VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Oral Contraceptive Hormones on Serum Relaxin Levels, Collagen Expression, and ACL Strength in a Rat Model

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) stabilizes the knee and is frequently injured in active populations. Female athletes are two to nine times as likely to experience an ACL tear compared to their male counterparts. Females’ higher levels of a collagen-degrading hormone, relaxin, may drive this disparity. Relaxin’s effects may be modulated by estrogen and progestins, the constituent hormones in oral contraceptives. Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of oral contraceptives on serum relaxin levels, ACL strength, and ACL expression of collagen and collagen-metabolizing matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) using a rat model. While previous animal models have evaluated ACL strength following treatment with female sex hormones, the drug regimens assessed have not modeled human contraceptive formulations, and no prior work has compared different formulations to determine what features of a contraceptive might make it more or less effective for protecting the ACL. Hence in this study adult female rats were treated with one of six oral contraceptive hormone cocktails—each a scaled model of a currently-marketed human birth control pill—for four estrus cycles (20 days).
Oral contraceptive formulations containing higher progestin-to-estrogen ratios were found to improve the strength of the ACL. High progestin-to-estrogen ratio was also associated with higher ACL expression of collagen I, as well as lower expression of MMP1 and the relaxin receptor RXFP1. Treatment with a lower progestin-to-estrogen ratio formulation increased collagen III expression without significantly altering ACL strength or expression of collagen I, MMP1, or the relaxin receptor relative to controls. For all treatment cases regardless of formulation, the influence of hormones on serum relaxin levels was not significant. These findings indicate a potential application for oral contraceptives, particularly those with higher progestin-to-estrogen ratios, in protecting against ACL injury in at-risk female athletes.

Keywords:  Department of Biology
Biology
relaxin
oral contraceptives
ACL
progestin
estrogen
female anterior cruciate ligament injury
Thesis
Advisor: Dragoo Jason
Heller H Craig
Hoffman Andrew
The Effects of El Niño on the Physical and Biological Oceanography of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is a vast and remote marine protected area (MPA) in the Republic of Kiribati. It is home to thriving coral reef and pelagic ecosystems and can serve as a baseline for monitoring global ocean change. It is located in the Central Equatorial Pacific, a region highly affected by El Niño events. This study quantifies the biological and physical oceanographic impacts within PIPA boundaries of the major 2015-2016 El Niño event. The strength and frequency of El Niño events that impact the region are projected to increase as climate change intensifies and background temperatures continue to rise. This study compares and analyzes in situ data collected along a cruise track from Hawaii to American Samoa, remotely sensed data from the Aqua MODIS satellite, and the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI). It was found that the 2015-2016 El Niño event caused a significant increase in sea surface temperature (SST), a decrease in both surface and subsurface chlorophyll-a concentrations, increased stratification and therefore less vertical mixing, decreased surface nutrients, and a shoaling of the nutricline and mixed layer. From 2002-2018, MEI was significantly positively correlated with SST anomaly and significantly negatively correlated with chlorophyll-a anomaly. The findings of this study suggest that as El Niño events increase in frequency and strength due to climate change, we can expect a decrease in net primary production and an increase in persistent and high SST anomalies in PIPA. These changes could have cascading effects on the marine food web and cause mass coral bleaching events, respectively, and have negative implications for the humans who rely on marine resources in the area and around the globe.

