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That Knowledge May Flow: Coptic Intellectuals and the Making of Public Knowledge in Late Ottoman Egypt, ca. 1850-1900
No full textScholars have long debated the social and institutional conditions that shaped inter-communal relations in the late Ottoman Empire. While earlier scholarship emphasized the segmentation of religious communities into separate spheres or “millets,” more recent studies have complicated this model by examining the quotidian interactions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others in contact zones such as bathhouses, marketplaces, and courts. This dissertation shifts the focus to knowledge as a site of inter-communal exchange and boundary-making, focusing on the emergence of Coptic intellectuals in late Ottoman Egypt between 1850-1900. By exploring the production, circulation, and reception of knowledge within and across communal lines, the study argues that knowledge flows offer unexplored insight into everyday negotiations of religious difference and communal belonging. It addresses two related gaps in the literature. First, the changing status of Copts from non-Muslim subjects (so-called dhimmīs) to co-citizens remains understudied, even though it was central to the making of the Egyptian body politic. Second, the growing literature on the Arab Renaissance or "Nahḍa" has yet to engage with the contributions of minority intellectuals such as the Copts, whose writings are essential to understanding how reform materialized across the religiously heterogeneous empire.
By positioning Copts as active participants in the Nahḍa, this dissertation contends that the transformation of the Egyptian public sphere into a space of collective debate and political imagination was contingent, on the one hand, on the increased circulation and production of knowledge across religious boundaries; and on the other, on the integration of minority intellectuals and their traditions into a shared knowledge economy. An emergent culture of “public knowledge”—neither fully secular nor wholly religious—fostered new forms of civic participation that brought Copts and Muslims together within the framework of a shared homeland (waṭan). Coptic scholars, publishers, teachers, and clergy were central to reshaping both the terms of public discourse and the boundaries of intellectual authority. In five chapters, this dissertation explores the contributions of Coptic intelligentsia in official institutions, local associations, print media, and the built environment. It draws on a wide array of previously unexamined sources, including family archives, manuscripts, early-printed books, petitions, and missionary records. The grassroots perspectives afforded by these sources call for a fuller integration of minority archives into the study of Middle Eastern history and, by extension, a reconceptualization of the role of minorities and their knowledge networks in the canon of Arabic intellectual history.Near Eastern Languages and Civilization
Expanding Spatial Genomics to Resolve the Epigenome
No full textThe genome is not only encoded in linear sequence but also organized into complex 3D structures that regulate cellular identity, genome stability, and disease. While many tools exist to profile either chromatin states or nuclear architecture, current methods struggle to jointly measure genome sequence and spatial organization at high resolution. In this thesis, I present methodological advances that bridge this gap by extending spatial genomics technologies to connect DNA sequence, epigenetic state, and nuclear organization. First, we improve upon in situ genome sequencing by incorporating expansion microscopy, creating Expansion in situ Genome Sequencing (ExIGS), which enables nanoscale imaging of nuclear proteins and sequencing of chromatin fragments within expanded nuclei. We validate this approach in fibroblasts and then apply it to Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) cells, revealing how lamin abnormalities in HGPS generate local hotspots of disrupted euchromatin organization and transcriptional repression. Second, I describe advances to ExIGS as well as other complementary methods that I contributed to during my PhD. Together, these tools expand the resolution and functional contexts in which genome structure can be interrogated. Beyond their technical contributions, these methods reveal how nuclear abnormalities and epigenetic mechanisms reshape genome organization across development, aging, and disease. Collectively, this work establishes new experimental frameworks for connecting sequence and structure, advancing our ability to study the genome in its full spatial context.Systems Biolog
New knock in mouse lines Dmp1em1(CreERT2) and Dmp1em2(ZsGreen) enable precise osteocyte-specific targeting and visualization
No full textIn adult mammals, bone is a dynamic organ with both structural and endocrine functions, mainly mediated by osteocytes, the most abundant bone cells, and the principal source of bone-derived hormones such as fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) and sclerostin (SOST). The widely used 10-kb promoter-driven transgenic Tg(Dmp1-Cre) and Tg(Dmp1-CreERT2) lines, while widely used and helpful, utilize transgenic approaches with transgene expression driven by the Dmp1 promoter. The transgene expression suffers from positional effects with off-target expression in muscle, brain, and other tissues, limiting their applications, causing a major technical gap in the investigation of osteocyte-specific functions. Here, we generated two novel mouse lines, Dmp1em1(CreERT2) and Dmp1em2(ZsGreen), via CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knock-in approaches that allow CreERT2 or ZsGreen expression under the genetic control of the endogenous Dmp1 locus by inserting an IRES–CreERT2 or IRES–ZsGreen cassette into the Dmp1 locus, preserving the Dmp1 gene expression. We showed that the Dmp1em1(CreERT2) enabled highly efficient tamoxifen-inducible recombination (>90% in cortical and trabecular osteocytes) with minimal off-target labeling in non-bone tissues. The Dmp1em2(ZsGreen) line showed robust, fixation- and decalcification-resistant green fluorescence in osteocytes from birth through adulthood, faithfully reflecting endogenous Dmp1 expression. Lineage tracing using the Dmp1em1(CreERT2) line further revealed that the cortical osteocytes are long-lived, whereas trabecular osteocytes undergo continuous renewal, uncovering compartment-specific differences in osteocyte lifespan. By eliminating off-target recombination or gene expression in skeletal muscle, brain, gastrointestinal tract, and marrow compartments, the two mouse lines offer powerful tools for rigorous studies in osteocyte biology, mechanotransduction, and bone regulation of systemic physiology that impact health, aging, and diseases, while minimizing complications due to off-target transgene expression.Graduate Educatio
