VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Sample Size on Significance Testing
Keywords: sample size
Statistical hypothesis testing
false negatives
false positives
type II error
type I error
attrition
power
Text
Thesis

There are two ways in which a researcher might make incorrect conclusions based on an empirical study's statistical test: false negatives and false positives. Basic statistics highlight the dangers of small samples on false negatives, which is vastly known. Further, statistical significance tests produce a p-value associated with false positives. Thus, while sample size is related to the probability of a false-negative conclusion, it should be unrelated to the probability of a false-positive conclusion. Despite the logic underlying statistical testing, there are rising concerns about the increased chances of producing a false-positive error as the sample size increases. Since scientists have yet to test this relation in depth, this paper leverages data from five independent studies testing five different effects (i.e., 25 samples of ~1500 participants) to examine the effects of sample size on false positives. This paper systematically tests an implausible hypothesis — whether random assignment into experimental and control conditions can predict a participant's demographics — using simulated samples of 50 to 5000. Initial analyses found that large samples were more likely to yield false-positive results than small samples. Subsequent analyses suggest that weak effects of differential attrition, which may be expected in any experiment, may only be detectable in large sample studies. Therefore, large-sampled studies may find experimental effects that are artifacts caused by differential attrition.
The extracellular release of mitochondria in the context of mitophagy in LPS-induced inflammation
Keywords: Mukherjee, Riddhita
Mochly-Rosen, Daria
Cell Biology
Mitophagy
Autophagy
Autophagic vacuoles
Inflammation
Mitochondria
Oxidative stress
Text
Thesis

Cellular health is particularly dependent on mitochondrial dynamics and function. Mitochondria have emerged as having a large role in proinflammatory signaling, and similarly, proinflammatory agents seem to affect mitochondrial quality and function. Consequently, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction are drivers of many degenerative and acute diseases. Furthermore, dysfunctional, extracellular mitochondria appear to be a signaling agent of inflammation. This begs the exploration of interplay of mitophagy, as a regulator of mitochondrial content and quality, and extracellular mitochondria content in the context of inflammation. Using a RAW 264.7 monocyte/macrophage-like cell line, we characterize changes in mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, autophagy, and intracellular and extracellular mitochondria content in a model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation. Here we hypothesized that LPS-induced inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells would result in an increase of extracellular mitochondria, which propagate inflammation, due to stalled mitophagy. We found that LPS reduced mitochondrial respiration and increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) which indeed suggests a role for extracellular mitochondria in propagating inflammation. Furthermore, we found LPS increased both intracellular and extracellular mitochondrial content as shown by FACS analysis which confirms the former part of our hypothesis. However, this was accompanied by the finding of increased autophagic vesicles detected via western blot following treatment with LPS which suggests early-stage autophagy induction. The primary results of this study suggest that LPS-induced inflammation disrupts mitochondrial function and increases extracellular mitochondria despite early-stage autophagy induction.
The Fight for Clean Air: Gender and Environmental Justice in Los Angeles and Mexico City
Keywords: Women
Environmental justice
California > Los Angeles
Mexico > Mexico City
Text
Thesis
Working paper
Grey literature

In the neighborhoods that are most polluted and overlooked, how are the bodies on the margins misshapen by the environmental injustices? How have the women, some who are mothers to children with asthma, have taken on the fight to combat environmental justice in their communities? What do we learn from centering women and thinking critically about gender when assessing the disproportionate impact of climate change on the most vulnerable members of communities in megacities?
The Impact of Amnesty Laws on Civil-Military Relations in Brazil and Chile
Keywords: Civil-military relations
Brazil
Chile
Amnesty > Law and legislation
Trials (Crimes against humanity)
Text
Thesis

At the point of each country’s transition from military rule to democratically-elected, civilian leadership in 1990, Brazil appeared to be better positioned than Chile to consolidate its democracy. The former dictator Augusto Pinochet remained Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army and had written military prerogatives into the constitution. In contrast, the Brazilian military could only influence the Brazilian constitution indirectly as it was being written by civilians. In both countries, amnesty laws protected members of the military from prosecution for crimes committed under military rule. Today, the Chilean military’s political role is nonexistent, while officers of the Brazilian military participate in political debates and even attempt to influence election administration. Chile has prosecuted thousands of members of the military for crimes committed during military rule, circumventing the amnesty law, while Brazil has prosecuted none. I argue that these prosecutions contributed to civilian control over the military in Chile, and are not just a byproduct of overall advances in civilian control. Chile’s court structure permitted individual prosecutions to serve as intermediate focal points that allowed civilians and the military in Chile to negotiate a new, less political role for the military in Chile. Brazil’s legislative structure, coupled with the role of precedents and binding decisions in the judicial system, removed these intermediate focal points. Circumventing the amnesty law and prosecuting human rights abuses in Chile established a norm of military subordination to civilian control, while the Brazilian military used the amnesty law to remain involved in political affairs.
The Impact of Hispanic Ethnicity on Vote Choice
Keywords: ballot name order
primacy effect
Hispanic ethnicity
prejudice
ethnic cue
information
vote choice
Text
Thesis

