VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Autobiographical narratives of concentration camps [electronic resource] : a transatlantic approach to concentrationary policies and trajectories
Keywords: Iberian and Latin American Cultures.

Abstract This comparative study examines the development and expansion of Europe's concentration camp system between 1933-1947 and, establishes transatlantic trajectories from the European repressive paradigm into Latin America, Chile in particular. This research examines literary relationships among narratives from the Holocaust, the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Chile's political repression that followed the coup d'état of 1973. Although current scholarly comprehensive studies of Europe's concentration camp system follow the transformation of the concentration camp structure, these studies remain confined to Europe's particular geo-political environment without establishing comparative bridges or processes of transference onto other concentrationary scenarios. By analyzing specific aspects of the Nazi-Francoist concentrationary camp system, this study explains the scope of this phenomenon and how it exerted particular influence in Chile's political and sociocultural context. This investigation establishes transatlantic links between the repressive policies enacted by the Third Reich, the Franco regime in Spain, and the analogous authoritarian measures implemented in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1989). I draw upon autobiographical narratives and scholarly comprehensive studies of the European concentrationary experience to identify representations of trauma, cultural manifestations, resistance and social interaction developed within European and Chilean concentration camps. This study opens new comparative spaces for the European concentrationary research and at the same time breaks ground within Chilean scholarly studies on the political violence of its recent past. Chile lacks a comprehensive view that supports and generates the classification and analysis of its own concentrationary network. Through the analysis of historical transatlantic connections, political factors, and autobiographical narratives on the concentrationary experience, I intend to lay a research foundation that gives meaning to distinct historical events, contributes to the understanding of the transatlantic repercussions of mass social trauma, and stimulates comparative studies and inquiries into Chile and Europe's concentrationary universes.
Automatic data plane testing [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Today's networks require much human intervention to keep them working. Every day network engineers wrestle with router misconfigurations, fiber cuts, faulty interfaces, mislabeled cables, software bugs, intermittent links and a myriad other issues that cause networks to misbehave, or fail completely. Network engineers hunt down bugs using the most rudimentary tools and track down root causes using a combination of accrued wisdom and intuition.We found that many network problems are associated with data plane behaviors, i.e., how the network transports data plane packets. This dissertation discusses the design and implementation of automatic data plane testing tools under various network scenarios. We first present Automatic Test Packet Generation (ATPG), a foundation framework of data plane testing when all data plane information is available and accurate. ATPG reads router configurations and generates a device-independent model. The model is used to generate a minimum set of test packets to (minimally) exercise every link in the network or (maximally) exercise every rule in the network. Test packets are sent periodically, and detected failures trigger a separate mechanism to localize the fault. NetSonar extends ATPG by allowing incomplete or inaccurate data plane information as inputs. Earlier test techniques were either white box (assumes complete forwarding knowledge) or black box (assumes no knowledge). We argue that the former is infeasible in large networks, and the latter is inefficient and incomplete. NetSonar is the first graybox tester for networks and the first tester deployed in a production network. NetSonar uses only coarse forwarding information and does not require knowledge of load balancing hash functions. Finally, we move our focus to data center networks with thousands of switches and millions of forwarding table entries. Data center owners use static analysis tools that examine the topology and forwarding tables to check for loops, black-holes and reachability failures. However, the existing tools do not scale to a large data center network. Moreover, no existing tool addresses the problem of potential false positives when analyzing a network snapshot, when the network state is constantly in flux. We present Libra, a tool for verifying forwarding tables in large data center networks that simplifies ATPG's data plane model to significantly improve verification performance.
Autonomous power control for next-generation wireless computing [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

