VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
An inquiry into "a history of the rise and fall of Japanese literature" by Takahashi Genichiro [electronic resource]
Keywords: East Asian Languages and Cultures.

This dissertation comprises a study and a partial annotated translation of "Nihon bungaku seisuishi" (A History of the Rise and Fall of Japanese Literature) by Takahashi Gen'ichirō. The study focuses on the confrontation between literary history and the contemporary frame dramatized in the narrative of "Seisuishi, " a novel that combines the staid discourse of literary historiography with the semiotic chaos of postmodern fiction. As bungaku literature, a self-reflexive genre attuned to the cultural specificities of its own mode of textuality, "Seisuishi" radically recontextualizes classic works of modern Japanese literature to generate the possibility of authentic encounters with the literary past that are nonetheless thoroughly of the present moment. Through opening and interrogating spaces of literary secularity, "Seisuishi" serves as fruitful grounds for exploring the applicability of religious metaphors in figuring authorial stances vis-à-vis the concept and practice of literature. The final portion of the study examines how the novel incorporates marginalized female voices to highlight and critique its status as a work of male literature.
Insights into Interactions Between Staphylococcus aureus, Keratinocyte RabGEF1, and other Host Factors in the Development of Atopic Dermatitis-like Skin Pathology
Keywords:  Department of Biology
Biology
atopic dermatitis
bacteria
Staphylococcus aureus
keratinocytes
skin barrier function
pathology
Thesis

The causes of atopic dermatitis (AD), or eczema, are currently unknown. However, it is thought that there are immunomodulatory pathways that affect skin barrier function that can lead to the development of AD, and that the disease can be exacerbated by colonization of the skin with the bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Here, we exploit a model involving genetically-modified mice (“Rabgef1KERT2-KO” mice) in which treatment of the skin with tamoxifen can result in depletion of keratinocyte levels of RAB guanine nucleotide exchange factor (RabGEF1, also known as RABEX-5). Upon repetitive tamoxifen treatment, these mice develop skin pathology with many of the features of AD. Using this model, we investigated whether a depletion of keratinocyte RabGEF1 influenced colonization of the skin with S. aureus and whether such skin tissue exhibited changes in levels of antimicrobial activity. We found that the skin of tamoxifen-treated RabGEF1-depleted mice exhibited increased growth of S. aureus as well as stronger antimicrobial properties and increased epidermal thickness compared to identically-treated control (RabGEF1-sufficient) mice. In a preliminary experiment, we also found that there were higher numbers of S. aureus in the skin of RabGEF1-depleted mice which also were deficient in RIP3, a protein kinase that is required for programmed necroptosis. These results suggest that RabGEF1 and RIP3 are host factors which can importantly influence both the skin pathology associated with this AD model and also the extent of S. aureus colonization of the animals’ AD-like skin lesions.
Institutional effects in the worldwide expansion of the innovation economy [electronic resource]
Keywords: Management Science and Engineering.

In this work, I conceptualize innovation as a core institution of the world economy and society, and study the factors involved in its expansion across the globe. Specifically, I examine local conditions and global institutional pressures affecting a country's willingness to take part in the innovation economy, its level of expenditure on innovation, and the actual product of those expenditures. I use event-history models and panel regressions to test the aforementioned relationships on a sample of 132 countries from 1996 to 2012. There are four main findings. First, developing nations that are close to the advanced countries (in the core of the global political economy) are likely to follow the norms of the core and initiate actions to be considered as participants of the innovation economy. Second, countries are likely to mimic neighbors in their innovation spending patterns. Third, most developing regions of the world show signs of decoupling (producing significantly less innovation patents at the same level of R& D spending than the core). And, fourth, local competition is associated to mimetic isomorphism regarding innovation but also to lower levels of decoupling in the production of patents (by increasing the efficiency of R& D investments). These results suggest that there is imitation of the global core and of neighbors (oftentimes) despite sub-standard levels of efficiency, and that participating in innovation is as important as producing actual innovation.
Integrated, locally-synthesized, and genetically-targeted polymer systems in neural tissue [electronic resource]
Keywords: Bioengineering.