Although research has explored how racial prejudice against African Americans influences vote choice, little research has investigated how prejudices against Hispanics might impact voters’ decisions. This paper explores how a candidate’s Hispanic ethnicity influences vote choice and how various factors might moderate that influence. In an experiment embedded in an online survey, a large sample of American adults read about the policy positions of two hypothetical candidates running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some respondents were offered a choice between two White candidates, while others chose between one White and one Hispanic candidate. Some respondents read the candidates’ positions on eight policy issues, while others read positions for only four issues. The results suggest that people who hold anti-Hispanic attitudes or know little about candidates’ positions on issues are less likely to vote for Hispanic candidates. Additionally, a ballot order effect – where voters support the candidate listed first on the ballot – was only observed among respondents offered a choice between two White candidates. This is among the first evidence demonstrating that candidate Hispanic ethnicity shapes vote choice in low-information elections.
The Impact of Police Killings on Elementary School Discipline Outcomes
Keywords: Public Policy Program
police violence, school discipline, youth, suspensions, police, education
Stanford University
Humanities and Sciences
Public Policy Program
Text
Thesis

Research exploring the impacts of police violence on local communities is a growing and emerging field, and studies have shown that local police violence can negatively affect the mental health of American citizens, especially in communities of color. Children may be uniquely vulnerable to the spillover effects of police violence, which could have implications on the trajectory of their lives. To quantify this relationship, my paper explores to what extent police killings are correlated with the incidence of exclusionary discipline at nearby schools. The analysis utilizes a two-way fixed effects regression model to estimate the relationship between a nearby police killing and five novel school disciplinary outcomes. The primary finding is that schools located in neighborhoods with a police killing episode within the last year see significantly more students disciplined with out-of-school suspensions than schools that did not experience a police killing within their attendance zone. The results of this study hold implications for future school disciplinary policy.
The Incoherence of Stakeholderism
Keywords: Stockholders
Corporate governance
Corporation law
Text
Thesis

Stakeholderism is a theory of corporate governance which states that directors manage the corporation in the interest of all stakeholders of the firm. This theory of corporate governance has gained increasing popularity and traction and corporate legal scholarship has sought to justify it. However, these justifications for stakeholderism are neither descriptively consistent with Delaware law nor accurate in their theories of the firm, as stakeholderists claim. Enlightened shareholder value stresses the lack of tradeoffs or the ubiquity of win-win scenarios between shareholders and stakeholders, but this is empirically dubious when considering the effect of pro-stakeholder policies on firm value. Despite the lack of justification, the desire for corporations to serve some public benefit is not going anywhere. I propose that shareholder welfare maximization is a more theoretically coherent means to justify corporate concern for social goods and that the corporate ecosystem could evolve to chiefly include shareholder value firms seeking to maximize shareholders’ economic interests, and shareholder welfare firms seeking to maximize both shareholder’s economic and social interests as their ultimate end.
The Influence of Sunlight and Exercise on Adolescents with ADHD using fNIRS imaging
Keywords:  Department of Biology
Biology
Neurology
Brain > Imaging
fNIRS
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Exercise therapy
Light
Text
Thesis

Purpose: With the growing prevalence of ADHD diagnoses in children, the world needs additional therapies to alleviate attention-related symptoms. Since both light exposure and physical activity have been linked with upregulating serotonin , and improving mood and focus levels ,, outdoor exercise – which combines the two – could serve as a non-invasive, low-cost tool that is easily implementable for most children. Although previous studies have looked qualitatively at the effect of exercise on mental health , this study takes a much more quantitative, neurological imaging-based approach. Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging is a portable device that measures brain activity on the cerebral cortex. fNIRS allows for brain activity to be measured while performing cognitive tasks and physical activity. By measuring the levels of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin at each node’s location on the skull, the fNIRS machine allows us to estimate significant active brain regions while the study participant actively moves during a particular activity, providing a physiological explanation for potential differences in measured focus levels.
Methods: We used two separate fNIRS montages to measure brain activity before, during, and after an exercise activity: quiet rest, or no exercise (QR); indoor biking (ID); and outdoor biking (OD). Cognitive tests and light levels were measured during all study visits and all timepoints. The fNIRS AnalyzIR toolbox was then used to process the data. We used 10 participants.
Results: Several significant regions of interest were found, in particular between source 9 and its detectors, and source 10 and its detectors. This region, located in the left frontal lobe, seems to correspond with gyri that mediate working memory and rapid eye-moments. Lower brain activity occurs during post-activity tests.
Conclusions: Lower brain activity during post-activity tests could illustrate fatigue, or more efficient processing. Improvements in cognitive scores support the benefits of exercise. In addition, a future experimental design where participants exercised every day for a week, could allow for more varied analysis of the effect of exercise on focus.
The last days of the Lucia Chica submarine channel system, offshore central California: A geohazard assessment for windfarm infrastructure
Keywords: Geological Sciences
Submarine geology
Offshore wind turbines
Turbidites
Deep water channel
California > Morro Bay
Lucia Chica
Multibeam mapping
Text
Thesis

