VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Fake news risk : modeling management decisions to combat disinformation
Keywords: Management Science and Engineering.

Strategically using information to affect the views of a population is not a new phenomenon and dates all the way back to the earliest development of political systems. Some of the earliest examples still in existence today were produced by a Greek writer Herodotus who penned an inaccurate account of historical events in the Persian empire approximately 500 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. Political propaganda is nearly as old as politics. Similarly, fake news, as a specific tactic of propaganda, is not relegated only to the information age. Older examples are easy to find that pre-date the digital revolution. However, the speed of distribution and the number of people that can be reached by leveraging the modern information infrastructure is unprecedented. These factors combine to result in increased risk from fake news that must be addressed. The internet has enabled the distribution of vast amounts of information to an incredibly large population virtually instantaneously and for comparatively low cost. While the development of this capability has resulted in enormous economic development and provided great benefit to the world, it has also exposed the same population to increased risk. The rapid distribution of fake news can cause contagion, manipulate markets, spark conflict, or fracture strategic relationships. The scourge of fake news is even more problematic with the current limitations on fact-checking methodologies which are unable to keep pace with the increased volume of fake news production. In the search for methods to combat fake news, both public and private organizations are struggling. Probabilistic Risk Analysis (PRA) can be leveraged to quantitatively describe the risk associated with fake news. This thesis presents a method for modeling management decisions designed to combat fake news in an online network. It leverages established infectious disease modeling to describe online virality and implements countermeasure regimes to inform opposition decision making. The model was informed by two online surveys of a representative sample of the U.S. voting population that endeavored to measure the impact of limited but targeted fake news. The results point to both the potential effectiveness and limitations of fake news that is leveraged as part of a targeted influence campaign. The online survey results also point to the dangers of the use of modified video and audio, known as "deep fakes, " in fake news of the future. Technological improvements including expertly crafted deep fakes, online microtargeting, smart trolls, and the potential use of artificial intelligence for content production suggests fake news will continue to persist as a scourge in the future and could present a viable threat to democratic self-governance
Female Presidents: Gender and Political Campaigns
Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Stanford Global Studies
East Asian Studies
South Korea
Taiwan
Presidential Campaigns
Female Presidents
Park Geun-hye
Tsai Ing-wen
Genderless
Gender Bias
Gender-abiding
Gender-bending
Thesis

Female heads of state remain a rare phenomenon in the world; the Northeast Asian region has seen two female presidents – Park Geun-hye and Tsai Ing-wen. A study of these two presidents addresses questions about gender bias in political campaigns. While Tsai and Park differ in many aspects, my thesis will explore similarities in their campaigns. This thesis compares campaign materials from four presidential campaigns in 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2015. Both candidates ran an unsuccessful first campaign followed by a successful second campaign. This thesis contrasts the first campaigns with the second campaigns for each candidate then compares the changes made between the campaigns. Changes in campaign messaging are assumed to be intentional and are contextualized. For both candidates, their gender was an unavoidable consideration in their campaign strategy. Consistent with previous literature on gender-based campaign strategy, all four campaigns contained gender-abiding and gender-bending aspects. Outside of these strategies, this thesis focuses on genderless campaign strategies. Genderless strategies downplay a female candidate’s gender without adopting ‘male’ characteristics. It is important to note that both gender-abiding and gender-bending strategies emphasize a candidate’s gender while genderless strategies do not. This thesis analyzes cartoon caricatures and logos that independently represented the candidates. These representations were neither gender-abiding nor gender-bending; rather, they were an attempt to create genderless or androgynous versions of the candidates. They presented an easily identifiable but ungendered visual signature. Although there is no correlation between having a female head of state and improving women’s participation in politics, studying the political campaigns of these female politicians reveals articulated gender bias. How a candidate navigates gendered expectations shows as much about the candidate as it does about a country’s electorate. Electorates accustomed to high proportions of female politicians may be less likely to negatively judge genderless strategies. In turn, female leaders of those governments are able to campaign more frequently as genderless politicians rather than as female politicians.
‘Fetal Viability’ in Supreme Court Abortion Cases: Probing the Boundary between Medicine and the Law
Keywords: Science Technology and Society
fetal viability
viability
abortion
Roe v. Wade
Planned Parenthood v. Danforth
Colautii v. Franklin
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
boundary object
Thesis

