### Monday, October 5 - Tuesday, October 6

Abstract: The absolute orientation of the two orthogonal components of a seismometer in the horizontal plane is an important parameter for a wide range of seismic investigations, but it is unknown for ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) deployed using traditional methods. Modern analyses attempt to determine the orientation using both active and passive methods, the former of which are often prohibitively expensive and the latter of which rely on body or surface waves from regional and teleseismic earthquakes. Calculations based upon only one type of waveform (e.g. body waves or just one frequency of surface waves) can be systematically biased by heterogeneities and unmapped structures in the Earth. We present a method utilizing all available waveform information, including body waves, fundamental mode surface waves, surface wave overtones, and differential pressure gauge (DPG) data, to invert for a final orientation angle. We test our algorithm on OSN and PLUME OBS datasets, and find it compares favorably to the high-accuracy spectral eigenvalue decomposition used to calculate surface wave arrival angles. The computational speed and relative lack of user input are additional benefits of our code.

# Akana Noto

### Sunday, August 9 - Friday, August 14

Abstract: Background/Question/Methods: Environmental variability and the frequency of extreme events are predicted to increase with climate change. It is especially important to understand the effects of this change in salt marshes because, as climate changes, their continued ability to provide protection against storm surges and flooding will become increasingly important. Despite that, the role of environmental variability in shaping community composition, diversity and function is not well understood. Identifying current patterns of association between measures of community function and climatic means and variability will help elucidate the ways in which altered variability and mean conditions may change communities in the future. We used long-term plant community data from salt marshes along both coasts of the continental United States to determine the associations among environmental variability on different timescales, community stability and diversity. Results/Conclusions: We found that mean temperature, mean precipitation and seasonal variability of temperature were related to salt marsh community stability, but interannual variability was not. Sites with greater seasonal variability in temperature showed more stable diversity than less variable sites. Species richness was closely related to mean precipitation but not variability. The strength of these effects differed on the east and west coasts of the United States, although the direction of the trends was often the same. These results indicate that salt marsh community stability and species richness are both likely to be affected by changes in mean precipitation but not changes in precipitation. Differences in seasonal variability in temperature will likely affect stability but not diversity. Changes in environmental variability and mean conditions are therefore likely to have important but distinct effects on communities. Thus, forecasting the future of biodiversity in a changing climate requires understanding how variation on different timescales affects both community diversity and stability.

# Ali Ebrahim

### Wednesday, September 16 - Thursday, June 18

Abstract: The physiological state of a cell is largely determined by the activity of all the members of the proteome. Here, we develop and apply a workflow to synchronized multiple omic data types with a genome-scale model of metabolism and expression (ME) in Escherichia coli to determine enzyme activities that are fully consistent with the physiological state of the cell. Using omics data sets from various environmental conditions, we found that the protein-to-mRNA ratio (indicative of ribosomal activity) remains condition-independent on an individual gene basis. We also found the turnover rate of hundreds of metabolic enzymes were relatively condition-invariant. These findings represent the largest scale determination of enzyme activities in vivo to date. We show that the determined condition-invariant enzyme activities enable prediction of condition-specific transcriptional activation and repression. Therefore, quantitative expression data from one condition enables prediction under many new growth conditions, adding significant value and utility to the data. Thus, ME models provide a multi-scale mechanistic framework that allows synchronization of genomic, transcriptomic, fluxomic, and bibliomic data types leading to prediction of physiological functions.

# Anahita Abbasi Hafshejani

### Monday, June 29 - Monday, July 6

Abstract: some words about the piece that Is going to be premiered during this Festival/ Master course. Distorted Attitudes IV /Facile synthesis dedicated to Quatuor Diotima Distorted Attitudes IV/ Facile synthesis is the fourth piece in this cycle, which is an observation on various perspectives and mindsets in society, some of which we would describe as distorted. Distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, sound, or waveform. Distortion is often unwanted; in some situations, however, it is desirable. Distorted Attitudes IV/ Facile synthesis traces the integration of disparate traits, attitudes, and impulses to create a complete personality. In short, the violins and the viola are becoming cello. They are on the one hand different shapes of a cello, and on the other hand, individual beings with their own characteristics and qualities. The difference between their shapes has a vital influence on the quality of their sound. Within their own physical limitations, they embody individual attitudes even while following the same process towards a shared end result. All the instruments are treated both as though they were one and as though they were different qualities of a scattered unity. The constituent elements of separate materials, sound qualities, and abstract entities will transform into a single unified entity. Struggling to unify, Facile synthesis challenges whether such reconciliations are possible.