Crime and Democracy: Central America in Comparative Perspective
No full textThis dissertation explores the relationship between organized crime and liberal democracy. Across three papers, I draw on evidence from Central America to generate new theoretical and empirical insights about how crime (re)shapes—and often undermines—democratic institutions. The first paper examines the relationship between organized crime and the durability of democracy. I show that organized crime can facilitate democratic reversals through both "supply-side" and "demand-side" effects. The second paper introduces the concept of criminal electioneering: deliberate efforts by criminal groups to influence elections. I provide a typology of criminal electioneering strategies and argue that criminals are more likely to engage in electioneering (a) when they are locked in direct competition with rival criminal groups and (b) when candidates are in close "resource races" with their electoral opponents. The final paper examines the determinants of support for "authoritarian bargains" related to public security. Using survey evidence from Guatemala, I show that information about the costs of harsh anti-crime policies for democracy tempers support for those policies among voters—even in contexts of high crime and insecurity.Governmen
China’s Command Revolution: Reforms, Adaptation, and Emerging Innovations in Chinese Military Command Capabilities
No full textHow and why has the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) approach to military command evolved across its modern history against the backdrop of technological advancements? The PLA’s continued development of command capabilities, consisting of functional components of theories, structures, and systems that enable command, along with political work and human factors, will be consequential in shaping its future battlefield decision-making and performance. The prevalent perspectives articulated within salient academic literatures and among U.S. military observers have anticipated that the PLA, as a force subject to political control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), could struggle to innovate and would likely maintain a highly centralized, relatively inflexible approach to command, which could be disadvantageous in conflict. However, this dissertation contends such expectations about China’s command capabilities and its limited potential to achieve innovative developments should be reevaluated, in historical perspective and considering significant transformations ongoing in the PLA today. The reality is far more nuanced and reflects a system that, within certain limits, can be centrally controlled but also capable of facilitating greater initiative and decentralized warfighting. Indeed, the PLA’s approach to command has evolved dynamically in reaction to technological transformations that are expected to reshape future warfare. For the full extent of changes observed to occur without learning from and imminent pressures of conflict and despite expected bureaucratic impediments, is puzzling relative to prevailing expectations. The adaptations and innovations that have emerged across multiple aspects of Chinese military command are tantamount to a revolution in command with significant implications for Chinese military power. The existing literature provides several alternative explanations, to include the influence of strategic culture, dynamics of civil-military relations, organizational explanations, and military learning through emulation. However, I contend the impacts of ideation about technology in future warfare, as constructed through expert networks reacting to leadership guidance, can provide a more compelling explanation for the full extent of changes in Chinese military command and constitutes a dynamic that can be generalizable to other major domains of Chinese innovation. In the process, Chinese leaders have tended to adjust styles of command across domains and levels of warfare in a manner that balances between political control and autonomy based on a calculus of risks and benefits.
This dissertation introduces a theory of command innovation based on ideation that accounts for major changes in China’s approach to military command. Chapter 1 and 2 introduce that theory and its primary mechanism, examining the process through which ideation about technology in future warfare takes shape through a dynamic involving not only high-level direction on priorities from senior leadership but also construction and socialization of new concepts among key strategic, military, and scientific experts. In the process, I argue the PLA tends to be informed by not only its study of global trends in technology and assessments of foreign military approaches but also its uniquely scientific outlook on warfare, as reflected in its evolving approach within the discipline of military command science. Chapters 3-7 center on a series of case studies examining each major functional component of Chinese command capabilities, based on an approach of process tracing that considers changes in Chinese command concepts, structures, political work, systems, and approach to human factors (i.e., training and education of commanders) respectively. To that end, I leverage a range of primary source materials, including close reading of Chinese military textbooks, journals, and media products, as well as vignettes from Chinese military history and contemporary operations. Chapter 8 continues by examining current debates and the ideation process ongoing today within the Chinese military and scientific spheres focused on implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for future warfare. The final chapter concludes by considering how this theory of command innovation contributes to literatures on military and defense innovation, while evaluating theoretical generalizability and implications.
