VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Takeoff and landing in birds as a source of inspiration for designing aerial robots
Keywords: Mechanical Engineering.

Perching can enable small flying robots to extend their battery life and raises opportunities for a diverse set of tasks including exploration, inspection, and collection of samples. However, these robots are currently limited in their reliability and usefulness when interacting with objects in natural environments. On the other hand, birds make interactions in unstructured environments with apparent ease, in particular taking off and landing on a wide range of complex surfaces, including trees. To understand how, we studied takeoffs and landings made by Pacific parrotlets from instrumented perches ranging in diameter and surface texture. Across all perches, these birds employ stereotyped takeoff behaviors that enable them to simultaneously detach their feet while generating the impulse needed to initiate flight. They crouch and then extend their legs to push off, directing peak forces at a consistent angle relative to the perch. Meanwhile, they peel their feet from the surface starting from the rear toes. During landing, the parrotlets exhibit stereotyped leg and wing dynamics regardless of perch diameter and texture, but foot, toe, and claw kinematics become surface-specific upon touchdown. A new grasping model, which integrates our detailed measurements, reveals how birds stabilize their grasp. They combine predictable toe pad friction with probabilistic friction from their claws, which they drag to find surface asperities—dragging further when they can squeeze less. Synthesizing the learnings from the birds, we developed a bird-inspired bipedal robot that can dynamically perch on complex surfaces. Like birds, the robot employs a stereotyped set of behaviors for robustly handling varied surface geometries and textures, such as tree branches. The robot's two legs enable independent passive energy absorption responses to accommodate variable surface geometry. The underactuated grasping mechanism wraps around irregularly shaped objects in less than 20 ms and employs a bird-inspired release technique that can detach from objects consistently. A tendon differential allows the toes to share loads under elastic tension, and the tendon-driven claws scrape over the surface to find viable asperities. Closed-loop balance control increases the range of states, including kinematics, hardware design, and behavior, over which the robot can land, which we term the sufficiency region. This platform can be used not only to study how and why birds take off and land the way they do, but also for biological and environmental studies
Techno-economic analysis of capture of California oilfield CO2 emissions with produced water
Keywords:  Department of Energy Resources Engineering
School of Earth Energy &amp; Environmental Sciences
Energy Resources Engineering
carbon capture
carbonated water injection
LCFS
low carbon fuel standard
oilfield CO2
decarbonization
Thesis

Fossil fuels remain the major source of primary energy globally, making emissions reductions from fuel combustion critical on the path to the decarbonization of energy. More than half of California’s oilfields utilize steam flooding or cyclic steaming for enhanced oil recovery, producing significant quantities of brine.
This project explores the techno-economic feasibility of capturing produced CO2 emissions from a California oil production facility in Orcutt Hill, Pacific Coast Energy Company (PCEC), using produced water, given the large available volumes from the site due to high water-oil ratios from oil production. The water capture project is coupled with the injection of resulting carbonated water into oil reservoirs to produce marginal oil recovery benefits. This technology is then compared to the conventional alternative for capture, which utilizes monoethanolamine as solvent in an energy- intensive solvent-regeneration process, with the injection of captured CO2.
Costs for both proposed projects at the PCEC facility are estimated by designing the capture systems using the Aspen Plus commercial process simulator, and estimating project costs using cost factors on equipment cost estimates, given simulated equipment sizes and specifications. Benefits are assumed to be obtained from improved oil recovery by either carbonated water injection or CO2-flooding, as well as existing state and federal tax incentives for emissions mitigation.
The net present value of net benefits for both projects are negative, with that of the MEA capture system estimated at approximately ($14million) or ($23.50/tonCO2 captured) and that of the water capture system estimated at ($40million) or ($48.50/tonCO2 captured). In the former, capital cost estimates greatly influence investment outcomes, while in the latter, water treatment costs are prohibitively high and limit project viability. However, net benefits estimates are sensitive to changes in prevailing market interest rates, and even more so to the proven marginal enhanced oil recovery improvement, among other factors. Results show the MEA project being more viable, although one advantage of the water capture project over the MEA capture project that is difficult to quantify and yet particularly pertinent, is the CO2 leak risk reduction.
Techno-mediated safety : social atomization and the growth of residential security in recessionary Japan
Keywords: Slater, David H., 1960- degree committee member.
Anthropology.

