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S - UWSpace - University of Waterloo

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Acknowledgments<br />

I would like to thank all people who have helped and inspired me<br />

during my Ph.D study.<br />

It is difficult to overstate my appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. M.<br />

Tamer Özsu, who shared with me a lot <strong>of</strong> his expertise and research insight.<br />

His wide area <strong>of</strong> knowledge, thoughtful advises, understanding and<br />

encouraging have laid a good basis for this thesis. I thank him for all the<br />

support during my Ph.D study.<br />

I am heartily thankful to Dr. Wayne Oldford for his guidance and<br />

support during the year <strong>of</strong> my thesis revision. His insights in statistical<br />

analysis and testing is second to none. He enabled me to develop an deeper<br />

understanding on the subject.<br />

I am grateful Dr. Grant Weddell, Dr. Ajit Singh, and Dr. Raymond<br />

Ng for their willingness to serve my committee. I also like to warmly thank<br />

Calisto Zuzarte and IBM Toronto S<strong>of</strong>tware Lab. for their support.<br />

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Qiang Zhu, my<br />

former supervisor during my Master study, for bringing me into the world<br />

<strong>of</strong> research and guiding me through many difficulties.<br />

I owe my sincere thanks to everyone whom I have shared experiences<br />

in life. This is a long and never ending list so I won’t be able to put all<br />

the names down.<br />

Lastly, and most importantly, I wish to thank my parents, Tao Jiang<br />

and Song Heng. They bore me, raised me, taught me, and loved me. To<br />

them I dedicate this thesis.<br />

iv

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