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COINdinistas and Contradictions: US Adoption of Counterinsurgency in 2007
Full text linkAlex Li ([email protected]) graduated from the UO in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Human Physiology and Anatomy.Multiple theories of politics—specifically, rational actor theory and organization theory—have been used to explain decision-making processes for military actions. Rational actor theory states that military actors base decisions on value calculations and incremental changes. Organization theory suggests that military organizations push a specific doctrine to preserve power in the face of civilian challenges or criticism. While organizations generally wish to appear rational, doctrinal decisions may betray irrationality. This paper aims to identify a clear history of US counterinsurgency (COIN) and test the existing literature on organization and rational actor theory against the US military’s readoption of the counterinsurgency doctrine in 2007. The US military COIN operations in Iraq that accompanied the Surge of 2007 followed a legacy of failed COIN experiments. Beginning in Vietnam with the strategic hamlet program, the continued use of COIN despite its empirical inefficacy throughout the 20th century demonstrates the military’s pattern of irrational action. This paper concludes that COIN existed quietly in the background of the Cold War before its implementation in 2007. Moreover, COIN’s doctrinal adoption in 2007 is better explained through organization theory as the military organization pushed COIN onto a desperate Bush administration. Finally, the history of COIN indicates that rational actor theory is insufficient to explain doctrine during low-intensity conflicts
An Exploration of Soccer Cleat Traction Characteristics Suited to the Mechanical Profile of the Female Athlete
Full text linkMarket-available soccer footwear is historically designed according to male athlete mechanics. With known sex differences in movement patterns, joint moments, and joint loading, it should not be assumed that the female body is able to withstand the same amount of rotational and translational traction as do males. Soccer cleats could play a key role in moderating female athletes’ exposure to torsional injury mechanisms over the course of game play, such as those mechanisms related to ACL injury. The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the effect of soccer cleat traction parameters on the cutting and landing mechanics of female soccer athletes. Based upon results gathered in this dissertation, novel prototypes of data-driven female traction plates were co-developed and mechanically validated in partnership with Puma SE. This dissertation includes four projects: the first three were foundational in understanding the effects of traction parameters on female mechanics, while the final project involved the design and validation of prototypes informed by these findings. Project 1 assessed the effect of shortened stud lengths on knee stabilizer muscle activity and mechanics of seven female soccer players during abrupt stopping and cutting tasks in a turfed motion capture lab. Results indicate a stud length reduction to 50-75% of the original stud length trends towards an improvement in frontal and sagittal plane knee kinetics and kinematics, and knee stabilizer muscle activity favoring the hamstring group. Project 2 involved 10 male and 10 female soccer athletes performing unanticipated cutting tasks before and after systemic fatigue in cleats of both elliptical and bladed stud shapes. Knee kinetics, kinematics and utilized traction ratio were evaluated. Significant three-way interaction effects were found on the rate of utilized traction during initial contact, and main effects of sex and fatigue were found on knee valgus angle and knee flexion angle at initial contact, respectively. Project 3 assessed plantar pressure data collected during cuts performed during the systemic fatigue protocol of Project 2. Significant main and interaction effects of sex, cleat and fatigue were found on peak pressure across the anterior heel, medial forefoot, and lateral toes. Systemic fatigue progression was found to increase mediolateral center of pressure excursion and posterolateral peak pressure most notably among female participants in the bladed cleat. Based on results identified in Projects 1-3, Project 4 designed and mechanically validated cleat prototype iterations that would encourage lower risk knee mechanics for the female athlete. In this small sample validation, the cutting mechanics of 6 female athletes were compared before and after fatigue across two prototypes and one market available soccer cleat. Preliminary data identify lower risk knee mechanics to be encouraged in the prototypes when compared to the market available product. Joint power trends suggest the moderate prototype design, featuring a 12-25% reduction in stud length and elliptical-style studs, to reduce eccentric knee activity most effectively during cutting stance. The results of this dissertation illustrate how relatively minor modifications to traction parameters can have critical impact on the mechanics of female athletes. This series of studies demonstrates the importance of designing and validating footwear for the female athlete. This dissertation includes co-authored material submitted for publication, as well as unpublished co-authored material
OpenAI's Fault Lines: Cracks in a Groundbreaking “Capped-Profit” Organization
Full text linkDrew Collins-Burke ([email protected]) is a recent summa cum laude Honors College graduate with previous work for a Brookings-affiliated institution and multi-year contributions as a research assistant to a Carnegie Fellow. He is interested in AI policy, political polarization, men's issues, and loves to hike, play tennis, and listen to classic albums.Influential artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI has a unique corporate structure featuring a non-profit/capped-profit (NP/CP) model. In the NP/CP model, a non-profit organization has
