VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
“Better Than I Was Yesterday”: A Qualitative Analysis of Motivations to Self-Track

Despite the growing body of literature involving self-tracking data, relatively little research has studied why people choose to self-track of their own volition. This paper presents results from a questionnaire of 1200 college students, focusing specifically on their motivations to self-track, which behaviors they would want to track, and why. Results show a high overall motivation to self-track that supports the self-improvement hypothesis— that is, students are predominantly motivated to self-track by self-insight, behavior change, or both. Furthermore, qualitative analysis reveals numerous complex and interrelated sub-motivations to self-track, including intraindividual comparison, goal attainment, and habit maintenance. These results contribute to an understanding of what motivates individuals to self-track, what they hope to achieve from self-tracking, and what behaviors they would most like to understand or change. As self-tracking studies provide rich, comprehensive data from which to measure and predict behavior, these findings thus illustrate promising future directions for researchers interested in how to best design such studies to yield optimal results.

Keywords:  Department of Communication
Stanford University Department of Communication
digital media
self-tracking
motivation
Thesis
Advisor: Hancock Jeff
Between Tomboy Anxiety and the Cult of Girlishness: An Analysis of Gender Norms and Transgressions in China’s Post-socialist Children’s Literature

Focusing on novels of Yang Hongying and Cao Wenxuan, which are the most popular and widely recognized works of children’s literature in twenty-first century China, this paper explores normative gender performances and the anxiety of gender transgressions, both of which form binary gender with assigned gendered roles and performances in Chinese society. This paper argues that, vacillating between the nation’s dominant ideologies of stabilizing gender norms and sociocultural trends of liberating people’s bodies and minds, children’s literature in the post-socialist period presents tomboy anxiety and the cult of girlishness, which were widely accepted and carried out by Chinese people.

Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
Stanford Global Studies
East Asian Studies
China
Children's Literature
Gender
Thesis
Advisor: Lee Haiyan
Bioinformatic approaches for investigating the impact of 16p11.2 deletion in the developing neocortex

An estimated 1 in 59 children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevel- opmental condition associated with behavioral alterations and atypical neural connectivity. Research suggests that ASD risk factors acting at mid-gestation may bias the brain towards an abnormal developmental trajectory. Of the genetic risks for autism, 16p11.2 deletion is among the most common, accounting for up to 1% of genetic ASD cases. I hypothesized that loss of 16p11.2 region genes alters the transcriptome of cell types in the developing brain. In addition to genetic risks for ASD, immune events during pregnancy are increasingly impli- cated in ASD etiology. For example, children who are born to mothers who were diagnosed with an infection during pregnancy are at higher risk of developing ASD. Our lab has modeled the effects of midgestational immune events in mice at a time window that coincides with the development of cortical structures implicated in ASD, and finds a selective loss of Satb2-ex- pressing callosal projection neurons. Existing epidemiological studies demonstrate that the neurodevelopmental outcome of infants affected by both a collection of ASD risk CNVs and MIA are worse than either insult alone. Given the overlap in cell types affected by MIA and 16p11.2 CNV, I hypothesized that the effects of 16p11.2 deletion on the developing brain may be modulated by the addition of another common ASD risk factor in a manner that may be unique to that combination of risks. I will present work demonstrating in both human and mouse models that heterozygous loss of 16p11.2 region gene transcripts alters the transcriptome of the developing brain and creates vulnerability to MIA. In Chapter 1, I will use mRNA-Seq to describe the transcriptional impact of 16p11.2 deletion in a model of early human neuroepithelium derived from a novel resource of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). In Chapter 2, I will use single cell mRNA- Seq (scRNA-Seq) to observe the impact to transcription and fate choice in a mouse model of 16p11.2 deletion. Finally, in Chapter 3, I will leverage this scRNA-Seq model to examine how these effects are modulated by MIA. In addition to this work, I will present two novel tools. First, I describe a method to leverage sequencing data to assist quality control in the generation of iPSC lines. Next, I demonstrate that it is possible to demultiplex pooled scRNA-Seq samples on the basis of sex gene expression. I conclude by proposing new research directions for the study of 16p11.2 biology that emerge from my research that will assist the field in efficiently determining the relationship between 16p11.2 deletion and the development of ASD.

