VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Women of Agency: the Penned Thoughts of Bengali Muslim Women Writers of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century
Keywords: Bengali Muslim women writers
women authors
women activists
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
Shamsunnahar Mahmud
Sufla Kamal
Mahmuda Khatun Siddiqua
postcolonial literature and theory
South Asia
Bengal
education for women
Stanford University Program in Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies
Thesis

Abstract from thesis introduction.
"The following thesis will trace the important voices of Bengali Muslim Women Writers. Following an extensive background that describes the world in which these women were situated, provided in Chapter 2, the world views of three Bengali Muslim authors will be analyzed through an analysis of their literary works. The analysis of the life and works of Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein, the beacon for the Awakening of Bengali Muslim Women, (Chapter 3) will be followed by chapters on the life and work of Shamsunnahar Mahmud and Sufia Kamal (Chapter 4), proteges of Rokeya, Chapter 5 will trace the lives of Fazilatunnesa and Mahmuda Khatun Siddiqua Bengali Muslim women writers and reformers whose personal lives showed that writing and agency were not necessarily correlated with religious belief. Issues of education and social work, religion, and political representation will be the themes that guide the analysis of the works of each of these women writers, highlighting the importance of such topics in the lives of Bengali Muslim women of the late 19th and early 20th century. The analysis of the lives and works of these Bengali Muslim women writers will also demonstrate how these Bengali Muslim women reclaimed their identity and reemphasized their agency."
An X-ray CT study of multidimensional imbibition in dual porosity carbonates [electronic resource]
Keywords: Energy Resources Engineering.

Recovering oil from fractured systems is very challenging. Implementing a waterflood recovers oil in the fractures but not much of the oil in the matrix. To mitigate low recovery, one option is to increase the viscosity of the injected water using polymers or foam. This work investigates another option that involves injecting surfactant solutions. Surfactants reduce interfacial tension (IFT) and consequently capillary forces that are responsible for trapping oil within the matrix. Our claim is that if capillary forces are low enough, gravity lifts the oil by buoyancy towards the fracture network then to the producers. To investigate this claim, core-flood experiments are conducted vertically to account for gravity forces. A horizontal experiment, however, is initially performed to allow for evaluating the improvement of oil recovery when the experiments are conducted vertically. All experiments are monitored by X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning to quantify fluid saturations and monitor front movements. There are two phases for each experiment: a saturation phase and an imbibition phase. In the saturation phase, the core is confined by a core sleeve and initial oil and water saturations are obtained. The confining pressure is released, in the imbibition phase, allowing for a fracture-like space between the core and the sleeve. Injected fluids now selectively channel through the fractures towards the outlet and oil recovery from the matrix becomes mainly governed by spontaneous imbibition. Both phases need to be performed in one core holder to minimize positioning errors while X-ray CT scanning. Therefore, a novel core holder was designed and fabricated that allows for saturating the core and then conducting the imbibition experiment. Two types of carbonate cores were used: Texas cream from an outcrop and oil field cores. For the oil phase, decane was initially used for to focus the study on fluid-fluid interactions and crude oil was later used for other experiments to account for fluid-fluid interactions and rock-fluid interactions. Experiments show that gravity has the potential to improve oil recovery when IFT is reduced. Even for small reduction of IFT, recovery factor (RF) increased by more than 4% of original oil in place (OOIP) when the experiments were conducted vertically. Moreover, the surfactant flood mode was found to impact the ultimate RF. The ultimate recovery factor (URF) for a secondary surfactant flood was greater by about 7% of OOIP than a tertiary surfactant flood.
Activation of the calcium release-activated calcium channel by STIM1 [electronic resource]
Keywords: Molecular and Cellular Physiology.

