VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
From heart to word : self, other, and oneness explored by three medieval Japanese poets of the Kyōgoku school of poetry
Keywords: East Asian Languages and Cultures.

This dissertation looks to the Kyogoku school of poetry, a select group of Jimyo-in imperials and their followers who were active during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and considers how three of its poets—Kyogoku Tamekane (1254-1332), Hanazono (1297-1348), and Kogon (1313-1364)—interpreted the poetic process of translating heart (kokoro) to word (kotoba). This process was monumentally defined by the court poets Ki no Tsurayuki and Ki no Yoshimochi in the Kokin wakashu prefaces (c. 905), which metaphorized poetry as leaves of words that have sprouted from seeds of heart, and as flowers rooted in heart that have bloomed in a grove of words. Centuries later, Tamekane, Hanazono, and Kogon recast these original literary metaphors into a religiously- and philosophically-inspired poetics that rethinks the process of translating heart (kokoro) to word (kotoba). Using poetry composition as a meditative practice informed by medieval Buddhist thought, they reshaped the assumption that a poet is always a "self" and that the poetic subject is always an "other, " and produced a new style of poetic expression that is born from the poet actualizing a state of "oneness" with the poetic subject. Each chapter respectively explores Tamekane's, Hanazono's, and Kogon's ideas on kokoro and kotoba as revealed by their poetry and writings. I argue that composing poetry was for them an experiential means of reforming their preconceptions of the self and external world. For Tamekane, it was a conceptual exercise toward questioning and transcending the boundaries of poet as "self" and poetic subject as "other, " aspiring for an experience of "oneness" that encourages the poet to reconsider what the purpose of poetic composition is. For Hanazono, it was a meditative tool for transcending conscious knowing, entering into the non-dual realm beyond the fathoming of heart/mind, and producing waka poetry that gestures toward this liminal experience. And for Kogon, it was a practice of reflecting upon and transcending the dualistic separations between himself and winter's heart. Their poetry and writings acknowledge the heart of "oneness" as ineffable. However, they also show that even while knowing that words are by their very nature incomplete, a poet can continue to strive to express their feelings and experiences with words from the heart
From Taxation to Expropriation: The Politics of Excessive Extraction in China
Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Taxation
Expropriation
Excessive Extraction
State-Business Relations
Chinese Politics
Thesis

Many countries excessively tax firms and farmers to the extent of ruining incentives. Studies on expropriation, however, focus on cross-national variation in the nationalization of land and foreign firms; as a result, we know little about how excessive extraction—a subtle but perhaps more prevalent form of expropriation—occurs. I study the case of China, where entrepreneurs frequently complain about the excessive extraction of taxes and non-tax fees by local governments. I examine how local party-state leaders’ stronger career incentives lead to increased and excessive extraction by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. I elaborate on the specific mechanisms linking local leaders’ career incentives to the extraction of taxes and that of non-tax fees, respectively. I show how excessive extraction has actually happened by analyzing qualitative materials such as newspapers and writings by finance journalists. Quantitatively, using a large firm-level dataset and firm fixed effects models, I find that the intensity of extraction from firms systematically varies with local officials’ career incentives. Prefectural governors who come to office with patronage ties to their superiors have strong career incentives and strategically increase the extraction of local taxes and fees during their early years in office. By linking taxation to expropriation, this paper sheds new light on how unchecked political power undermines property rights.
From the Shadows to the Front Page: State Use of Proxies for Cyber Operations
Keywords:  Center for International Security and Cooperation
Center for International Security and Cooperation
transit
planning
international cooperation
Thesis