Advisor: Palmer Theo 
Kundaje Anshul
Wysocka Joanna
Wyss-Coray Anton
Biological nitrogen removal as nitrous oxide for energy recovery : process control and modeling

Recently, a new biological nitrogen removal process, Coupled Aerobic-anoxic Nitrous Decomposition Operation (CANDO), was developed for wastewater treatment. The process converts ammonia in wastewater into nitrous oxide (N2O), which can be used for energy recovery. CANDO is a two-step process, first oxidizing ammonia into nitrite, and then reducing to N2O. This thesis investigates both biological reaction steps for their microbial ecology, operation control and performance optimization. The approach to the research questions is reactor-based studies at both pilot-scale and bench-scale. Heterotrophic nitrifiers were found to be the major contributor to stable nitritation (first step) in the pilot-scale system, stimulated by the addition of dewatering polymer and particulate organics in the upstream process. The second step, namely nitrous denitritation, was found to be carried out by heterotrophic denitrifiers capable of accumulating polyhydroxyalkanoates. Optimal carbon to nitrogen input ratio was found to ensure sufficient reducing power for PHA synthesis and subsequent N2O production, and fast enrichment. Moreover, shortening both anaerobic and anoxic phases of an operational cycle was found to improve carbon utilization efficiency and recoverable N2O yield. From follow-up bench-scale studies, key microbial storage compounds were identified based on a better understanding of the mechanisms of nitrous denitritation pathways. A mathematical model was also developed for prediction and optimization of the CANDO process. The findings presented in this thesis showed the scalability and efficiency of implementing CANDO for resource and energy recovery from municipal wastewater

Advisor: Criddle Craig 
Casciotti Karen Lynn
McCarty Perry L.
Birth of the grotesque : dynamics of display in Neronian art and literature

This dissertation argues for shared dynamics within visual and literary culture in the Neronian period. By analyzing literary texts and Fourth Style wall paintings, my project reveals overlapping aesthetics in different media through an exploration of three essential themes: (1) the conflation of fantasy and reality, (2) the prevalence of hybrid forms, and (3) a style that accentuates ornament. In these areas, diverse cultural artifacts emerge as participants in a collective mode of display. As a hermeneutic framework for making these connections, I employ theories of the grotesque, a concept rooted in the Renaissance reception of Nero's Domus Aurea. Around 1480, antiquarians uncovered the subterranean ruins of the structure, and in these "grottoes" they marveled at wall paintings they named grottesche. Artists such as Pinturicchio and Raphael emulated these ancient forms to create a new artistic style, which over the centuries became broadly associated with the strange and fantastic as it developed into what we now call the grotesque. In my work, I define the grotesque as a mode of representation that disrupts normative ways of comprehending the world. It challenges preconceived notions about the stability of natural forms and provides alternative strategies for representing reality. By considering the grotesque, I help explain the Neronian predilection for fanciful and sometimes repulsive imagery as a desire to challenge expectations and to expand aesthetic limits.

Keywords: Classics.
Advisor: Parker Grant Richard
Barchiesi Alessandro 
Krebs Christopher B. 
Squire Michael 
Trimble Jennifer
Blackbox equivalence checking of program optimizations

Program equivalence checking is the problem of formally verifying that two programs are equivalent; a key application is verifying the correctness of compiler optimizations. This thesis describes three advances to the state-of-the-art in equivalence checking. The first is a technique called alias relationship mining which helps improve the scalability of equivalence checkers. The second contribution explores the application of equivalence checking to superoptimization, a speculative optimization technique. Lastly, a new technique called semantic program alignment extends the reach of equivalence checking technology to a broader class of problems.

