VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Realizing the public value of learning [electronic resource] : creating community history in a high school classroom
Keywords: Education.

This dissertation investigates a project in which high school students research a significant and sensitive event in the history of their community and then create a series of articles about it for a community history website. The dissertation argues for the educational benefits associated with students producing work of public value. This concept is situated, first, with respect to previous project- and product-oriented curricular theories and, second, through the development of the local high school program within which this work was conducted. The dissertation then narrates the process by which students created these entries and reports on the various forms of educational value it created, as perceived by the students themselves and members of the public. The researcher worked as a participant-observer, guiding the students throughout the two-month long project while collecting field notes and artifacts. He interviewed the 19 participating students at the beginning and end of the project and then interviewed 4 historians and 7 other members of the public as they examined the students' finished work. All groups saw significant value in the project, both in the development of students' historical understanding and in the creation of a publicly accessible historical resource for the community and beyond.
Reasonable disagreement [electronic resource] : liberal citizens and epistemic peers
Keywords: Philosophy.

Reasonable people disagree. Political liberalism claims that the fact of reasonable disagreement has major implications for political justification: important political decisions should not be based on considerations that are reasonably disputed. Recent discussions in epistemology focus on whether reasonable disagreement undermines the justification of our controversial beliefs. My dissertation brings these political and epistemological issues together. I argue for a new position on the epistemology of disagreement, and show that this position, together with the correct understanding of liberal citizenship, leads to a skeptical challenge to political liberalism. The challenge is that the requirements of liberal citizenship are in tension with justified religious, moral, and philosophical belief. In answer to this challenge, I explore the strategy of thinking about people's fundamental convictions in terms of acceptance rather than belief.
Reconfigurable hardware for software-defined networks [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enables change and innovation within the network. SDN moves the control plane into software independent of the data plane. By doing so, it allows network operators to modify network behavior through software changes alone. The controller and switches interact via a standardized interface, such as OpenFlow. Unfortunately, OpenFlow and current hardware switches have several important limitations: i) current switches support only a fixed set of header types; ii) current switches contain a fixed set of tables, of fixed size, in a fixed order; and iii) OpenFlow provides a limited set of actions to modify packets. In this work, I introduce the Reconfigurable Match Tables (RMT) model. RMT is a RISC-inspired switch abstraction that brings considerable flexibility to the data plane. With RMT, a programmer can define new headers for the switch to process; they can specify the number, size, arrangement, and inputs of tables, subject only to an overall resource limit; and finally, they can define new actions to apply to packets, constructed from a minimal set of action primitives. RMT enables the data plane to change without requiring the replacement of hardware. To demonstrate RMT's feasibility, I describe the design of an RMT switch chip with 64 x 10 Gb/s ports. The design contains a programmable packet parser, 32 reconfigurable match stages, and over 7,000 action processing units. A comparison with traditional switch designs reveals that area and power costs are less than 15%. As part of the design, I investigate the design of packet parsers in detail. These are critical components of any network device, yet little has been published about their design and the trade-offs of design choices. I analyze the trade-offs and present design principles for fixed and programmable parsers.
Redesign of next-generation broadband-network architectures with limited cooperation, cross-layer scheduling, and dynamic resource allocation [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

The explosion of internet-enabled devices in home networks, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and internet-protocol TV (IPTV), threatens to choke current wire-line and wireless broadband-access speeds and demands an order-of-magnitude improvement. Furthermore, the heterogeneous nature of these devices' traffic requires intelligent management of the access networks' quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees, especially for video traffic. This dissertation investigates the redesign of broadband-access architectures by using limited cooperation to deliver an order-of-magnitude increase in data-rates, and by using cross-layer scheduling and pre-caching protocols to balance the QoS requirements of both data and video traffic. The first part of the dissertation investigates the gains of cooperative communication systems when only a limited number of receivers cooperate. The cooperation benefits in terms of data-rate gains can diminish significantly in such limited cooperation scenarios by using the state-of-the-art algorithms that fail to account for the interference between cooperative and non-cooperative links. Novel dynamic spectrum management (DSM) techniques are proposed to manage such interference and the proposed techniques allow these limited cooperation scenarios to retain most of the cooperation benefits in next-generation cooperative systems while maintaining the performance of legacy non-cooperative systems. Chapter 2 focuses on the theoretical bounds in terms of achievable rate-regions, while Chapter 3 proposes distributed algorithms that can approximate the theoretical performance with low-complexity and practically implementable protocols in wire-line digital-subscriber-line (DSL) systems. The second part of the dissertation investigates the use of cross-layer protocols to balance QoS requirements of heterogeneous data, video, and other multimedia application traffic. Chapter 4 proposes cross-layer protocols for distributed scheduling that exploit the channel or noise cyclo-stationarity to enable higher throughputs for low-priority data traffic while meeting the QoS guarantees of high-priority video traffic, thereby promising to balance internet uplink speeds for both high-priority video traffic and low-priority data traffic in home networks. Chapter 5 proposes novel cross-layer pre-caching protocols to meet the increasing demands of IPTV traffic on wire-line broadband-access networks. IPTV viewers tend to watch at similar periods during the day (e.g. 6-9 PM or Friday nights), creating peak-bandwidth demands on interference-limited networks when there is insufficient physical-layer bandwidth to meet these demands. The proposed protocol estimates the impact of future peak-demand periods on interference-limited networks and pre-allocates bandwidth to deliver the forecasted videos and avoid the peak-demand periods.
Reducing energy consumption in America's government buildings [electronic resource]
Keywords: Civil and Environmental Engineering.