The cyber threat environment is increasingly complex due to the proliferation of capabilities and diversity of threat actors. This thesis explores the growth of non-state entities executing cyber operations against foreign targets on behalf of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, and why these states elect to use them. These “cyber proxies” further obscure the environment and are utilized to conduct significant cyber-attacks, exploitations, and influence operations. Furthermore, they pose several risks to sponsoring states. Through the delegation of authority from centrally controlled government agents to non-state actors, the likelihood of information asymmetries and failures increases. I propose a framework containing four hypotheses: cyber proxies offer economic cost savings, enhanced plausible deniability benefits, greater access to skills and specializations, and finally those states that can credibly threaten cyber proxy misbehavior will be more likely to use them. Through analyzing a wide array of data sources including US government reports, statements, research from industry, think tank analyses, and notable journals, I find that the use of cyber proxies is widespread and converging among all these states. I ultimately conclude that economic costs and skills and specializations may motivate proxy use. However, the evidence does not suggest that these proxies provide enhanced plausible deniability benefits compared to government agents. Furthermore, these states all have larger degrees of internal versus external punitive power. It indicates that they may select cyber proxies within their territories to credibly threaten them for failures or mission creep, thus reducing risks. This work offers an overview of cyber capabilities within these four states and their use of cyber proxies, providing preliminary findings to suggest why they adopted cyber proxy strategies. During this period of global uncertainty, much of our everyday lives have been forced online. It is even more critical to protect our infrastructure from cyber threat actors and increase awareness of the source of intrusions within our networks. As data in this field improves, this thesis hopes to serve as a framework for future researchers to test, with more certainty, the causal links between these explanations and the use of cyber proxies within these four states.
Fugitive methane in the oil and gas industry : quantifying and characterizing methane emissions from residential natural gas appliances and abandoned wells
Keywords: Environmental Earth System Science.

Concentrations of methane—a potent and abundant greenhouse gas that has contributed one-quarter of the radiative forcing to date—has been increasing at alarming rates and continues to rise. In this presentation, I provide novel measurements of emissions from two less-studied sources of methane emissions from the natural gas industry: abandoned oil and gas wells in California and residential natural gas appliances. For abandoned wells, I sampled 121 wells and found small but detectable methane emissions from 34 of 97 plugged wells (mean emission: 0.286 g CH4 hr-1), 11 of 17 idle wells (mean: 35.4 g CH4 hr-1), 4 of 6 active wells (mean: 189.7 g CH4 hr-1), and one unplugged well (10.9 g CH4 hr-1) totaling 0.8% of anthropogenic methane emissions in the state. For natural gas appliances, I focus my samples on water heaters—distinguishing emissions between tankless and storage varieties—and cooking appliances. I sampled water heaters from 64 northern California homes to quantify methane emissions and characterize daily usage patterns. I found that individual tankless water heaters emit 2390 [95% CI: 2250, 2540] g CH4 yr-1 on average, 0.93% [0.87%, 0.99%] of their natural gas consumed, primarily from on/off pulses. Storage water heaters emitted 1400 [1240, 1560] g CH4 yr-1 on average, 0.39% [0.34%, 0.43%] of their natural gas consumption. Water heaters overall emit an estimated 82.3 [73.2, 91.5] Gg CH4 yr-1, 0.40% [0.35%, 0.44%] of all natural gas consumed by these appliances. I also measured methane emissions from 44 stoves and found that stoves emit 29.7 [28.3, 31.6] Gg CH4 yr-1, or 1.39% of the gas they use; about three-quarters of these emissions are during steady-state off. This amount is 9% of the current total reported by the USEPA from "stationary combustion"—emissions from appliances in residences. I also measured NOx from 32 stoves and found emissions between 15.8 and 232.6 mL NOx hr-1, depending on burner size. Normalized for burner output, emissions were 15.1 to 27.7 ng NOx Joule-1 (1.6 to 2.9 g NOx Therm-1). My work contributes critical research to the field as policies are implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades
Functional neuronal defects in a human 3D cerebral cortical model of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome
Keywords: Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a common genetic cause of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders, including psychosis and autism spectrum disorders. This highly penetrant syndrome provides a unique opportunity to identify specific neuronal phenotypes and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we generated induced pluripotent stem cells from a cohort of 15 subjects carrying the canonical deletion at the 22q11.2 locus and from 15 controls, and we differentiated these cells into three--dimensional organoids resembling the developing cerebral cortex. Transcriptional profiling across 100 days of in vitro developmental time showed high reliability of organoid differentiation and revealed changes in the expression of genes associated with neuronal excitability in 22q11DS. Using electrophysiological and live imaging methods, we identified defects in excitability and calcium signaling in organoid--derived cortical neurons, as well as in glutamatergic neurons differentiated in two--dimensional cultures. Interestingly, the calcium deficit was present over 5.5 months of maturation in vitro and was related to changes in the resting membrane potential that led to abnormal inactivation of voltage gated calcium channels. Importantly, heterozygous mutations in the 22q11.2 locus gene DGCR8 recapitulated the neuronal excitability and calcium phenotypes, and overexpression of this gene restored functional defects in cortical neurons. Moreover, the calcium abnormality in 22q11DS could also be acutely restored pharmacologically by application of several antipsychotic drugs. Taken together, our study reveals that a common chromosomal microdeletion disorder conferring a high risk for neuropsychiatric disease causes functional defects in developing human cortical neurons that may be related to loss of the DGCR8 gene
Fundamental approaches to scale blockchain
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency. It gave birth to the field of blockchain which provides decentralized trust platforms by leveraging cryptography, distributed systems, and networks. Blockchain is touted as one of the biggest innovations in money and finance since the advent of central banking. In the last decade, this field has grown exponentially, facilitating global transactions worth trillions of dollars. This phenomenon has jump-started the application of and spurred new research in consensus protocols, payments networks, and programmable money, among many others. However, this ingenious technology, Bitcoin, can support a throughput of only 5-8 transactions per second (tps), with confirmation latency in hours due to its protocol limitations. On top of its sluggish performance, it consumes the energy equivalent of a mid-sized country like Austria. In order to take this technology mainstream we need to design and develop new protocols that are scalable, energy-efficient, secure, and lightning-fast, all at the same time. This thesis is an attempt towards achieving this goal by taking a first principle approach to design new scalable protocols. We first design Prism, a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus protocol that can simultaneously support high throughput and low confirmation latency. It achieves throughput equal to the network capacity which is optimal and obtains a confirmation latency in the order of the network delay which is near-optimal. We then implement a full-stack system for Prism in Rust that achieves a throughput of 70,000 tps with confirmation latency < 40 seconds. PoW protocols use energy to maintain their security and hence end up consuming tons of energy! Proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols are purported to solve this issue by using the internal currency instead of energy to maintain security. We design a PoS protocol to mimic the functionality and security of bitcoin's PoW protocol. Compared to the existing PoS protocols, we achieve better security against bribing and prediction attacks. The rigorously prove the security properties of this protocol and Prism, and we believe these techniques can be used to prove the security of other protocols. We continue on the path of making blockchains scalable by designing Boomerang, a protocol on top of the Lightning Network which mitigates their straggler problem by adding redundancy in payments which results in 2x improvement in both throughput and latency
Gait modifications for knee osteoarthritis : design, evaluation, and clinical translation
Keywords: Mechanical Engineering.