In contemporary Japan, the once proverbial truth "mizu to anzen ha tada" (water and safety are free) is, more often than not, either heard in the negative, or relegated to a position of skepticism. While lauded internationally as a preeminently "safe society" by OECD and Global Peace Index rankings, the designation no longer accurately reflects the national mood, despite downward crime trends. Instead, pervasive social changes have led to a weakening of traditional forms of safety and with them confidence in the public sector. Consequently, the phrase now suggests a yearning for a long-gone Japan, real or imagined, its utopian vision of free-flowing safety standing in contrast to the contemporary "jidai" (age)— an age where you must protect yourself. This dissertation examines this dynamic of perceived worsening social conditions and the subsequent growth of a technologically mediated form of safety—residential security. Drawn from 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo, Japan, it examines Japan's emergent culture of securitization through the very products now enlisted by families to keep safe. Going beyond securitization as a technological shift, through locks, sensors, intercoms and access control systems, it shows how techno-mediated safety encompasses a changing worldview tied to the reimagination of the Japanese family and community
The Abolishment of Life Sentences: Evaluating the Impacts of Capping California Prison Sentences at 15 Years
Keywords: criminal justice
life sentence
recidivism
Stanford University Public Policy Department
Thesis

The United States relies on life sentences and virtual life sentences much more than other countries, and the reliance on these long term and permanent sentences has been increasing despite a general decline in violent crime. In this thesis, I evaluate a hypothetical proposal to cap all prison terms at 15 years in California. I estimate the effects of such a proposal on both crime and costs for the state, and I also offer anecdotal evidence to capture how such a proposal would affect the lives of individuals who are formerly incarcerated. I estimate that the three-year recidivism rate of those who would be released under a 15-year cap would be 26% and that the state would see increased spending via social services and parole costs but increased savings via prison closures. The savings would outweigh the costs, with an estimated net savings of $13-18 billion in total accrued 15 years after the policy is implemented. Finally, I recommend that this policy change would be improved if it was paired with increased spending on rehabilitation and reentry services.
The Accommodation of Older Adults in Ride-Hailing Technology
Keywords: STS
Science Technology and Society
Stanford
Design
Transportation
Aging
Accessibility
Danna Xue
Thesis

Although existing research indicates the potential for ride-hailing apps to address mobility challenges and improve the quality of life for older adults, the proportion of older adults adopting this technology is growing proportionally at a much slower rate. This thesis aims to answer the research question: what design affordances are being made by ride-hailing companies for older adults, and how can the design be improved to better accommodate an aging population? To answer the first part of the research question, I used mixed methods to address four key areas of communication, presentation, implementation, and perception of the technology. First, I conducted a content analysis of the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center and Uber and Lyft blog posts and webpages to understand communication of the product. The key themes identified from the content analysis informed the presentation studies; I conducted a product evaluation of the Uber and Lyft apps and observational study at the San Francisco International Airport, a key area of ride-hailing usage in the United States. Finally, to understand the perception of the app, I conducted a survey that yielded 380+ responses across 45 states, and interviews with 10 older adult participants from suburbs and major cities within Santa Clara and Los Angeles County. This thesis concludes that 1) older adults face a combination of technical and physical usability challenges that result in safety and comfort concerns in using ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, and 2) there is a significant need for further research into the intersection of digital apps and transportation for older adults. Ultimately, this thesis offers novel data into current older adult interactions with ride-hailing systems, and provides insights and implications for the future of aging and mobility that can be used by designers, researchers, and policymakers.
The Art of Storytelling: Do Differences in Framing Climate Communication Influence Climate Change Mitigation Policy Outcomes?
Keywords:  Public Policy Program
Stanford University
Humanities and Sciences
Public Policy Program
climate communication
environmental framing
climate policy
climate psychology
climate change
global warming
Thesis

Robust scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change suggests that coordinated policy action is needed to prevent severe environmental and economic damage globally in coming decades. However, public perceptions about climate change vary considerably, and policy actions have been mixed. This study examines the extent to which congressional voting records on climate-related issues in the United States may be influenced by differences in public attitudes about how such issues are communicated. Congressional voting record data is analyzed against national survey data consisting of public opinion estimates for a number of different climate- related statements posed to survey participants. Using regression analysis, I compare the coefficients of the different survey statement data (independent variables) to examine their relative effects on congressional voting records (dependent variable). I find that differences in the way climate communication and policy proposals are framed and reflected as public opinion do seem to have significant measurable effects on congressional voting behavior around climate-related issues.
The Author's Second Coming
Keywords:  Department of English
W. B. Yeats
The Second Coming
Roland Barthes
Michel Foucault
Aleister Crowley
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
occultism
Thesis

By leveraging close readings of several poems from W. B. Yeats—most notably “The Second Coming”—this paper explores both the accord and opposition of authorial notions in Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault. Championing the relevance of authorial intent via the framework of Foucault’s notions of discourse, this work applies a historical-bibliographical criticism to the discourse surrounding Yeats and his immediate social environ.
The BPS Spectrum and Metric on the Moduli Space of Seiberg-Witten Theory
Keywords:  Department of Physics
BPS spectrum
Seiberg-Witten theory
metric on the moduli space of vacua
Thesis

