VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Split Ergativity in Davani

This thesis examines the phenomenon of split ergativity in Davani, an endangered Iranian language spoken in southern Iran. The research is based on original field work. The complex ergative agreement system in Davani distinguishes between agents and objects in the past tense, with the affectedness status of the object also being a factor in the agreement patterning. A Minimalist analysis is proposed to account for the complex case-agreement patterns, in which absolutive is argued to be nominative, and ergative is an inherent case, assigned by v when selected by a past tense inflection. Davani clitics are argued to be the realization of phi-features on a functional head rather than doubled clitics. In addition, the case patterns of psych verbs are explored in three different verb classes. In the analysis of these verbs, experiencers are shown to be internal to VP, either merged in the spec of VP or as a sister to V. It is argued that the ergative marking on experiencers come from VPsych. Finally, an analysis of complex predicates and their interaction in Davani is presented in this thesis. The claim is that Davani complex predicates formed from a N+V are better analyzed as (partially) incorporated units rather than a combination of N+V. It is further argued that these units have a dual nature, in that they show properties of both syntactic and lexical units. Ergative agreement is used as a diagnostic to show that the nominal element of complex predicates is best analyzed as a non-specific object. This is based on the key assumption that the presence of an ergative marker depends on the presence of an object. The implications of Davani case for the structure of other complex predicates is also explored.

Keywords: Split Ergativity Iranian Davani
Advisor: Massam, Diane
UT-OCL: An OpenCL Framework for Embedded Systems Using Xilinx FPGAs

The number of heterogeneous components on a System-on-Chip (SoC) has continued to increase. Software developers leverage these heterogeneous systems by using high-level languages to enable the execution of applications. For the application to execute correctly, hardware support for features and constructs of the programming model need to be incorporated into the system. OpenCL is a standard that enables the control and execution of kernels on heterogeneous systems. The standard garnered much interest in the FPGA community when two major FPGA vendors released CAD tools with a modified design flow to support the constructs and features of the standard. Unfortunately, this environment is closed and cannot be modified by the user, making the features and constructs of the standard difficult to explore. The purpose of this work is to present UT-OCL, an open-source OpenCL framework for embedded systems on Xilinx FPGAs, and use UT-OCL to explore system architecture and device architecture features. By open-sourcing this framework, users can experiment with all aspects of OpenCL, primarily targeting FPGAs, including testing possible modifications to the standard as well as exploring the underlying computing architecture. The framework can also be used for a fair comparison between hardware accelerators (also known as devices in the OpenCL standard), since the environment and the testbenches are constant, leaving the devices as the only variable in the system. This dissertation shows that the UT-OCL framework enables the exploration of a mechanism to efficiently transfer data between the host and device memory, a fair comparison for two versions of a CRC application and shows the trade-offs between resource utilization and performance for a device using a network-on-chip paradigm. In addition, by using the framework, the dissertation explores six approaches implementing Shared Virtual Memory (SVM), a feature in the OpenCL specification that enables the host and device to share the same address space. Finally, this dissertation presents the first published implementation of a pipe that is compliant to the OpenCL specification.

Keywords: FPGA
OpenCL
reconfigurable computing
Shared Virtual Memory (SVM)
System-on-Chip (SoC)
Advisor: Chow, Paul
She] ⟨Ha?⟩ She

This is an originary study of the work of the Canadian poet Anne Carson. It attempts to respond to an injunction she once left in a book from our university library: follow the voice (ἴμεν φάμας ὄπισθεν). The voice in Anne Carson is elusive and, as a violet in winter, likes to hide itself. In truth, it is often figured forth in the form of an absent presence. How does one follow a voice that is not there? By reading what is absent in what is present. By learning to attend to the traces that are left behind by that voice. Our thesis undertakes to read for these traces through a number of forms of attention. These include: the attention to the first work (a first work exhibits everything that is going to be written); the attention to the totality of the oeuvre (all the works of a writer coalesce under a presiding unity); the attention to the sidetext (manuscripts, abandoned works, letters, interviews, marginalia); the attention to source; the attention to the keytext, the attention to the countertext; the attention to compositional genesis; and the attention to mimetic activity. Anne Carson is a writer who trains you as you read. The following is an exercise in fractal analysis. It attempts to find in the parts of one primary text (the Canicula di Anna) structures and patterns repeating themselves at varying scales in the text under investigation as a whole and in the entire oeuvre. It is an organic and immanent form of criticism that moves from within one work and not from outside of it. It strives to read Anne Carson through Anne Carson. And to follow her voice and the chorus of voices echoing within that voice as it breathlessly discloses the desperate drama of being a self in song.

