VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Consejos: A Closer Look at Parental Advice Heard By Latino Adolescents

Giving advice, or consejos, has emerged from the qualitative literature as a culturally based parent involvement (PI) strategy used by Latino families. However, previous studies have only examined this practice in small samples of parents and children. One aim of this dissertation was to examine the consejos that were heard by adolescent children in a wider population than previously studied. Based on the assumption that parents might shift their advice-giving practices depending on the resources that are available to them as well as the characteristics of their child, another aim of the study was to examine whether the messages that adolescents heard varied depending on the constraints and allowances in their proximal environments (i.e., resources in the school, from parents, and capabilities within the student). Special attention was paid to the context of the relationship of parent and child as a key factor that might influence the type of messages parents relayed and how their children received them. Another goal was to investigate adolescents’ perceptions of the consejos they heard, namely, whether they found them useful as they navigated high school and whether these perceptions changed when there were variations in the adolescents’ resources. Participants included 240 Latino adolescents from two urban high schools in Northern California. A new instrument was developed based on previous qualitative studies to assess the types of consejos that students heard and how useful they found them. Overall, the adolescents reported hearing many of the consejo messages and found them fairly useful in helping them do their best at school. Closeness to a parent (or other adult in the family) was the main contextual factor associated with how many messages adolescents heard overall and in several content domains. Varying resources at the school, parent, and student levels were associated with how useful students perceived the different types of consejos. This study contributes new information about how widespread different kinds of consejos are in a much larger sample than previously studied. It also sheds light on the dynamic nature of cultural practices and the diversity among Latino families by showing that variations in structural and individual resources were associated with differences in how consejos were given and received.

Advisor: Holloway, Susan
Textual Classication of SEC Comment Letters

The purpose of this study is to identify important SEC comment letters and examine the mechanisms by which they affect firm value. The SEC periodically reviews public-company financial statements, issuing comment letters in response to disclosure deficiencies, to ensure that investors are provided with material information, and to prevent fraud. Given that comment letters consist of unstructured text, statistical text classification may be an effective technique to identify comment letter importance. The information in comment letters is distributed over several separate filings and they are not widely cited by the press or analysts as information sources, which may result in investor inattention and underreaction to their disclosure. I utilize negative abnormal returns following comment letter disclosure as the primary indicator of comment letter importance, and develop a Naive Bayesian classification model that signals important comment letters from their text features that are associated with the indicator. In a holdout sample, the text classification model correctly identifies important comment letters between 10 and 40 percent better than chance. The average out-of-sample abnormal return for firms with signaled comment letters is -5.8 percent during the 90 days post-disclosure, but only when the comment letters were viewed on EDGAR. Signaled comment letters are associated with lower persistence of profits and increased material restatements in the year following comment letter disclosure.

Advisor: Dechow, Patricia M
A Unified Approach Toward the Total Syntheses of Prenylated Indole Alkaloid Natural Products

Abstract/nA Unified Approach Toward the Total Syntheses of/nPrenylated Indole Alkaloid Natural Products/nby/nEduardo Valentin Mercado-Marin/nDoctor of Philosophy in Chemistry/nUniversity of California, Berkeley/nProfessor Richmond Sarpong, Chair/n/nThis dissertation describes our approach toward a unifying synthesis of prenylated indole alkaloid natural products. Chapter 1 is an introduction and provides background to this class of natural products, focusing primarily on the isolation, biological activity, biosynthetic, and previous synthetic work of these natural products. This section also includes a discussion of synthetic approaches to the common bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane core embodied in many of these natural products, which sets the stage for our entry into these molecules by a unifying route./nChapter 2 describes our entry into this class of natural products focused primarily on our synthetic and biosynthetic work toward natural products lacking the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane core. In particular, we discuss the first chemical syntheses of the prenylated indole alkaloids citrinalin B and cyclopiamine B. Along with unambiguously establishing the structures of these natural products, in collaboration with the Berlinck group, we provide evidence for the existence of a common bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane containing precursor as an intermediate to natural products that lack this structural feature./nLastly, Chapter 3 describes our unified strategy for the synthesis of prenylated indole alkaloid natural products, capitalizing on our results described in Chapter 2. This unifying strategy has resulted in the syntheses of stephacidin A and 17-hydroxy-citrinalin B. Key to the success of this approach in accessing congeners containing and lacking the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane core was a complexity building isocyanate capture to forge the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane core from a common all fused precursor.

