VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Peak

Feedback is instrumental for improving performance. In professional environments, feedback has the potential to drive both organizational and individual development. Yet performance management processes are largely ineffectual. Extensive research demonstrates that individuals on both leadership and employee levels lack confidence in existing feedback processes. Peak is a mobile app for professional teams that seeks to transform the way we give, receive, and perceive feedback at work. Rooted in learning science theory, Peak teaches users to define goals that pave a clear pathway for growth, to self-assess performance and progress, and to construct feedback that is informative and conducive to learning. We integrated learnings from academic and user research to design an experience that is 1) mobile, 2) integrated, 3) collaborative, 4) scaffolded, 5) adaptive, 6) ongoing, and 7) personal. We have tested chunked segments of Peak and propose next steps to continue to increase its potential for impact. Our hope is that in putting Peak in the hands of all members of a team and integrating it into everyday work processes, it will push out an organizational culture of feedback and truly transform feedback at work.

Keywords: feedback
performance management
feedback conversations
feedback at work
adult learning
goal setting
self-reflection
metacognition
self-assessment
feedback intervention theory
deliberate practice
protege effect
Thesis
Performative modernity [electronic resource] : Shanghai style Peking opera in pre-war Shanghai, 1872-1937

My dissertation explores the dynamic relationship between Chinese theater and the city of Shanghai between 1872 and 1937, and its wider effects on Chinese modernity. Peking opera, a hybrid art form of singing, dancing, acrobatics, and storytelling, is generally thought as having two characteristics: a traditional art form and an art that is closely tied to the city of Beijing. However, such an understanding fails to take into account a series of exciting developments that occurred to Peking opera in Shanghai. During 1872 and 1937 in Shanghai, the constant negotiations about the form, the content, and the purpose of Peking opera—along with the changing mechanisms of cooperative authorship, the emergence of a mass-media based critical community, an expansion of thematic subjects treated, and the audience's new multi-faceted engagement with the opera—all point to a complicated epistemology that emerged concurrently with Shanghai's urban transformation. My study argues that Peking opera in its current form was fundamentally created in the cosmopolitan and concession-based city of Shanghai at the turn of the twentieth century, motivated by the emergence of Chinese modernity. Moreover, Peking opera in turn shaped Chinese modernity and helped form the cultural and political identity of Shanghai.

Keywords: East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Advisor: Egan Ronald
Wang Ban
Sun Chao
Phase change optical antennas [electronic resource] : applications of germanium antimony telluride for the dynamic control of light

As materials are reduced from bulk quantities to micron or sub-micron dimensions, remarkable changes in the optical properties of these materials appear. Over the past several decades, the physics of these small structures has been studied, leading to a host of novel ways to control light. The devices which achieve this control are referred to as optical antennas, in analogy with their radio-frequency counterparts. In this thesis, we illustrate a model for understanding the optical properties of antennas fabricated out of dielectric materials using conventional semiconductor processing methods, such as etching or lift-off. This model, which operates faster than standard brute-force full-field simulation methods, reveals the existence of two classes of Fabry-Perot type resonances in such structures. Knowledge of these separate modes enables us to manipulate them using the properties of adjacent materials, including the substrate on which the antenna is placed. After developing this theory, the intuition is applied to the design of antennas using so-called phase change chalcogenide materials - that is, the alloys of germanium, antimony, and tellurium. These materials show uniquely large refractive index contrasts in the near- to mid-infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. While previous studies have applied films of these materials near established optical device designs, our project demonstrates the first individual, patterned phase change optical antennas. The antennas perform remarkably well, allowing the post-fabrication tuning of an optical resonance over a free spectral range, from 3.2 to 4.5 um. Finally, from our experience developing these antennas, we propose and fabricate a second generation of phase change optical antennas. The newer design is based on coupled metallic nanorods, and enables independent optimization of the phase change and optical behavior of the antenna device. We show a proof-of-principle experiment in which the resonances of such antennas are also tunable post-fabrication, and we suggest a path towards measurements on individual, electrically-controlled devices.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Brongersma Mark L. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Miller D. A. B. advisor. Thesis advisor
Vuckovic Jelena advisor. Thesis advisor
Photoinactivation of bacteria [electronic resource] : effects of physiology, water conditions, and sunlight intensity

