VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Space acts : performance, architecture, and the mise-en-scène

By analyzing case studies occurring at the intersection of architecture and performance, this dissertation asserts spatial design's role as a critical and performative activity. I argue that these modes of spatial design and activity, while establishing themselves in the built environment, actively perform in real time, refusing to stagnate in the still plan. To describe this spatial activity I draw from the concept of the mise-en-scène. I define the mise-en-scène as a means, method, and medium through which visual and spatial relations structure the sensorium of the stage and the built environment at large. The examples I enlist demonstrate how mise-en-scène engages with the politics of space. By framing them through the mise-en-scène, I analyze design practices by architects Oskar Hansen, Lawrence Halprin, Rem Koolhaas, and Elia Zenghelis; as well as political interventions on architecture. The demonstrations I address range from pictorial to destructive: the graphic interventions of the Atelier Populaire in France in 1968, the symbolic action of the Pentagon levitation in 1967, and the bombings of the Weather Underground from 1969 to 1975. Each case explores the pressure placed upon social performance by architecture, and demonstrates the importance of mise-en-scène as a dynamic concept in contemporary architectural theory.

Keywords: Theater and Performance Studies.
Advisor: Jakovljević Branislav 
Hannah Dorita
Smith Matthew Wilson
Speaker systems

This dissertation is concerned with the question of what it means to be a speaker, by which I mean the kind of thing which can perform speech acts. It is, in this way, a study in the foundations of speech act theory. The first two chapters are mainly concerned with conceptual engineering while the last two make use of the framework in understanding other thorny kinds of speech act. Ch.1 lays out the central problem and establishes some of the fundamental distinctions and tools that will help us understand what it is that goes into the production and performance of a speech act. Ch. 2 examines proxy speech (when one agent ``speaks for'' another), using such cases to motivate some more essential distinctions. Ch.3 applies the tools introduced in the earlier chapters to the analysis of group speech acts, in particular marking important differences between group collaboration through speech acts, group co-authoring of speech acts, and group speech proper. These differences register when we take into account the different speaker roles and their normative significance. Finally, Ch.4 examines the way in which one may manipulate speaker systems, and thereby anonymize a speech act in a communicatively significant manner.

Keywords: Philosophy.
Advisor: Taylor Kenneth Allen
Bratman Michael 
Lawlor Krista
Specialized neural circuits supporting reinforcement learning

A fundamental challenge facing organisms is to learn how to act in order to earn rewards. Theoretical and empirical work has characterized distinct neural systems that learn different classes of information and assist learning in distinct behavioral contexts. In this thesis, I argue that these sources of information are integrated within the striatum, a region of the basal ganglia known to be critical for associative learning. Neurons in the striatum store the motivational value of stimuli in the environment and support the expression of habitual behavioral responses to these stimuli. Based on anatomy, the striatum is also known to receive direct afferent input from diverse cortical and subcortical sites. I report the results of two studies designed to characterize the contribution of two such afferent regions, the inferior frontal cortex and the hippocampus, to reward learning. Subjects in my experiments performed tasks in which they were required to learn the relationship between sets of visual features and motor responses. These tasks were designed to emphasize different types of relationships that draw on the computational properties known to be uniquely supported by the inferior frontal sulcus and hippocampus. I developed computational models of learning adapted to the demands of the tasks and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to relate brain activity to the variables in these models. In Study 1, I show that interactions between the striatum and the inferior frontal cortex support the learning of abstract rules. In Study 2, I show that interactions between the striatum and the hippocampus support the learning of conjunctive relationships. These results provide novel evidence that different learning systems interact in cases where the problem draws on multiple types of representations.

Advisor: McClure Samuel M. 
Wagner Anthony David 
Goodman Noah (Noah D.) 
Newsome William T. 
Poldrack Russell A.
Speciation of Metal Ions Associated with Fine Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide Particles in Cement Creek Basin, Colorado after the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill

