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Data-driven learning of document vectors that capture linkage between them is of immense importance in natural language processing (NLP). These document vectors can, in turn, be used for tasks like information retrieval, document classification, and clustering. Inherently, documents are linked together in the form of links or citations in case of web pages or academic papers respectively. Methods like PV-DM or PV-DBOW try to capture the semantic representation of the document using only the text information. These methods ignore the network information altogether while learning the representation. Similarly, methods developed for network representation learning like node2vec or DeepWalk, capture the linkage information between the documents but they ignore the text information altogether. In this thesis, we proposed a method based on Retrofit for learning word embeddings using a semantic lexicon, which tries to incorporate both the text and network information together while learning the document representation. We also analyze the optimum weight for adding network information that will give us the best embedding. Our experimentation result shows that our method improves the classification score by 4% and we also introduce a new dataset containing both network and content information.

The SemanticWeb is an emerging component of the set of technologies that will be known as Web 3.0 in the future. With the large changes it brings to how information is stored and represented to users, there is a need to re-evaluate how this information can be queried. Specifically, there is a need for Natural Language Interfaces that allow users to easily query for information on the Semantic Web. While there has been previous work in this area, existing solutions suffer from the problem that they do not support prepositional phrases in queries (e.g, “in 1958” or “with a key”). To achieve this, we improve on an existing semantics for event-based triplestores that supports prepositional phrases and demonstrate a novel method of handling the word “by”, treating it directly as a preposition in queries. We then show how this new semantics can be integrated with a parser constructed as an executable attribute grammar to create a highly modular and extensible Natural Language Interface to the Semantic Web that supports prepositional phrases in queries.

This case-study considers the case-by-case approach to return in Canada. I worked to document the history of the Rickley collection from the University of Windsor, from excavation to reburial, in the hopes that it may inform the construction of a local protocol for the community of Walpole Island First Nation. The Rickley collection was excavated in southwestern Ontario in the mid-1970s and has recently been returned from the University of Windsor. Using an engaged approach to research I interviewed five individuals who were deeply involved in these discussions. Themes that arose from these discussions detailed significant features of the repatriation process that any official protocol must account for. In seeking to further local knowledge of repatriation procedure today, I also examined repatriation statements and consider colonial relationships of power that continue to structure these relationships. This study indicates that meaningful re-evaluation of policies may be needed.

The documentary film is entitled 'Myth of Dreams '. The film confronts the issue of Chinese Mainland immigration into Hong Kong. The film looks at several viewpoints, including government agencies, activists and Mainland immigrants in Hong Kong. Chinese immigrants are often overlooked simply because they are Chinese as are all Hong Kong citizens excluding cultural identifiers which lead to discriminative practices. The film investigates the cultural biases and social exclusion these immigrants face at the policy and social level.

Hannah Arendt defines freedom as the ability of humans to "build anew:" to be self-governing and capable of changing their political surroundings. The American Founders practiced this kind of freedom in their building of a political system where authority was vested in the people. This thesis explores Arendt's conceptualization of freedom and locates it in the early Constitutional debates. This is then juxtaposed with the prevalence of apathy and cynicism within modern American politics, a situation that Frank Furedi identifies as a "politics of fear." Citizens are increasingly unable to be self-governing. Americans can challenge this fear and "build anew" through the utilization of the Constitution and its principles of self-government. They must strive for more opportunities, institutions, and leaders that embrace and practice political freedom. This will help citizens to both remember the purpose of America's beginnings while also moving to address new twenty-first century concerns and challenges.

Sixteenth century readers were avid consumers of instructional manuals. These manuals have been largely ignored by modern scholarship. I examine two such manuals in detail, George Silver's 'Paradoxes of Defence' and Vincentio Saviolo's 'Practice'. Both were written by fencing masters living in London in the late sixteenth century and both outline the advantages of a particular style of fencing. Silver and Saviolo engage the same humanist concepts of eloquence and virtue. However, the rhetorical techniques they use emphasize different aspects of eloquence; Silver, following guidelines laid out in manuals by Cicero and Quintilian, uses 'enargeia' or 'evidentia'--bringing images before the eyes of his readers in order to persuade them--while Saviolo strives to achieve ' sprezzatura'--effortless grace--in his writing and to persuade his readers by adhering to the dictates of courtly manners as expressed in Castiglione's 'Courtier'.

While essentially a detestable circumstance, most Second World War prisoner of war camps in the European theatre exhibited recreational outlets for POWs. Some gardened, attended lectures, or enjoyed theatrical productions; others developed tools, read books, or maintained a diary...still, many played sports. This study is an attempt to determine the sports experience of Canadian POWs at Stalag Lufts I, III, and VI. Conclusions were drawn from contemporary literature, archival documents, published and unpublished prisoners' recollections, and interviews with ex-POWs. The sports environment identified was active, constant, and deliberate. The War Prisoners' Aid of the YMCA provided most of the goods; Canadian prisoners were able to participate in softball, cricket, swimming, golf, volleyball, basketball, boxing, soccer, rugby, football, gymnastics, boxing, fencing, track and field events, badminton, deck tennis, table tennis, ice skating, ice hockey, running, and 'circuit bashing.' Participation was often highly organized, and served numerous ends. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2006 .D38. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, page: 0132. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2006.

The 5th Paralympic Games were hosted by the Borough of Etobicoke in the City of Toronto, August 3rd to the 11 th 1976. Staged amidst great turmoil resulting from the participation of a team from South Africa, these games have been recognized by the founding father of the Paralympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, as the first Paralympic festival to be directly impacted by political forces. This paper identifies the events and actions that played a significant role in the development and eventual staging of the 1976 Paralympic Games. It highlights the perspective of influential agents and their roles in the organization of the games, outlines the relationship between the Canadian federal government and the Organizing Committee, and provides a chronological timeline of events leading up to the staging of the games. Decision making processes, their actors, and resultant actions ultimately influencing the Torontolympiad are analyzed throughout this paper. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, extensive archival reviews, and newspaper analysis, this paper highlights a frame in time that was important to the development and staging of the Torontolympiad. Archives utilized include the National Archives of Canada, the Province of Ontario Archives, and the City of Toronto Archives. Analysis reveals that although the Torontolympiad Organizing Committee defied the Federal Government by accepting the entries of the South African team, the outcomes of their decision had a positive impact on the Torontolympiad. The Torontolympiad forced the Canadian Federal Government to realize that disability sport was a legitimate state concern, and thrust the Paralympic Games into the spotlight of the Canadian media.Dept. of Human Kinetics. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .G745. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, page: 0132. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005.

In 1784, after a prolonged and weary struggle to settle in North America, almost fifty families established a homogenous Scottish community in what is currently Glengarry County, Ontario. In 1840, the residents of Glengarry County established a Scottish Highland Games, but a lack of commitment and funding led to their discontinuation after only a few years. In 1948, following an absence of almost a century, the Glengarry Scottish Highland Games tradition was revived. This thesis examines the revival and evolution of the Glengarry Highland Games, including commercial, ideological, and cultural impacts. When rethinking the revival of the games in Glengarry, one cannot help but speculate why the summer of 1948 was chosen as the apposite date. An investigation, including archival resources, newspapers, and personal interviews, has illuminated several social developments that contributed to the revival. Glengarry residents celebrate the traditional dress, Celtic music, athletic pursuits, and history of the county by participating in the annual games and associating with the organizations that relentlessly maintain and perpetuate Scottish cultural traditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2004 .M37. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-05, page: 1607. Adviser: Scott Martyn. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2004.