In individuals with knee osteoarthritis, the large forces transmitted through the tibiofemoral joint during walking are related to pain and disease progression. Gait retraining is a promising non-surgical treatment for knee osteoarthritis that aims to reduce knee loading by modifying an individual's walking pattern. This dissertation describes two gait modifications that reduce knee loading during walking: one by altering kinematics and another by altering muscle coordination. First, we demonstrated that training individuals with knee osteoarthritis to walk with a personalized foot progression angle modification improves pain and reduces knee loading more than a sham gait retraining control. However, the efficacy of this intervention hinges on our ability to prescribe personalized modifications that reduce each individual's knee loading. This process requires an expensive gait analysis laboratory that is not available in a clinical setting. To solve this problem, we developed an algorithm that, together with human pose estimation tools, will facilitate the measurement of knee loading using a smartphone camera. Finally, we used musculoskeletal simulations to design a biofeedback tool that teaches individuals to change their muscle coordination pattern in a way that reduces knee loading. These results suggest that muscle coordination retraining may be a promising new treatment for knee osteoarthritis. More generally, using simulations to design biofeedback devices that teach individuals to adopt more favorable movement patterns has applications in rehabilitation, injury prevention, and sports performance
GameStop: How Technology and Social Media Form Modern Market Dynamics
Keywords: GameStop
Science Technology and Society
Stanford University
finance
financial markets
markets
Robinhood
mobile trading platforms
high frequency trading
algorithmic trading
retail traders
Thesis

How does digitization affect the social and technical components of financial markets? This research shows that automation reconfigures the social nature of financial markets, but it does not eliminate the prevalent political and hierarchical structure that exists. Through analysis of previous technologies and their incorporation into the trading process, this thesis displays how the interaction of social and technical attributes has formed the identity of American financial markets since their inception, and it continues to do so today. It argues that the modern technologies of high-frequency trading algorithms and mobile trading platforms provide an opportunity for equal access, but the way that they are currently being used is reinforcing a social hierarchy in the markets. This argument is formed based on the results of a case study on a market event involving GameStop and Robinhood, as well as a historical analysis of the phases of digitization in American financial markets. This research indicates that technology and electronification of the trading process is not enough to dissolve the inequities present in the markets today. This discovery leads to the conclusion that it is necessary for the government to take regulatory action to improve price transparency and protect the interests of retail investors.
GENDER STEREOTYPES AND VOICE AI: AN APPLICATION TO PERCEPTIONS OF DIGITAL VOICE ASSISTANTS
Keywords: gender stereotypes
voice AI
anthropomorphism
Thesis

