VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Black conceptualism and the atmospheric turn, 1968-2008 [electronic resource]

This dissertation analyzes the work of six African American conceptual artists from the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century who explored the problem of race and representation in the wake of what I term "the atmospheric turn." Although African American art is often connected to visual representations of racialized experience and Conceptual art is regularly positioned as disinterested in political content, an analysis of artistic practices since the late 1960s reveals that artists, both black and white, regularly investigated race as a site of conceptual significance. Throughout the last half of the twentieth century, transformations in race discourse shifted the idea of race from an embodied essence to a social force, in a kind of "dematerialization." I focus on Black conceptual artists who, despite prevailing expectations that their work reflect the black experience, responded through the critique of representation itself, troubling the role of the visual field as the guarantor of racial expression. Their purposeful denaturing of blackness as a visual signifier of race yielded two possibilities: the mobilization of blackness as a conceptual strategy and the embrace of the extravisual dimensions of racial meaning, such as sound, voice, performance, and proprioception. Over the course of four chapters, I examine the artistic practices and theories of African American artists from the Civil Rights generation—David Hammons, Charles Gaines, and performance artist Lorraine O'Grady—and post-Civil Rights generation—photographer Lorna Simpson and sound artists Nadine Robinson and Jennie C. Jones—as they engaged the legacies of Conceptual art to interrogate and challenge the insistent materialization of race. By situating their practices in relation to historical debates on Conceptual art and African American art, and combining formal analysis of artworks with theories of racialization, this project offers an inquiry into the complex intersections of American art, Conceptual art, and African American art that posit the racial self, and blackness, as a productive site of artistic meaning.

Keywords: Art History.
Advisor: Lee Pamela M. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Elam Michele advisor. Thesis advisor
Ma Jean
Wolf Bryan Jay advisor. Thesis advisor
Bobcat distribution and abundance at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in Northern California

Conservation and land management decisions are often based on an understanding of the distribution, abundance, and habitat requirements of wildlife. In this study, I examined the spatial distribution and abundance of the bobcat (Lynx rufus), a mid-sized predator, at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (JRBP) using camera traps. The initial camera trap survey was conducted from 2006 to 2008. I conducted another survey from 2014 to 2015. The comparison suggests that the relative abundance of bobcats has decreased substantially from the 2006-2008 survey to the 2014-2015 survey. This may be due to several factors, including the recent drought, increased human activity and construction, the incidence of notoedric mange, and increased puma abundance. The drought could indirectly affect bobcats by altering vegetation and reducing prey abundance. In both surveys, bobcats and their prey species exhibited crepuscular activity patterns, and bobcat occurrences did not vary by season. The distribution of bobcats was not predicted by canopy type or vegetation cover. As expected, bobcat abundance was positively correlated with prey abundance across both surveys. Human activity was measured only in the 2014 to 2015 survey and did not affect bobcat distribution, likely due to the temporal separation between the diurnal activity of humans and the crepuscular activity of bobcats. Unexpectedly, in the most recent survey, they were most abundant in locations with relatively high abundance of puma. In addition, bobcats and puma had a high degree of diel overlap. This could indicate that puma contribute to the decreased abundance of bobcats by competition or predation. Further research on the impacts of human activity, the recent drought, notoedric mange, and increased puma abundance are necessary, as well as continued camera trap monitoring of bobcats.

Keywords: Dirzo, Rodolfo
Biology, 2015
Department of Biology
Stanford
Ecology and Evolution
ecology
animal behavior
bobcat
lynx rufus
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
Thesis
Books vs. Bombs: Reading Objects in Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient

This thesis uses objects to understand Michael Ondaatje's treatment of his characters' identities and ideologies in the 1992 novel The English Patient. An analysis of books and bombs reveals how these objects' physical and representational qualities shape the characters who interact with them, pointing to a relational model of identity.

Keywords:  Department of English
Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient
postcolonial literature
postmodern literature
identity
ideology
thing theory
objects
books
bombs
World War II
Thesis
Advisor: Majumdar Saikat
Staveley Alice
Bounding Creativity: Explicit and Implicit Constraints in the Design Process Yield More Novel Results

We present a series of human creativity experiments that examined the effects of two styles of constraints — external task requirements imposed by others and internal fixation on values or ideas that are self­-imposed. Counter to prevailing wisdom that late changes to project requirements reduce outcome quality and that design fixation reduces novel concept exploration, we find that both produce more novel results in creative processes. Participants were asked to create static graphic advertisements. The first study introduced participants to a narrowed constraint either at the beginning, middle, or end of the prototyping process. The narrow constraint addressed goal and task requirements by specifying the target audience and ad size. Late constraints were shown to yield more novel results. If explicit constraints can produce more novel constraints, might implicit constraints do the same? The second study examined the effect of fixation on creativity. Higher fixation (induced via preference construction) yielded more novel results. However, this effect reversed when participants were also given late constraints. Designers may not welcome late constraints or design fixation; however, our results showed that boundaries around a creative problem, whether they be imposed by others or oneself, may further optimize ideation and design methodologies.