With commercial and residential buildings accounting for 41% of the energy consumption in the US, there are economic, environmental, and health reasons to make buildings more efficient, but there are barriers: lack of awareness, high upfront costs, market fragmentation with split incentives, and difficulty calculating actual energy savings. To overcome these barriers, the government sector, the largest building owner in the United States, can more easily breach these barriers by implementing an energy policy through legislation, which the federal government has already initiated through executive orders. The government's progress is captured in four case studies: NASA's Moffett Airfield, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Presidio of Monterey, and the Santa Clara County Jail. The strengths and weaknesses from these case studies are compared to the Energy Star's Guidelines for Energy Management. In all four cases, the government agencies are reducing their energy consumption, but there is still room for improvement.
Reducing the school readiness gap [electronic resource] : the role of early education and care interventions
Keywords: Education.

This dissertation consists of three-related research papers that investigate the relations between core features of non-parental childcare settings —quality, quantity, and type—and children's school readiness. My first paper is a descriptive study of the role that childcare quality might play in narrowing school readiness gaps. Drawing on data from the ECLS--B longitudinal study, I estimate gaps between low--SES and high--SES children on early academic and socio-behavioral outcomes, measured at preschool age and kindergarten entry. I decompose SES gaps to estimate how much the disparity in the quality of childcare environments contribute to SES gradients in child outcomes. Then, I identify predictors of participation in higher-quality childcare services at preschool age. My second dissertation paper explores the impact of the timing (duration) and sequence of exposure to different childcare arrangements on child outcomes. Based on ECLS--B data and a novel strategy to account for dynamic selection bias—an extension of the Inverse Probability of Treatment Weights (IPTW), I estimate the differential effect of the age of entry into center-based care and the effect of the cumulative exposure of attending one type of care at the age of 2 and switching to another type at the age of 4 on child outcomes. Next, I examine the extent to which both effects vary by family income and race. Finally, my third dissertation paper evaluates afterschool center-based care programs in kindergarten as a means of supporting children's development during the transition to formal schooling. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS--K) and matching estimators, I examine families' propensity to use afterschool center-based care as well as the causal impact of attending such programs on a child's academic and socio-behavioral outcomes, measured at the end of the kindergarten year. To evaluate the potential of afterschool center-based care programs to reduce the school readiness gap, I explore heterogeneous effects by family income and race.
Reflections and reciprocity [electronic resource] : China and German modernist literature
Keywords: German Studies.