### Saturday, October 17 - Wednesday, October 21

Abstract: Simulating the spatial and temporal dynamics of synaptic plasticity The efficacy by which an upstream neuron evokes downstream responses via a particular synapse can be considered the â€˜weightâ€™ or 'strength' of that synaptic connection; with synaptic strengths being directly related to the postsynaptic levels of AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs). Memory formation is thought to involve dynamic changes to these otherwise stable synaptic weights. Indeed the ability of synaptic weights to remain stable over long time-periods and undergo evoked change is considered a fundamental feature of the brainâ€™s information storage schema, and is currently the most compelling description of the neural analogs that underlie learning and memory. While synaptic regulation of AMPARs is considered fundamental to brain information storage, several basic questions remain unresolved; these include (a) how temporary signals induce metastable changes to synaptic strengths, and (b) how synaptic weights are maintained over long durations. This project explores these two unknowns using MCMC modeling; a multiplex stochastic model was developed to simulate AMPAR trafficking in-and-around synapses. Primary model components included: (1) receptors that diffuse along a 3D dendritic surface, (2) a dynamic actin filament network, and (3) multivalent synaptic/scaffold-associated proteins (SAPs) that could interact with surface receptors, actin filaments, and other SAPs. This model unifies experimental data on structural and molecular dynamics, and simulates these processes in 3D space.

# Colton Lloyd

### Wednesday, September 16 - Friday, September 18

Abstract: Since the introduction of the first model of E. coli metabolism in 1990, metabolic models (M-models) have continued to grow in scope and content, thus improving their predictive accuracy and capabilities. Along with the development of the models, which are now genome-scale, constraints-based reconstruction and analysis (COBRA) techniques have also evolved to solve the models in new and useful ways. These predictions made using COBRA techniques and M-models have proven to be relatively accurate when determining the metabolic capabilities of the cell (i.e. theoretical yield, growth rates, etc.). They often fail, however, when predicting the reaction network flux state of the cell and when predicting reaction pathway usage. More recently, models have developed which integrate the production and assembly of the expression machinery required to catalyze metabolic reactions (ME-models). This effectively acts as a way to incorporate a â€œcostâ€ for each metabolic reaction within the cell/model. Although simulations using ME-models have the benefit of a an increase in predictive capabilities and accuracy, they suffer from a significant increase in model size (2583 M-model reactions vs 76414 ME-model reactions) and complexity compared to the corresponding M-model. For this reason, the ME-models that have been published require a learning curve to understand, modify and simulate the model. Here we present a new framework, coded in Python and built over COBRApy, for building and simulate the E. coli-K12 MG1655 ME reconstruction, iOL-1650. This resulting model is a fraction of the size of iOL-1650, can be manipulated using methods similar to those used in COBRApy, and solves using a binary search implementation (10-6 tolerance) in less than 10 minutes.

# Christian Cole

### Tuesday, December 15 - Sunday, December 20

Abstract: Abstract: Transmembrane proteins are critical for signaling, transport, and metabolism, yet their reconstitution in synthetic membranes is often time-consuming and challenging. Non-enzymatic and chemoselective methods to generate phospholipid membranes in situ would be powerful tools for the straightforward incorporation of membrane proteins. Here we describe the spontaneous reconstitution of functional integral membrane proteins during the de novo synthesis of biomimetic phospholipid bilayers. Such an approach takes advantage of non-enzymatic bioorthogonal coupling reactions to generate proteoliposomes from micelle-solubilized proteins. Using this methodology, we successfully reconstitute three different transmembrane proteins into synthetic membranes. This is the first example of using non-enzymatic chemical synthesis of phospholipids to prepare proteoliposomes.

# Chun-shu Wei

### Tuesday, August 25 - Saturday, August 29

Abstract: Recent advances in mobile electroencephalogram (EEG) acquisition based on dry electrodes have started moving Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) applications from well-controlled laboratory settings to real world environments. However, the application mechanisms and high impedance of dry electrodes over the hair-covered areas remain challenging for routine everyday use. In addition, whole-scalp recordings are not always necessary or applicable due to various real-world constrains. Therefore, alternative montages for EEG recordings to meet the everyday needs are in-demand. Inspired by our previous work on measuring non-hair-bearing steady state visual evoked potentials for BCI applications, this study explores the feasibility and efficacy of detecting cognitive lapses of participants based on EEG signals collected from the non-hair areas. Study results suggest that informative EEG features associated with lapses could be assessed from non-hair-bearing areas with comparable accuracy obtained from the whole-scalp EEG. The design principles, validation processes and promising findings reported in this study may enable and/or facilitate numerous BCI applications in real-world environments.