Advisor: Aiken Alexander 
Barrett Clark C.
Mitchell John C.
Blind at the Museum: Conceptions of Access, Disability, and Inclusion from 1909 to Now

What does it mean to be blind in a museum? How does blindness operate in a space centered on the practice of seeing? Scholars have frequently looked at disability through the lens of physical access, but this research seeks to understand the connections between disability and art by investigating how museums attempt to be accessible to the blind and visually impaired. By way of science and technology studies and disability studies, this analysis will argue that developments in how access is conceived has mirrored changes in the boundary between who counts as able-bodied and who is considered disabled. Through an examination and synthesis of fieldwork, annual reports, news articles, and websites, it situates museum accessibility initiatives for those who are blind within a historical arc by outlining three different periods from the early 20th century to now, and it explores what these initiatives can tell us about the ways societal assumptions about blindness can permeate into art and entertainment spaces. By placing museums in contrast with the individuals who lack the dominant sense typically assumed necessary for participation in museums, this research will provide insight into how cultural understandings of disability affect the ways we think about art and knowledge, as well as who is or isn’t allowed to be a part of these structures.

Keywords: Blindness
Museums
Accessibility
Inclusion
Science Technology and Society
Thesis
Advisor: Mullaney Thomas
Sato Kyoko
Davis Rose
BOND

One of the most crucial predictors of later academic and broader life success is the quality of language input children receive during the early years (Hoff, 2013). While families that engaged in more intergenerational storytelling showed better emotional well-being than their peers whose families shared less personal stories amongst themselves (Fivush, Bohanek & Zanam, 2011), need finding results suggest that there are missed opportunities in families for engaging in deeper conversations. BOND is a suite of free applications that allows families to have meaningful conversations, even if they have only limited time or are on the go. The first piece of the suite that is developed is The BOND Show, a mobile based talk-show, where the parent and their child get to be star guests in a conversation hosted by a cartoon host of their choice. The host asks deep, generative questions from both the parent and the child, making it easier and more fun to engage in rich conversations.

Keywords: ldt
Thesis
Boosting like path algorithms for L1 regularized infinite dimensional convex neural networks

This work falls at the intersection of three fields or research: Neural Networks, Boosting and Sparse Inverse Problems. Neural Networks, despite being very successful, are poorly understood. Convexification has been an important tool in analyzing a single hidden layered network in recent years. Boosting is one of the most popular tools available for non-linear regression and classification. While boosting is a very general idea, only one variety (greedy gradient boosting with trees) seems to completely dominate the field, leaving scope for expanding the applicability of boosting; and also the algorithms used for fitting it. We employ a model for convex neural network which has been previously studied, but our focus will be on actually fitting it. In doing so, we also see that we can better understand boosting. This leads us to greatly expand both the applicability and algorithms for boosting. Given that our formulation of the convex neural network is a sparse inverse problem, the Julia based framework we develop can be used to solve any sparse inverse problem in the various methods we describe with minimal code development. Finally, as a bonus, we see that the methods we present are not just pedagogical but they do have competitive performance on real datasets. They match the performance of not only Neural Networks of comparable complexity that are hard to train, but also that of state-of-the-art boosting technologies like XGBoost with trees.

Keywords: Statistics.
Advisor: Hastie Trevor 
Taylor Jonathan E. 
Tibshirani Robert
Bootcamps : a new path for occupational entry

This dissertation utilizes a unique setting—coding bootcamps—to examine how workers attempt to reskill themselves for growing job areas without traditional organizations serving as the backdrop for their actions. I draw on 80 semi-structured interviews and observations conducted at two bootcamps in Silicon Valley over the course of 17 months of fieldwork. My findings suggest that bootcamps resembled learning collectives where self-learning and learning from peers and near-peers figured more prominently than expert instruction. Under conditions of minimal expert instruction and obstacles to legitimate peripheral participation, I show how aspiring software developers sought out an occupational community in virtual spaces, learned asynchronously from unknown others, developed their practice through mock work among themselves and managed to get hired as a new category of occupational entrant—the bootcamp graduate. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of employability management practices and under-institutionalized learning and socialization processes in contemporary careers.