The landmark case Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the U.S. However, it only did so up until the point of ‘fetal viability’, after which the State may prohibit abortion in the interest of protecting ‘potential life’. Roe defined ‘fetal viability’, a concept taken from neonatal medicine, as “the potential to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid,” specifying gestational age as the only relevant factor. As I will demonstrate, this egregiously simplified definition fails to represent the nuanced, medical reality of the issue. This thesis investigates the following three research questions: (1) How is the concept of ‘fetal viability’ scientifically and medically constructed? (2) How has the concept of ‘fetal viability’ been understood and deployed in Supreme Court cases from Roe v. Wade onwards? (3) How does ‘fetal viability’ function as a boundary object between medicine and the law, and what conflicts result from the distinct assumptions and requirements of each discipline? To answer these questions, I analyze various medical sources and key Supreme Court abortion cases in order to perform an interdisciplinary STS analysis of ‘viability’ as a boundary object. I find that ‘viability’ depends on numerous factors other than gestational age and is conceptualized in terms of morbidity and mortality statistics. One cannot generalize ‘viability’ to a single gestational age for all fetuses, and it is antithetical to medical practice to do so. The Roe Court understands ‘viability’ to be a medical fact that draws a clear line between ‘viable’ and ‘non-viable’ fetuses. This interpretation breaks down in later cases as the need to actually implement the ‘viability’ standard forces the Court to reckon with the medical reality of the issue. Furthermore, Roe’s use of the ‘viability’ criterion leaves the constitutional right to an abortion vulnerable to the tides of scientific advancement. The Court failed to recognize that the different assumptions and requirements inherent to the fields of law and medicine would result in disparate conceptualizations of ‘viability’, making ‘viability’ a concept underpowered for the legal weight it was intended to bear.
Fiber Broadband Circulation and Competition: Analyzing Cause and Effect of Fiber Entry
Keywords: fiber
broadband
speed
competition
Thesis

High-speed broadband connectivity is expanding to more Americans, but many communities are left behind. This paper models both the entry decisions of the fiber firms within a regional market and the effects of that entry on incumbent competitors. I use FCC Form 477 accessibility data to analyze the regional characteristics of a census block group that correlated with higher likelihood of recent entry of first fiber firm. Next, the effects of new fiber presence on the maximum and mean speeds offered by already present firms are analyzed. The paper finds that fiber firms are likely responding to both demographic and competition-based factors in a census block group. This paper finds minimal effects of fiber firm entry on the average speed offered in the block group, and a negative impact on the speed offered by the fastest incumbent.
Field experiments in firms
Keywords: Business.

This dissertation studies the impact of managerial practices on firm performance. Using three field experiments in multiple firms, I offer a unique perspective on the causal impacts of delegation in hiring, the strategic allocation of managerial attention, and peer performance information provision on employee and firm performance. Chapter 1 uses a 12-month field experiment in a large retail chain to study the value of delegation in hiring to local branches. Chapter 2 draws upon a 6-month field experiment in a leading multinational spa chain to understand the optimal allocation strategy of managerial attention. Chapter 3 develops a 7-month field experiment in the spa chain to study how the provision of experienced workers' performance trajectory and peers' performance information influences employee attrition, productivity, and firm performance
Financing Farmers in Brazil: Designing a Lending Marketplace to Match Farmers and Lenders
Keywords:  Public Policy Program
Stanford University
Humanities and Sciences
Public Policy Program
agriculture
Brazilian agriculture
credit for farmers
farming
financing farmers
food security
data
lending marketplace
online marketplace
rural credit
online lending
Thesis

This thesis answers the following question: How can a centralized credit marketplace be used to improve the offer of funding for farmers in Brazil? It presents a study of the credit market for farmers in Brazil, an environment that has a high potential for a centralized credit marketplace. It explores how matching and market design theory and tools can be applied to develop this marketplace to improve farmers’ access to financing. Available literature can also be used to design the governance rules of the platform to deal with the strategy of participants, thickness, congestion, and safety issues. Beyond the core interaction (loans) between lenders and farmers, the marketplace can attract other providers of goods and services that can help the marketplace become thicker by increasing the trustworthiness and reducing information asymmetry3⁄4spinning the network effects of the marketplace. Data, from conventional and non-traditional sources, is critical not only for the designing of an efficient matching algorithm but also for building a robust algorithm of credit risk assessment of farmers. The regulatory conditions for the marketplace were set by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2018 with the introduction of the appropriate regulation. In this regard, a centralized credit marketplace for farmers is a suitable solution at the right time.
First principles approaches towards modeling the electrochemical interface
Keywords: Chemical Engineering.