Keywords: creativity
design process
constraints
design fixation
Thesis
Advisor: Bernstein Michael
Building bigness [electronic resource] : religious practice and social support in rural South India

This dissertation investigates the ways in which people in two villages in Tamil Nadu, India use religious practice to gain insight into the underlying character and intentions of others. More broadly, it is an evaluation of the social causes and consequences of religious action and a test of the "costly signaling theory of religion." In these villages, residents sometimes undertake what can be quite dramatic religious acts: walking on a bed of hot coals, piercing their cheeks with spears, sacrificing animals, and getting possessed. They also pray in their homes, worship at temples, and attend church services. Drawing from survey data providing reputational evaluations and social support network data, this dissertation elucidates the social consequences of religious practice, both for the individuals who undertake these ritual acts, and for the communities of which they are a part. The data show that those who are involved, and involved in costlier ways, in the religious life of the village are not only seen as more devout, but also seen as having a wider suite of prosocial traits. In accordance with those reputational qualities, villagers are more likely to go to a person for support of any kind, if he/she is involved in the religious life of the village. Greater religiosity does not just burden a person with requests for assistance: such individuals are themselves better able to access the social support so necessary to one's livelihood. Many of these supportive bonds are between religious co-participants: shared participation in rituals increases the likelihood of a support tie between individuals, and, at the group structural level, results in more dense and reciprocal ties between participants. These results provide broad support for the costly signaling theory of religion, but also suggest more complex relationships. The scale of the audience (which make some acts "dramatic" and some "subtle") and the diverse types of "cost" (including not only what is endured in carrying out a ritual act, but also the external threats of gossip and censure) mean that there is quite a range of religious acts to be undertaken. Importantly, villagers are differentially able to undertake those various acts because of their relative social positions.

Keywords: Anthropology.
Advisor: Bird Rebecca (Rebecca Bliege) primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Luhrmann T. M. (Tanya M.)
Jones James Holland advisor. Thesis advisor
Sosis Richard
Thiranagama Sharika advisor. Thesis advisor
Building the nation, binding the state [electronic resource] : nationalism, insecurity, and ethnic tolerance in Kyrgyzstan

Following an outbreak of ethnic violence in 2010, the Kyrgyz Republic embarked on an ambitious program of promoting a Kyrgyz-centric form of national identity. The international community reacted with alarm, worried that the "Kyrgyz-i cation" of the country would lead alienate minorities and encourage more violence from the Kyrgyz, while the Kyrgyzstani government argued that Kyrgyz culture was itself under threat, and that solidifying its position within Kyrgyzstan would ultimately reduce tensions. These arguments reflect a wider and more abstract debate within the political science literature about the dangers and benefits of nationalism, the challenges of building national identity in a multi-ethnic context, and the relationship between nationalism and ethnic violence. Using a combination of interviews, ethnography, and survey experiments, I find that exposure to nationalist propaganda reduces feelings of insecurity on the part of ethnic Kyrgyz, which in turn reduces their propensity to view members of minority groups as threats. This, in turn, makes ethnic violence less likely. Minority group members, in turn, are willing to tolerate Kyrgyz culture, language, and history receiving a certain amount of privilege within the Kyrgyz Republic. However, the content of nationalist propaganda can vary considerably, and in cases in which it advocates hostility towards minorities it can do great harm.