Keywords: Stanford University
School of Earth Energy and Environmental Sciences
Phoenix Islands Protected Area
oceanography
El Niño
climate change
marine protected areas
Thesis
Advisor: Arrigo Kevin
Thomas Leif
The Evolution of the Portrayal of Pequeño Seúl in the Mexican Press

In recent years, Mexico City’s Zona Rosa has become home to Pequeño Seúl, a lively Koreatown. This paper aims to further understanding of Pequeño Seúl by examining media representations of the neighborhood over the course of the time. I begin by analyzing the historical contexts and processes in which Pequeño Seúl developed,
identifying Pequeño Seúl as a neighborhood that has established itself rapidly inside the
vibrant, yet declining, Zona Rosa during a period of increasing engagement between
Mexico and South Korea. I then conduct a content analysis of 36 articles from newspapers published in Mexico City from 2000 - 2018 that concern Pequeño Seúl. My
findings suggest a positive shift, beginning in the early 2010s, in the way Mexican
newspapers have depicted Pequeño Seúl. More specifically, I find that negative articles
framing Pequeño Seúl as a space of legal issues and cultural distance have largely been
overshadowed by a proliferation in articles characterizing Pequeño Seúl as a trendy place in which one can experience authentic Korean culture. Ultimately, I argue that this shift in tone can be attributed to Hallyu, or the global rise in popularity of Korean culture, and the Korean government’s efforts to capitalize on this phenomenon in Mexico and across the world.

Keywords: Pequeño Seúl
Zona Rosa
Koreatown
Mexico-South Korea relations
ethnic enclave
Korean immigration
media representation
Stanford University Center for Latin American Studies
Thesis
The French Fourth Republic's Decision to Build a Bomb: Prestige, Politics, and Alliances

Why, during a time of resource drain after the Second World War and ongoing colonial conflicts, did the unstable French Fourth Republic make the decision to build a nuclear weapon? Conventional wisdom suggests that the French pursued atomic weapons to regain their prestige and grandeur on the world stage. This thesis weighs four explanations for the French govern-ment’s decision, prestige, French internal politics, bureaucratic politics, and alliance dynamics, across four decision points from 1952-1958 during which the French publicly discussed the possibility of militarizing atomic energy. Prestige was a necessary factor for nuclear develop-ment across the four decision points, but it is an insufficient explanation. As the program accel-erated, the role of alliance dynamics became an increasingly significant force propelling the French towards nuclear development. During this time period, neither internal politics nor bureaucratic politics consistently propelled the French case and were often factors both motivating and pushing against nuclear development.

Keywords: Center for International Security and Cooperation
France
Nuclear Weapons
Proliferation
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Weapons
Charles De Gaulle
World War II
Thesis
Advisor: Blacker Coit
The Frontier and Spirit Effect: Analyzing the Effects of the Entry of Ultra-Low Cost Carriers on the Airfares of Incumbent Airlines in the United States

Following the consolidation of airlines in the United States in the past fifteen years, the decrease in competition has created room for new players in markets traditionally dominated by legacy carriers like American, Delta, and United. While ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCC) have thrived in regions like Europe and Southeast Asia, the ultra-low-cost model is still developing, albeit at an extremely rapid pace, in the United States. In this paper, I employ a difference-in-differences approach on markets that have experienced the new entry of a ULCC from 2013 to 2017. I estimate the effect of ULCC entry on incumbent carrier airfares as a whole, as well as how individual incumbent carriers responded differently to new ULCC entry. Additionally, I also examine whether the response differed based on the entering ULCC.

Keywords:  Department of Economics
ULCC
LCC
ultra-low cost carriers
low cost carriers
legacies
airfare shocks
airfares
ancillary fees
Spirit
Frontier
Allegiant
Ryanair
Southwest Effect
Department of Economics
Thesis
Advisor: Larsen Brad
The Impact of Parental Wealth on the Transition to Homeownership in Urban China

Nearly 20 years after the commercialization of housing, the intergenerational dimension of housing attainment in China has not been fully explored. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the impact of parental wealth on adult children’s transitions to homeownership. Young people’s transitions from renting to owning are conditional on leaving the parental home, and conversely, the prospect of purchasing a self-owned residence within a short period of time may play a role in the decision about moving out. As successive transitions are perhaps interlinked with each other through people’s anticipation, I combine a bivariate probit selection model with a discrete time event history analysis to jointly model the timing of nest-leaving and home acquisition. Based on four waves of China Family Panel Survey data, I find that offspring of wealthy parents are more likely to become homeowners and tend to do so sooner than others once they become financially independent from the parental household. In the case of urban China, this paper thereby provides evidence that parents’ assets can give offspring a head start in living standards and portfolio build-up during their early adulthood. This paper reveals that housing acquisition is a critical mechanism through which the newly emergent wealth inequality is transmitted across generations in post-socialist China. Additionally, it develops an innovative strategy to address interdependent life course transitions which potentially have broad applications.

Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Stanford Global Studies
East Asian Studies
Housing
Nest-leaving
Life course
Wealth
Urban China
Thesis
Advisor: Walder Andrew
The Impacts of Superfund Site Cleanup on Infant Health

The United States is home to over a thousand “Superfund" sites, toxic waste dumps that pose significant threats to both human and environmental health through the contamination of air, water, and soil. Previous studies have established a statistically significant link between the presence of environmental toxicants and negative birth outcomes. However, there have been no comprehensive nationwide analyses of the impacts of Superfund cleanups on the prevalence of birth outcomes in surrounding areas. In this paper, I match the pollutants present at Superfund sites that were cleaned up between 1983 and 2004, with the observed frequency of congenital abnormalities in the same counties as the cleanups. I then analyze whether Superfund cleanups have a noticeable impact on the occurrence of congenital abnormalities, and whether we can link the removal of specific pollutants to a decrease in the prevalence of specific classes of abnormalities. I find that, at the county level, we do not find uniformly unidirectional results; that is, the data does not affirm that cleanup of a Superfund site necessarily results in a decrease in negative birth outcomes for infants across the same county. These results suggest that the positive benefits of Superfund cleanups on human health at the county level may not be as widespread as may be believed.

Keywords: Department of Economics
toxic waste
pollutants
infant health
public health
Superfund
congenital abnormalities
Thesis
Advisor: Bhattacharya Jay
The Influence of Anti-LGBT Discrimination Laws on School Climate and Outcomes for LGBT Youth

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender high school students face challenges that impede their academic, social, and emotional wellbeing. School policies that provide resources and protections for LGBT students mitigate these challenges, and lead to better outcomes for LGBT students. LGBT adults face challenges in sectors like employment protection and hate crime prevalence, and many states have passed laws that expand protections for these adults. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between state-level, anti-LGBT discrimination policies and high-school student wellbeing by analyzing patterns of policy diffusion and the policies’ effects on schools. Using a mixed methods approach that combines linear regression analysis with qualitative social research of two school district case studies, this analysis will provide evidence on the social benefit of expansive civil rights legislation for LGBT individuals and the spread of its externalities to schools.

Keywords: Public Policy Program
anti-discrimination laws
lgbt rights
school climate
policy diffusion
lgbt education
Thesis
Advisor: Wotipka Christine Min
The Iranian Rubik’s Cube: Understanding the Impacts of Pressure, Engagement, and Domestic Determinants on Nuclear Negotiations with Iran

On July 14, 2015, the P5+1 and Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a landmark nuclear agreement that significantly limited Iran’s nuclear program in return for international sanctions relief and peaceful nuclear cooperation. Starting in 2002, when Iran’s illicit nuclear program was publicly revealed, the international community worked for over a decade to resolve the dilemma, with each attempt at negotiations resulting in failure. This leads one to question, why did the JCPOA negotiations succeed despite over a decade of failed attempts at negotiations? While a number of policymakers credit pressure, specifically economic pressure, with the success of the JCPOA, this thesis finds that economic pressure alone was insufficient to successfully reach a deal. Rather, by analyzing six cases of negotiations with Iran from 2002 to 2015, with information gathered from interviews, government statements and documents, news articles, and secondary sources, this thesis finds that five conditions were necessary to reach an agreement. Those conditions include significant economic pressure on Iran; broad international diplomatic isolation of Iran; a substantive overlap of goals, made possible by a willingness to compromise on critical issues; the prioritization of direct engagement, focused on a discrete objective, as a top foreign policy objective; and, American and Iranian domestic political landscapes that enabled the signing of an agreement.