Declining water quality along the world's coastlines threatens ecosystems and human health. Exposure to coastal waters polluted with pathogens from wastewater causes in excess of 120 million gastrointestinal and 50 million severe respiratory illnesses globally each year. In those coastal environments, field observations suggest sunlight is one of the most important factors modulating pathogen concentrations; however, there is an imperfect understanding of the extent to and the manner in which sunlight damage the pathogens. This dissertation aimed to link several physical and biological factors to the decay efficacy of bacteria by sunlight. The findings from this dissertation will improve our ability to forecast fecal indicator bacteria concentrations, design proper mitigation strategies for pathogenic bacteria, and overall reduce risk to public health. The work for the dissertation was organized into five research chapters. The first research chapter focused on the potential of the yellow carotenoid pigment in Enterococcus to provide protection from sunlight, first through field observations then through direct laboratory measurements. The second research chapter further explored the biological factors affecting photoinactivation, where it was found that the physiological state of the Enterococcus faecalis cells upon the application of the solar irradiation affected the photoinactivation kinetics. The work presented in the third and fourth research chapters began to link some biological factors with the physical factors of the water, specifically the presence of exogenous photosensitizers. These two chapters use a wide range of health relevant bacteria (8), photosensitizers (5), and types of sunlight (2), which allowed for a greater breadth of analysis. Through this greater breadth, it was found that the bacterial membrane, photosensitizer properties, and degree of UVB light intensity determined the contribution of the exogenous mechanism to the overall bacterial photoinactivation. The last research chapter started to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the field, finding that a simple linear regression model based on UVB light intensity could largely predict inactivation rate constants in natural waters of any depth and absorbance. Taken together, the results form this work provide insight into the mechanisms of photoinactivation, potential applications of models to predict photoinactivation kinetics, and design factors for engineered systems utilizing sunlight.

Keywords: Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Advisor: Boehm Alexandria primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Luthy Richard G. advisor. Thesis advisor
Mitch William A. advisor. Thesis advisor
Physical and biogeochemical constraints on hexavalent chromium generation within soils and sediments [electronic resource]

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is an emerging contaminant of the twenty-first century of critical importance for human and ecosystem health. As our understanding of known Cr(VI) sources expands from industrial point sources to include pristine soils and sediments throughout the globe, this contaminant poses a dramatic threat to Earth's surface and groundwaters. Given the potential for naturally occurring Cr(III)- minerals to transform into toxic and highly mobile Cr(VI) within unperturbed aquifers, determining the processes responsible for Cr(VI) concentrations is critical to predict release and assess future human health risk. Within this thesis, I first evaluate Cr(VI) groundwater concentrations throughout California to investigate how industrial activity and shifts in land/water use patterns enhance Cr(VI) generation relative to native rates. Next, I explore the mechanism of Cr(VI) oxidation within physically-structured soils and sediments and examine the competitive microbial and geochemical processes that govern Cr(VI) generation and transport. Finally, I show how Cr(VI) groundwater concentrations are ultimately constrained by the physical heterogeneity in soils and sediments and fluctuations in hydrologic conditions. This research combines geospatial analysis, dynamic laboratory microcosms, and reactive transport modeling to investigate the controls on Cr cycling within the environment. Together, this multi-scale investigation of Cr(VI) generation and transport enhances our understanding of geogenically-sourced hexavalent chromium and shifts our understanding of contaminant release within aggregated soils and sediments. I provide the first direct evidence of Cr(VI) production within physically structured sediments and constrain how changes in physical and hydrologic conditions govern Cr(VI) groundwater concentrations. This knowledge not only allows us to better predict regions susceptible to hazardous Cr(VI) concentrations, but also transforms the way we interpret the release of redox active contaminants and nutrients within the subsurface environment.