In wireless communication networks, transmit power control (TPC) can significantly improve network performance by reducing interference and improving energy efficiency. In autonomous TPC, each transmitter is responsible for regulating its own power without centralized coordination and without explicit control information exchanged between different links. Autonomous TPC is a particularly important area of research for wireless networks in which centralized control is difficult or impractical - examples of such networks include WiFi, sensor networks, and the emerging Internet of Things. In these networks, the importance of TPC is being magnified by the rapidly increasing density of heterogeneous wireless devices that have limited available energy and processing power. In this dissertation, we use a dynamic programming framework to design low-complexity, fully autonomous TPC algorithms which exhibit promising performance characteristics for both current and next-generation wireless networks. The dynamic programming framework we use is based on a fundamental tradeoff between transmit power and delay; for example, a link faced with high interference is allowed to queue up (delay) packets to be transmitted at a later time, when the interference may be lower. We develop two new classes of autonomous TPC algorithms, and we describe these algorithms' dynamics and show how their nonlinear functional forms can lead to a network behavior called ``induced'' time division multiple access (iTDMA), in which links automatically take turns utilizing the channel without any explicit cross-link coordination. As a result of this behavior, we demonstrate that our algorithms can provide substantial throughput improvements over previous schemes. Additionally, we discuss various problems that arise in implementing our algorithms, such as synchronization and scaling issues, and explain how they can be resolved. The most critical problem we describe is ``locking, '' in which links using our algorithms spontaneously synchronize into inefficient power evolution patterns which compromise network performance. We propose several randomization-based mitigation mechanisms to alleviate this behavior, and we demonstrate that these mechanisms considerably improve our algorithms' performance. Finally, we develop and analyze continuous-time analogs (fluid models) of the discrete-time versions of our algorithms in order to explore the iTDMA behavior further. This analysis provides new insights into the throughput improvements of our algorithms over canonical approaches, particularly in high-interference channels. It also represents a first step toward understanding the complex mathematical stability properties of our algorithms.
The Barbou of Limoges [electronic resource] : gender, family, and work in France, 1566-1786
Keywords: History.

Over a continuous span of two hundred and twenty years members of the Barbou family in early modern Limoges, France maintained a livre de raison, or family journal, that both documented and helped to transmit a fascinatingly idiosyncratic family culture. Their work as printers, a cornerstone of their identity even as they gained noble status, earned them fabulous wealth and a prominent status in their industry thanks to their cultivation of multiple patrons, their reliance on widows to continue their husbands' work, and their creation of a family-run satellite workshop in Paris. When it came time to spend that wealth Barbou parents invested in land and offices to increase their social standing but never lost their focus on the world of work. Connections to both spheres allowed them to find elite husbands for their daughters and wealthy wives for their sons—a hypergamous marriage pattern that was only possible because of their commitment to sharing the patrimony among all of their children rather than practicing the strict primogeniture of many other ambitious families of the time. As sibling groups rose through the social hierarchy together they cemented their alliances through spiritual kinship, choosing godparents from among both parents' relatives and favoring horizontal relationships above all else. Throughout their history the Barbou benefitted from the geographical patterns that shaped their culture; from the important contributions of the many strong widows who guided the family's course; and from the liminal social position that enabled a wider variety of choices through the lack of strong ties to their community. Studying such a unique family supplies a counterexample for numerous historiographical generalizations and provides a glimpse of what was possible in early modern France.
Baroque states [electronic resource] : television and theatricality in contemporary Latin America
Keywords: Theater and Performance Studies.

This dissertation analyses four media events in contemporary Latin American politics: (1) the collapse of Alberto Fujimori's administration in Peru following the vladivideos scandal, (2) the role of television in the failed coup against Hugo Chávez, (3) the recording and broadcasting of Ingrid Betancourt's military rescue in Colombia as part of Operación Jaque and (4) in Guatemala, the posthumous video testimony of murdered lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg. Through these case studies I argue that an emergent televisual paradigm has developed in the region in the 21st century, one that deploys theatricality, video and television as political tools and which draws on aesthetics proper to the colonial and postcolonial baroque political culture of Latin America.
Bats to Bedside: Diversity and prevalence of Bartonella in Costa Rican bats and bat flies reveals potential for disease spillover
Keywords:  Department of Biology
Biology
bats
bat flies
Bartonella
Costa Rica
disease
ecology
evolution
Thesis

Identifying natural reservoirs and vectors for pathogens is central to understanding how animal diseases spill over into human populations. The human and animal disease-causing bacteria of the genus Bartonella often rely on a mammalian host and arthropod vector, and it has been suggested that bats and bat flies could fulfill these roles. Comparing the prevalence and genetic similarity of Bartonella spp. in Costa Rican bats and the bat flies parasitizing them, I found that Bartonella spp. were more prevalent in bat flies than in bats, 52.7% and 31.8% respectively, and that these Bartonella were diverse and sometimes shared between bats and bat flies. Phylogenetic analysis further revealed that some Bartonella identified in bats and bat flies were similar to strains known to infect humans and other mammals. The high prevalence and sharing of Bartonella in bat flies and bats supports a role for bat flies as a potential vector for Bartonella and other pathogens, while the genetic diversity and similarity to known species suggests that Bartonella could spill over from bats and bat flies into humans and animals sharing the landscape.
Beamlet-based treatment plan optimization in external beam radiation therapy [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