In light of recent global climate trends resulting primarily from anthropogenic carbon emissions, there is a growing need to transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels. Perhaps the most promising approach towards this goal is the incorporation of renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar, more heavily into our energy grid. Unfortunately, these resources are inherently intermittent in time. To eliminate fossil fuels from our energy mix, grid-scale energy storage on both the daily and seasonal time scales will therefore be necessary. Energy storage on such an immense scale can in principle be practically achieved by storing energy in the form of chemical bonds; however, in practice the efficient conversion of low energy to high energy compounds (and vice-versa) is hampered by poor catalysts, despite decades of research efforts. This thesis focuses on developments in utilizing computer simulations to search for catalyst materials that are capable of efficiently electrochemically converting chemicals for energy storage. Density functional theory (DFT) has proven to be a very useful tool in simulating catalytic processes, and has successfully led to design tools for catalyst prediction. However, the application of DFT to electrochemical reactions has long been complicated by the complexity of the electrochemical interface: rather than simulating a gas-solid interface, we must simulate an electrified liquid-solid interface. In the first part of this thesis, we examine a commonly used and criticized approximation in our simulations, namely that electron transfer from a metal surface to an adsorbing molecule occurs on a timescale much faster than the timescale of the molecular adsorption. We then turn our attention to the treatment of the solvent in our simulations of the electrochemical interface, beginning with an explicit treatment where solvent molecules are explicitly included in the simulation. Finally, we explore an implicit treatment of the electrolyte by the incorporation of a polarizable dielectric continuum. We show that while implicit treatments offer a much simpler way to compute reaction energetics, great care must be taken both when considering parameterization of the model (for, among other things, solvation energies), and in understanding the electrostatics involved in the reaction events studied. We conclude by developing a new method for simulating electrochemical reaction events, by considering a hybrid explicit-implicit approach to modeling the interface. In particular, we show the surface charge to be a better descriptor for the driving force, as opposed to the traditionally considered work function of the electrode
Focus and ocular parallax cues for virtual and augmented reality displays
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Immersive computer graphics systems strive to generate perceptually realistic user experiences. Current-generation near-eye displays, such as virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR) displays, have made significant progress towards this goal with advances in certain technologies: interactive, photorealistic rendering; high-resolution, high-refresh-rate, low-persistence, stereoscopic displays; and low-latency head tracking. Modern VR and AR systems provide all of these capabilities and create experiences that support many, but not all, of the monocular and binocular depth cues of the human visual system, including occlusions, shading, binocular disparity, and motion parallax. However, at least two depth cues--focus and ocular parallax cues--are missing. In this dissertation, I introduce and evaluate practical systems aimed at creating perceptually realistic experiences by supporting these two cues
“For Here or to Go”: Stanford Chinese Students in the Talent Flow between the United States and China
Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Stanford Global Studies
East Asian Studies
Talent flow
Chinese student
International students
Thesis

In 2019, there were 369,548 Chinese students in the United States, which means 33 percent of international students in the U.S. come from China. Chinese students have become the largest group of international students in the United States for ten successive years. U.S.-trained, Chinese-born talent is becoming a key force in driving Chinese companies’ global expansion and the country’s development. How do the current overseas Chinese react in their decisions to stay in the United States or return to China? What are the reasons supporting their decisions? How do the public policies such as Chinese government incentives policies and U.S. immigration policies impact the individual decision in this process? More importantly, what is the underlying relations between the current tech/trade war and the talents flow? I explore these questions by taking Stanford Chinese students group as a case study. Based on the survey and interview with more than 140 Stanford Chinese students, I found that even though 75 percent of the survey participant are interested in working in the U.S. after graduation, the majority of those who plan to stay in the States are thinking about staying in the U.S. for a short period of time (1-7 years). Better work life balance, good pay, and accumulating more experience are some main reasons they choose to work in the United States after graduation. Besides, flourishing career opportunities, familiar culture, proximity to families, opportunities on entrepreneurship as well as domestic policies are some attractions for returnees. “1000 talents plan” was one of the most prominent projects to entice returnees both in industry and academia. However, the ongoing deterioration between China and the U.S. is building obstacles to Chinese students’ study and working status in the United States as well as the implementation of China’s incentives policies. This research contributes our understanding of the dynamic relations of personal choices, public policies, and international relations.
Foreign relations of the United States series, 1860-1980 : a study in new archival history
Keywords: History.