This thesis seeks to provide clarity around how gender impacts human perceptions of
VAs. The thesis consists of two parts: a scholarly literature review and an in-lab empirical study.
In the literature review, I review relevant work to show the importance of anthropomorphism in
HCI research and the specific importance of gender as a determinant for how humans interact
with and perceive digital technologies. In the second part, I present the results of an in-lab
empirical study that I conducted to understand whether interacting with gendered VAs has an
effect on attitudes towards VAs, focusing on warmth and competence, perceptions of
anthropomorphism, and mood.
Gendered racial boundary maintenance : social penalties for White women in interracial relationships
Keywords: Business.

Throughout American history, formal laws and social norms have discouraged interracial romantic relationships. Interracial relationships blur the boundaries between racial groups, challenging the essentialized racial categories that define Whiteness as an exclusive, high-status identity. Despite the importance of racial homogamy to White identity and status, we argue that gender roles make violating norms against intimate intergroup contact more costly for women than men, leading to Whites' greater resistance to interracial relationships involving White women. In a representative American sample using a natural quasi-experiment, as well as three follow-up lab experiments, we find that White women face differential social penalties for intimate intergroup contact-- being perceived as gender deviant and low status within the group. This research demonstrates the existence of a gendered double standard for intimate intergroup contact among Whites, revealing that gender norms play a critical role in the maintenance of American racial boundaries
Gendering digital infrastructure and peripheral urban formation in Tunis, Tunisia
Keywords: Anthropology.

A few years after Tunisia's revolutionary uprising of 2010-2011, the internet materialized as a household necessity in low-income areas of Tunis, the capital. This dissertation documents the proliferation of digital infrastructure in the most populous, low-income area of Tunis by foregrounding its social character and role in the growth of peripheral urban landscapes. The dissertation thus departs from ethnographic studies of experts who build the web and software architectures that structure computing and internet functionality. The approach to "digital infrastructure" advanced here stems from two guiding motifs operating as methodological principles: firstly, that it has to be discovered what "digital infrastructure" comprises in a given place; secondly, that researchers should investigate the techne (artful technique) of how people use the internet in order to undermine the internet's cerebral association with air and clouds as opposed to the making and doing that personal computers were designed for and for which they are actually used. Through a comparison of the inner and outer periphery of this area in terms of internet use and urban experience, the study demonstrates that relationships are central to the status of emplaced digital infrastructure, where online chatting represents the bulk of how residents used the internet. Relationships were also central to lending and borrowing that underpins the slow growth of neighborhoods over time. A focus on the relationships of a group of women participants serves to counter the area's overdetermined association with law-breaking young men. At the same time, the study highlights that gender relations change as women move through urban landscapes, where their experiences of crime and masculinity serve as indices of urban growth and development. Based on 15 months of ethnographic research and a quantitative survey in Hay Ettadhamon (Solidarity District), the study further shows how women employ techne online and in their relationships in ways that serve the place-making of neighborhoods
Gene regulation and the physical genome
Keywords: Bioengineering.

Interpreting genetic or genomic data requires an understanding of DNA as a tangible, dynamic object with particular physical properties. In most eukaryotes, DNA is packaged in the nucleus as chromatin, with proteins called nucleosomes that determine the accessibility of the genome to biochemical activity. In this work, I chart chromatin accessibility and gene expression in a three-dimensional induced stem cell-derived organoid model of human cortical development, nominating specific molecular factors that may drive differentiation and maturation of glial, excitatory neuronal, and inhibitory cell lineages. I identify putative enhancers that may regulate corticogenesis and developmental states that harbor increased vulnerability to genetic perturbations associated with neurodevelopmental disease. Separately, I studied the three-dimensional organization of a unique eukaryotic organism that does not package DNA with nucleosomes, the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium minutum. I found that the domain-scale architecture of its chromosomes was completely dependent on ongoing active transcription, highlighting a fundamental connection between gene expression and genome organization