control over a for-profit arm that offers financiers a fixed return based on their initial investment, as opposed to offering unlimited potential return. OpenAI’s NP/CP structure is intended to reduce the negative impacts of shareholder capitalism on high-stakes artificial general intelligence (AGI) development projects. This paper evaluates OpenAI’s organizational successes and failures, comparing its approach to the pitfalls many shareholder corporations fall into: excessive profit motives, lack of transparency, and negligence towards societal impacts. It also explores how OpenAI’s structural features, such as investor profit caps and non-profit authority over the for- profit arm, have aided the company in avoiding some common issues with shareholder corporations. However, CEO Sam Altman’s high-profile ousting and reinstatement, OpenAI’s lack of open-source practices, and Microsoft’s influence raise concerns about the overall efficacy of this structure. Through an analysis of OpenAI's structure, actions, and public statements, this paper investigates the hybrid NP/CP model’s potential for mitigating the negative impacts of shareholder capitalism on responsible AGI development, highlighting its successes and limitations. The paper concludes that OpenAI’s ability to develop AGI safely within this organization model is possible but uncertain
Effects of Willamette Valley Sedimentary Structure on Ground Motions
Full text link53 page thesis, 26 page document with supplementary data, and 1 video.Accurately estimating ground motions is critical for seismic hazard assessments, particularly in regions like the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), which has the potential to generate M8-9 megathrust earthquakes. This study focuses on the Willamette Valley (WV), an elongated sedimentary structure extending from Eugene to Portland, Oregon, which has been understudied despite being home to most of Oregon’s population and infrastructure. The WV is characterized by soft, low-density sediments confined between two mountain ranges, the Oregon Coast Range and the Cascade Range, creating significant lateral contrasts in seismic velocity. Using available geologic, geophysical, and structural data, we constructed new velocity models of the WV basin, varying the basin’s depth geometry and seismic velocity structure. To test these models, we performed numerical simulations of three M~4 local crustal earthquakes, and compared our synthetic ground motions with recorded data. Our findings indicate that the sedimentary structure of the WV plays a significant role in amplifying ground motions from local earthquakes. This has important implications for seismic hazard assessments in the region, and highlights the need for a detailed representation of the WV’s shallow structure in regional seismic velocity models. By refining the understanding of the WV’s impact on ground motion, this research contributes to more accurate seismic hazard assessments in the Pacific Northwest, showing the possible regional amplification
MECHANISMS OF MEMBRANE TARGETING AND ACTIVATION OF PHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL-4-PHOSPHATE 5-KINASES (PIP5Ks)
Full text linkThe ability for cells to localize and activate peripheral membrane binding proteins is critical for signal transduction. Ubiquitously important in these signaling processes are phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP) lipids, which are dynamically phosphorylated by PIP lipid kinases on intracellular membranes. Functioning primarily at the plasma membrane, phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinases (PIP5K) catalyzes the phosphorylation of PI(4)P to generate most of the PI(4,5)P2 lipids found in eukaryotic plasma membrane. Recently, we determined that PIP5K displays a positive feedback loop based on membrane-mediated dimerization and cooperative binding to its product, PI(4,5)P2. In Chapter II of this dissertation, we examine how two motifs contribute to PI(4,5)P2 recognition to control membrane association and catalysis of PIP5K. Using a combination of single molecule TIRF microscopy and kinetic analysis of PI(4)P lipid phosphorylation, we map the sequence of steps that allow PIP5K to cooperatively engage PI(4,5)P2. We find that the specificity loop regulates the rate of PIP5K membrane association and helps orient the kinase to more effectively bind PI(4,5)P2 lipids. After correctly orienting on the membrane, PIP5K transitions to binding PI(4,5)P2 lipids near the active site through a motif previously referred to as the substrate or PIP binding motif (PIPBM). Our data reveals that the PIPBM has broad specificity for anionic lipids and serves a critical role in regulating membrane association in vitro and in vivo. The strength of the interaction between the PIPBM and various PIP lipids depends on both the membrane density and the extent phosphorylation on the inositol head group. Overall, our data supports a two-step membrane binding model where the specificity loop and PIPBM act in concert to help PIP5K orient and productively engage anionic lipids to drive the positive feedback during PI(4,5)P2 production. In Chapter III, we follow up on a recent study that showed PIP5K exist in a weak monomer-dimer equilibrium in solution but can shift to a dimeric state following membrane association. Dimerization potentiates PIP5K function, increasing lipid kinase activity 20-fold, providing a possible mechanism for the rapid PI(4,5)P2 generation seen during signaling events. In Chapter III we established a novel FÖrster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) biosensor to detect and quantify PIP5K dimerization on supported lipid bilayer technology using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRF-M). This FRET biosensor allows for the frequency and duration of PIP5K dimerization to be quantified with high resolution. We used this FRET biosensor to demonstrate that human PIP5K paralogs (α, β, and γ) are able to heterodimerize. Previous studies have shown that PIP4K enzymes inhibit PIP5K enzymes by an unknown mechanism. Here, we use the FRET biosensor to demonstrate the mechanism of inhibition is via blocking the dimer interface. The creation of this PIP5K dimerization FRET biosensor establishes a novel assay for examining how proteins and peptides modulate membrane-mediated dimerization of PIP5K, which will be critical for elucidating the mechanisms that control cellular PI(4,5)P2 lipid homeostasis in the future.2025-10-3