Keywords:  Center for International Security and Cooperation
Center for International Security and Cooperation
Iran
diplomacy
Thesis
Advisor: Kahl Colin
Bridgeman Tess
The Lifestyle Project: A Review of Wearable Technologies, Motivations, and Health Outcomes in Physical Activity Research

This thesis is a comprehensive literature review, which explores numerous articles, studies, and research with hopes of developing a physical activity intervention. The goal is find the most accurate way to predict physical activity. This review looks at 25 articles and separates them into three separate themes. The themes are (1) wearable technology, (2) motivation & behavior, and (3) mental & physical health. The findings of this review provide evidence that wearable devices help to influence people to be more active through. Studies on many people who use these devices in different environments all share the same feeling of being encouraged to participate in physical activities. Different aspects of this technology attract consumers of this product. People who experience motivational support are proven to be more active than those who do not experience motivational support. Mental and Physical health perhaps provides the strongest support for the need of physical activity. Various literatures show that physical activity acts as a substitute for therapy for people suffering with depression, anxiety, or low mental health. This information can help develop studies that test physical activity interventions for groups who are related to these themes.

Keywords:  Department of Communication
Wearable
motivation
mental health
Thesis
Advisor: Harari Gabriella
The Northern California Megaregion: Identifying Trends for Inter-regional Cooperation

Over the past decade, the different subregions of Northern California (Bay Area, Sacramento Area, San Joaquin Valley and Monterey Bay) have become increasingly interconnected through various aspects of planning areas, such as transportation, goods movement, carbon emission reduction, housing and healthcare. While the traditional methods of government planning that involve Joint Power Associations and Councils of Government may have worked in the past for distinct regions, the growing interconnections across these four Northern California subregions requires a new form of collaborative planning. The purpose of this project is to offer a comparative analysis of two such efforts elsewhere in the U.S., where inter-regional collaboration has been successfully coordinated by a megaregional planning organization. This analysis is then used to provide a discussion of multiple identifiable characteristics of these existing organizations, revolving around three core functions of a successful megaregional planning agency, that may apply in the formation of a Northern California megaregional planning organization.

Keywords:  Public Policy Program
Stanford University
Humanities and Sciences
Public Policy Program
megaregions
inter-regional cooperation
collaboration
government planning
local government
Northern California
Thesis
Advisor: Bruce Cain
The Reform of Public Transit Governance in the Bay Area: A Comparative Institutional Analysis

Why is public transportation fragmented in the Bay Area, and what can be done to facilitate its
consolidation? There are over 20 distinct public transportation entities in the Bay Area, all competing
with one another for a declining rider base. The largest operator covers only approximately 45% of the
region’s overall public transportation market. This contrasts with comparable areas such as New York
City, whose largest operator, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, controls approximately 95% of
the city’s overall public transportation market. I conduct a historic analysis of Bay Area public transit’s
institutional evolution, supplemented by analyses of New York and the region around Seattle. Such
analyses provide insights into how the fragmented status quo arose in the Bay Area. These analyses
draw upon primary historic documents, such as contemporaneous committee reports and newspaper
articles, institutional histories previously drafted about regional public transit, policy reports, legal
statutes, public code provisions, and publicly available memoranda of understanding. Policy
recommendations to help facilitate consolidation in the Bay Area are generated at the conclusion of this
analysis. They are: amending Proposition 218, merging all pre-existing regional entities in the Bay Area,
and imbuing the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with a wider array of administrative powers.