In excitable and non-excitable cells store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) is a ubiquitous cellular mechanism that is critical for numerous processes such as gene expression, exocytosis, and metabolism. SOC channels are activated when stimulation of cell surface receptors initiates a signaling cascade leading to Ca2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). ER Ca2+ release triggers activation of SOC channels in the plasma membrane (PM), the best characterized of which is the Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel. An ER embedded protein, STIM1, acts as the ER Ca2+ sensor, and a tetramer of Orai1 subunits forms the pore of the active CRAC channel. After store depletion, STIM1 and Orai1 redistribute to sites of close apposition between the ER and the PM known as ER-PM junctions where they interact to produce Ca2+ entry. However, the fundamental question of how they interact to elicit Ca2+ entry was unknown. In our first line of inquiry, we show that the C-terminal polybasic domain of STIM1 targets STIM1 to ER-PM junctions independently of Orai1, that a cytosolic region of STIM1--CRAC activation domain (CAD)--binds directly to Orai1, that CAD is necessary and sufficient to cluster and activate CRAC channels, and that clustering and activation are functionally separable events. These results support a two-part diffusion trap mechanism for SOCE. After store depletion, STIM1 forms puncta independently of Orai1 underneath the PM where CAD is positioned to trap diffusing CRAC channels in the PM and induce a conformational change to activate channels. In the second line of inquiry we address the stoichiometric requirements for CRAC channel trapping and activation at ER-PM junctions. For this we developed a novel technique in single cells to control and measure the STIM1-Orai1 stoichiometry at ER-PM junctions while simultaneously recording channel activity. We find that binding of 1-2 STIM1s is sufficient to immobilize the tetrameric CRAC channel at ER-PM junctions but this fails to evoke significant activation, while binding of 8 STIM1s causes maximal CRAC channel activity. We also find that the extent of fast Ca2+-dependent inactivation parallels STIM1-CRAC channel stoichiometry. The data are well described by a modified Monod-Wyman-Changeux model where STIM1 binds to Orai1 with negative cooperativity and channels open with positive cooperativity due to stabilization of the open state by STIM1. These results suggest a highly nonlinear dependence of CRAC channel activation on STIM:Orai stoichiometry.
Active messages for speed, scalability, and efficiency [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

Integrating active messages onto many-core chip multiprocessors (CMPs) increases the speed, efficiency, and scalability of parallel programs. In traditional shared-memory CMPs, communication is handled implicitly and inefficiently by the hardware cache coherency protocol. Active messages, those that trigger remote atomic execution of custom handlers, give the programmer explicit control of communication and computation location. This dissertation describes the implementation, enumerates five usage idioms, and quantifies the benefits of on-chip active messages. Full programs run 63% faster, have 2.2x less network traffic, and consume 11% less energy on a 256 core CMP when using active messages.
Adaptive design of clinical trials with interim selection of treatment arms [electronic resource]
Keywords: Statistics

When developing new drugs, Phase I and II trials are commonly conducted to determine the dose of the new treatment in preparation for the subsequent confirmatory Phase III trial. However, because these early-phase trials usually do not have large enough sample sizes to decide which dosage level or treatment regimen is the best, several of them may arise as candidates for the confirmatory Phase III trial. Conventional fixed sample size designs that carry out all the treatment arms of interest are obviously expensive. Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly interested in adaptive designs that can use information acquired during the course of the trial to update certain of the design features. In this thesis we explore several existing designs and discuss their pros and cons. We then propose one that shares the flexibility of Bayesian adaptive designs, while still being able to maintain the frequentist type I error probability. We develop an asymptotic theory for efficient outcome-adaptive randomization schemes and optimal stopping rules. Our approach consists of developing asymptotic lower bounds for the expected sample sizes from the treatment arms and the control arm, and using generalized sequential likelihood ratio procedures to achieve these bounds. These allow us to allocate patients and study resources efficiently by using outcome-adaptive randomization schemes, or by arm suspension/selection if fixed randomization is used. We also derive an adaptive test with a p-value that can be evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation based on an ordering scheme of the sample space. We then show that the approach can also be applied to the closely related problem of multi-stage testing of multiple hypotheses.
Advanced batteries [electronic resource] : material development and device fabrication
Keywords: Materials Science and Engineering