Keywords: Management Science and Engineering.
Advisor: Barley Stephen R. 
Valentine Melissa (Melissa A.) 
Ferguson John-Paul
Ranganathan Aruna
Bounds for sets with no nontrivial polynomial progressions

In this thesis, we prove quantitative bounds in the polynomial Szemer\'edi theorem in several situations in which no bounds were previously known. In Chapter 2, we prove that if P_1, P_2\in\mathbb{Z}[y] are affine-linearly independent, then any subset of \mathbb{F}_q with no nontrivial polynomial progressions of the form x, x+P_1(y), x+P_2(y) must have size \ll_{P_1, P_2}q^{23/24}, provided the characteristic of \mathbb{F}_q is large enough. In Chapter 3, we prove that if P_1, \dots, P_m\in\mathbb{Z}[y] are affine-linearly independent, then any subset of \mathbb{F}_q with no nontrivial polynomial progressions of the form x, x+P_1(y), \dots, x+P_m(y) must have size \ll_{P_1, \dots, P_m}q^{1-\gamma_{P_1, \dots, P_m}} for some \gamma_{P_1, \dots, P_m}> 0, again provided that the characteristic of \mathbb{F}_q is large enough. In Chapter 4, we prove that any subset of \{1, \dots, N\} with no nontrivial progressions of the form x, x+y, x+y^2 must have size \ll N/(\log\log{N})^{2^{-157}}. In Chapter 5, we prove that if P_1, \dots, P_m\in\mathbb{Z}[y] have distinct degrees, then any subset of \{1, \dots, N\} with no nontrivial polynomial progressions of the form x, x+P_1(y), \dots, x+P_m(y) must have size \ll N/(\log\log{N})^{1-\gamma_{P_1, \dots, P_m}} for some \gamma_{P_1, \dots, P_m}> 0. In the final chapter, Chapter 6, we move to the nonabelian setting and prove power-saving bounds for subsets of nonabelian finite simple groups with no nontrivial progressions of the form x, xy, xy^2.

Keywords: Mathematics.
Advisor: Soundararajan Kannan
Fox Jacob
Manners Frederick
BPS states from geometry and geometry from BPS states

Some of the most-studied vacua of string theory are obtained by compactification of the 10d perturbative theories on a compact Calabi-Yau manifold. Such vacua play a central role in our understanding of string dualities, have provided a setting for the development of black hole statistical mechanics, and provide starting points for quasi-realistic string phenomenology. However, in spite of the importance of these manifolds, their defining characteristic -- their Ricci-flat metrics -- has never been determined (except for tori). This is the case even for the simplest of these manifolds -- K3 -- and until recently this provided a significant obstacle to the study of black hole statistical mechanics for many 4d string vacua with half-maximal (N=4) supersymmetry. I explain how the phenomenon of wall crossing can be exploited to solve these problems. I also describe other contexts that naturally relate string theory, geometry, and BPS state counting problems. A recurring theme will be the utility of approaching problems from a number of perspectives.

Keywords: Physics.
Advisor: Kachru Shamit
Raghu Srinivas
Shenker Stephen Hart
Bridging the gap between processing and performance : morphological characterization of organic photovoltaics using X-ray methods

