VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Topics in Electricity Market Design

The evolution of policy objectives and emergence of new technologies continually challenge the existing wholesale electricity market design. In the framework of standard market design based on locational marginal pricing (LMP) and two-settlement electricity markets, this dissertation investigates two topics for existing and future power systems -- Convergence Bidding (CB) and distribution locational marginal pricing (DLMP). The central theme that connects these two topics is market design -- determining how to create proper incentives to compensate market participants that ensures efficiency and reliability of the power grid./nWe first empirically test whether the California Independent System Operator's (CAISO) existing two-settlement electricity markets are efficient, and if not, to what extent CB improves market efficiency. We examine the theoretical and empirical tools intended for other financial markets to help us understand the efficacy of CB in the forward and spot electricity markets. In the light of the efficient market hypothesis, Jensen uses the zero-profit competitive equilibrium to describe the condition for market efficiency. This definition of market efficiency directly converts the test of market efficiency into the assessment of return behavior. Following this methodology, we empirically test for market efficiency by evaluating the performance of trading strategies based on market data in the CAISO electric power markets. Our backtest results show that profitable trading opportunities continue to exist in the post-CB period, but the profitability decreases substantially. The decrease in profitability in the post-CB period indicates the improvement of market efficiency, and demonstrates the benefit of CB. The profitability in the post-CB period, however, conveys empirical implications that can be interpreted differently, depending on the level of competition and the level of risk aversion of virtual traders./nWe further examine the use of DLMP to improve system efficiency in future power systems. DLMP is a modified form of LMP to alleviate congestion induced by electric vehicle (EV) loads on the distribution network. The distribution system operator (DSO) determines distribution locational marginal prices (DLMPs) by solving the social welfare optimization for both the conventional household demand and the EV demand with marginal costs exogenously set to LMPs. We show mathematically that the socially optimal charging schedule can be implemented through a decentralized mechanism where retailers and EV aggregators respond autonomously to the posted DLMPs by maximizing their individual net surplus in the perfectly competitive local DSO market. We further investigate the problem of designing pricing mechanism when LMPs are uncertain. A robust DLMP method is developed for EV charging management under price uncertainty. The efficacy of the proposed use of DLMP is demonstrated by means of case studies using the Bus 4 distribution system of the Roy Billinton Test System (RBTS) and the Danish driving data.

Advisor: Oren, Shmuel S
Large-Scale Neuronal Network Changes Underlying Neuroprosthetic Learning

Research on brain-machine interface (BMI) systems has flourished in recent years, with motor BMIs showing great promise as a therapeutic option for patients suffering from limb loss or immobility. In addition to this direct clinical application, BMI tasks also serve as a powerful research tool, in that they enable the researcher to directly define which cells are relevant for behavioral output and the ways in which activity in these cells affects the external world. Neuroprosthetic tasks also serve as a completely novel motor-like learning paradigm for subjects, as they invoke the motor system but do not involve natural body movements or muscle activity. Intriguingly, a large body of work has nevertheless suggested striking similarities between natural motor learning and neuroprosthetic learning, implying that the two forms of learning may share common neural mechanisms./nWe developed a novel rodent paradigm to study neuroprosthetic learning in which rodents controlled a one-dimensional auditory cursor by modulating activity in primary motor cortex (M1) in order to hit one of two targets. We first use this paradigm to explore corticostriatal representations of neuroprosthetic skills, the ways in which these representations change over the course of learning, and the necessity of plasticity in the corticostriatal network for abstract learning. We then investigate fine-scale temporal coordination between M1 and the dorsal striatum over the course of neuroprosthetic learning, demonstrating the development of coherent interactions between M1 spikes and the striatal local field potential with high temporal precision. Importantly, we found these interactions to be specifically present in output-relevant neurons, despite close proximity to other neuronal populations. Finally, we modified this behavioral paradigm for use in conjunction with two-photon calcium imaging in head-fixed mice to examine the fine-scale spatial characteristics of network adaptations during neuroprosthetic learning. We demonstrate the development of coordinated network activity and the sparsening of task-relevant modulations over the course of learning. This novel imaging-based BMI paradigm also allows for a number of new techniques to now be applied to research on neuroprosthetic learning. Together, these data suggest striking similarities between BMI and natural motor learning, demonstrating an important computational role for corticostriatal plasticity, neuronal coherence, and sparsening of cortical representations over the course of neuroprosthetic learning.