The Gold King Mine Spill on August 5th, 2015 released 3,000,000 gallons of acid mine waters and 880,000 pounds of metals to the Animas River Watershed. The initial impacts of the spill appear to have been naturally mitigated, in part, by the presence of iron-oxyhydroxide particles, which are known to sorb metals from aqueous solutions. Hydrated metal ions can form inner- and outer-sphere sorption complexes on Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide particles, and their sorption is dependent on several factors, including pH, aqueous silica content, and the presence of Fe(II) and As(III)-oxidizing bacteria. We apply laboratory-based x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and synchrotron-based micro x-ray fluorescence mapping (µXRF) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) on water, sediment (upper 6 cm), and fine particle samples from 15 sites in Cement Creek Basin to determine the effect of pH on the association of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) with Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide particles. Solid phase analyses show pH-dependent partitioning of Cu, Pb, and Zn occurs between sediment and fine particle phases. Goethite (Fe3+O(OH)) and ferrihydrite (Fe3+2O3 •.5(H2O)), two Fe(III)-oxyhydroxides that sorb metals from solution as a function of pH, comprise 31-66 percent of the iron species identified in extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) fitting of the fine particle samples. The pH-dependent partitioning of metal ions suggests that changes in pH could have a major impact on the speciation of metal cations, including the mobilization of Pb(II) if the pH decreased to ~2.7 in Cement Creek Basin, and mobilization of Zn(II) and Cu(II) if pH decreased to 5.6 or 4.5, respectively, at the Animas River confluence. Such changes could pose significant environmental hazards to aquatic organisms and the human population in the Animas River Watershed, which is used by six states and twelve Native American tribes for water, recreation, and agriculture.

Keywords:  Department of Geological Sciences
Stanford School of Earth Energy &amp; Environmental Sciences
acid mine drainage
Gold King Mine Spill
Geological Sciences
Thesis
Advisor: Brown Gordon
Jew Adam
Spectrally and power efficient optical communication systems

Increased traffic demands globally and in particular in short-reach links in data centers will require optical communication systems to continue scaling at an accelerated pace. Nevertheless, energy constraints start to limit the bit rate that can be practically transmitted over optical systems both at the shortest distances in data centers and at the longest distances in ultra-long submarine links. Short-reach links in data centers face strict constraints on power consumption, size, and cost, which will demand low-power solutions that scale to bit rates beyond 100 Gbit/s per wavelength, while accommodating increased losses due to longer fiber plant, multiplexing of more wavelengths, and possibly optical switching. At the longest distances, submarine optical cables longer than about 5,000 km face energy constraints due to power feed limits at the shores, which restricts the electrical power available to the undersea optical amplifiers, ultimately limiting the optical power and throughput per fiber. This dissertation presents strategies to mitigate these limitations. For short-reach links in data centers, we propose low-power coherent receiver architectures that completely avoid high-speed analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processors. For long-haul submarine links, we demonstrate how optimizing the channel power allocation under a constraint on the amplifier power maximizes the information-theoretic capacity per fiber.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Kahn Joseph M. (Joseph Mardell) 
Murmann Boris 
Solgaard Olav
Spectroscopic studies on electronic correlation and lattice coupling in hole-doped high-Tc cuprates

Systematic, high resolution investigation of the single-particle properties of the heavily overdoped high-Tc superconductor Bi-2212 is carried out with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We find quantitatively that the weak-coupling limit can be reached in this regime, but respectable superconducting fluctuation still persists, and the system is not completely Fermi-liquid which has long been assumed. We measure the particle-hole mixing ratio near the antinode, locate the origin for such fluctuation to the abnormally flat band near the zone boundary in Bi-2212, and explain why Bi-2212 was once considered an example of BCS-BEC crossover system. This provides the first clear momentum perspective to resolve the BCS vs BEC contention in overdoped cuprates. We discover an abrupt change in electron-phonon coupling and the superconducting gap across the critical doping in high-Tc system Bi-2212. This not only reveals the correlation between the mode-coupling and the superconductivity, but also signifies the importance to factor in the lattice degree of freedom when constructing future theories on intertwining electronic orders in the cuprates. Using inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) and Raman spectroscopy, we also identify of a universal low-energy phonon-broadening in both charge ordered and non-charge ordered region of Bi-2212. Its origin is discussed to favor intrinsic acoustic-optical phonon hybridization rather than the previously suggested charge order induced softening. As a conceptual extension of the previous section, lattice instability may be an indispensable ingredient in the charge order phenomenon in underdoped cuprates. We develop and benchmark a 114nm (11eV) high repetition rate laser as an ARPES lightsource. This setup bridges the application gap between the synchrotron ARPES (access to the full momentum space and valence band) and traditional 6/7eV laser-ARPES (high resolution and high stability).