External beam radiation therapy is one of the most widely used therapeutic methods for treating patients. In this modality, prior to the actual treatment, machine delivery parameters are optimized based on a patient model derived from the pre-treatment CT images. The goal of treatment planning is to maximize the dose to the planning target volume (PTV), while sparing the critical organs. A number of treatment techniques have been developed to meet the clinical demands. In reality, however, these techniques suffer from a series of problems and the performance of currently available plan optimization and dose delivery techniques is sub-optimal - the treatment plans out of the optimization algorithms are often not clinically sensible. Hence, considerable effort may be required to plan a patient's treatment, seriously hindering the optimal and efficient use of the radiation therapy. This thesis presents efficient and effective fluence-map optimizing techniques to demonstrate the improvement in either plan quality or delivery efficiency in static field and (continuous) rotational arc treatment schemes. To attain the objective above, new mathematical models and beam configurations are employed in the center of the treatment planning and its optimizing process. Of note, the demonstrations of our proposed methods or strategies proceed in two directions: (1) improving the delivery efficiency without damaging the plan quality, and (2) enhancing the plan quality, while maintaining the similar delivery efficiency of the existing methods.
Between social cause and industrial commodity [electronic resource] : the development of a market for biodiesel in the United States
Keywords: Management Science and Engineering.

This dissertation examines how commercial industry proponents and a grassroots production movement collaborated in the development of a market for biodiesel in the United States between 1992 and 2012. I draw on institutional and social movement theory to suggest how the exigencies of stabilizing a new market compel collaboration even in the presence of ideological differences. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and archival data on the grassroots biodiesel movement and the commercial biodiesel industry, my analysis shows how the industry and the movement initially sought different forms of institutional legitimacy that reflected their contrasting goals for market development. In the face of constraints from the institutional environment, the movement and industry pooled their legitimacy to support the development of a unified biodiesel market, resulting in a social order that does not exhibit the patterns of partitioning or contestation that prior research might predict.
Biased expectations in times of predicament [electronic resource] : essays on help-seeking and indecision
Keywords: Education.

This dissertation examines the accuracy of behavioral and attitudinal expectations in times of predicament. The first two chapters use experimental research methods to study people's predictions when they are in need of tangible favors. Specifically, chapter one explores help-seekers' expectations of receiving assistance from someone who has refused to provide aid in the past. Based on findings from four social-psychological studies, this chapter argues that help-seekers underestimate the likelihood of receiving help in this situation. This underestimation is driven by help-seekers' failure to appreciate the discomfort of refusing to provide help not only once, but twice, as well as their assumption that a person who has refused to help once is invariably an unhelpful person. Chapter two investigates the quality of help that help-seekers' expect, conditional on receiving help. Four additional studies find that help-seekers underestimate the effort that helpers put into their assistance. Once again, the psychological mechanism driving this bias appears to be help-seekers' failure to appreciate helpers' discomfort. The final chapter of this dissertation is a conceptual work examining people's expectations while struggling in a state of indecision. What behaviors and functions do people expect while distressed by a decision they do not know how to make? This chapter argues that decision-makers are unduly pessimistic about indecision, seeing it primarily as a disquieting pathology of choice. This is due, in part, to the strength of cultural and cognitive norms surrounding decision-making and results in decision-makers failing to see indecision's potential as an arena for identity formation.
A bi-directional negative feedback loop govern the orientation of planar polarity in the drosophila wing [electronic resource]
Keywords: Developmental Biology.

Epithelial cells sometimes display polarity along the axis orthogonal to the apicobasal axis -- a phenomenon referred to as planar cell polarity (PCP). This polarization biases organization of the cytoskeleton, and is required for a range of fundamental processes including, but not limited to, oriented cell division, polarized function of cilia, and the control of collective cell migration events during development. Consequently, deregulation or dysfunction of PCP genes has been linked to disorders including deafness as a result of misorientation of inner ear cells, neural tube closure defects because of a failure to execute convergent & extension, and tumor invasiveness. Despite having identified some of the key proteins required to achieve PCP, much is still unknown about their molecular functions. Evolutionarily conserved proteins, known as the core PCP proteins, are distributed asymmetrically within wing epithelial cells and form complexes within the proximal or distal cortical domains. Here, we demonstrate that these diametrically opposed complexes participate in a bi-directional negative feedback loop that simultaneously produces their asymmetric distribution within cells and reinforces the orientation of polarity to neighbors by transmitting polarity information intercellularly. We found that one of the core PCP proteins, Prickle (Pk), is important for negative feedback as it is required to mediate the exclusion of distal and proximal complexes from the plasma membrane during acquisition of asymmetry. Moreover, we found that the level of Pk is regulated by the Cullin1 (Cul1)/SkpA/Supernumerary limbs (Slimb) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Our observations lead us to believe that loss of, or excess, Pk perturbs PCP signaling through the disruption of feedback. Ultimately, these results highlight an underlying molecular mechanism for the generation of planar polarity. Finally, the approaches presented in this monograph can further help elucidate the molecular functions of the other core PCP proteins.
The binding problem and the perception of multiple stimuli [electronic resource]
Keywords: Psychology.