Recent advancements in the development of implantable brain-machine interfaces have bridged the communication gap between the brain and modern electronics. While much work has been done to optimize the electrode-tissue interface of these devices, a bioelectronic system that can reliably interact with and identify genetically-specific neural circuits within whole, intact 3D volumes of tissue is yet to be realized. Therefore, novel approaches for building seamlessly integrated tools that are more intimately connected to biological elements in tissue are highly desirable. An alternative to pre-fabrication and subsequent implantation of small-scale, mechanically compliant electronic devices is locally-performed synthesis that directly integrates material with cells and soft tissue, for which there has been little precedence. In this work, the mechanical and chemical properties of polymer-brain hybrid materials synthesized directly inside of rodent brains using CLARITY were obtained to more deeply understand the interactions amongst polymer precursor reagents and tissue, which can significantly alter optical properties of tissue while preserving molecular structure. Next, a novel strategy was developed to generate functional organic materials directly on specific neurons and their subcomponents using a genetically-encoded enzyme to trigger polymerization. Quantitative analysis of the resulting material verified the genetically-specific and enzyme-mediated synthesis of a conductive polymer layer proximal to the surface of neurons. Furthermore, whole-cell patch clamp and extracellular electrical recording measurements indicated that this polymerization strategy did not have short-term cytotoxic effects in cultured unfixed neurons and acute mouse brain slices. These studies demonstrate the feasibility of new methodologies for in situ polymer synthesis to maintain intimate connections with biological targets in the brain, and inspire next-generation bioelectronic tissue-device interfaces that can enhance our study of intact, whole-tissue dynamics with exceptional control and spatial resolution.
Integrating Gender Equality into an Improved Model of Technology-Based National Development: A Critical Exploration of Internet Diffusion in Pakistan
Keywords:  Department of Science
internet
development
gender
diffusion
Science Technology and Society
Thesis

Widespread belief in the Internet's potential to increase access to information and contribute to development has given rise to movements aimed at providing Internet to distant parts of the world that do not yet have it. Spearheaded by Western corporations, these efforts at connecting the unconnected draw support from a conventional understanding of Internet diffusion that stresses the Internet's positive contribution to development in third world countries. Development, however, cannot only be measured by economic growth. Gender equality, too, is a fundamental piece of the puzzle. Furthermore, the conventional understanding of Internet diffusion ignores the sociocultural factors that are preventing the Internet from reaching those who need it most. Using Facebook's Free Basics initiative in Pakistan as a case study, this paper will draw on findings from original ethnographic research to examine the consequences of current corporate Internet diffusion strategies, specifically with regards to gender inequality. A close analysis of Internet diffusion will show that without measures to ensure fair and equal distribution of information, the spread of the Internet not only is ineffective in catalyzing development, but can also aggravate the social injustice that already exists in target societies. This paper will propose a modified Internet diffusion strategy, one that prioritizes making the Internet wholly accessible and beneficial for all members of society, regardless of gender. The modified strategy will seek to address the shortcomings of current attempts at Internet diffusion by focusing on human-centered development, community engagement, and collaboration with local governments and NGOs. Ultimately, this paper’s recommendations can improve current and future diffusion strategies so that the Internet can reach and benefit all members of society, especially women, as quickly and effectively as possible.
International Monetary Policy Spillover in Colombia: An SVAR Analysis
Keywords:  Department of Economics
International monetary policy spillover
Monetary policy independence
Colombian central bank
Structural vector autoregression
Stanford Department of Economics
Thesis

United States monetary policy plays an oversized role in determining worldwide financial conditions. Recent research has demonstrated that emerging markets economies are vulnerable to pressure from the policy stance of the Federal Reserve. Furthermore, monetary authorities in these countries have been shown to systematically respond to the Federal Funds rate, indicating that international monetary policy spillovers have eroded these nations’ monetary policy independence. This paper examines the transmission dynamics underlying these spillovers by estimating various structural vector autoregressions (SVARs) in an emerging market economy, Colombia. The analysis finds that U.S. monetary policy shocks are a significant determinant of Colombia’s central bank policy rate. In addition, it is shown that the transmission process of these spillovers changed after the global financial crisis of 2008.
Interplay between thermal and electrical effects in phase-change memory [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Phase-change memory~(PCM) has undergone significant academic and industrial research improvements in the last 15 years. After much development, it is now poised to enter the market as a storage-class memory~(SCM), with performance and cost between NAND flash and DRAM. This thesis presents research works that center around improved thermal understanding with a view toward improving the PCM characteristics. The chapters focus on the following areas: thermal characterization of phase-change layers (PCL) using a micro-thermal stage (MTS), thermal conductivity measurements of amorphous dielectric multilayers, implementation of a low-thermal conductivity insulating multilayer for low-energy PCM, and thermal simulations to explore design choices in a 3D vertical chain cell-type (VCC) PCM. This work will highlight the performance gains attained and the future prospects which will help drive PCM to be as ubiquitous as NAND flash in the upcoming decade.
Into thinner air [electronic resource] : how pikas live on the roof of the world and implications for their persistence in the Anthropocene
Keywords: Biology.