Keywords: Applied Physics.
Advisor: Shen Zhi-Xun 
Devereaux Thomas Peter
Kivelson Steven
Stable isotopes of nitrite as a tool for understanding nitrogen cycling and loss in oxygen deficient zones

Nitrogen (N), a key nutrient in the global ocean, has a complicated biogeochemical cycle. In the ocean, nitrogen is mainly found as nitrate (NO3-), but it also accumulates as nitrite (NO2-) within oxygen deficient zones (ODZs). Nitrite is a key intermediate in several processes that produce nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. Using natural abundance stable isotope measurements of NO3- and NO2- help to capture an integrated signal of the N cycle processes. My doctoral work aims to use stable isotopes of N and oxygen (O) in order to further our understanding of the pathways that produce and consume NO2-, which will help us better predict the global impacts of nitrogen cycling both at present and in the future. Many N cycle processes are microbially mediated and impart one or more unique isotope effects on its N substrates and products, and it is important to quantify these isotope effects in order to use numerical models to elucidate relative contributions of different N cycle processes. In Chapter 1, I use pure culture experiments to better constrain estimates of the N and O isotope effects of microbial nitrite reduction, a key step in the process of denitrification, which leads to loss of bioavailable N. I then use the values from this experiment, in conjunction with previous estimates of other N cycle process isotope effects, to model observed NO3- and NO2- data from the Arabian Sea (Chapter 2) and explore the necessity for oxygen-requiring processes within the ODZ. In Chapter 3, I expand upon the results from previous chapters by applying the results to a global 3D inverse model of the N cycle, which includes isotopic fractionation, in order to examine the NO2- production and consumption processes within marine ODZs. I also examine the sensitivity of NO3- and NO2- concentration and isotope profiles to controlling parameters of N cycle processes, such as oxygen thresholds and isotope effects, in order to examine the roles of individual processes in N loss, and their potential for future change.

Keywords: Earth System Science.
Advisor: Casciotti Karen Lynn
Arrigo Kevin R. 
Thomas Leif N.
Stable matchings in metric spaces

Suppose each of $ men and $ women is located at a point in a metric space. A woman ranks the men in order of their distance to her from closest to farthest, breaking ties at random. The men rank the women similarly. An interesting problem is to use these ranking lists and find a stable matching in the sense of Gale and Shapley. This problem formulation naturally models preferences in several real world applications; for example, dating sites, room renting/letting, ride hailing and labor markets. Two key questions that arise in this setting are: (a) When is the stable matching unique without resorting to tie breaks? (b) If $X$ is the distance between a randomly chosen stable pair, what is the distribution of $X$ and what is $E(X)$? These questions address conditions under which it is possible to find a unique (stable) partner, and the quality of the stable matching in terms of the rank or the proximity of the partner. We study dating sites and ride hailing as prototypical examples of stable matchings in discrete and continuous metric spaces, respectively. In the dating site model, each man/woman is assigned to a point on the $-dimensional hypercube based on their answers to a set of $ questions with binary answers ({\it e.g.}\ , like/dislike). We consider two different metrics on the hypercube: Hamming and Weighted Hamming (in which the answers to some questions carry more weight). Under both metrics, there are exponentially many stable matchings when = \lfloor\log n\rfloor$. There is a unique stable matching, with high probability, under the Hamming distance when = \Omega(n^6)$, and under the Weighted Hamming distance when > (2+\epsilon) \log n$ for some $\epsilon> 0$. In the ride hailing model, passengers and cabs are modeled as points on the line and matched based on Euclidean distance (a proxy for pickup time). Assuming the locations of the passengers and cabs are independent Poisson processes of different intensities, we derive bounds on the distribution of $X$ in terms of busy periods at a last-come-first-served preemptive-resume (LCFS-PR) queue. We also study the college admission problem where the goal is to find a stable matching between students and colleges. In our analysis, we consider a utility-based model for the preference lists of colleges and students. We derive sufficient conditions on the utility functions to have a unique stable matching. We also model the interview process in the college admission problem, and show that if conducting interviews are costly, in certain circumstances we may see over-qualification of applicants.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Prabhakar Balaji
Akbarpour Mohammad
Tse David
Star Wars, Poison Gas, and Cybersecurity: Lessons from the Past for a Better Future

Though numerous countries have been victims of hostile operations in cyberspace ranging from espionage of trade secrets to a shutdown of the nation’s electrical grid, little progress has been made in the international system towards a formal international agreement to regulate activities in the domain. Much of the existing literature on arms control in cyber-space is pessimistic and emphasizes why cooperation will fail without communicating how cooperation might succeed. This thesis seeks to fill that gap by examining the question: under what conditions will international agreements in cyberspace be more likely? Assessing two historical case studies in the Reykjavik Summit and the Chemical Weapons Convention for their implications regarding such agreements, this thesis explores the conditions which make an agreement in cyberspace more likely through a lens of five variables - technology, geopolit-ical dynamics, state interests, domestic environments, and information. The most important condition of an international agreement in cyberspace is the willingness of parties to make reciprocal concessions during negotiations. This thesis further finds that the existence of the following conditions increase the likelihood of an agreement: the major players in cyberspace are committed to the objective of an agreement, the use of cyber tools rather than the tools themselves are being regulated, and private sector concerns are included in negotiations. These findings suggest areas of focus for current world leaders seeking to regulate the cyber-space domain. Further, this thesis concludes that cyberspace does not exist in a vacuum and that negotiators on cyberspace have much to learn from historical cases.