Advisor: Solecki, Sam
Automated Kidney Segmentation in 3D Ultrasound Imagery, and its Application in Computer-Assisted Trauma Diagnosis

Due to the limitations of emergency healthcare/technology, blunt abdominal bleeding causes a large number of preventable deaths each year. To save a trauma patient's life, a rapid diagnosis is required, which is not always available in emergency situations. This is the thesis of this PhD research that a computer-assisted algorithm based on 3D ultrasound imagery, as a portable imaging modality, provides a systematic solution to facilitate rapid diagnosis of trauma patients in emergency situations by first responders (ie. paramedics). 3D ultrasound imagery, which is a portable imaging system, is selected as the preferred imaging modality for trauma diagnosis, because it can be carried to the location of emergency situation. Therefore, by eliminating the need of moving an unstable patient to an imaging room, rapid trauma diagnosis is achievable. Compared to 2D sonography, 3D ultrasound imaging facilitates automated detection and localization of internal organs. This is essential, specifically in the sense that ultrasonographers are not always present at emergency situations. Hence, a computer-assisted solution is essential to guide first responders to perform trauma diagnosis using a 3D ultrasound device. An abdominal bleeding has a high tendency to align around the right kidney. The right-upper-quadrant view of sonography shows the entire kidney shape, and therefore, it is considered as the most relevant internal view to trauma diagnosis. Paramedics usually lack proper knowledge to find the right-upper-quadrant view, to detect the kidney shape, and to detect an internal bleeding using an ultrasound imaging device. Hence, computer-assisted algorithms are required to perform these tasks. The focus of this thesis is to introduce automated methods to detect and segment the kidney shape. The detected kidney shape will be used for two purposes: (a) it is used to calculate the ultrasound probe's misalignment with respect to the right-upper-quadrant view, which is used to guide the operator to move the probe toward the correct alignment on the patient's body; (b) the detected kidney shape is used to initialize the kidney segmentation process, and thereby, an automated kidney segmentation approach is achieved. The kidney segmentation output can be used to automatically detect an internal bleeding.

Keywords: Automated Organ Detection
Computer-Assisted Medical Diagnosis
Computerized Segmentation of Kidney Shape
Medical Image Registration
Volumetric (3D) Ultrasound Imagery
Advisor: Plataniotis, Konstantinos N
Planetary Systems in Polarized Light: Debris Disk Observations and Instrumentation

Understanding planet formation is one of the major challenges of modern astronomy. Polarimetry is a powerful tool with which we can confront this challenge. In particular, polarimetric observations can be useful for imaging debris disks and characterizing exoplanet atmospheres. With that in mind, this thesis has been constructed with two main aspects: i) observational studies of two debris disk systems, Beta Pic and HD 157587, using the Gemini Planet Imager and ii) the characterization and testing of a new type of diffraction grating, called a polarization grating, that we plan to use for future observations of exoplanet atmospheres. The Gemini Planet Imager is a high-contrast imager that includes a polarimetry mode designed to image circumstellar disks. Here we detail the development of new data analysis techniques that reduce systematics and noise in processed GPI data. We apply these techniques to observations of the Beta Pic and HD 157587 debris disks and then fit each disk image to a geometric disk model. The Beta Pic disk model's morphology cannot be explained by interactions with the planet Beta Pic b, and the presence of a second planet could be invoked to explain the discrepancy. In the case of HD 157587, the disk model's geometric centre is offset from the location of the star, which could be explained by a perturbing planet. Characterization of the planets' interactions with their debris disks is a critical method to gain more information about these two systems. The second component of this thesis focuses on polarization gratings, thin film optical devices that can simultaneously act as polarizing beam splitters and as spectral dispersive elements. Moreover, they can be designed for high diffraction efficiency across a broad wavelength range. These features make polarization gratings useful for many types of astronomical observations. We have carried out laboratory and on-sky test observations using a polarization grating optimized for visible wavelengths. The laboratory tests confirm the expected diffraction efficiency and beam splitting capabilities of the grating. Our on-sky observations demonstrate the grating's ability to measure linear polarization fraction and position angle, and recover spectra in an astronomical setting. In the future we plan to use a near-infrared polarization grating to search for spectropolarimetric features in exoplanet atmospheres.