This dissertation examines the portrayal of China in German modernist literature, as well as the adaptation of said literature in post-Mao China. It analyzes how the German texts of the modernist period negotiate cultural and political identity in the age of imperialism and Orientalism, and how their Chinese interpretations approach similar issues of representation and reform in different decades of China after Mao. How do the de-nationalizing elements of the original German-language writings create resonance with the nationalist aspects found in their contemporary Chinese counterparts? Drawing upon specific examples, I situate the German-language sources and their Chinese adaptations within their literary, cultural and historico-political contexts, and implement a multidisciplinary approach that combines textual analysis with postcolonial theory and cultural studies on global capitalism. Demonstrating how each work addresses and challenges the dominant discourse of its day, my thesis shows the continued influence of Germany literary modernism upon culture and politics in present day China, and argues in support of the existence of dynamic cultural transference between Germany and China. German-language works discussed include: Arthur Schnitzler's fragment "Boxeraufstand" (1926), Bertolt Brecht's drama Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1953), Franz Kafka's short story "Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer" (1917), and Stefan Zweig's novella Brief einer Unbekannten (1922). Chinese works discussed include: the Sichaun opera Sichuan Haoren (1987), Can Xue's essay "Building in Sections: The Artist's Way of Life" (1997), and Xu Jinglei's film Letter From an Unknown Woman (2004).
Regional Profits: The Rise of Hybrid Terrorism in West Africa Post 9/11
Keywords: Center for International Security and Cooperation
CISAC
Stanford University
West Africa
terrorism case studies
Foreign Terrorist Organizations
FTO
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Boko Haram
Hezbollah
Thesis

All organizations – terrorist ones included – seek financial resources in order to support their members and fund their activities. However, in West Africa, the intersection between criminal activity and terrorism goes beyond a simple marriage of convenience to ensure funds. Focusing on the region, case studies of the financial activities of AQIM, Boko Haram, and Hezbollah demonstrate a criminal involvement that is deeply entrenched in their nature and behavior in West Africa.
The qualitative data presented was collected through the analysis of NGO and governmental unclassified reports, testimonies, and interviews. Findings indicate that, contrary to the traditional belief that criminal and terrorist groups belong at the opposite extremes of a spectrum, these groups gravitate around the center. They are both criminal and political – they represent a hybrid type of organization, one that is a product of regional factors conducive to illicit lucrative businesses.
Determining a hybrid class of terrorist groups, one that is also a product of its theater of operation, possesses many policy implications since the U.S. cannot develop an effective response without understanding the nature of the threat. AFRICOM, established in 2008, was designed to defend American national interests on the continent. However, its focus on training local militaries or implementing health projects does not address the key factors that have enabled Boko Haram, Hezbollah, and AQIM to expand their operations in the region: weak state capacity and poor governance. Instead, the U.S. should focus on strengthening law enforcement training and partnerships within a comprehensive interagency counterterrorism framework.
Relations among characteristic classes of manifold bundles [electronic resource]
Keywords: Mathematics.

We study a generalization of the tautological subring of the cohomology of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces to manifold bundles. The infinitely many "generalized Miller-Morita-Mumford classes" determine a map R from a free polynomial algebra to the cohomology of the classifying space of manifold bundles. In the case when M is the connected sum of g copies of the product of spheres (S^d times S^d), with d odd, we find numerous polynomials in the kernel of the map R and show that the image of R is a finitely generated ring. Some of the elements in the kernel do not depend on d. Our results contrast with the fact that the map R is an isomorphism in a range of cohomological degrees that grows linearly with g. This is known from theorems of Madsen-Weiss and Harer for the case of surfaces (d=1) and from the recent work of Soren Galatius and Oscar Randal-Williams in higher dimensions. For surfaces, the image of the map R coincides with the classical tautological ring, as introduced by Mumford.
The relationship between nuclear magnetic resonance and permeability in near-surface unconsolidated materials [electronic resource]
Keywords: Geophysics.

Essential to the effective assessment of groundwater aquifers is a comprehensive understanding of permeability (k), which defines the ease with which a fluid flows through a material. Although methods exist for obtaining estimates of k in the field, depending on the applications, they can be limited in their effectiveness. A promising alternate method for obtaining estimates of k is through proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging. The NMR measurement provides information about water-filled porosity and pore space geometry, both of which can be used to obtain estimates of k. For decades, k has been reliably predicted from NMR logging data in petroleum applications where the materials are consolidated and the pores are typically small. However, in unconsolidated materials where pores are large, studies have shown that k is not reliably estimated. The goal of this research was to improve the reliability of NMR-derived permeability estimates in near-surface unconsolidated materials. The differences between the NMR-derived permeability estimates in small and large pores were analyzed through field and laboratory data, numerical modeling, and theoretical assessments. This thesis showed that including bulk fluid relaxation and assuming slow diffusion affects the reliability of the NMR-derived permeability estimates in unconsolidated sands and gravels. Additionally, this work showed that horizontal permeability is most reliably predicted when the measured NMR T2 distribution is represented as a single value by taking its arithmetic mean. This research establishes NMR logging as a promising tool for characterizing relevant hydrological parameters in near-surface groundwater applications.
Religion, science, and value in Nietzschean life-philosophy [electronic resource]
Keywords: Religious Studies.