Rechargeable batteries are vital in solving imminent energy and environmental issues. Advanced batteries with superior performance and new functionality are desired for applications including novel electronics, electric vehicles, and smart grids. In this thesis, our work on designing novel materials, structures and devices for advanced batteries are presented. In the first part, progresses on high energy lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries are presented and discussed. The Li-S battery has a specific energy three to five times that of state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. However, the battery has a poor cycle life due to limitations in the sulfur cathode. To improve the performance of Li-S battery, several nanostructured sulfur cathode have been proposed and realized, including hollow carbon nanofiber-encapsulated sulfur and conductive polymer-wrapped mesoporous carbon/sulfur composite. Discharge capacity of 900 mAh/g and cycle retention of 85% per 100 cycles have been achieved. Moreover, the reaction mechanism of Li-S battery is studied by in-situ X-ray diffraction and imaging. It has been found that results based on in-situ techniques are quite different from previous ex-situ results and common opinions. These results illustrate the importance of in-situ studies and can help guide future designs of Li-S batteries. In the second part, our results on Li2S are presented. Li2S can avoid the safety issue of metallic lithium anode in Li-S batteries. Furthermore, Li2S has capacity one order of magnitude higher than current oxide/phosphate cathodes of Li-ion batteries, and thus leads to rechargeable batteries with specific energy four to six times that of commercial Li-ion batteries. However, Li2S is both electronic and ionically insulating. By using either nanostructures or charging to high potential in the initial cycle, we demonstrate two approaches to activate Li2S to be electrochemically active. Discharge capacity over 800 mAh/g has been achieved and capacity retention as high as 75% per 100 cycles are demonstrated with a discharge capacity of ~550 mAh/g. In the last part, our work on transparent Li-ion batteries is presented as a progress at the device level. Transparent devices are one of the future trends for electronics. As a critical component in electronics, the battery is not transparent yet as both electrode materials and metallic substrate are opaque. We fabricate a grid-like electrode by microfluidics-assisted method to solve this issue. As lines in the grid are smaller than eye's resolution and the gap among lines is filled with transparent PDMS, the whole electrode appears transparent. Batteries with transparency of 60% and energy density of 10 Wh/L have been demonstrated. The energy density could reach 100 Wh/L by optimization. Moreover, the grid-structured electrodes in the transparent battery are stackable without sacrificing the transparency. Future work includes scaling up and further optimization of full cell operations for commercial products.
Agency in its many guises [electronic resource]
Keywords: Philosophy

This dissertation defends a contextualist approach to the problem of human agency. Its central thesis is that human behaviors are conferred agential status in the context of specific social practices, and, consequently, that the standards in virtue of which agency ascriptions are made exhibit practice-dependent variation. Qua status conferrals, agency ascriptions take the form of tacit or explicit modalities of interpersonal regard that sanction agents' behavioral interventions as adequate to sustain a specific shared practice. As such, I contend, substantive conceptions of value that animate these forms of interpersonal recognition become inextricably linked to our understandings of agency. In developing this view I am arguing against what is nowadays the mainstream approach in the field of action theory. This approach assumes that the nature of agency can be illumined by specifying forms of psychological structuring that ensure human agents' active participation in their thought and behavior. I argue that the theories deploying this approach are wrongheaded insofar they attempt to account for human agency by extricating the putatively relevant psychological capacities constitutive of it from the values-imbued human ways of life that make possible their individuation.
Aircraft design with active load alleviation and natural laminar flow [electronic resource]
Keywords: Aeronautics and Astronautics

In this thesis we incorporate maneuver load alleviation (MLA), gust load alleviation (GLA), and natural laminar flow (NLF) into aircraft conceptual design. Existing conceptual design frameworks tend to reduce the impact of these technologies to empirical weight and drag corrections. The present work use physics-based methods to capture the dynamic interplay among natural laminar flow, load alleviation and structure design. The results demonstrate that the simultaneous application of MLA and GLA can tilt the balance of the transonic Mach-sweep-thickness trade in favor of a high aspect ratio, low-sweep natural laminar flow wings. A minimum cost turbulent aircraft designed concurrently with MLA and GLA control systems can a achieve a significant 10% reduction in fuel burn and 3.4% reduction in cost relative to a baseline design without load control. The fuel and cost savings grow to 15% and 5% respectively when we introduce natural laminar flow into the design process. Sensitivity studies confirm that the control and actuator requirements of effective active load alleviation are consistent with the performance parameters of modern aircraft. Comparisons with idealized high-sweep NLF wing further suggest that the combination of active load control and low-sweep NLF wing is a potential alternative to more sophisticated 3-D NLF wing design or complex active laminar flow control (LFC) systems. The aeroservoelastic conceptual design framework developed in this thesis can serve as a platform for assessing future aircraft configurations and operational paradigms aimed at reducing aircraft fuel consumption and environmental impact.
Aligning complex, adaptive systems theory and data-limited assessment strategies for improved fisheries management [electronic resource]
Keywords: Environment and Resources.