This dissertation also seeks to contribute to understanding the implications of these trends for the future of command and evolving military balance. Across recent decades, the PLA has pursued informatization (信息化), an agenda centered on leveraging information technology as a core enabler of military power, which has reshaped dynamics of command. Presently, the PLA is pursuing an agenda of military intelligentization (智能化) to capitalize upon advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies. These trends have generated debates within the PLA on the complex interplay of human factors and technology, which PLA scientists and strategists believe necessitates renewed emphasis on human-machine integration, especially in command. Among impactful applications are support to military decision-making, including through automated processing and integration of intelligence information. Looking forward, Chinese leaders regard emerging capabilities as critical to contesting advantage in future conflict scenarios, yet the ultimate impacts on the military balance remain uncertain. Such uncertainty about impacts of disruptive technologies and their applications could increase the risks of misperception, especially as international competition intensifies, and could exacerbate security dilemmas. PLA efforts to operationalize new complex systems might increase frictions that could undercut intended advantages for decision-making, while potentially increasing the possibility of accidents, crisis instability, or misperceptions. In this regard, the PLA’s evolving approach to command decision-making also has significant implications for future strategic stability and deterrence.Governmen
Functional and molecular organization of threat processing in lateral septum cells and circuits
No full textSurvival depends on an animal’s ability to rapidly detect, evaluate, and respond to threats while balancing exploration essential for resources against potential risks. The lateral septum (LS), an inhibitory nucleus within the limbic forebrain, is uniquely positioned to integrate external sensory information with internal states and prior experiences to regulate adaptive behavioral outcomes. Despite extensive evidence implicating the LS in threat processing, the specific neuronal subpopulations, circuits, and computational mechanisms that guide defensive behaviors and exploratory actions remain poorly understood.
In this dissertation, I investigate how LS neurons expressing the type 2 corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor (LSCrhr2) orchestrate critical computations that shape behavioral responses to threats and novel environments. First, using single-cell calcium imaging, molecular sequencing, and circuit tracing, I identify distinct LSCrhr2 neuronal subclasses characterized by unique molecular profiles, spatial organization, and selective afferent connectivity. I find that the activity dynamics of each subclass collectively encodes diverse features of threat stimuli to drive cue-evoked defensive behaviors. Next, by monitoring the activity of precise LSCrhr2 afferents, I find that the LSCrhr2 population integrates cognitive signals from the hippocampus related to sensory context and cue-outcome associations, together with motivational signals from the hypothalamus linked to physiological arousal and stimulus salience. Together, these findings establish a multifeatured organizational principle that underlies how LS mediates motivated behaviors in response to learned discrete threats.
Next, I identify a critical hypothalamic-septal circuit originating from the supramamillary nucleus (SuM) critical for responses to uncertain threats. First, I show that LSCrhr2 population dynamics are intricately tied to the exploratory behavior of the animal and the salience of the environment or stimulus they are exposed to. As the most abundant hypothalamic input to the LSCrhr2 population, we find that the SuM is a primary source of salience and arousal signals to LS. Activation of SuM-LS projections is aversive and imposes a bottom-up brake on exploration through recruitment of LSCrhr2 neurons, promoting arousal and avoidance in environments where threats are uncertain. I show that SuM axons in LS encode the aversive salience of an environment and relays these signals to LSCrhr2 neurons to constrain exploration. The activity of this circuit predicts the vigor of avoidance and thus provides a substrate by which a dynamic internal state can guide exploratory behavior in diverse environments.
Together, these findings define the LSCrhr2 neuronal population and its hypothalamic and hippocampal inputs as essential conduits by which the delicate balance between defensive responses and exploratory behavior is achieved. This dissertation thus reveals general principles for how limbic circuits dynamically integrate internal and external signals to adaptively shape complex motivated behaviors in uncertain or explicitly dangerous environments.Neuroscienc
Born-Frees, the Matric Exam, and the Battle Royale for Opportunity in South Africa
No full textEvery year, around a million South African grade twelve learners sit for the National Senior Certificate Examination, colloquially called “matric.” Widely understood as a significant determinant of a young person’s future, it acts both as a school exit exam and a university admissions test. Rooted in the colonial bureaucracy of the mid-1800s, the matric exam has evolved into a national obsession and a central mechanism through which the postapartheid state has sought to signal equality of opportunity. In principle, everyone answers the same questions under the same conditions. Yet, despite the steady rise in candidates and the national pass rate, the exam increasingly functions as a high-stakes selection apparatus in a context of deep inequality and widespread exclusion. As youth unemployment reaches staggering levels, and university spaces remain limited, passing the exam no longer guarantees access to work or further study. The competition for scarce, desirable futures has
become fiercer than ever.