Keywords:  Center for International Security and Cooperation
Center for International Security and Cooperation
Cybersecurity
International agreements
Reykjavik Summit
Chemical Weapons Convention
Thesis
Advisor: Lin Herbert
Blacker Coit
Stasis : the nature, frequency, and intensity of political violence in ancient Greece

This dissertation examines the nature, frequency, and intensity of violent political conflict (stasis) in the c. 1,100 city-states (poleis) inhabited by the ancient Greeks between 500 and 301 BCE. Against existing scholarship, which conflates stasis with modern analogs like civil war, revolution, and internal war, I highlight the many ways in which stasis was a historically distinctive concept. I show that most poleis experienced stasis at an average rate of more than once per decade and that most staseis produced fewer than a dozen casualties. I also introduce new methods and new tools to overcome three of the most significant obstacles that face attempts to study Greek history on a panhellenic scale: the scarcity, ambiguity, and deep biases of the evidentiary record.

Keywords: Classics.
Advisor: Ober Josiah 
Morris Ian
Scheidel Walter
Statistical and computational techniques for GPU-accelerated PET image reconstruction

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging modality that can detect a contrast agent that preferentially accumulates on or inside diseased cells with concentrations as low as pico-mol/L. Since diseases typically begin on molecular and cellular levels, PET's sensitivity to fine molecular changes makes it essential for detection, staging, and treatment of oncological, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases. Moreover, PET is indispensable for basic research of biological processes, and pharmaceutical development. This dissertation presents mathematical and algorithmic techniques for increasing the safety, ac- curacy, and affordability of PET imaging. Particularly, it presents the first ever maximum likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) algorithm for photon attenuation correction from PET emission data alone. This is the only existing technique that guarantees monotonic increase of PET image likelihood with estimation iterations. Moreover, the dissertation presents advances in stochastic modeling, inverse problems with incomplete data, numerical optimization, parallel computing, and graphics processing unit (GPU)-based formulation of the method, that reduce image estimation du- ration from 5 days to under an hour, by accelerating the algorithm by over 200-fold compared with single CPU-based formulation, and reducing its memory usage by 5-fold. Furthermore, the disser- tation shows how these advances could benefit other algorithms that model the imaging system in PET, SPECT, and CT. Particularly, it shows how they can accelerate single scatter simulation (SSS) by over 100-fold compared with single CPU-based formulation, and increase PET's geometrical sys- tem matrix compression used in the image reconstruction process by over 800-fold compared with today's state of the art methodology. Finally, using the advances described above, the dissertation presents the first ever MLEM algorithm for joint correction of photon attenuation and tissue-scatter from PET emission data alone.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Levin Craig 
Nishimura Dwight George 
Pratx Guillem
Statistical inference of properties of distributions

Modern data science applications---ranging from graphical model learning to image registration to inference of gene regulatory networks---frequently involve pipelines of exploratory analysis requiring accurate inference of a property of the distribution governing the data rather than the distribution itself. Notable examples of properties include mutual information, Kullback--Leibler divergence, total variation distance, the entropy rate, among others. This thesis makes contributions to the performance, structure, and deployment of minimax rate-optimal estimators for a large variety of properties in high-dimensional and nonparametric settings. We present general methods for constructing information theoretically near-optimal estimators, and identify the corresponding limits in terms of the parameter dimension, the mixing rate (for processes with memory), and smoothness of the underlying density (in the nonparametric setting). We employ our schemes on the Google 1 Billion Word Dataset to estimate the fundamental limit of perplexity in language modeling, and to improve graphical model learning. The estimators are efficiently computable and exhibit a ``sample size enlargement'' phenomenon, i.e., they attain with $ samples what prior methods would have needed \log n$ samples to achieve. We provide a brief survey on our utilization and development of relevant tools from approximation theory, probability theory, and functional analysis.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Weissman Tsachy 
Montanari Andrea 
Tse David