By combining SCUBA fieldwork in southern Monterey Bay kelp forests with statistical modeling, this thesis addresses how to successfully implement, monitor, and assess the efficacy of ecosystem-based management* approaches, specifically applied to the California nearshore and U.S. West Coast fisheries. It explores the interaction between marine populations, with an emphasis on fish and fisheries management, and their broader environmental context -- including the social-ecological and management context -- with an aim to develop new tools for scientific understanding and improved management of these populations. Results include the characterization of how fish respond to coastal hydrodynamics on a local scale (e.g., ocean swell, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen) with insight into how to use this knowledge to inform future sampling in California's marine reserves, including adaptive sampling designs that incorporate effects of local hydrodynamic regimes. I then integrate local-scale SCUBA data on fish populations, collected on the scale of a single marine reserve, into fisheries models. In collaboration with NOAA Fisheries scientists, I propose a new analytical method that provides reference points to inform management. We call this method "reserve-based SPR." It is a practical, easy-to-implement, information-limited method (i.e., "data-poor method"). This work brings together conservation-based tools, specifically marine reserves, with fisheries management approaches. Data-poor methods like reserve-based SPR, although subject to many caveats, can often provide scientific guidance to reduce biological and management risks. To organize data-poor fisheries methods into one coherent landscape with case-study examples for managers to use as guidelines, I offer a new framework. This data-poor framework is designed to help managers and stakeholders consider and choose appropriate analytical methods for their specific context. No data-poor method is perfect but many produce "good enough" sustainable yield estimates or ecosystem indicators with bias that is risk-averse and precautionary for population sustainability. Collectively, this thesis is united in its theme of understanding uncertainty and complex, adaptive systems for applied science and management purposes. *NOAA Fisheries (2006) definition of "ecosystem-based management": An approach that takes major ecosystem components and services -- both structural and functional -- into account in managing fisheries. It values habitat, embraces a multispecies perspective, and is committed to understanding ecosystem processes. Its goal is to rebuild and sustain populations, species, biological communities, and marine ecosystems at high levels of productivity and biological diversity so as not to jeopardize a wide range of goods and services from marine ecosystems while providing food, revenue, and recreation for humans.
All-epitaxial orientation-patterned III-V semiconductors for nonlinear optics [electronic resource]
Keywords: Materials Science and Engineering

Applications such as airborne countermeasures, chemical spectroscopy, and imaging require high-power, compact, and tunable light sources in the infrared (IR) and terahertz (THz) spectral ranges. While laser sources exist at certain frequencies in this range, they are bulky and require low temperature operation. An alternative solution is to generate the desired IR and THz frequencies through nonlinear optical frequency conversion in orientation-patterned III-V semiconductors using readily available, and room temperature operating high-power semiconductor lasers in the near-IR. Orientation-patterning is an all-epitaxial technique in which we fabricate quasi-phasematched semiconductor structures by the following steps: growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), lithography, etching, and regrowth by MBE. Previous work on orientation-patterned GaAs has led to the demonstration of a variety of nonlinear optical devices; however, there is a push to develop orientation-patterned GaP (OP-GaP) to overcome inherent material limitations GaAs. This thesis work has been focused on the development of OP-GaP, including MBE growth and characterization of GaP films on Si and processing of OP-GaP structures. Improvements in material quality have been made through the course of studying the nucleation and growth conditions of GaP on Si to control the formation and annihilation of antiphase domain defects. Understanding the growth of GaP on Si has not only enabled the development of OP-GaP as a platform for nonlinear optical devices, but also enabled the initial investigation of III-V epitaxial mirrors on Si substrates for high performance optical coatings.
An Analysis of a Chinese Renminbi Appreciation Through the Lens of the Plaza Accord and the Japanese Yen
Keywords:  Department of Economics
Stanford Department of Economics
Thesis

China’s currency policy has been one of the most hotly debated subjects in the United
States (U.S.) over the past decade. U.S. citizens commonly believe that the peg of the renminbi (RMB) to the U.S. dollar (USD) causes Chinese employment and exports to boom at the expense of the U.S. export industry and its workers. China today faces criticisms similar to those faced by Japan thirty years ago, when the yen (JPY) widely was considered undervalued against the USD. Our analysis will use a handful of models and empirical evidence from the Japanese experience with the Plaza Accord to discuss the dangers posed by the appreciation of a creditor country’s currency. We will examine key ways in which the past Japanese economy was similar and dissimilar to the more recent Chinese economy to determine which of our findings related to the Plaza Accord are applicable to China’s case. We will end with a study of the international USD standard, and will propose policy solutions to the global imbalances discussed in earlier sections.