We report on an alternative method for determining the BPS spectrum of Seiberg-Witten theory. Seiberg-Witten theory describes the low-energy dynamics of N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(2) [1-3]. An iterative formula for the metric on its moduli space of vacua can be used in a procedure to calculate its BPS spectrum [4]. Verifying that this procedure leads to the known BPS spectrum of Seiberg-Witten theory will demonstrate a novel way to find BPS spectra. It will also serve as a proof of concept for this iterative formula that has applications to finding an analytic expression for K3 metrics [5].
The Cost-Capitulation Paradox: Compellent Signals, Sequences, and Selection Effects
Keywords: Center for International Security and Cooperation
military strategy
compellence
deterrence
threats
President
Schelling
Thesis

Why do some militarized threats compel opponent states to change their policy or behavior while others do not? Despite a number of game theoretic models and public opinion survey experiments, few studies evaluate the historical record of compellent signaling. An original data set compiled by analyzing over 124,000 archival documents catalogs every compellent military mobilization and verbal threat by the U.S. President since strategic parity in 1970. The results call into question theories regarding “hand-tying” and “cost-sinking” signals, reputation, and assurances. Moreover, they challenge the conventional “costly” signaling framework. Instead of a simple, positive relationship between a signal’s cost and its coercive utility, the data indicate a different dynamic: at some point, greater cost is associated with a diminished likelihood of capitulation. Case studies of compellence prior to the First Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War suggest that this apparent incongruity may be explained by the sequencing of very costly signals. By the time they are used, compellence might already be likely to fail, and these signals may therefore be employed primarily to serve other objectives, including preparing for war, legitimizing intervention, and conveying a sense of “last resort.” Policymakers should consider that effective compellence is rare and that using costly signals to demonstrate a commitment to the use of force might not make capitulation more likely.
The Deconstruction of American White Womanhood: A Transhistorical Textual Examination
Keywords:  Department of English
white womanhood
cultural studies
Jordan Peele
Get Out
Richard Wright
Native Son
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Stowe
Wright
Peele
whiteness
critical race theory
racialization
post-racialism
whiteness
African American literature
Thesis

This multi-textual transhistorical character-driven analysis considers how the representation of American white women in popular cultural texts has shifted over time. It examines Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Native Son by Richard Wright, and Get Out by Jordan Peele.
The Effect of Stricter State-level Firearm Legislation on Youth and Female Suicides
Keywords: Firearms > Law and legislation
Text
Thesis

For her capstone project, Alanna Flores wrote a fascinating research paper that considered the effect of fourteen categories of state firearm laws enacted by different states at different times from 1991 through 2018. Her research further analyzed the causal connection between firearm laws, specifically background checks, child laws, trafficking regulation, possession for those convicted of domestic violence crimes, and gun-inflicted suicide rates of women and children. She hopes her work in the subject of firearm legislature will further an understanding of how laws work to preserve livelihood and consider the effectiveness of the government in protecting its people from harm, especially its most vulnerable communities.
The Healing Power of Nature: Increasing Access to East Bay Regional Park's Health Benefits for Diverse Oakland Residents
Keywords: Stanford Graduate School of Education
Policy Organization Leadership Studies
Environment
Nature
Parks
Environmental Justice
Access
Inclusion
Equity
Health
Mental Health
Public Health Wellness
Mental Health Disparities
Health DisparitiesEast Bay
Oakland
Thesis

The East Bay Regional Park system (EBRP) is an expansive natural space in Oakland, a racially and economically diverse urban community in California. This study interviewed local park visitors to understand the perceived health and wellness benefits of Reinhardt Regional Park (a park location within the EBRP system) as well as visitors’ perception of the park’s engagement with the local community. Study participants (n=15) noted extensive physiological and psychological health and wellness benefits of the park, and also noted potential barriers to access, which hinder some community members from experiencing these benefits. EBRP’s position as the largest regional park system in the United States, its location within a diverse urban community, and its history and current vision for community engagement create a nexus of opportunity for EBRP to be leveraged as a powerful public resource for health and wellness.
The Impact of Online Food Delivery Services on Restaurant Sales
Keywords: Department of Economics
e-commerce
online food delivery
sales cannibalization
market expansion
Thesis