The human-dominated epoch of the Anthropocene is putting new pressures on species, threatening the persistence of many. One such pressure is anthropogenic climate change. In many species, climate change is causing parts of their range, generally lower latitudes and lower elevations, to no longer be habitable. As a result, we are seeing a general movement of species to higher latitudes and higher elevations. However, as montane species move to higher elevations, they will encounter greater physiological stress due to high-elevation hypoxia -- the decrease of available oxygen at high elevations due to a reduction in barometric pressure. The limitations that hypoxic stress may put on species' ability to alter their distributions have never been explored. One montane organism particularly vulnerable to climate change and already experiencing elevational range shifts at up to ten times the global average are pikas, genus Ochotona. There are at least 28 pika species, each occupying a unique elevational range between 0 -- 6,100 m with at least 14 species inhabiting elevations above 4,000 m. Little is known about how pikas can tolerate the hypoxic stress of their high-elevation habitat. By learning more about the mechanisms underlying hypoxia tolerance in pikas, I aim to gain understanding of what role hypoxic stress may play in their future range adjustments in response to projected climate change. Through the utilization of museum tissue samples, extensive field work in the Indian Himalayas, and the only captive colony of pikas in the world, I have investigated hypoxia tolerance in pikas from three different angles: (1) molecular evolution in mitochondrial candidate genes; (2) variation in gene expression along an elevational gradient within a population between 3,600 and 5,000 m; and (3) changes in gene expression within an individual when exposed to varying levels of hypoxia for a 5-day period. Our results indicate that while different pika species have genetic adaptations seemingly specializing them to the general elevational range of the species, on a local and even individual scale, changes in gene expression may offer a mechanism by which pikas can rapidly acclimate to hypoxic conditions. Our findings suggest that pika species may be genetically adapted to the elevational range they occupy, potentially limiting range movement; however, changes in gene expression may enable rapid range shifts within a species' elevational envelope.
Investigating the importance of host nutrient systems for plant pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana [electronic resource]
Keywords: Biology.

This thesis explores the importance of host nutrient transporter systems in plant pathogen infections focusing on the one hand on UmamiT amino acid and SWEET sugar transport proteins, and on the other hand on bZIP transcription factors as potential regulators of transporter genes using the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana and three pathogens. The pathogens investigated are the hemibiotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 as well as the hemibiotrophic fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum and the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea.
Investigating the role of neurexins in synapse formation in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus
Keywords:  Department of Biology
neurexin
retina
LGN
biology
IPL
Thesis

Neurexins (NRXN) are a family of three presynaptic cell-adhesion molecules that regulate synaptic function and organization via binding with myriad postsynaptic partners. The discovery of neurexin mutations in human patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, like Autism Spectrum Disorder and schizophrenia, introduced a greater clinical focus to neurexin research. The link between NRXN mutations and these human disorders remains nebulous, however, due to incomplete understanding of neurexins’ full synaptic role.
I injected viral CRE into the retinas of newborn mice from a novel triple-neurexin “floxed” line to produce an in vivo, conditional neurexin knockout (cKO) and avoid embryonic lethality. I found that triple-NRXN cKO retina exhibited a significantly decreased excitatory synapse density than their control counterparts. The number of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axonal projections from triple-NRXN cKO retina to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) was also significantly decreased compared to control densities. Surprisingly, this reduction in RGC projections did not correspond to a decrease in excitatory synapse density in the dLGN contralateral to the triple-NRXN cKO retina compared to control. Together, these results indicate a potential role for the neurexin family in facilitating proper synapse formation within the visual system, thereby augmenting our current understanding of these crucial molecules.
Investigating the transcriptional network of ELF5 in colorectal cancer
Keywords:  Department of Biology
ELF5
colorectal cancer
HCT116
promoter hypomethylation
ChIP-seq
molecular biology
Thesis

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and women the United States, with estimation of 96,000 new cases in 2017. ELF5, an ETS-family transcription factor, has been known to specify cell-fate in the developing embryo, lung, and mammary gland; however, it is not normally expressed highly in the colon, and its role in the colon remains unclear. Here, we investigate ELF5’s role in CRC. Kuo et al. has previously demonstrated that ELF5 exhibits promoter hypomethylation and upregulation in CRC, and that ELF5 overexpression promotes over-proliferation and dysplasia in vitro and increased tumorigenicity in vivo. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that that abnormal upregulation of ELF5 in the colon activates an oncogenic transcriptional network capable of driving tumor progression. We perform ChIP-seq on HCT116, a colon cancer cell line, and HCT116 overexpressing ELF5 to identify binding sites and potential target genes of ELF5 in the HCT116 genome. We show that overexpression of ELF5 results in the increased binding of ELF5 at promoter regions that potentially regulate key genes involved in the PI3K/AKT pathway, p53-mediated apoptosis, and cell cycle control. The data presented here provide novel insight into the mechanism by which overexpression of ELF5 drives tumor progression in the colon. Better understanding of tumor progression from these results may yield new therapeutic strategies for targeting CRC.
Investigating Wnt signaling in the developing and adult mouse spinal cord [electronic resource]
Keywords: Developmental Biology.