In this dissertation, I explore how competitive stratification has come to coexist with an ethos of equality, and what that means for a generation of born-frees coming of age after apartheid. I draw on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in a Western Cape town, where I followed learners at three public high schools as they prepared for the 2021 exam. The matric exam produces both aspiration and anxiety. While some learners remain committed to the belief that education offers a pathway to a better future,
others express doubt, ambivalence, or quiet withdrawal. For many, schooling retains a near-salvific promise—even as the prospects of social mobility diminish. I argue that the exam has come to encapsulate what it means to be young in South Africa
today: it marks a broader shift in which collective visions of liberation are being displaced by individual strategies of advancement. For born-frees still waiting for their share of democracy’s rewards, opportunity is not assured—it is conditional,
competitive, and increasingly out of reach.African and African American Studie
The evolution of Oskar function in insects
No full textThe emergence of genetic novelty underlies major shifts in the evolution of development. In this thesis, I investigate evolution in primordial germ cell specification in insects, with a particular focus on the gene oskar. As a lineage-restricted, rapidly evolving gene with essential roles not only in the germ line, but also in the developing nervous system of some species, oskar presents a compelling case study of how genetic innovation drives phenotypic evolution. First, I synthesize observational and experimental data on the origin of primordial germ cells to describe how germ cell specification has evolved in insects, and more broadly across panarthropods. I also speculate on how evolution in germ line gene expression and function may drive shifts in the mechanisms of germ cell formation. Next, I specifically investigate evolution in oskar, which has undergone functionally significant sequence divergence over a short evolutionary timescale. I determine how protein-coding sequence differences between oskar orthologs from Drosophila melanogaster and D. virilis prevent the D. virilis ortholog from rescuing D. melanogaster oskar loss-of-function. I identify domains of the D. virilis Oskar protein that differentially impact localization of germ line and patterning determinants and dramatically influence downstream cell fate decisions. By leveraging this natural sequence variation as an evolution-guided mutagenesis strategy, I uncover new insights into the in vivo mechanisms of Oskar function. These experiments also reveal how oskar gene dosage affects germ plasm assembly and germ cell specification, shedding light on how embryos respond to changes not only in gene sequence but also quantity. Finally, I explore the potential co-option of oskar to different tissue contexts. I present preliminary data testing the hypothesis that oskar is expressed in the central nervous system of D. melanogaster, and I describe ongoing efforts to characterize oskar expression and function in other insect species. This broader comparative approach will eventually allow us to reconstruct the trajectory of oskar’s functional evolution across insects. I conclude by outlining promising directions for future research into the evolution of development, particularly through the lens of the genes that both influence and are influenced by these processes.Biology, Molecular and Cellula
Error-corrected quantum processing with neutral atoms
No full textQuantum computers open new scientific avenues, from exploring complex quantum mechanical systems to new computational paradigms, but face the fundamental challenge of decoherence. Remarkably, decoherence can be prevented by creating highly entangled states of physical qubits that encode an error-corrected “logical” qubit. This thesis will describe the development of quantum computing with reconfigurable arrays of neutral atoms and their use for quantum processing with logical qubits. Quantum processing in this approach is based on the coherent transport of atoms shuttled by optical tweezers, enabling any-to-any connectivity, high-fidelity programmable logic, and mid-circuit processing within a zoned architecture. Logical qubit processing is greatly facilitated by parallel control and transversal operations, and is used for experiments ranging from entangling logical qubits to their use for precise simulation of quantum scrambling. Core physical mechanisms for achieving deep-circuit, universal algorithms with logical qubits are identified, and these are leveraged into new techniques that greatly reduce overheads for large-scale computation. Finally, applications of quantum processors will be explored via analog and gate-based quantum simulations. These results, alongside other recent advances, herald a transition to error-corrected quantum processing, establishing foundations that can enable future large-scale quantum computers and their useful applications.Physic
チリ・ボリッチ政権の年金制度改革―非拠出型年金拡充の効果と限界（論稿）
Get PDFチリの公的年金制度は、世界的にも早期に導入された個人積立型年金制度を特徴としてきた。しかし、2000 年代以降、その構造的欠陥が顕在化し、数次にわたる改革が実施されてきた。改革は主として非拠出型年金部分の拡充を軸に進められてきたが、2025 年の改革は、その規模と対象範囲において画期的である。高齢者貧困は顕著に改善し、世論調査からも年金制度を重要問題とみなす割合が低下していることが確認される。一方で、公的年金制度における再分配機能の弱さや、個人積立型制度の存続に対する批判は依然として根強い。本稿は、所得階層および政治的立場別の世論データを用いて、2025 年年金制度改革の効果と限界を分析する。PJa/33/Ra2articl