The rapid growth of online food delivery services has disrupted the traditionally offline restaurant industry. This study presents empirical evidence on the crowding-out effects and market expansions induced by the staggered entry of online food delivery services. Difference-in-differences methodology reveals that 30-50 cents of every dollar spent on online food delivery services are incremental, while the rest is drawn away from brick-and-mortar sales. These findings are statistically significant at the zip code-level and are heterogeneous across different types of consumption, suggesting that convenience and pre-existing spending habits drive the level of substitution. Conducting analyses on a year-by-year basis suggests that there is an increasing level of cannibalization of brick-and-mortar restaurant sales. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show an increase in restaurants' revenues but a decrease in profitability.
The Influence of Microfinance in Rural Karnataka on Female Social Capital
Keywords:  Department of Economics
Microfinance
financial networks
social networks
female empowerment
Department of Economics
Thesis

Social capital accumulation is critical for improving the status of women in India. Diverse and high-quality social contacts promote financial freedom and autonomy in local communities. This study evaluates whether exposure to microfinance loans targeted at women increases female social capital. I implement a difference-in-difference framework to evaluate changes in social and financial networks by gender after the Bharatha Swamukti Samsthe (BSS) microfinance bank extended loans in rural Karnataka. In the first wave, no villages of 75 surveyed were exposed to microfinance. By the second wave, BSS entered 43 villages. I find that for both financial and social relationships, individuals in villages exposed to microfinance experienced a greater probability of losing links, for both female and male networks. Microfinance also decreased clustering, the probability that an individual’s links were also linked to each other but increased gender homophily. These results suggest potentially adverse consequences for female loan recipients, and spillover benefits for men in villages exposed to microfinance.
The Last Column: A Critical Perspective on Architecture, Memory, and the Modern Memorial
Keywords:  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
architecture
memorial
World Trade Center
September 11
Last Column
Stanford Architectural Design Program
Thesis

The fall of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 shook the world’s understanding of security and permanence, and cast the role of the architect as the creator of large buildings in a new and uncertain perspective. In the aftermath of the attacks, the skeletal remains of architecture were not only cleared away, but were used to process the trauma of the attacks. This is most explicitly seen in the funeral proceedings conferred upon the Last Column, a structural steel column that became an impromptu memorial for the workers and first responders at Ground Zero. This puzzling event raises urgent questions about the role of architecture as it pertains to memory and memorial.
This paper explores the funeral of the Last Column through the lens of the ruin, the body, and the superimposition of the self onto the built environment, taking a critical look at the intersection of memory and architecture. Through a critical analysis of more permanent memorials such as Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Michael Arad’s Reflecting Absence, in contrast to improvised and bottom-up forms of memorialization, this paper posits that the Last Column was the first of a new memorial typology: the modern memorial as a timely object instead of a timeless one. In light of the improvised and fleeting nature of this new typology, it is also posited that the architect must find a new niche to occupy in this memorial space, as permanence becomes less and less certain in the modern era.
The Phenomenology of Zoom
Keywords:  Symbolic Systems Program
zoom
videoconferencing
phenomenology
philosophy
technology
Don Ihde
Alfred Schutz
Symbolic Systems Department
Thesis

This thesis involves a phenomenological analysis of Zoom, a currently popular videoconferencing technology, particularly engaging with the philosophers Don Ihde and Alfred Schutz. This thesis will show that the experience of direct connection via Zoom is characterized essentially by both the illusory sense of a shared environment and the accuracy of Zoom’s representations of participants, leading to many misperceptions and false experiences, as well as the constant breakdown of this illusion, wherein users gain awareness of the limits of Zoom, but in the process lose connection to others. The necessity of illusion in Zoom, this thesis argues, is a result of a fundamental material distance between participants that cannot be overcome by technology.
The Question of Kosovo: A Comparison of National Identity in Kosovo’s Albanian and Serbian History Textbooks
Keywords: Kosovo
Serbia
national identity
qualitative document analysis
history textbooks
ethnic identity
Stanford Graduate School of Education International Education Policy Analysis
Thesis

Though Kosovo formally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, latent tensions between majority Albanians and non-majority Serbians complicate political, economic, and educational spaces. This study aims to answer what national identity is created in the Albanian and Serbian school systems in Kosovo and explore how the resulting national identities contribute to or hinder the development of a unified Kosovar national identity. Using a qualitative document analysis of six history textbooks from Kosovo primary schools, I find that Albanian textbooks promote a national identity that is ethnically Albanian, while Serbian textbooks promote an ethnic Serbian national identity. This research suggests that if post-conflict Kosovo is to have an integrated national identity, then (1) the parallel system, with each branch emphasizing its own peculiar nationhood is not effective, and (2) an integrated system is needed to teach Kosovo’s status as a nation such that it spans both Albanian and Serbian ethnic identities.