# Erin Tracy

### Monday, July 27 - Saturday, August 1

Abstract: For SUMAC, I am excited to present collaboratively generated movement material that explores somatic experiences in theatrical landscapes. This work centers on the inherent performativity of human bodies in shared creative spaces and it translates this quality into set performance for live audiences. Working on a team to make movement material demands some degree of improvisation-based dance making. For all of its intents, collaboration is a performance of ideas communicated by our socially choreographed bodies. Often, these initial musings go on a journey throughout the process and end up as a result the initial proposer never would have created alone. My choreography captures and reconstructs these moments of physical and verbal communication in order to create micro-movement events to share throughout the duration of the conference. In their re-creation, my intention is to maintain the quality of spontaneity and the pure materiality of the human body in its function of expressing somatic choreographic inspiration. For this piece I strive to show the transformation in performance quality as the work is rehearsed and then lifted from the arena of shared workspace and transported in front of an audience of mentors and future collaborators in the field of dance theatre. This work seeks to interrogate and collapse the space between making and showing original collaborative dance.

# Hristos Courellis

### Thursday, October 22 - Saturday, October 24

Abstract: Experimental investigation and monitoring of reward signaling implicated in addiction and neurological disorders has traditionally been limited to invasive measurement of deep-brain dopamine activity. Here we introduce a systematic methodology and algorithmic pipeline to quantify causal relationships between regions of interest (ROIs) in the cerebral cortex revealing reward-based signaling pathways involved in human decision making using only non-invasive scalp electroencephalography (EEG). The data is processed by extracting epochs around time-locked stimuli of interest and performing independent component analysis (ICA) on individual datasets to remove artifacts and identify cortical sources. The pipeline entails identifying ROIâ€™s with the Measure Projection Toolbox (MPT) through clustering of ICs, localizing current sources in these ROIs using Bayesian inference based constrained low resolution electromagnetic tomography (cLORETA), and computing causal relationships between ROIâ€™s using the Source Information Flow Toolbox (SIFT). The proposed methodology and pipeline are demonstrated on 64-channel scalp EEG signals recorded from healthy adults performing a reward-based decision making task conducted through a brain computer interface (BCI) framework. In comparison to a standard method for Group-ICA, our pipeline generates far more biologically plausible and consistent causal connections between ROIs.

# Jennifer Hsu

### Friday, September 25 - Thursday, October 1

Abstract: In this research, developments for a system consisting of a physical model of the voice for use in performance with a live saxophonist is presented. For intuitive control of the voice model, a method for specifying the sounding frequency of the voice model is devised. Using several subglottal pressure and vocal fold frequency pairs as inputs to the voice model, a look-up table is filled with the sounding frequency from each synthesized voice signal. Fitting curves to the table data allows for the calculation of the correct valve frequency to input to the voice model to synthesize a voice signal at a desired sounding frequency and subglottal pressure. A technique for extracting frequency trajectories from live saxophone input and using these trajectories as input to the voice model is also explored.