Advisor: Carmena, Jose M
Insights into Cellular Stress Revealed by SIRT7

Aging was once thought to be an inexorable process, driven by wear and tear that steadily accumulates in cells. However, we have now come to the realization that aging is subject to modulation by genetic pathways, including the insulin/IGF-1 pathway, the mTOR pathway, and sirtuins. A commonality among these pathways is that they exert their pro-longevity and pro-health effects through responding to stressors, such as diet, oxidative stress, or protein-folding stress, and initiating a self-protective program in the cell. Sirtuins have been shown to play a major role in the cellular response to calorie restriction and oxidative stress. However, their role in protein homeostasis and in particular, the response to stress from unfolded proteins has not been well-characterized. We explored this topic by studying the role of SIRT7, a nuclear member of the mammalian sirtuin family, in responding to protein-folding stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and in mitochondria. We found that SIRT7 plays a pivotal role in the response to ER stress and mitochondrial stress by inhibiting the transcription of ribosomal subunits and mitochondrial ribosomal subunits, which results in a reduction in translation, allowing more time for proper protein folding. We found that SIRT7 mediates its effects by binding to the transcription factors Myc and NRF-1, which are master regulators of ribosomal subunits and mitochondrial biogenesis respectively. Our study suggests that the stress response mediated by SIRT7 at the cellular level may have important implications for obesity-associated diseases and hematopoietic stem cell function.

Advisor: Chen, Danica
Robey, Ellen
Feeling Absence: Horror in Cinema from Post War to Post-Wall

Since the early 1990s the twin leitmotifs of the European art house, and French cinema in particular, have been images of intense graphic violence and explicit sexuality. Scholars and critics generally refer to this phenomenon as a tendency toward "New Extremism" in cinema. In this dissertation, I demonstrate that the violence and sexuality in these films is neither "new" nor "extreme," but extends and expands upon the themes and elements of the modern American horror film. Historical context is largely missing from existing scholarship on these films and their representations of violence, and this project addresses this gap by drawing the violence characterizing post-Wall European art cinema and the violence of the modern American horror film into taut relation./nThe definitions of horror have been confused with definitions of related negative affects and emotions, particularly terror. Making a distinction between horror and terror best illustrates these differences by aligning the formal devices and narrative strategies of the American horror film with terror, and representations of violence in post-Wall European art cinema with horror. The point of this distinction is that horror in the popular imagination does not align with the concept and feeling of horror proper as it has been written about and understood in continental philosophy and critical theory (where horror is a foundational concept). I show how terror is an external phenomenon bound up with space, spectacle, and the proximity of a threat, while on the other hand, horror is an internal, metaphysical phenomenon linked to time, absence, and memory. Arguing for these distinctions between horror and terror in cinema also has significant ramifications for the history of the horror genre and how it has been received as both a critical object and as a popular text, for not only are we compelled to reevaluate what we mean when we say we are watching horror, but the feelings these works inspire in audiences and the critical frameworks that are relied upon to conceptualize such feelings must also be reconsidered. In this dissertation, I argue that continental philosophy informs a new approach to the violence in post-Wall European art cinema and our general understanding of horror while further clarifying on what grounds horror and terror are separable in cinema.

Advisor: Williams, Linda
Rabbis on the Road: Exposition En Route in Classical Rabbinic Texts