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in deep-water ocean environments have
captured seafloor bathymetry and subsurface stratigraphy not previously resolvable in
petroleum industry-standard reflection-seismic data. This alternative technology reveals
the complex evolution of the Lucia Chica channel system (LLCS), located offshore central
California on an offshore windfarm lease site known as the Morro Bay 399 Area. The
purpose of this study is to analyze potential seafloor hazards that may impact windfarm
development in the region by determining when the LCCS was last active.
In 2019, research vessels owned and operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute (MBARI) acquired new AUV bathymetric sonar data, compressed high
intensity radar pulse (Chirp) seismic reflection profiles, and cores from the LCCS.
Bathymetric data from these cruises provide 87 cm lateral resolution and 15 cm vertical
resolution, while Chirp profiles provide 11 cm vertical resolution. Samples from the cores
were dated using radiocarbon analyses. Late Pleistocene and Holocene turbidites were
preserved in the cores.
The most recent activity in the LCCS was found in the feeder channel. A turbidite
younger than 6,090±65 yrs BP was preserved in two cores near the thalweg. Two
anomalous sands were present at or near the seafloor on a terrace and in the channel
thalweg. The terrace anomalous sand is younger than 1,420±55 yrs BP. The relationship
between the two anomalous sands is inconclusive as well as their modes of deposition.
Nevertheless, some form of activity occurred in the channel system less than 1,420±55 yrs
BP, and windfarm infrastructure should not be placed in the channel system to avoid mobile
sediment and bathymetric complexities.
The Logics of Violence and Corruption in Organized Crime: The Case of Brazil
Keywords: Political Science
Latin America
Violence
Organized Crime
Brazil
Text
Thesis
Working paper
Grey literature

Strong regional variation in the organization of different criminal groups makes Brazil a central case to study criminal violence. In Rio de Janeiro, for instance, there are several competing organized criminal groups (OCGs) fighting against each other, as well as against the state, whereas in São Paulo, there is one hegemonic OCG. In a game-theoretical supposition in which two criminal organizations, B and C are competing for a territory or trading route and an external actor, for instance, a police agent (A) is present, both groups might try to seek support from A. A will, in turn, take the opportunity to increase their profit by accepting bribery in exchange for support. In this short paper, we will argue that previous models in the literature that try to explain variation in homicide rates in regions affected by criminal violence fail to account for collusive agreements between the state and criminal groups. Our theory predicts that, in areas where competition between different OCGs is high, the ability to collude with the state for illicit compliance and support helps OCGs to establish territorial control. In line with previous findings of the literature, this study suggests that 1) the ability to maintain collusive agreements with law enforcement actors favors territorial control from OCGs; 2) in areas controlled by OCGs, there is a trade-off between corruption and violence, in which actors will tend to prefer collusion in a long-time horizon; and 3) hegemonic OCGs are less affected by external shocks and provide a more stable governance model.
The Manufactured Guerrilla: A Proposed Model for Analyzing the Latent Potential for Resistance and Insurgency in Taiwan
Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Taiwan
Insurgency
Guerrilla Warfare
Stanford Global Studies
East Asian Studies
Text
Thesis

This thesis addresses existing discourse surrounding the potential incorporation of insurgency or guerrilla warfare into an asymmetric defense concept for Taiwan. Its central research question is whether insurgency is a viable model of resistance in Taiwan. This study begins by reviewing the existing discourse surrounding this topic. It examines the current advocacy for insurgency or asymmetric warfare, arguments against insurgency both in Taiwan and more generally, and identifies areas where this discourse in underdeveloped. It next reviews disparate academic definitions of insurgency and synthesizes the existing advocacy into a proposed definition and typology of insurgency in Taiwan. This thesis then draws upon frameworks for the analysis of insurgency and social science theory to develop a model for forecasting the potential for insurgency generation and sustainment in a society and applies this model to contemporary Taiwan.
The Model Minority Myth and its Perpetuation of “Otherness” in Erasing Asian Issues in the U.S.: Disparities in the Monolith and its Intersection with Immigration and Trafficking
Keywords: Asian Americans
Group identity
Immigration
Text
Thesis