# Landon Klein

### Saturday, October 17 - Wednesday, October 21

Abstract: N,N-dialkyltryptamines are known to act non-selectively as agonists at 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors. However, the contributions of these receptors to the behavioral effects of N,N-dialkyltryptamines are unclear. Recently, illicit sources have made available an expanded repertoire of N,N-dialkyltryptamines, including N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and homologues with one or both methyl groups extended to ethyl or propyl groups. In light of increasing use of these compounds, we investigated their behavioral pharmacology in mice. The head twitch response (HTR), a behavior mediated by 5-HT2A, is often used as a rodent proxy for hallucinogenic effects in humans. Using a head-mounted magnet and a magnetometer coil to detect head movement, we found that IP treatment with DMT (0.625-10 mg/kg), N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine (MET; 0.625-10 mg/kg), N,N-diethyltryptamine (DET; 0.3-3 mg/kg), and N,N-dipropyltryptamine (DPT; 0.625-10 mg/kg) induced the HTR in C57Bl/6J mice, suggesting that activity at 5-HT2A contributes to the behavioral effects of these compounds. Additionally, the Behavioral Pattern Monitor (BPM) was used to assess the effects of DMT, MET, DET, and DPT on exploratory behavior. When administered at 30 mg/kg IP, all four compounds reduced locomotor activity and investigatory behavior. Since previous BPM experiments demonstrated tryptamine hallucinogens to reduce locomotor activity by activating 5-HT1A (Halberstadt et al., 2011), we assessed the contribution of 5-HT1A to these locomotor effects by comparing the effects of DMT, MET, DET, and DPT in 5-HT1A wild-type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice. Interestingly, the involvement of 5-HT1A in locomotor hypoactivity depended on the length of the N-alkyl groups. The effects of DPT were completely absent in 5-HT1A KO mice, while the effects of DET were partially attenuated in the KOs. By contrast, DMT and MET produced similar responses in WT and KO mice, and the effect of DMT was not blocked by the 5-HT1A antagonist WAY-100,635. Our findings demonstrate that the behavioral effects of N,N-dialkyltryptamines depend, at least in part, on the 5-HT2A receptor, and indicate a variable role for the 5-HT1A receptor depending on the length of the N-alkyl groups. Human clinical trials indicate subtle differences in the effects of DMT, DET, and DPT. In light of our findings, these subjective differences may result from differential interaction of these compounds with 5-HT1A. Experiments are in progress to determine the receptor(s) responsible for the effects of DMT and MET in the BPM.

# Marito Hayashi

### Sunday, September 27 - Friday, October 2

Abstract: ROSTROCAUDAL DIVERSIFICATION OF SPINAL CORD CIRCUITS. Different regions of the spinal cord govern diverse motor behaviors such as respiration, forelimb movements, and hindlimb movements through the activity of interneurons and motor neurons. In the developing spinal cord, molecularly-defined classes of interneurons and motor neurons are generated along the dorsoventral axis. Furthermore, along the rostrocaudal axis, motor neurons exhibit distinct molecular identities and control specific muscles. However, which components of the spinal circuits differ at a microcircuitry and molecular level and how they govern the activity of motor neurons in different segments to potentially underlie diverse motor behaviors are not well understood. We examined whether spinal interneurons may be further diversified along the rostrocaudal axis by studying one of the excitatory interneuron classes, V2a interneuron, as an example. V2a interneurons have been shown to be important in locomotor behaviors and, in cervical segments, in reaching behaviors, motivating us to examine genetic and anatomical underpinnings of diverse functionalities of this class of interneurons along the rostrocaudal axis. We have found V2a interneurons are diversified by downregulating the conventional V2a marker gene chx10/vsx2 along the rostrocaudal axis during embryonic development. We examined whether this rostrocaudal diversification relates to differences in anatomical and functional connectivity of V2a interneurons in different spinal segments. Modified rabies viral tracing revealed lumbar V2a interneurons synapse onto motor neurons more than cervical V2a interneurons. Furthermore, channelrhodopsin-assisted photoactivation of lumbar V2a interneurons resulted in more reliable motor neuron spikes than cervical V2a interneurons, together suggesting V2a interneurons exhibit distinct connectivity to motor neurons in different spinal segments. We speculate that rostrocaudal diversification of V2a interneurons, and potentially other spinal neurons, during embryonic development may serve as a substrate for emergence of distinct neural network structures in different spinal segments, which may ultimately contribute to potential distinct network operations underlying diverse motor behaviors.

# Nan Zou

### Saturday, August 8 - Thursday, August 13

Abstract: When testing seasonal unit roots in a semi-parametric setting, the block bootstrap method is not directly applicable if the innovations have periodic components. In this talk we propose seasonal block bootstrap seasonal unit root test as a remedy, with illustrations of its asymptotic and finite sample behavior.