Throughout classical rabbinic texts, we find accounts of sages expounding Scripture or law, while "walking on the road." We may well wonder why we find these sages in transit, rather than in the usual sites of Torah study, such as the bet midrash (study house) or ʿaliyah (upper story of a home). Indeed, in this corpus of texts, sages normally sit to study; the two acts are so closely associated, that the very word "sitting" is synonymous with a study session or academy. Moreover, throughout the corpus, "the road" is marked as the site of danger, disruption and death. Why then do these texts tell stories of sages expounding en route?/nIn seeking out the rabbinic road, I find that, against these texts' pervasive notion of travel danger runs another, competing motif: the road as the proper - even necessary - site of Torah study. Tracing the genealogy of the road exposition (or "road derasha"), I find it rooted in traditional Wisdom texts, which have been adapted to form a new, "literal" metaphor. The motif of sages expounding en route actualizes the Proverbial "Way of Wisdom" making it a real road upon which sages tread. That way is paved by a (literalized) reading of the Shema's command, "speak [these words] as you walk on the road..."/nIn the first part of my study, I consider the motif's setting, asking what rabbinic texts tell us about this site. I find that danger is the keynote of discourse about the road; indeed the multitude of dangers and risks indicate that this is a far from suitable place for Torah study. Rabbinic discourse about the road seems to preclude discourse while on the road. The second part of my work focuses on teachings that (in spite of this pervasive sense of road danger) actually adjure travelers to study en route, declaring that Torah study protects travelers on the way. Not only do these teachings seem to justify the accounts of road exposition, but they also point the way to the roots of the motif; by closely reading each teaching and its links to the larger corpus, I mark the way to the Wisdom tradition in which the motif is grounded, and which it transforms. Finally, in the last part of my study, I consider a text containing many road derashot - and of which the main theme is the journey. This text, which concerns esoteric wisdom, complicates our motif, for here (instead of guiding and protecting us on the way), Wisdom is considered a dangerous path, from which we are warned away. And yet, even against warning and prohibition, it seems that the imperative to "speak [these words] on the way" is still in force. For here too, we find sages expounding on the way - accounts that are emblematic of the text's larger discursive journey towards this dangerous wisdom.

Advisor: Boyarin, Daniel
Elementary Kinetics of Soot Oxidation by OH

The goal of this dissertation is to elucidate detailed pathways, products, and rates leading to soot oxidation by OH. Such information would supplement current soot modeling which has generally focused more on growth reactions. Indeed, OH oxidation of soot has received no detailed theoretical analysis. The results presented here are a first step to fill this gap in soot modeling./nDue to the presumed importance of oxyradical decomposition to soot oxidation, the thermal decomposition of armchair oxyradicals was pursued. A number of different armchair prototype reactions were investigated to determine how rates vary based on oxyradical location and prototype size. Potential energy surfaces were explored and thermal decomposition rates were calculated. The results indicated that armchair edge oxyradicals decompose at rates similar to zigzag edge oxyradicals. These results were used in subsequent OH oxidation study./nNext, OH oxidation was studied on a series of prototype soot surfaces to identify which edge sites would lead to rapid oxidation by OH. The potential energy surfaces of three different reactions were explored. The carbon radical site was identified as the most likely candidate for a single OH radical attack leading to CO expulsion. A phenanthrene radical was selected as the prototype structure for this site, and the kinetics of this most promising reaction, OH + phenanthrene radical, were explored. This system, including a number of barrierless reactions, was explored using both chemical-activation and thermal decomposition master-equation simulations. The results confirmed the assumption that oxyradicals are key intermediates; multiple oxyradicals were found, all leading to CO expulsion. The overall rate coefficient of phenanthrene radical oxidation by OH forming CO was found to be insensitive to pressure and temperature and was approximately 1E14 cm3 mol-1 s-1. The OH + phenanthrene radical was also studied on the triplet surface. The rate in this case was found to be about a factor of 6 smaller than the singlet surface results./nThe two principal processes involved in phenanthrene radical oxidation by OH were H atom migration/elimination followed by oxyradical decomposition. H atom migration/elimination made possible the relatively rapid rearrangement of the PAH edge, forming kinetically favorable oxyradicals which then decomposed. These same two processes are expected to be present in soot surface oxidation by OH. As a preliminary comparison of these theoretical results to soot oxidation experimental results, the collisional efficiency of OH with a phenanthrene radical was calculated and found to be a close match to the experimentally calculated collision efficiency of OH with a soot particle.

Advisor: Frenklach, Michael
Influences on One District's Process for the Design and Implementation of Professional Development for Principals