For her capstone project, Thi Vu examined how the model minority myth, a stereotype that generalizes the success and identity of Asian and Asian Americans, is a tool used to ignore the discrepancies in educational attainment and income that exist — along ethnic lines — within the monolith and, by extension, the intertwined issues of immigration, documentation, and other human rights violations. Influenced by her studies in HUMRTS 112 and CSRE 189, Thi’s project interrogated how the model minority myth, though considered a positive stereotype, becomes a means through which Asian Americans are maintained as “other” within American society. Using this analysis, Thi synthesized existing research on the effects of the model minority myth, the variation in attainment within the Asian American community, and the history of Asian immigration and trafficking within the U.S. that could explain these variations. Her research further demonstrated how all these factors affect the socioeconomic and health outcomes of Asian Americans and are unequally attributed across different ethnicities. She hopes her research and narrative will serve as a tool for connecting these complex issues and point at potential explanations for those inequities within the Asian American monolith in order to suggest areas of focus for future research on Asian Americans.
Student project deposited by department for archival purposes. Original work unavailable for public download due to permission restriction preferences of the author.
The Pakistan Judiciary: Human Rights Prospects and Challenges
Keywords: World politics
Pakistan
Judicial power
Text
Thesis

Natalie Longmire-Kulis dedicated her capstone project to examining the judicial system in Pakistan, specifically looking at the current status of the Pakistani judiciary and its interaction with the military and civilians. Through first-person interviews with members of the Pakistani judicial system, such as members of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Natalie studied how judicial systems and processes play a central role in either ensuring or inhibiting the ability to achieve justice and preserve fundamental human dignities. She hopes that her research paper will form the basis for further work and collaboration with judges and lawyers serving in the Pakistani judiciary and subsequently identify potential areas of reform or growth moving forward.
The Political Cost of Market-Oriented Reforms: Evidence from Privatization of State-owned Enterprises in China
Keywords: Economic Reform, Privatization, Political Attitudes, Authoritarian Politics, Chinese Politics
Text
Thesis

How do market-oriented economic reforms affect citizens’ political attitudes in authoritarian regimes? I examine this question by studying China’s large-scale privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that started in the late 1990s. I find that layoffs of SOEs and citizens in counties exposed to more privatization express less trust in the local government. The distrust persists and has been transmitted into the next generation. Further tests suggest that the distrust is likely to be driven by bureaucratic corruption and violation of socialist commitment, instead of economic self-interests or institutional deterioration. My findings can help explain why economic reforms may erode regime legitimacy in autocracies.
The Political Reconstruction of Protecting National Interests: Why the United States Negotiated and Signed but Did Not Ratify the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions
Keywords: Center for International Security and Cooperation
International law
Diplomatic negotiations in international disputes
Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts
Humanitarian law
Regulating military conduct
U.S. foreign policy
Text
Thesis

The United States negotiated and signed the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions designed to significantly improve the protection of civilians during times of conflict, but later chose not to ratify the treaty. Until now, most explanations for this puzzle have focused on the role of external pressures, rather than domestic forces, to explain the fate of Protocol I. This thesis analyzes over 7,600 pages of the official negotiating record, declassified Department of State and Department of Defense reports during and following the negotiations, as well as interviews with key personnel in the Carter and Reagan administrations, to assess the relationship between U.S. national interests and U.S. foreign policy positions in the construction of the 1977 Additional Protocols. The historical record reveals that the U.S. had explicit national interests in the negotiations that drove negotiators’ approach, strategy, and ultimate success, as determined by the Carter Administration and the Joint Chiefs of Staff within the Defense Department. The U.S. delegation actively sought provisions that were militarily and politically acceptable to the U.S. and signed onto an agreement that furthered national interests, as determined by the administration, priming the U.S. for ratification. However, the ultimate decision to not submit the Protocol for Senate ratification reveals a clear shift in the analysis of the effects of the final text across the Carter and Reagan Administrations. This thesis finds that the alignment of Protocol I with the protection of U.S. national security interests was no longer interpreted as such as new personnel entered under the subsequent Reagan administration. Such an analysis reveals the political construction and re-interpretation of the protection of fundamental national interests, yielding significantly different outcomes. It also reveals the impact of nuanced individual interpretations on matters critical to national security. These findings pose serious concerns for the consistent realization of U.S. national interests, the continuity of U.S. global leadership, and the credibility of U.S. commitments internationally.