# Nazita Lajevardi

### Wednesday, July 22 - Saturday, July 25

Abstract: In this paper, we explore linkages between legislators and their constituents in an ever-growing technological era. Communication is critical for cultivating a legislator's "home style" and in their e-newsletters, legislators disseminate information on their activities (Mayhew 1974). Member-initiated communications provide an opportunity to reach their constituents, portray a specific image of themselves (analogous to their "home styles"), and justify their choices (Yiannakis 1982; Grose, Malholtra, and Van Houweling 2015). Today, e-newsletters function as a means to reach politically-engaged constituents (Yiannakis 1982). Using legislators' e-newsletters gathered over a period of two years, we are the first to examine how members display their "home styles." Through both unsupervised and supervised methods in text analysis, we explore several open questions in the literature. First, from a representational perspective, we test whether legislator's "home styles" reflected in e-newsletters in fact mirror their constituents' preferences by classifying topics and by analyzing their associations with our covariates using Structural Topic Model (Roberts et al. 2014). Second, we examine how electoral safety and ideology affect the language of bipartisanship, negotiation, and Washington "insider" vs "outsider" styles in e-newsletters using supervised learning methods. Text analysis allows us to critically examine legislator communication in a sophisticated way without the costs and biases of previous studies.

### Tuesday, September 1 - Wednesday, September 2

Abstract: Summoning the Wind, Calling the Rain: Chinese Weather Control During the Great Leap Forward For thousands of years, the Chinese state has tried to predict and manipulate the weather. This paper will explore the science and politics of Chinaâ€™s weather control program in the late 1950s. Contrary to contemporary American opinion, the Chinese were not wholly reliant on weather engineering expertise from other countries, nor did they single-mindedly pursue applied research. Newly available documents from Stanfordâ€™s Cadre Archive demonstrate that Chinese meteorologists and physicists undertook substantial basic research with considerable support from the central government and military. With these new sources, it is possible to trace the evolving sophistication of Chinese weather control technology. While learning from the international state-of-the-art, Chinese weather engineers pursued self-sufficiency and independence. The documents illuminate Chinaâ€™s motivations for weather manipulation. As their country struggled to feed its citizens during the Great Leap Forward, scientists explored methods for promoting rainfall, preventing hail and frost from damaging crops, and tapping the energy of lightning to produce fertilizer. While blaming the misery of collectivization on â€œnatural disasters,â€ the central government also hoped to employ the weather to mitigate the harm of its own misguided policies. Long after most other nations have abandoned large-scale publicly- funded weather engineering, China persists in this endeavor. Rain prevention at the 2008 Beijing Olympics is only the most visible recent example. While the effects of weather control are basically local, a greater global concern is the manipulation of the climate. This technology offers a tempting, unproven, and potentially dangerous way to redeem the sins of unfettered consumption and its attendant environmental degradation.

# Vincent Sherman

### Sunday, October 4 - Thursday, October 8

Abstract: We have mechanistically quantified the extreme tear resistance of skin and uncovered the underlying structural features leading to its sophisticated failure mechanisms. We explain why it is virtually impossible to propagate a tear in rabbit skin, chosen as a model material for the dermis of vertebrates. Four mechanisms of collagen fibril activity virtually eliminate the possibility of crack propagation in notched samples: collagen fibril straightening, collagen fibril reorientation toward the tensile direction, elastic stretching and interfibrillar sliding, all of which contribute to the redistribution of the stresses at the notch tip. These mechanisms, if incorporated into new materials, may lead to materials which have an extraordinary ability to resist failure due to tearing.

# Yupeng Jiao

### Tuesday, September 1 - Wednesday, September 2

Abstract: Scholars have written extensively on millenarian movements and heterodox religious societies in late Imperial China, and several books on the Republican era have also been published recently. However, we have almost no knowledge about their fate in the PRC, except for the vague official propaganda produced during several campaigns against counterrevolutionaries. Newly available archives at Stanford East Asia Library, including confessions of sect members, household registration forms and personal files of CCP members from Shanxi, Hebei and Beijing shed new light on the social composition of such social entities, their eschatological teachings during the Republican-Communist transition period, and the fate of believers. Together with collections of relevant primary sources, The Way of Pervading Unity (ä¸€è´¯é“) scriptures, and local gazetteers published in both China and Taiwan, we are now able to reconstruct a broader picture of millenarianism and religious heterodoxy in the early PRC period from both grassroots-level accounts and official perspectives. Based on the case study of Jiexiu county in Shanxi, this paper aims at figuring out the continuities and discontinuities of millenarianism and heterodox sects from late Imperial period to early PRC, the rationale behind the hostility between the communist state and religious communities, and the ultimate fate of the sects members after the first wave of suppression in the early 1950s. Although the communist regime never ceased to suppress millenarian heterodox sects harshly in post-1949 period, they were never wiped out in China. This project will also shed light on the survival strategy of religion during the heyday of communist movements and also religious revival during the reform era.

Award: \$500.0