This dissertation is a qualitative case study of how a large urban school district in California designed and implemented professional development (PD) for principals. Three main questions guided my investigation: What perspectives on the principalship were reflected in the planning processes and resultant activities? What approaches to professional development were reflected in the planning processes and resultant activities? And to what extent did the planning processes and resultant activities indicate a differentiated view of principals' developmental needs? I pay particular attention to how individuals interacted with each other and with ideas as part of design teams, and how the organizational context and institutional environment of the district influenced these teams. I explore in detail three elements of this district's approach: an administrator institute that occurred prior to the start of the school year, the induction and training of new principals, and the ongoing development of high school principals./nThe findings can be summarized as follows. The planning of PD activities primarily reflected considerations of the district and only secondarily the developmental needs of principals. The PD planning teams consisted mostly of central office middle managers, who often invoked operational exigencies and fear of compliance failure to influence the content of PD agendas. The PD sessions focused on developing the managerial capabilities of principals, communicating key district messages, and, in some instances, enabling the sharing of information among principals. Central office personnel used the PD sessions as opportunities to enhance their legitimacy within the district, highlighting their commitment to serving principals and mitigating compliance challenges. Consequently, the PD activities mainly consisted of presentations and whole-group discussions focused on technical and compliance issues. The processes used in PD sessions did vary, however, depending on the specific topic, the grade level of the principals, and the department charged with facilitating the session./nThis study extends the literature by providing insights into how district central offices conceptualize the principalship, how central offices are influenced as they plan and implement PD for principals, and, more generally, how policy decisions are shaped within a central office. This study challenges districts to carefully attend to the tension between management and instructional leadership and to recognize the diverse array of forces that impact their decisions as they design PD for school leaders.

Advisor: Little, Judith W.
A G/NARRLI Effort: Measuring the Ionization Yield of Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils in Liquid Argon

Liquid argon has long been used for particle detection due to its attractive drift properties, ample abundance, and reasonable density. The response of liquid argon to low-energy (100-10,000 eV) interactions is, however, largely unexplored. Weakly interacting massive particles such as neutrinos and hypothetical dark-matter particles (WIMPs) are predicted to coherently scatter on atomic nuclei, leaving only an isolated low-energy nuclear recoil as evidence. The response of liquid argon to low-energy nuclear recoils must be studied to determine the sensitivity of liquid argon based detectors to these unobserved interactions. Detectors sensitive to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering may be used to monitor nuclear reactors from a distance, to detect neutrinos from supernova, and to test the predicted behavior of neutrinos. Additionally, direct detection of hypothetical weakly interacting dark matter would be a large step toward understanding the substance that accounts for nearly 27% of the universe. In this dissertation I discuss a small dual-phase (liquid-gas) argon proportional scintillation counter built to study the low-energy regime and several novel calibration and characterization techniques developed to study the response of liquid argon to low-energy (100-10,000 eV) interactions.

Advisor: Norman, Eric
Life and Death Signaling in the Thymus: Consequences in the Etiology of Cancer and Autoimmunity

The rigorous process of thymocyte selection is aimed at producing a T cell repertoire capable of responding to a broad range of foreign antigens, but tolerant to self. Only a small percentage of thymocytes entering the selection process emerge from the thymus as mature T cells. Survival and death signals through the T cell receptor (TCR) largely dictate thymocyte fate. Thymocytes with auto-reactive TCRs undergo negative selection and are signaled to die by apoptosis. The Nr4a family of nuclear receptors and the Bcl-2 protein family are critical mediators of thymocyte cell death. Here, we investigate the mechanism by which Nr4a receptors translocate from the nucleus to the mitochondria and induce apoptosis through the mitochondrial death pathway. Through mutagenesis of Nr4a family member Nor-1, we identify regions in the N-terminus of the protein critical for mitochondrial localization. Nr4a proteins have been proposed to induce apoptosis by binding Bcl-2 and converting it to a pro-apoptotic effector through exposure of its BH3 domain. We find that thymocytes expressing a Bcl-2 BH3 mutant transgene exhibit increased resistance to TCR-mediated apoptosis in vivo, providing support for Bcl-2 having pro-apoptotic function during negative selection. While death by negative selection is important for inhibiting the production of autoreactive T cells, it remains unclear whether it is necessary for preventing the development of autoimmune disease. Here, we find that Bcl-2 BH3 mutant transgenic mice accumulate activated T cells over time, culminating in the development of multi-organ autoimmunity and early lethality. These data provide new evidence for a crucial role for negative selection in preventing autoimmunity. Aberrant survival signals during thymic selection can lead to the development of T cell malignancies. PTEN, a negative regulator of the PI3-kinase pathway, plays an important role in safeguarding against this fate and in its absence, DP thymocytes form premalignancies that progress to T cell lymphomas. Through the analysis of these premalignancies, we identify two miRNAs that act to suppress malignant transformation by inhibiting proliferation signals downstream of the TCR. Overall, this work provides new insight into the life and death signals important for efficient thymocyte selection and demonstrates how study of their dysregulation in disease can identify novel therapeutic targets.

Advisor: Winoto, Astar