Keywords: Political Science.
Advisor: Haber Stephen H.
Blaydes Lisa
Driscoll Jesse
Laitin David D. advisor. Thesis advisor
Building the Neural Circuit: Neuronal Extracellular Matrix Components Required for Proper Synapse Formation and Morphology

Despite synapse formation’s central role in neurological development, its underlying mechanisms still remain to be fully characterized. Until recent years, molecular studies of this process have largely ignored the neuronal extracellular matrix (ECM), as well as the basement membrane proteins that define the extent and functionality of the region. However, due to their localization at neuronal cell surfaces, basement membrane proteins are now increasingly being identified as prospective mediators of the guidance mechanisms necessary for proper circuit assembly.
This investigation further develops an emerging role for the neuronal ECM in synapse formation. First, we describe a novel model of defective synapse formation in C. elegans, characterized by a loss-of-function allele for GON-1, a basement membrane protein (of the ADAMTS metalloprotease family) with putative ECM remodeling functions. Unbiased genetic screens carried out on this gon-1-/- background revealed neuronal ECM proteins with both enhancing and suppressing effects on the synapse-formation-defective phenotype. These modifier screen hits were then assayed for reproducible exacerbation or amelioration of this phenotype via both genetic knockout and translational inhibition experiments, implicating several in a cohesive, ECM-specific synapse development pathway centered on the GON-1 protein.
Ultimately, this pathway must be characterized if neurobiologists are to understand nervous system development on a cellular level. In the meantime, these mechanisms are expected to provide vital insight into neurodevelopmental disorders (with particular optimism regarding autism spectrum disorders) and the demands of viable nerve tissue repair strategies, which will have enormous clinical significance in the coming decades.

Keywords:  Department of Biology
Stanford University
Department of Biology
Department of Pathology
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
developmental neurobiology
synapse formation
neuronal extracellular matrix
C. elegans
genetic screen
RNA interference
pathway mapping
Thesis
Advisor: Shen Kang
Fernald Russell
Kurshan Peri
Buy it Now: An Analysis of the Effects of Buy Prices in Auction Listings

The rise of online auction platforms in the past decade has presented a wealth of new data and puzzling effects to researchers. New listing strategies and parameters created to give both sellers and bidder flexibility have also led the way for new types of listings. This paper explores the potential behavioral effects of simultaneously listing an auction with a fixed price option using data from eBay. It looks specifically at how the fixed price option—known as the Buy it Now (BIN) option on eBay—affects bidder behavior and how this translates into seller outcomes. It looks at (1) whether or not the BIN price has an effect on the final sale price of an auction, and (2) whether this effect can be attributed to anchoring. Two main results arise from this study. The first is that BIN prices have a positive effect on expected seller revenue, especially when the BIN price is more persistent and when the item is more unique. In the case of the former, this is caused by the higher probability of BIN exercise and in the later, this is caused in part by the pure existence of the BIN price. Second, bids anchor to the BIN price, which can help explain the mechanism through which final sale prices rise with the BIN price. This result is significant because in contrast to previous literature, it suggests that sellers might still benefit by setting a BIN option with effectively zero probability of exercise.

Keywords:  Department of Economics
Internet auctions
online markets
anchoring
bidder behavior
Stanford Department of Economics
Thesis
Advisor: Einav Liran
Buyer strategies to maintain suppliers in development-intensive supply chains [electronic resource]

The semiconductor equipment, aerospace, and defense industries are becoming ever more consolidated in today's globalized industrial scene: a few market-dominating buyers work with an ever-decreasing number of major suppliers for reasons including industry maturity, demand consolidation, and increasing capital intensity. All giant buyers such as Intel, Apple, Boeing, and the U.S. Department of Defense not only have to obtain critical equipment from a single supplier or a small number of suppliers but are also concerned about procurement decisions that may ultimately affect suppliers' incentives to perform R& D and stay in business. My dissertation research formulates and analyzes stylized game-theoretic models composed of two suppliers of different priority tiers, a preferred focal supplier and a partner supplier less preferred by the buyer. These two suppliers develop a product subject to financial pressures, and supply a powerful buyer who can influence their finances as well as development capabilities. I demonstrate the viability of several strategies for the buyer: (1) egalitarian value allocation schemes in the face of relationship decline, (2) commitment to develop partner suppliers against increased supplier asymmetry, and (3) commitment to competitive price targets and value-sharing to induce supplier collaboration.

Keywords: Management Science and Engineering.
Advisor: Erhun Feryal primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Hausman Warren H. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Lee Hau Leung advisor. Thesis advisor
BUZZ: The Impact of Positive User Sentiment on Startup Company Valuations in the USA

In this paper, I exploit organic user buzz to reveal that investors view
positive user data as a proxy for future user acquisition and company growth.
After conducting venture capital investment analysis, I show that companies
that experience higher degrees of market excitement receive higher levels of
interest from investors. The more user buzz a startup receives, the more
likely it is that it will, first, participate in an additional funding round, and,
second, receive a higher valuation in the next funding cycle. My analysis also
finds that venture capitalists are not yet adept at predicting market
excitement for a particular product at earlier funding stages. Instead, they
are more likely to apply a “spray and pray” early-stage investing approach.