Advisor: Sarpong, Richmond
Studies on the Organometallic Reactivity of Gold(III)

The work contained in thesis represents our efforts towards a fundamental understanding of gold in the context of redox cycling. The use of late transition metals in catalysis typically relies on two or more readily accessible oxidation states for bond breaking and bond forming events. However, the heaviest coinage metal does not enjoy such a wealth of reactivity and has been comparatively unexplored./nChapter 1 summarizes the research by our group and others in advancing the concept of redox active gold catalysis. Two strategies that differ on the use sacrificial oxidants to affect catalysis are described, as well as our efforts to improve on the performance of bimetallic gold catalysts through a ligand design approach. A brief survey of fundamental reactivity of Au(I) towards oxidative addition is also presented, to provide context for our studies as described in the subsequent chapters./nChapter 2 describes our studies on the C(sp2)–C(sp2) reductive elimination of biaryls from Au(III). Low temperature NMR studies revealed and characterized an unexpectedly rapid process that is mechanistically distinct from previous studies on C(sp3)–C(sp3) reductive elimination from Au(III). In addition, our preliminary efforts towards the development of a gold-catalyzed biaryl cross-coupling were informed by these studies on reductive elimination./nChapter 3 focuses on our investigations of a photochemical oxidative addition of CF3I to Au(I) complexes. This type of transformation was initially described for the oxidation of phosphine-supported Au(I) alkyl complexes; however the use of phosphine-supported Au(I) aryl complexes allows for the isolation and characterization of organometallic Au(III) complexes containing the –CF3 moiety. These complexes are also capable of C(sp2)–CF3 bond forming reductive elimination upon halide abstraction at low temperature and represent a unique class of compound in this regard./nChapter 4 builds on the results from chapter 3 and focuses on the effects of halide ligands on the C(sp2)–CF3 reductive elimination from Au(III) at elevated temperature. A series of Au(III) complexes containing each member of the halide family (I, Br, Cl, and F) were prepared and the effects of these ancillary ligands on the selectivity of C(sp2)–CF3 vs. C(sp2)–X (X = halide) elimination from Au(III) were characterized. The selectivity can be tuned by choice of halide ligand, and this phenomenon is attributed to increasing Au–X bond strengths which correlate with an increase in selectivity for C(sp2)–CF3 elimination.

Advisor: Toste, F. Dean
Strength From Within: the Chinese Internal Martial Arts as Discourse, Aesthetics, and Cultural Trope (1850-1940)

My dissertation explores a cultural history of the body as reflected in meditative and therapeutic forms of the Chinese martial arts in nineteenth and early twentieth-century China. Precursors of the more familiar present-day taijiquan 太極拳 and qigong 氣功, these forms of martial arts techniques focus on the inward cultivation of qi 氣 and other apparently ineffable energies of the body. They revolve around the harnessing of “internal strength” or neigong 內功. These notions of a strength derived from an invisible, intangible, yet embodied qi came to represent a significant counterweight to sports, exercise science, the Physical Culture movement, physiology, and other Western ideas of muscularity and the body that were being imported into China at the time./nWhat role would such competing discourses of the body play in shaping contemporary ideas of embodiment? How would it raise the stakes in an era already ideologically charged with the intertwined issues of nationalism and imperialism, and so-called scientific modernity and indigenous tradition? This study is an inquiry into the epistemological and ontological ramifications of the idea of neigong internal strength, tracing the popular spread of the idea and its impact in late Qing and Republican China vernacular discourse. I pay particular attention to how the notion of “internal strength” might shed light on thinking about the body in the period. Using the notion of neigong as a lens, this project examines the claims of the internal forms of Chinese martial arts, and the cultural work that these claims perform in the context of late Qing and Republican China. I locate the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the key formative period when the idea first found popular conceptual purchase, and explore how the notion of neigong internal strength became increasingly steeped in the cultural politics of the time./nConsidering the Chinese internal martial arts not only as a form of bodily practice but also as a mode of cultural production, in which a particular way of regarding 'the body' came to be established in Chinese vernacular culture, may additionally yield rich theoretical fodder. How might such claims about a different kind of “internal strength” revisit or disrupt modernist assumptions about the body? The project highlights the neglected significance of the internal martial arts as a narrative of the Chinese body. More broadly, it suggests fresh avenues for scholarship on the body, in showing how these other-bodily "ways of knowing" took on meaning in the period and beyond.