Keywords: Data Reduction
Debris Disks
Exoplanets
Instrumentation
Polarimetry
Advisor: Moon, Dae-Sik
Event Typicality and Memory: Investigating How Prior Knowledge and Novelty Modulate Memory for Complex Events

A complex set of processes and brain regions work together in healthy adults, allowing them to create and recall memories of daily events. Additionally, the perception and recall of these events is shaped by factors such as novelty and congruence with prior knowledge (typicality). Despite a long history of research, studies on the neural underpinnings of the mnemonic effects of novelty and typicality rarely examine complex naturalistic event memories. Moreover, it is uncertain how these effects evolve over time, as memories are stabilized and transformed from acquisition to retention and retrieval. In this thesis I use naturalistic film clip stimuli, behavioural measures, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of both novelty and typicality on the neural substrates mediating memory, and examine how these effects evolve through encoding and retrieval over the course of a week. Behaviourally, I find that both typicality and novelty enhance memory for events, but that atypical events are recalled with more errors over time. With respect to the neural bases of memory, I demonstrate that the greatest differences based on event typicality are seen during encoding - when typicality is correlated with greater medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and parietal activation, while novelty is correlated with greater activation in the medial temporal lobes (MTLs) and posterior sensory cortices. During retrieval, however, such differences based on typicality are subtler, with retrieval supported by the MTLs, irrespective of event typicality, at all time points. Notwithstanding these overall neural similarities in the retrieval of all events, typical clips are associated with attenuated MTL activation during remote retrieval, indicating that recall dynamics may be influenced by event typicality over time. Furthermore, I provide evidence for differential functional connectivity of both the mPFC and MTLs during encoding and retrieval, based on event typicality. These results, which demonstrate how the neural substrates mediating narrative episodic memories are modulated by event typicality, are consistent with two complementary theories - Trace Transformation Theory and Schema Theory. Furthermore, they suggest, through mPFC and MTL functional connectivity, potential mechanisms by which typical and novel events may be differentially encoded and retrieved.

Keywords: episodic memory
medial prefrontal cortex
medial temporal lobes
memory consolidation
schemas
semantic memory
Advisor: Moscovitch, Morris
Thalamic Mechanisms Mediating the Sedating Effects of General Anesthesia

Alterations in thalamic activity are associated with electrocortical patterns that characterize non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep and general anesthetic-induced sedation and loss-of-consciousness. Both non-REM sleep and general anesthesia are states that are characterized by increased inhibitory Îł aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic signaling in the thalamus. There are three forms of GABA type A (GABAA) receptor-mediated inhibition that have been identified in thalamocortical neurons: (1) phasic inhibition mediated by the transient activation of synaptic GABAA receptors, (2) tonic inhibition mediated by the prolonged activation of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors, and (3) spillover inhibition mediated by the transient activation of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors. The separate impact of each of these forms of thalamic GABAergic inhibition on electrocortical activity is unclear and such an understanding would assist in elucidating the thalamic mechanisms mediating the changes in electrocortical activity that signal sedation and loss-of-consciousness. The experiments presented in this thesis identify the electrocortical effects of enhanced thalamic GABAA receptor-mediated tonic and spillover inhibition in vivo. The electrocortical changes elicited by a prototypic GABAA receptor-targeting general anesthetic agent when it is administered directly into the thalamus are characterized and compared to the effects identified with separate manipulations of GABAA receptor-mediated inhibition. These studies show that enhanced thalamic tonic inhibition in mice promotes electrocortical patterns associated with deep non-REM sleep. Specifically, enhanced GABAA receptor-mediated tonic inhibition in the thalamus elicits a state-independent increase in 1-4 Hz electrocortical activity and a decrease in sleep spindle-like oscillations. These effects were altered by blockade of thalamic T-type Ca2+ channels. Importantly, microperfusion of the general anesthetic etomidate into the thalamus elicits changes in electrocortical activity that are distinct form those associated with enhanced thalamic tonic inhibition. Moreover, the action of etomidate at the thalamus is sufficient to elicit an electrocortical signature associated with anesthetic-induced loss-of-consciousness, but only during non-REM sleep. Finally, enhanced GABAA receptor-mediated spillover inhibition in the thalamus fully recapitulates the electrocortical effects identified with etomidate at the thalamus. Together, the findings of this thesis indicate that alterations in thalamic spillover inhibition could underlie the changes in electrocortical activity that signal anesthetic-induced loss-of-consciousness.