Keywords:  Department of Economics
Stanford University
Department of Economics
startup
consumer technology
venture capital
financial valuation
user acquisition
stages of funding
Crunchbase
Stanford University
Department of Economics
Thesis
Advisor: Bresnahan Timothy
Calcium influx regulates actin dynamics, ER remodeling and CRAC channel localization at the immune synapse [electronic resource]

T-cell receptor (TCR) binding to peptide-MHC (pMHC) on an antigen-presenting cell initiates a signaling cascade leading to calcium entry through calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels. The role of calcium in activation of gene transcription programs essential for T-cell activation has been well studied, but effects of calcium on proximal signaling events remain poorly understood. The broad aim of my thesis is to better understand how calcium influx influences formation of a highly ordered signaling interface between the T cell and antigen-presenting cell known as the immune synapse. At the synapse, actin reorganizes into a concentric lamellipod (LP) and lamella (LM), and retrograde actin flow supports sustained signaling by the TCR. While the CRAC channel components STIM1 and Orai1 are known to localize to the synapse, how this occurs and their influence on synapse formation and function are unknown. In the first chapter of this thesis, I introduce to the structure and function of the immune synapse and describe what is known about the mechanisms driving actin remodeling and calcium influx at the synapse. In the second chapter, I investigate the mechanisms that control localization of CRAC channels to the immune synapse and the effects of calcium influx on actin organization and dynamics at the synapse. Using an in vitro model of the synapse, we find that retrograde actin flow corrals the ER and STIM1/Orai1 complexes to the center of synapse and that calcium influx through CRAC channels is required for creating a distinct LP and LM and for driving retrograde flow. calcium mediates this effect by promoting actin depolymerization and restricting polymerization to the distal edge of the LP. These results uncover a new role of calcium as a master regulator of actin organization and dynamics at the synapse, and reveal a positive feedback loop in which calcium influx promotes TCR function through its effects on actin dynamics. In the third and final chapter, I discuss the physiological implications of our findings as they relate to T-cell signaling and suggest future studies to probe role of calcium influx in T cell activation.

Advisor: Lewis Richard (Richard Sheridan) primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Butte M. (Manish)
Davis Mark M. advisor. Thesis advisor
Theriot Julie advisor. Thesis advisor
Can nonprofits lead a movement for economic justice? [electronic resource]

The purpose of this dissertation is to use sociological theory to investigate how we might get a movement for economic justice in the United States. I argue that the participation of low-income and poor people is crucial to securing good solutions to poverty. I then suggest that participation could begin in the very civic institutions that make it their mission to alleviate poverty: nonprofit charities. After describing how I collected and analyzed my data and providing context in Chapter 2, the bulk of the dissertation addresses three questions related to that participation. First, how do low-income people define poverty and what does this imply about the types of solutions they might want to participate in? Second, what kinds of benefits do they reap from participation? And, third, what kinds of challenges do organizations face when they try to incorporate more participatory programs -- particularly community organizing -- and how can these challenges be overcome?.

Keywords: Sociology.
Advisor: McAdam Doug primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Grusky David B. advisor. Thesis advisor
Powell Walter W. advisor. Thesis advisor
Can't we all just get along? Native-born Americans' perspectives on race and immigration [electronic resource]

How do native-born Americans understand and react to immigration-driven diversity? My dissertation explores this question in three distinct empirical projects. Using a combination of original survey experiments and longitudinal (panel) survey data, I examine the causal effects of a growing, racially diverse immigrant population on the attitudes and behaviors of native-born Americans. In the first paper I find that even as immigrants achieve social mobility, they are unable to break down the symbolic racial boundaries that White Americans believe separate themselves from others. In the second paper I find that immigration is leading to divergent views of racial social distance among native-born White, Black, and Latino Americans. However, identifying the precise mechanisms through which growing immigrant communities produce causal effects on Americans' attitudes and behaviors is more complicated than previous research would suggest. The final paper in my dissertation begins to tackle this question using longitudinal survey data, and finds that 'White flight' from growing local immigrant communities, rather than attitude change, explains the association between the size of local immigrant populations and public opinion on immigration. All together, these three papers suggest that while immigration-driven change is leading to some signs of racial progress, overwhelmingly White Americans continue to view society through highly racialized lenses which exclude most immigrant-origin groups.

Keywords: Sociology.
Advisor: Jiménez Tomás R. (Tomás Roberto)
Olzak Susan advisor. Thesis advisor
Rosenfeld Michael J.
Segura Gary M.