescue (GluN1-IR) mouse model develops in a state of global N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor hypofunction that can then be â rescuedâ , with NMDA receptor levels being genetically restored. The levels of rescue were quantitatively measured via behavioural, biochemical and molecular means. By restoring NMDA receptor function at two key developmental time points, adolescence and adulthood, we were afforded insight into when the brain may be more plastic and amenable to adaptive changes, potentially identifying key treatment windows for symptoms that arise in a number of neurodevelopmental disorders. However, independent of intervention time or length of recovery, plasticity remained constant. Even more interestingly, we identified that the degree of plasticity varied depending on brain regions. Cortically-mediated behaviours showed high levels of plasticity, while subcortical behaviours remained resistant to change. This was corroborated with biochemical and molecular outputs. This study suggests that, converse to what was classically believed, plasticity does extend well into adulthood. Limitations in plasticity may not be mediated by developmental age, but may be inherently programmed based on specific circuits for behaviours.

Keywords: Behaviour
Inducible Rescue
NMDA receptor
Schizophrenia
Advisor: Ramsey, Amy J
The Friendships of Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The goal of this dissertation was to examine the friendships of adolescents with ADHD. In Study 1, I utilized quantitative methods to compare adolescents with and without ADHD with regard to friendship patterns at the level of markers (i.e., the presence of friendships, friendship quantity and stability, and characteristics of friends). In Study 2, I use a qualitative approach to investigate the meanings (i.e., subjective experience of friendship) and mechanisms (i.e., processes involved in forming and maintaining friendships) that may enhance or impair friendships of adolescents with ADHD. Moderators such as age and gender were considered in both studies. The sample for Study 1 comprised 107 adolescents, 13 to 18 years, 59 with ADHD (38 male, 21 female) and 48 comparison adolescents (22 male, 26 female). A subset of nine adolescents with ADHD, 16 to 18 years, participated in Study 2. The Adolescent Friendship Questionnaire (AFQ), Parent Friendship Questionnaire (PFQ), and a semi-structured interview were used. Results indicate that youth with ADHD typically develop at least one close friendship with same-age peers in adolescence. Adolescents with and without ADHD did not differ in the number of friends, the duration of close friendships, or the frequency of contact they have with their close friends. Adolescent girls with ADHD have fewer parent corroborated friendships than male adolescents with ADHD and teenagers without ADHD. According to parent report, adolescents with ADHD were more likely to have close friends with behaviour problems. When discussing their friendships, adolescents with ADHD described common experiences of social rejection, isolation, and victimization by peers, as well as problems establishing and maintaining friendships in childhood and early adolescence. They also recalled feeling embarrassed and emotionally distressed, and they perceived their unique challenges as uncontrollable, pervasive, and stigmatizing. Several adolescents with ADHD described becoming resigned to being friendless in adolescence. The transition to secondary school, however, seemed to facilitate friendship development with like-minded peers for adolescents with ADHD in this study. Findings are discussed within the context of the existing literature on the peer relationships of adolescents with ADHD. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Keywords: ADHD
Adolescents
Friendships
Mixed methods
Peer relations
Advisor: Wiener, Judith
Banking Practices and Borrowing Firms' Financial Reporting: Evidence from Bank Cross-Selling

This dissertation studies whether banking practices affect borrowing firms’ financial reporting. Specifically, I examine the effect of bank cross-selling activities (i.e., a bank’s joint provisions of lending and underwriting services to the same firm) on borrowers’ financial reporting quality for debt contracting. Cross-selling enhances lenders’ monitoring incentives because banks face additional reputational risks associated with underwriting services. In addition, cross-selling improves lenders’ monitoring abilities because information sharing between the underwriting and the lending divisions enables them to better discipline borrowers’ financial reporting for debt contracting purposes. Consistent with these arguments, I show that cross-selling is associated with an improvement in the debt contracting value (DCV) of accounting information at borrowing firms. I also find that banks use more accounting-based monitoring mechanisms for loans cross-sold with underwriting services than for other comparable loans. These findings are robust to alternative identification strategies.

Advisor: Liao, Scott
Richardson, Gordon
Fundamentals and application of the collapse transition of poly(acrylic acid) for synthesis of various polymer-templated nanoparticles