Keywords: Anesthesia
EEG
GABA type A receptors
Sleep
Thalamus
Advisor: Horner, Richard L
Perfect Timing: Acquisition of the Spanish Present Perfect in a Francophone Context

Perfect Timing: Acquisition of the Spanish Present Perfect in a Francophone Context Joanne Markle LaMontagne Doctor of Philosophy Department of Spanish and Portuguese University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This thesis explores the possible role of cognate (similar) morphological forms and semantics in a model of cross-linguistic influence in bilingual language acquisition. Much of the previous research on the question of what counts as similarity and overlap in different languages, as a condition on language influence, has focused on syntactic structures (e.g., Hulk Müller, 2000; Strik Pérez-Leroux, 2011; Unsworth, 2003; Yip Matthews, 2000, 2007, 2009). Verbal morphemes and their corresponding semantics, however, have not been investigated before as conditions on language influence. Some of the work on this area has examined the role of shared semantic features related to Tense in bilingual children growing up in a language contact situation in Quechua and Spanish (e.g., Sánchez, 2004). Morphological similarity, however, has not been explicitly tested as to whether it determines language influence. This dissertation investigates whether cognate morphological forms and semantics (i.e., semantic features) are determinants of language influence, and whether quantitative and/or qualitative differences between monolingual and bilingual children occur. I present an experimental study that tests the grammatical knowledge of Spanish tense-aspect-mood and copula selection in Spanish heritage children growing up in a Canadian Francophone context. Four semantic contrasts are tested (e.g., Preterite/Present Perfect, Preterite/Imperfect, Subjunctive/Indicative, and ser/estar), all of which have shown sensitivity to bilingual effects such as language transfer, incomplete acquisition, and attrition. Such effects have been attested in studies on child and adult Spanish heritage language acquisition (e.g., Cuza, 2008, 2010; Cuza Miller, 2015; Miller Cuza, 2013; Montrul, 2002b; Montrul Slabakova, 2002, 2003; Silva-Corvalán, 1994, 2003). In order to examine the subtle, yet important, differences between the Spanish and French tense-aspect-mood systems, a contrastive analysis as in Cowper’s (2005) feature geometry analysis for features of Inflection is adopted. Results from a receptive vocabulary and a sentence imitation task show that while monolingual children outperform heritage children, the latter also show growth and development despite prolonged contact with French. This trend is also confirmed in the contextualized preference-based elicitation task, the main task chosen for this study. Language influence from French to Spanish occurs in heritage children, specifically overextension of certain verbal forms and feature reassembly, but no effect of form similarity (i.e., a cognate boost) is found.

Keywords: bilingual language acquisition
cross-linguistic influence
heritage language acquisition
Present Perfect
tense
aspect
and mood
Advisor: PĂŠrez-Leroux, Ana Teresa
Historical Politics, Legitimacy Contests, and the (Re)-Construction of Political Communities in Ukraine during the Second World War

This doctoral dissertation is a study of historical politics and legitimacy contests in Ukraine during the Second World War. By situating the operations of the Soviet state and its wartime antagonists within a broader strategic, military and political context, the study elucidates the role of historical politics in the violent processes of the building and breaking of political communities. Through a series of case studies the dissertation untangles activities of various participants in the process of information gathering and the production of knowledge about the past for the purposes of legitimation, fashioning of collective values, nation-building, and state security. It sheds light on the relationships between various actors and organizational networks within the system of Soviet historical politics; exposes structures of complicity in the Stalinist dictatorship and simultaneously maps the outer limits of its power. The dissertation also shows how the daily exercise of power by agents of the Soviet stateâ through public pronouncements, commemorations, state surveillance, and repression of bearers of alternative political identities-- had a tangible impact on behavior and everyday ideological iterations by thousands of historical subjects in the formerly occupied territories, be it former Ukrainian nationalist activists, local collaborators, Soviet partisans, members of intelligentsia or children that experienced the Axis occupation. At the same time, these people were anything but passive recipients of the official narratives. Many of them actively pursued their distinct agendas within the historically conditioned environment fraught with power inequalities that structured their choices and furnished them with tools of interpretation and languages of expression of their experiences. In the process, they often displayed ability to influence, manipulate, and occasionally even thwart the officially sanctioned narratives, prompting Soviet officials, ever preoccupied with issues of legitimacy, to continually adapt to the reality on the ground.

Advisor: Viola, Lynne