Temporal Progression of Drosophila Neural Stem Cells Promoting Neuronal Diversity
Full text linkHow are complex nervous systems generated? During development, a small pool of neural stem cells generates a diverse array of cell type diversity that forms a functional brain. Remarkably, this neuronal diversity is generated in a predictable order. In this dissertation, I report my work in understanding how neural stem cells of the developing Drosophila melanogaster, known as neuroblasts, are temporally patterned. My work has established a single-cell RNA sequencing atlas of the early larval stages of neurogenesis that identified key regulators of how neuroblasts progress from a quiescent to a proliferative state. My subsequent studies focused on neuroblast lineages that generate the central brain of the adult. I show that the transcription factor Seven-up is required for switching the production of early to late neuron identities and progressing Type 2 neuroblasts to the end of their lineage (i.e. death). Finally, I show the temporal transcription factor Castor is required for specifying neuron identities born in early larval Type 2 neuroblast lineages. My work shows significant advancements in understanding how the fly brain is generated and provides fruitful future directions to pursue
“I Don’t Know My Way Around Here Anymore”: Representations of Loss of Home in Novels and Memoirs by Contemporary East German Authors
No full textIn this dissertation, I analyze how contemporary German-language literature by authors from East Germany expresses the theme of losing one’s home. I explore whether and how they process their experiences of loss during the Wende through their writing. To achieve this, I conduct a close reading of three novels that address the loss of home following the unification of Germany: Neue Leben and Simple Storys by Ingo Schulze, and Wie es leuchtet by Thomas Brussig. Additionally, I provide necessary context by drawing upon personal narratives from two memoirs: Zonenkinder by Jana Hensel and Eisenkinder by Sabine Rennefanz.In Neue Leben, I analyze the letters of the protagonist Enrico Türmer to his sister, his friend Johann, and his fiancée Nicoletta. These letters, written in the first half of 1990, are published and annotated by an editor who pretends to be Ingo Schulze and is interested in Türmer, who has disappeared without a trace. Wie es leuchtet is based on individual plot strands developed separately from one another, which come together in a mosaic-like arrangement, creating a snapshot of German transformation. Brussig mixes fiction with actual events and individuals, bringing to life an essential part of the loss of home in Germany. In Simple Storys, 29 seemingly uncomplicated narratives reveal the collapse of an entire world in small everyday incidents. Ingo Schulze depicts the loss of his protagonists’ home, taken by surprise by world history, with precision, humor, and empathy. For Jana Hensel and Sabine Rennefanz, unification meant less a newly acquired freedom than a state of ‘metaphysical homelessness.’ In their memoirs Zonenkinder and Eisenkinder, they describe their childhood in the GDR, which was marked by uprooting and social change.
The main contribution of this dissertation is to contextualize novels about the Wende and the loss of home, allowing for comparisons and highlighting intertextual references that have not been previously analyzed in this way. This dissertation contains literary representations, symbolisms, figures, and references that have not been coherently linked and conceptualized in interdisciplinary terms in previous studies.2027-02-1
Journalism in the AI Era: Opportunities and Challenges in the Global South
Full text linkAn AI revolution in journalism is reshaping how we produce, distribute and consume news. This transformation promises creativity and innovation in newsrooms. However, it also presents significant challenges in areas such as ethics and equity. Existing narratives about AI adoption are often Western-centric, yet access to this technology differs worldwide, as do the problems faced by journalists and newsrooms. To address this imbalance, in October 2024, the Thomson Reuters Foundation surveyed more than 200 journalists – all alumni of their training programmes – from 70+ countries across the Global South and emerging economies to explore their adoption of AI, as well as their hopes and fears about journalism in the AI era
Search for heavy, long-lived, charged particles with large ionisation energy loss in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV using the ATLAS experiment and the full Run 2 dataset
Full text linkLong-lived Supersymmetric particles offer an exciting sector of BSM physics that is not fully explored, but could be produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in proton-proton collisions of √s = 13 TeV. This thesis describes the search for long-lived sleptons using a highly-ionizing ditrack signature. It is a continuation of a previous search which used a single track and targeted long-lived R-hadrons and charginos. The ditrack selection has greater sensitivity for pair-produced staus with lifetimes of 10 ns or longer. The staus would present as high-momentum tracks with high ionization energy relative to the minimum-ionizing SM particles of similar momenta, and are detectable, using ATLAS’s Pixel Detector to measure ionization energy loss. These massive particles do not have simple SM backgrounds which can be easily simulated, but rather can be mimicked by detector effects and mis-reconstructions. As such, a data-driven method is formed to estimate the background. This analysis utilized the full ATLAS Run 2 dataset with integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1, and did not observe an excess of events which would indicate a discovery of long-lived staus. For meta-stable lifetimes of 3, 10, and 30 ns, long-lived staus of masses less than 420, 615, and 620 GeV were excluded at 95% confidence level, and stable staus were excluded for rest masses less than 520 GeV. This dissertation contains yet unpublished material