Advisor: Jones, Andrew F.
Nanoscale Properties of Low-Dimensional Crystalline Organic Semiconductor Films

The self-assembly and optoelectronic properties of model crystalline organic semiconductor films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Small molecule organic semiconductors serve as model systems for the active materials in organic electronic devices. Applications such as organic solar cells and light-emitting diodes rely on organic polymers and small molecules for their properties but the performance of these organic devices could still yet be improved compared to the inorganic-based devices. The aim of this work is to study different structure-property relationships in model organic systems to gain a better understanding for designing organic electronic material. Other spectroscopic and structural techniques are used to complement the spatial mapping capability of AFM, providing a more comprehensive view of the fundamental processes governing organic semiconductor films. First, self-assembled oligothiophenes with different surface functionalization are studied for the role humidity has on the electronic properties of a monolayer film. In-situ AFM and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show that the water vapor is found to change the electronic properties of films with hydrophilic surface termination groups leaving hydrophobic films unaffected. Next, different indigo small molecules are self-assembled at the air-water interface into crystalline structures. The role of intermolecular interactions is found to play a critical role in the indigo crystal morphology. The self-assembled indigo crystals are studied by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy revealing the presence of H-aggregate formation during self-assembly. Further studies of the electronic properties of the indigo crystal films are performed using electrical AFM techniques and field-effect transistors. Finally, a scheme for the fabrication of flat field-effect transistors using graphene photolithography is presented. Graphene field-effect transistors are fabricated and tested providing a platform to study more accurately thin organic semiconducting films. This dissertation demonstrates the advantage of studying model systems of organic semiconductors with nanoscale precision with the aim of designing better performing organic electronic devices.

Advisor: Salmeron, Miquel
Somorjai, Gabor A
Proteins in Aqueous Nanodrops: Folding, Unfolding, and Gas-Phase Conformations Measured by Mass Spectrometry

Methods for measuring ultrafast (1 µs) protein folding reactions, for forming highly charged protein ions, and for measuring the sizes and shapes of gas-phase protein ions are presented in this dissertation. Ultrafast protein folding is measured using rapid mixing from theta-glass emitters (double-barrel electrospray ionization emitters), in which reagent solutions are loaded into the different barrels of the emitters and rapid mixing occurs during electrospray ionization (ESI). Acidified aqueous solutions containing unfolded proteins are mixed with buffered aqueous solutions using the theta-glass emitters in order to increase the solution pH and induce protein folding during ESI. Reaction times in these experiments are obtained from the extent of folding that occurs and from folding time constants of model proteins. A 1.0 µs reaction time is achieved in these experiments, whereas only reactions occurring in 8 µs or greater could be monitored using rapid mixing techniques previously. A 2.2 µs folding time constant for the formation of a β-hairpin in a 14 residue peptide and the 1.5 and <0.4 µs folding time constants for the formation of polyproline II helix structures in 21 and 16 residue peptides, respectively, are obtained. To the best of our knowledge, these are the fastest folding events that have been directly measured using a rapid mixing device. In the second method presented here, highly charged protein ions are formed by ESI simply by using emitters with submicron outer diameter tips rather than the micron or larger outer diameter tips typical used for ESI. Increased charging is obtained with the submicron outer diameter tips for proteins that are positively charged in solution as a result of Coulombic attraction between the positively charged protein molecules in solution and the negatively charged glass surfaces in the tips of the emitters, which results in protein unfolding occurring prior to ESI. Using submicron outer diameter tips is a simple way to obtain highly charged protein ions with ESI that does not require exposing the proteins to additional chemicals. The final method presented here is for relating the drift times of ions in travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS) with collisional cross sections using computational simulations. Collisional cross sections obtained using this method with gentle instrument conditions are very similar to those obtained using static drift ion mobility spectrometry (average difference = 0.3%), demonstrating for the first time that collisional cross sections can be obtained from single TWIMS drift time measurements.