Ependymal cells in the adult mammalian spinal cord are thought to be a population of "latent neural stem cells" with more regenerative potential than any other cell types in the adult spinal cord. In spite of their unique functions, the molecular signals that regulate ependymal cells in the postnatal and adult spinal cord remain poorly understood. In addition, there remain many gaps in our knowledge about the developmental origin and the generation of spinal cord ependymal cells. In Chapter 3, I begin my investigation of the developmental origin of spinal cord ependymal cells by analyzing Wnt-responsive neural progenitor cells in the developing spinal cord and show that Wnt signaling activity is concentrated in the dorsal midline neural progenitor cells throughout embryogenesis. Ependymal cells appear to be generated in a ventral to dorsal direction, with the dorsal midline ependymal cells generated last. Indeed, they are derived from Wnt-responsive dorsal midline radial glial cells give rise to towards the end of embryogenesis. These results suggest an important role of Wnt signaling in ependymal cell generation and highlights a region-specific allocation of ependymal cells which is consistent with the process during both neurogenesis and gliogenesis. In Chapters 4-6, I demonstrate that ependymal cells in the postnatal and adult spinal cord continue to be dependent on Wnt-signaling. Inhibiting Wnt signaling results in impaired ependymal cell proliferation. Ependymal cells also produce Wnt ligands which are required for maintaining ependymal cell proliferation. In Chapter 7, I investigate another Wnt-responsive cell population in the developing and adult spinal cord -- astrocytes. I also show evidence suggesting that Wnt signaling may be enriching for a more proliferative population of astrocytes at the periphery of the white matter, which serve as a source of new astrocytes in the adult spinal cord. Lastly in Chapter 8, I describe our efforts in elucidating the contribution of Wnt-responsive cells to long term glial scar formation after spinal cord injury. Taken together, these studies highlight the importance of Wnt signaling in the ependymal cell population throughout development, postnatal growth and homeostasis. The results also provide insights into the involvement of Wnt signaling in astrocyte proliferation and scar formation after spinal cord injury.
Is Emancipation Enough?: Civic Humanism and New Media
Keywords: stanford
sts
science technology and society
2017
2016
honors
thesis
civic
humanism
emancipation
emancipation rhetoric
media
ecology
neil postman
zygmunt bauman
positive liberty
negative liberty
isaiah berlin
survey
framework
new media
democracy
decentralization
democratization
digital
media
populism
gatekeepers
freedom
Thesis

How is the rise of new media affecting democracy? It has been popularly expected that the rise of the network society would spell the rise of a newly-reflective and civic-minded citizenry. This expectation is critical because new media allow everyday people to circumvent gatekeepers like never before, placing on them a heightened responsibility to maintain their democracies. However, the empirical record—information cascades, echo chambers, a right-wing populist backlash, a “tyranny of emotions”—suggests that the pervasiveness of new media disrupt democracies around the world. These phenomena challenge the enduring popular characterization of new media as a vessel for democratic participation and a force for evoking this new critical consciousness in the polity. This paper confronts the framework presented by optimistic analysts and explores how the heuristics that it relies on for measuring the relationship between new media and democracy are blind to an important aspect of freedom. Instead, a civic humanist ideal of good citizenship is presented, tested in comparison of a forum-based textual internet culture and a visual-based meme culture, and demonstrated to better account for the intervening factors that support or prevent the emergence of democracy-strengthening cultural sensibilities in the context of new media.
It's (Not) Ours To Reason Why: A Comparative Analysis of Algorithms for the Division of Fractions
Keywords: mathematics education
division of fractions
fractions
division
efficiency
honors thesis
Stanford Graduate School of Education
comparative analysis
mathematics
Thesis

This research project takes a deep look at how division of fractions problems, known as some of the most complex to teach and learn in school mathematics, can be approached. It takes a look at the two main algorithms for division of fractions present in the literature and compares them in order to consider each algorithm's benefits and drawbacks in answering the following question: How do the common-denominator and invert-and-multiply algorithms for the division of fractions compare in terms of their algorithmic efficiency, curricular fit, and mathematical integrity? Through an analysis of efficiency based on the upper bound of the number of single-digit basic operations required to solve a division of fractions problem with each algorithm, and of the meaning and coherence based on multiple representations of the two algorithms and their grounding in the mathematics methodized by the Common Core State Standards, I found that the flip-and-multiply algorithm is more efficient because requires fewer single digit basic operation to produce an answer, but the common-denominator algorithm is more closely tied to the instructional content that typically precedes it in teaching fractions. However, this analysis also established the extent to which both algorithms have the potential to be taught with a strong grounding on mathematical ideas rather than just for the ability to give a numerical answer, which is arguably more important for learning mathematics than algorithmic efficiency.