This dissertation explores the relationship between philosophy, science, and religion by reconstructing a "Nietzschean" tradition of "life-philosophy" [Lebensphilosophie] in late 19th-century Germany and analyzing an influential critique of this tradition. I argue that in the context of the impact of Darwin and the German historicist tradition, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, church historian Franz Overbeck, and sociologist Georg Simmel developed "naturalistic" theories of religion that drew from the life-sciences to give an account of the place of human values in the natural world. I then examine the most trenchant critic of life-philosophy, Heinrich Rickert, and argue that Rickert attempted to outline a "Kantian" alternative that rejected naturalistic and genealogical accounts for failing to capture the role values play in practical life. Further, I show that these debates over naturalism and value were the basis of each thinker's understanding of religion and assessment of its fate in modernity. In conclusion, I venture some remarks concerning the potential contribution of philosophical insights won from my reconstruction of "Nietzscheanism" and "Kantianism" for theoretical discussions in the contemporary study of religion.
Reprogramming fibroblasts to pluripotency [electronic resource]
Keywords: Microbiology and Immunology.

Reprogramming of somatic nuclei to a pluripotent state can be achieved by two approaches: somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning) and transcription factor transduction to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Early molecular events in reprogramming are not well understood, in large part due to the inefficiency of nuclear transfer and iPS generation. This inefficiency has led to the hypothesis that early reprogramming is a stochastic rather than a deterministic process. We hypothesized that iPS generation could be improved by the identification of early molecular events and pathways that may enhance reprogramming. In order to model reprogramming of fibroblasts towards pluripotency, we generated mouse embryonic stem cell X human fibroblast heterokaryons in which somatic cell pluripotency gene activation and promoter demethylation occurs rapidly and without cell division. We show that heterokaryon cell fusion based reprogramming is rapid and extensive, and that active DNA demethylation of the somatic OCT4 and NANOG promoters requires Activation Induced Deaminase. Heterokaryon bi-species RNA- Seq identified a role for a secreted factor which enhanced iPS generation and could replace constitutive viral expression of the reprogramming factor c-Myc. These data demonstrate that heterokaryons can serve as a discovery tool for novel reprogramming factors and that findings in cell fusion based reprogramming can inform early events in iPS generation. Mixed species heterokaryons are an attractive model system for investigating mechanisms of active DNA demethylation in the context of the mammalian genome and provide a viable approach for investigating early events in cellular reprogramming.
Rereading as requirement [electronic resource] : the cognitive demands of Mallarmé, Krysinska, and Proust
Keywords: French and Italian.

This dissertation claims that three French-language authors from the late-nineteenth century designed their works to demand rereading. Worried that the public favored goal-oriented approaches to literature that narrowed their perceptions of the texts, they solicited rereading to cultivate alternative interpretive practices. For Stéphane Mallarmé, the problem was that readers targeted semantic content--an approach that he feared would diminish his poetry's sensorial effects. In Marie Krysinska's view, the issue was that people's inclination to assimilate new concepts based on what they already knew caused them look for familiar features and discard leftover details. Marcel Proust attacked the common practice of reading for the wisdom of the author because doing so seems to make readers struggle to evaluate the reliability of the information that they are given. By causing these approaches to fail and then inciting us to reexamine the passages that we misread, all three of these writers disperse our attention to aspects of literature that we otherwise tend to neglect. Ultimately, the claim is that Mallarmé, Krysinska, and Proust designed their texts to challenge interpretive habits that arise from what are now called "cognitive biases, " or mental inclinations that can be inferred from the patterns of errors that most people when they make intuitive judgments about uncertain situations. By cultivating our awareness of these biases and by furnishing us with opportunities to practice working through them, certain literary texts seem to have the potential to restructure our interpretive habits so that we learn to recognize, anticipate, and avoid some of the irrational interpretations to which we are prone.
Resistive random access memory device scaling and integration with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Resistive random access memory (RRAM) is a promising candidate to meet future density and power challenges. RRAM has fast switching speed, low programming power, and many other advantages. However, there are still a few imperative issues to be tackled before RRAM can compete with, and eventually, replace flash or other memory technologies. This dissertation explores two issues: 1) RRAM scaling potential below 10 nm and 2) integration of RRAM with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), which leads to the first threedimensional (3D) field programmable gate array (FPGA) based on RRAM.