The collapse of a long chain polymer from extended to globular conformation can be the basis for a synthesis of nanoparticles. For example, a negatively charged polyelectrolyte can be collapsed by positively charged counterions, forming a nano-sized polymer-counterion particle. Upon stabilization of the nanoparticle via UV crosslinking, further chemical reaction of the counterions can be performed. In principle, the method can be carried out with different polyelectrolyte-counterions pair, and hence has enormous potential for generating different kinds of nanoparticles. For each combination, a study of various parameters affecting the collapse process is required. Parameters including the valence state of counterions, counterion concentration, pH, polymer molecular weight, polymer concentration, and UV dose were found to affect the process. The vast parameter space governing the collapse of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) by various ions and identified optimal synthesis condition for the polymer-counterion nanoparticles was investigated. First, a counterion concentration range at which PAA was collapsed yet have not formed aggregates was determined via viscosity and turbidity measurements. Second, optimization of the UV dose was explored for crosslinking of the nanoparticles while minimizing UV-induced chain scission. The optimization method was applied to the synthesis of various nanoparticles. Lanthanide oxide nanoparticles in similar chemical environments were synthesized, and their optical and magnetic properties were studied and compared to bulk materials. While their magnetic properties were similar to those of lanthanide ions, there was a notable enhancement of the UV absorption of CexOy-PAA and the luminescence properties of TbxOy-PAA and EuxOy-PAA. TixOy-PAA and BixWyOz-PAA were also synthesized and their photocatalytic properties were demonstrated using an organic dye model system. Lastly, photocatalytic properties of a hydrothermally-synthesized WO3 system were evaluated and Pt deposition on the WO3 system improved amaranth decolourization efficiency. The versatility of the approach in creating a wide range of nanoparticles was demonstrated and a universal method for creating various polymer-counterion nanoparticles was outlined.

Keywords: lanthanides
nanoparticles
photocatalysis
poly(acrylic acid)
polymer collapse
UV crosslinking
Advisor: Goh, M. Cynthia
Unimagined Communities: Post-Apartheid Nation-Building, Memory and Institutional Change in South Africa (1990-2010)

Studies of nationalism insist that the construction of usable pasts is central to the creation of national solidarities and the identity of a nation. However, this scholarship is limited by the scant attention that is paid to how those pasts are constructed, and the mechanisms through which decision-making occurs. The results of this neglect are often abstracted assumptions asserting a voluntarism and coherence that most often do not exist. Repeatedly, studies focus on the products of memorialization which imposes consistency and statist intentionality, after the fact, on what is a contingent, messy and complicated process. In addition, studies often assume a singularity of power, located in an unfragmented state, with authoritarian capacity to produce meaning. This dissertation remedies these flaws by paying attention to the processes and procedures through which national memorialization unfolds. It focuses specifically on the partial critical juncture that enabled South Africaâ s transition, which has produced multiple continuities with and changes from Apartheid institutions. Imagining the memory-nation here is thus theorized as both path-dependent and contingent. There are numerous factors at play in understanding memory-making including the character of transition, fractions within the governing party, frictions in the state, and the relationship between national, international and local contexts. In tracing the processes of memory-making as they are attached to nation-building, this dissertation pays careful attention to processual analysis that rejects the reification of â the nationâ and its memory. It argues that on-going dynamics of power in bureaucratic states tend to lend formal benefit to the already empowered with the so-called previously disadvantaged reliant on more informal mechanisms of asserting voice; in other words, in the context of the post-Apartheid dispensation, democratization and decolonization are not necessarily simultaneous processes. The dissertation does not present a puzzle for resolution, but instead suggests a method of reading the construction of the memory-nation. This method takes context and contingency not as variables in theory, but as theory itself. Thus, the unexceptional exceptionalism that is the nation-state in this global conjuncture can be analyzed and understood.

Keywords: Commemoration
Institutionalism
Nationalism
post-colonialism
Advisor: Eyoh, Dickson
The Future of Mandatory Reporting Laws: Developing a Legal and Policy Framework for Determining What Reporting Obligations to Impose on Professionals

Individuals within a professional-client relationship reveal a range of sensitive information that they might otherwise be reluctant to share with others. Mandatory reporting laws â laws that require professionals to report client information to the state â allow governments to extract this information in order to use it for social goals. These laws are widely used yet poorly understood. There is no apparent rationale for what is reportable and what is not. The existing legal literature largely ignores the interactions of these laws with the common law and other statutes, and particularly their compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The literature also considers individual mandatory reporting laws in isolation. This thesis provides a legal and policy analysis of mandatory reporting laws as a family of related laws in the Canadian context. The legal analysis considers the impact of these laws on the clientâ s interests in autonomy, privacy, and access to services, and on religious and conscience interests of the professional. It concludes that existing mandatory reporting laws infringe Charter rights in several ways. Some of these infringements will be justifiable under section 1 of the Charter as reasonable limitations in a free and democratic society. Others likely require legislative amendments. Overall, however, Charter compliance is not a significant restraint on lawmaking in this area, leaving legislators and policymakers vast possibilities to navigate. The policy analysis complements the legal analysis by setting out a four-component framework for evaluating existing laws and new proposals. The first component focuses on the purpose of the law; the second, on the special ability or opportunity of the professional to detect the reportable occurrence; the third, on the connection between the purpose of the law and the purpose of the profession; and the fourth, on the long-term impacts on the client-professional relationship. Together, the legal and policy analysis should enable legislators and policymakers to improve the coherence and consistency of lawmaking in this area. This thesis demonstrates that mandatory reporting laws are a powerful legal tool, but one that should be employed sparingly and carefully because it comes with real though often intangible harms.

Keywords: autonomy
confidentiality
deterrence
law
mandatory reporting
privacy
Advisor: Lemmens, Trudo