A long-standing assertion from the binding problem is that human vision is limited to identifying only a single stimulus at a time. We test the veracity of this claim in a series of experiments and simulations. We focus in particular on illusory conjunctions (ICs), a phenomenon that has provided support for single-object capacity limits. We find that studies on ICs have conflated to distinct phenomena which we term proximal and distal ICs. Proximal ICs occur between neighboring, peripheral stimuli, and we present evidence that they may be driven by shared or similar mechanisms to crowding. Unlike proximal ICs, distal ICs can occur between distant stimuli but seem to require brief stimulus durations and a competing task. We investigate claims that the competing task drives ICs either through mnemonic errors or through the manipulation of spatial attention, as FIT, a single-object capacity theory, would predict. We find support for neither claim. Instead, attention to and encoding of the competing task stimuli appears to cast a 'shadow' over nearby regions such that IC-susceptible stimuli appearing within those regions become more vulnerable to interference even from distant distractors. In neither phenomenon do we find support for a general inability to process multiple objects in parallel. We further tested claims of a single-object capacity limit with neural network simulations trained to identify abstract representations of stimuli. We found that a range of networks could identify two stimuli in parallel with high accuracy. Despite arguments by von der Malsburg (1999), these networks did not require a mechanism for oscillations and used only weighted summation with a sigmoid filter. Using these networks, we were able to simulate errors similar to crowding and proximal ICs as well as deficits in the identification of multiple stimuli after parietal lesions, a key piece of evidence supporting FIT. These empirical and modeling results demonstrate that it is possible to solve the binding problem without limiting perception to a single stimulus at a time.
Bioinformatics approach identifies Guanabenz as potential therapeutic for Pancreatic Ductal Adrenocarcinoma through attenuation of GPCRs and Ras Signaling
Keywords:  Department of Biology
Drug Repositioning
DNA microarray
KRAS signaling pathway
PanINs
Pancreatic ductal adrenocarcinoma
cerulein induced pancreatitis
Guanabenz
Biology
Thesis

Pancreatic ductal adrenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive cancers with poor prognosis at time of diagnosis and high mortality due to few effective treatment options. This work seeks to show the power of bioinformatics to quickly and efficiently repurpose FDA-approved drugs for PDAC. We used a systematic drug repositioning bioinformatics approach that compared a concise and comprehensive array of gene expression profiles to identify potential FDA approved drugs. Initial screening of the top candidates by MTT survival assay narrowed the search to Guanabenz, an alpha-2 receptor (ADRA2) agonist and antihypertensive drug. MTT survival assays showed that Guanabenz significantly lowered survival of various human and mouse PDAC cell lines. Immunoblot analysis showed Guanabenz attenuating pCREB (involved in GPCR signaling) and ERK ½ kinase in the Ras signaling pathway. Mouse models treated with Guanabenz showed the drug’s tumor suppressive properties with the prevention of preneoplastic legion (PanIN) formation, a landmark precursor in tumorigenesis of pancreatitis induced PDAC. These experiments confirm the identity of Guanabenz as a novel treatment for PDAC as well as the potential in targeting the ADRA2 pathway in PDAC drug development. Further, this work confirms drug repositioning as an effective way of identifying novel treatments in PDAC.
Black holes and the butterfly effect [electronic resource]
Keywords: Physics.

What happens if you perturb a small part of a large system, and then you wait a while? If the system is chaotic, one expects the butterfly effect to push the state far from its original trajectory. I will present an analysis of this phenomenon in the setting of a strongly interacting quantum gauge theory, using the tools of gauge-gravity duality. The original state corresponds to a black hole geometry, and the perturbation is represented by a particle falling through the horizon. As time passes, the boost of the particle grows exponentially, creating a shock wave that implements the butterfly effect. Building on this framework, I will relate and explore the dynamics of chaos and the region behind the horizon of a black hole. This thesis is based on two papers written with Stephen Shenker. It should not be cited without also referencing those papers.