In the last couple decades of scholarship, historical research has turned primarily qualitative, firmly embedding the field into the humanities. But recent advances in computation and accessibility of digitized materials have revived an interest in quantitative methods and platforms in investigating the past. Approaches using numerical data in history have come and gone as `Cliometrics, ' `New Economic History, ' and `New Social History, ' facing critique from cultural historians. This thesis proposes `New Archival History, ' a novel approach of using digitized historical archives and modern data science methods to bring together the cultural depth and quantitative rigor of the two previously irreconcilable practices in History. Through a showcase of various techniques on a document collection of diplomatic correspondences from the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, this thesis argues that while there are potential limitations, digital sources expand opportunities for historians to ask broader questions, interrogate the archive, and engage with scholarship and theory in the experimental and observational social sciences
Found & Ekphrastic Poetry in the Iziko South African National Gallery and Cantor Arts Center: An Exploration of Cultural Reproduction
Keywords: CCSRE
CSRE
IDA
ekphrastic poetry
found poetry
cultural reproduction
art museums
Thesis

This work explores cultural reproduction in art museum spaces with the Iziko
South African National Gallery (ISANG) and the Cantor Arts Center as case studies. My primary methodology is embodied research, with found and ekphrastic poetry acting as vessels to translate and integrate my findings from embodied research, literature review, and interviews with museum leadership. Ultimately, there is ever-evolving nuance and variation in the cultural reproduction that happens when an artwork or a museum space meet the viewer; however, I encourage museums to take steps within their control to leverage their sites of cultural reproduction to disrupt social hierarchies rather than passively allowing them to continue or even purposefully reinforcing them.
From collectivism to professionalism : the struggle for the survival of social protest theatre in post-1980s latinx America
Keywords: Theater and Performance Studies.

The contentious political climate of the 1960s and 1970s gave birth to an abundance of social protest theatre collectives (SPT) dedicated to illustrated the needs of marginalized communities and advocated for liberation in the United States and Latin America. By employing a hemispheric methodology, this dissertation examines how Latin American social protest collectives survived beyond this initial historical phase by surveying their work after 1980. Focusing on US-based production company El Teatro Campesino (the Farmworkers Theatre), premier Peruvian performance collective Teatro Yuyachkani, and Mexico based collective Hijas de la violencia (daughters of violence), and Chilean based collective Lastesis, I investigate how the creative output of these collectives has been affected by institutionalization, digital media interventions, and ways in which their work has been narrated and archived. I argue that academic and capital-based institutionalization alters the subversive efficacy of the (SPT) genre and tactics of social protest theatre. I propose new ways of theorizing social protest theatre to enable a fuller understanding of the intersection between politics and performance
From Farm to Fortune: Understanding the Path to Upward Mobility in Rural America
Keywords:  Public Policy Program
Stanford University
Public Policy
rural America
upward mobility
educational opportunity
educational attainment
agricultural subsidies
rural-urban divide
Thesis

Using data from the Opportunity Insights project, Stanford Education Data Archive, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, I examine the path to upward mobility in the rural United States. I aim to understand whether factors contributing to better outcomes for low-income youth differ between rural and nonrural counties, with an eye toward tangible policy solutions. Using cross-sectional analyses, I find demographic factors, including share of single mothers and social capital, play an outsized role in rural mobility. Further, while income segregation is more detrimental to mobility in nonrural counties, single motherhood and migration are more detrimental in rural. In a fixed effects model, controlling for educational opportunity, race, and socioeconomic status, I find race and socioeconomic status explain most within-county variation in mobility, though educational opportunity remains a significant predictor, and achievement scores are relatively more important within rural counties than nonrural. Finally, I conduct a novel analysis of the relationship between agricultural subsidies and rural upward mobility. After controlling for community characteristics, I find no significant correlation between farm subsidies and mobility. The only policy factor which significantly predicts rural mobility is state Earned Income Tax Credit exposure, suggesting rural policy must focus specifically on initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for low-income rural youth.