Keywords: Public Transportation
Institutional Consolidation
Comparative Governance
Regionalism
Text
Thesis
Advisor: Hancock Russell
The Reform of Public Transit Governance in the Bay Area: A Comparative Institutional Analysis

Why is public transportation fragmented in the Bay Area, and what can be done to facilitate its consolidation? There are over 20 distinct public transportation entities in the Bay Area, all competing with one another for a declining rider base. The largest operator covers only approximately 45% of the region’s overall public transportation market. This contrasts with comparable areas such as New York City, whose largest operator, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, controls approximately 95% of the city’s overall public transportation market. I conduct a historic analysis of Bay Area public transit’s institutional evolution, supplemented by analyses of New York and the region around Seattle. Such analyses provide insights into how the fragmented status quo arose in the Bay Area. These analyses draw upon primary historic documents, such as contemporaneous committee reports and newspaper articles, institutional histories previously drafted about regional public transit, policy reports, legal statutes, public code provisions, and publicly available memoranda of understanding. Policy recommendations to help facilitate consolidation in the Bay Area are generated at the conclusion of this analysis. They are: amending Proposition 218, merging all pre-existing regional entities in the Bay Area, and imbuing the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with a wider array of administrative powers.

Keywords:  Public Policy Program
Public Transportation
Institutional Consolidation
Comparative Governance
Regionalism
Public Policy
Thesis
Advisor: Hancock Russell
The Role of Mucolipin-1 in Microglia Function and Development in a Zebrafish Model of Mucolipidosis Type IV

Mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease (LSD) characterized by delayed neurological development and severe reduction of psychomotor abilities. Mutations in MCOLN1, a lysosomal cation channel from the transient receptor potential (TRP) family, cause MLIV. Previous studies have successfully modeled MLIV in model organisms including fruit flies, mice, and zebrafish. Growing evidence suggests a link between aberrant lysosomal Ca2+ signaling and defective lysosome function. However, it still remains unclear how mutations in MCOLN1 lead to the debilitating neurodegenerative symptoms of MLIV. In this study, we used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to knockout the two mcoln1 genes present in Danio rerio (zebrafish). Our analysis suggests that mutations in MCOLN1 not only impair the function of lysosomes, but also disrupt microglia in the central nervous system (CNS). Microglia are specialized macrophages that monitor the health of the CNS, phagocytose cellular debris and pathogens, and prune weak synapses during neuronal development. Our functional mutational analysis revealed that mcoln1a-/- and mcoln1a-/-; mcoln1b-/- deficient mutants display abnormally enlarged microglial lysosomes, marked by fluorescent dye LysoTracker Red. Our results suggest that while mcoln1a is essential for microglia function, mcoln1b is largely dispensable. Overall, our analysis reveals a previously undescribed role of MCOLN1 in regulating microglia, which can provide a greater insight into the origins, neurological mechanisms, and progression of MLIV pathology.

Keywords: Mucolipidosis type IV
Zebrafish
Human Biology
Stanford University
Thesis
The Role of Prior Belief and the QUD in Exhaustivity Inference

Over the course of a linguistic exchange, listeners must recover what a speaker means by an utterance, a task that at times requires enrichment of the utterance beyond what is given by semantics alone. In one such inference, exhaustivity inference, a speaker’s utterance is taken to be an exhaustive answer to some mutually known question. This thesis examines the role of context – specifically, the Question Under Discussion – and world knowledge in the form of subjective prior beliefs in exhaustivity inference. The results of two experiments show that listeners incorporate their relevant prior beliefs when drawing an exhaustivity inference. Furthermore, a model of a pragmatic listener in the Rational Speech Act framework whose rationality parameter is inferred from empirical data makes predictions about the likelihood of exhaustive interpretation that resemble those elicited from human participants. Taken together, these results suggest that exhaustivity is a phenomenon dependent on world knowledge, which RSA provides a principled explanation for.

Keywords:  Department of Symbolic Systems
experimental pragmatics
Question Under Discussion
Rational Speech Acts Framework
exhaustivity
Department of Symbolic Systems
Thesis
Advisor: Degen Judith
Potts Christopher