Advisor: Williams, Evan R
Essays on Delegated Portfolio Management and Optimal Contracting

This dissertation is a compilation of three papers that investigate the role of optimal contracting in a delegated portfolio management setting. While the study of optimal contracts in classical principal-agent setup has been extensively studied, relatively few have been studied in the context of delegated portfolio management in finance. And even delegated portfolio management papers in finance, there are still several open questions and unresolved issues that are beyond the scope of a standard principal-agent problem./nIn Chapter 1, I study a continuous-time principal-agent problem with drift and stochastic volatility control. While the problem with drift-only control by an agent has been extensively studied recently, very few existing papers allow an agent to endogenously influence volatility. Endogenous volatility control is particularly important in delegated portfolio management settings as volatility is one of the defining aspects of modern financial portfolio management./nIn Chapter 2, I study a model that encompasses dynamic agency, delegated portfolio management and asset pricing. Traditionally, the fields of ``asset pricing'' and ``corporate finance'' are studied independently of each other. However, as the modern portfolio management industry blooms in size and influence, the role of the portfolio manager and the contracts that are extended to them arguably has a role in the securities that they invest in, and hence in equilibrium, the asset pricing implications of the market overall. This paper is an attempt to bridge ``asset pricing'' and ``corporate finance'' (specifically interpreted to mean delegated portfolio management contracting) into one./nIn Chapter 3, I study whether a principal investor is better off delegating most of his money to a single portfolio manager (centralized delegation), as opposed to multiple portfolio managers (decentralized delegation), especially when there is the possible presence of moral hazard. With the size of the hedge fund industry and growing empirical support that moral hazard is a growing risk among hedge fund managers, it becomes imperative to understand when an investor decides to delegate his money, should it be delegated in a more centralized or decentralized fashion.

Advisor: Manso, Gustavo
Anderson, Robert M.
Essays in Peer Effects and the Economics of Crime

This dissertation contains three related articles on peer effects and the economics of crime. The first article, “Distortion of Justice: How the Inability to Pay Bail Affects Case Outcomes” shows how pretrial detention increases the likelihood that defendants will plead guilty and will plead to less favorable terms. The second article, titled “Breaking Bad: Mechanisms of Social Influence and the Path to Criminality in Juvenile Jails” shows that peer effects in juvenile correctional facilities affects future crime, and discusses potential mechanisms. The third article, titled “Tests of Random Assignment to Peers in the Face of Mechanical Negative Correlation: An Evaluation of Four Techniques” presents a novel test of random assignment to peer groups and evaluates it alongside three others using simulations.

Advisor: Magruder, Jeremy
Blurring the Boundaries of Struggle: The United Construction Workers Association (UCWA) and Relational Resistance in Seattle's Third World Left

My dissertation, Blurring the Boundaries of Struggle: Relational Resistance and Seattle’s Third World Left, challenges an ongoing tendency of social movement historians to interpret the racial politics of the late 1960s in narrow terms. While few scholars still entertain Todd Gitlin’s notion that the rise of Black Power and other “identity movements” resulted in the “declension” of 1960s social movements, contemporary civil rights histories still portray this period as a time of interracial strife. Yet, opposed to past studies that focus on black and white disunity, more recent studies emphasize examples of racial discord between communities of color. Once again, the emphasis placed on conflict obscures a more significant historical development. In the backdrop of the radicalization of domestic anti-racist movements and decolonization movements abroad, activists of color articulated a common political identity as “Third World people,” which expressed a shared relationship with racism, capitalism, and colonialism. To capture the new political and social relationships that developed between self-proclaimed “Third World leftists,” my dissertation advances the concept of relational resistance: a process by which communities with different experiences of racial oppression begun defining their liberation in relation to and in solidarity with one another./nTo explore this concept, I focus on Seattle’s movement culture in the 1970s and 1980s, a distinctly multiracial “contact zone” of people, ideas, and social movements. A unique brand of working-class solidarity emerged out of this political milieu that revealed the multiracial contours of Seattle’s Black Power Movement. Black workers in the United Construction Workers Association (UCWA) and their allies throughout the Pacific Northwest rallied around the concept of “No Separate Peace.” Through an analysis of archival documents and interviews of over twenty movement participants, I have organized my dissertation into two parts to analyze the multiple ways No Separate Peace functioned as a form of relational resistance. In part one, I explore key events and critical moments where the struggles of Black and other aggrieved racial groups converged and cross-fertilized. Part two then shifts into an examination of the discourse that surrounded relational resistance. Specifically, I interpret No Separate Peace, and other concepts developed by UCWA activists as “languages of solidarity” that conceptually linked the experiences of distinct groups. In sum, my research sheds light on the expansive world of solidarity that emerged from movements that are too narrowly defined as simply “identity politics.”

Advisor: Taylor, Ula Y