How can we provide renewable energy with low upfront cost and adaptable installation? This is the question that organic photovoltaics (OPV) seek to answer. OPV devices benefit from inexpensive production, flexibility, and low weight. The performance of lab-made devices has been steadily improving, but there is still a barrier to scaling up production. This is because the efficiency of the device depends heavily on the morphology of the active layer as it self-assembles from solution. In this dissertation, I develop and use X-ray methods to measure the morphology of OPV materials in order to link processing, morphology, and performance. I start with an overview of OPV devices, including a summary of morphological parameters that are of interest. Then I outline the characterization strategies that are currently available. I apply these methods to investigate the links between fabrication, morphology, and performance for two fabrication strategies. In the first part, I analyze the effect of various annealing temperatures on a polymeric material. I conclude that moderate-temperature annealing improves the morphology and performance, while high-temperature annealing results in a side chain cleavage reaction which is favorable to morphology but detrimental to performance. This discrepancy is likely caused by reaction by-products remaining in the film. The similarity of this reaction to degradation caused by irradiation gives clues to the burn-in mechanism which has been widely observed in OPV materials. The second part examines the effect of side chain manipulation on morphology and performance in a polymer:fullerene system. I conclude that high performance is achieved through favorable domain sizes, crystallinity, and packing structure, all of which intimately depend on side chain selection. On the other hand, high performance does not require the existence of a mixed phase, which also depends on side chain selection. I also find that the highest performing system benefits from the self-assembly of the polymer into small aggregates, which is aided by its unique side chain configuration. Next, I develop new strategies for analyzing OPV morphology. The first of these describes a software package that I wrote to help researchers analyze various aspects of X-ray scattering data: normalization and uncertainty in scattering intensity, indexing a scattering pattern to extract a crystal structure, and correction of a scattering pattern for refraction. Lastly, I demonstrate that ptychography may be used for measuring OPV morphology with unprecedented resolution and low beam damage when beam energy is decreased.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Pianetta Piero 
Solgaard Olav 
Toney Michael Folsom
Building high-performance distributed systems with synchronized clocks

Synchronized clocks can be used to improve the performance of distributed algorithms. They put the computers in a distributed system onto a single timeline, allowing the events that happen in the system to be ordered in a consistent way. This dissertation presents two work related to synchronized clocks. The first work is the CRaft consensus protocol. Consensus protocols allow a collection of machines to work reliably in the presence of failures. Today's most widely used consensus protocols, such as Paxos and Raft, usually require a single leader server during normal operation. All client requests go to the leader. This limits the throughput and scalability of such protocols. CRaft is a scalable multi-leader extension to Raft. It runs multiple Raft groups, and uses precisely synchronized clocks to combine the logs from Raft groups. By distributing the load to multiple servers, CRaft achieves higher throughput compared to Raft, while providing the same consistency guarantees as Raft. The second work is the Self-Programming Network dashboard. During the past decade, the networks have evolved to provide more complex functions, such as supporting data-intensive or computation-intensive tasks. The Self-Programming Network dashboard aims to provide network operators and application users a transparent and interactive view into the network, facilitating the analysis and diagnosis of network performance problems. The dashboard visualizes detailed network states, where synchronized clocks are used to process the data.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Prabhakar Balaji
El Gamal Abbas A. 
Rosenblum Mendel
Building in uncertainty : navigating U.S. policy dilemmas in conflict-affected economies

Populations trapped in war-torn regions with limited access to essential services are subject to greater civil unrest and economic instability. Recurring failures have plagued the United States' reconstruction efforts abroad over the last two decades of military interventions despite unprecedented funding. Our research reveals a paradox of competing approaches to avail essential services for those in conflict-affected economies. One faction favors the direct delivery of infrastructure assets, while the other favors training the host nation to deliver its own assets over time. This ostensible dichotomy makes for devastating counter-productivity across the agencies responsible for consolidating security gains, yet few theoretical frameworks exist to assist leaders in navigating competing interests to coalesce international partners in a highly uncertain environment. We posit a novel framework to explain and predict the second-order effects of the revealed paradox on reconstruction outcomes. Our proposed "Dichotomy Framework" supports enhanced decision-analysis and may be useful to leaders in and beyond the empirical setting of conflict-affected economies.

Advisor: Levitt Raymond E. 
Cupp O. Shawn 
Jain Rishee