Keywords: Environmental Earth System Science.
Advisor: Fendorf Scott primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Francis Christopher advisor. Thesis advisor
Nico Peter
Physical and chemical tuning of electrocatalysts for renewable energy applications [electronic resource]

With rising concerns over the environment and the need for sustainable energy sources, the development of highly efficient electrocatalysts for renewable energy conversion processes, such as in water splitting electrocatalysis and fuel cells, is becoming increasingly important. Instead of discovering different types of new catalysts as in traditional approaches, my PhD study was focused on developing novel methods to systematically tune the morphologies and electronic structures of existing catalysts, and thus significantly improve their catalytic activities. The first chapter gives a brief introduction of renewable energy technologies including clean H2 generation via water splitting and fuel cell catalysis. Basic principles in H2O-H2-O2 electrocatalysis system, including the reaction mechanisms, design principles of catalysts, as well as the characterization methods, are presented. In the second chapter I demonstrate the morphology tuning of two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Instead of synthesizing MoS2 with layers lying flat on the substrate as most previous studies presented, I used rapid sulfurization method to kinetically force the 2D layers to vertically stand on the substrate, which maximally exposes the HER active edge sites on the surface. This unique structure presents no change when synthesized on curved surfaces in high surface area substrates. In addition, the S-edge sites were further activated by doping with transition metals, which successfully doubles the MoS2 HER activity. The tuning of MoS2 layer orientation also provides great inspirations in designing high-performance Li-ion batteries. Chapter three includes the electrochemical tuning of electronic structures and morphologies of catalysts for improved water-splitting catalysis. The unique crystal structure of 2D materials allows guest ions to be intercalated or extracted between the molecular layers, opens up great opportunities to continuously tune the electronic structure of catalysts for optimized activities. Combining with Li-ion battery technologies, I intercalated Li ions into MoS2 catalyst, reducing the oxidation states of Mo and also inducing the 2H to 1T phase transition, which dramatically improves its HER activities. Inspired by this successful demonstration, Li ions were extracted out of LiCoO2 to tune up the oxidation state of Co and thus greatly improves its oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activities. In addition, a highly active bifunctional catalyst for overall water splitting was obtained by treating transition metal oxide (TMO) catalysts with Li-ion battery cycling process which transforms monocrystalline particles into interconnected ultra-small nanoparticles.

Keywords: Applied Physics.
Advisor: Cui Yi
Fisher Ian
Jaramillo Thomas Francisco advisor. Thesis advisor
Prinz F. B. advisor. Thesis advisor
Physical modeling of particle and chromosome dynamics in living cells [electronic resource]

The cellular cytoplasm is a complex, viscoelastic medium whose properties result in a rich spectrum of transport behaviors for the biomolecules moving within it. Disrupting the organization of this medium can lead to a wide variety of disease states or even the death of the cell, thus a fundamental physical understanding of these effects could guide novel strategies for the treatment of infection and disease. Our work develops physical models to better predict the consequences of the intracellular medium on biomolecular motion and interpret the results from experimental particle tracking data of RNA-protein particles and chromosome loci in living cells. We employ Brownian dynamics simulations to investigate the effects of macromolecular crowding and finite sample sizes on the observed particle trajectories. We find that RNA-protein particles inside cells exhibit non-Gaussian behavior in addition to subdiffusive dynamics. We also show that relatively simple dynamic polymer models can describe the motion of chromosomal DNA inside bacterial cells during segregation and use this same framework to predict the dynamic correlations between two connected loci.

Keywords: Chemical Engineering.
Advisor: Spakowitz Andrew James primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Dunn Alexander Robert advisor. Thesis advisor
Straight Aaron
Pick up the pieces [electronic resource] : combining information from multiple genetic loci

In this dissertation, I consider problems related to the accumulation of information from many genetic loci. The first chapter gives mathematical bounds on Wright's fixation index, a statistic used to measure the degree of genetic differentiation between populations at a genetic locus, in terms of two statistics that measure the degree of genetic variability at a locus: the frequency of the most frequent allele and the homozygosity in the total population. In the second and third chapters, I develop a model for understanding the relationship between neutral genetic divergence and differentiation between populations on neutral quantitative traits, finding, in agreement with previous work using different models, that the degree of differentiation on a neutral quantitative trait is expected to reflect the degree of differentiation at a single neutral locus. The second chapter uses a model based on the simple model for allele-frequency difference of Edwards (2003), and the third chapter extends the model to consider arbitrary allele-frequency distributions and arbitrary ploidy. Chapter four contains a review of some choice results from population genetics relevant to the design and interpretation of genetic association studies, in which one seeks to uncover genetic loci statistically associated with a disease or trait. The fifth and six chapters consider population-genetic properties of the CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) markers, which are used for forensic identification in the United States. In the fifth chapter, we consider the degree of information about population membership available at the CODIS loci. We find that the degree of population information at the CODIS loci is typical for tetranucleotide-repeat microsatellite markers and that across a broad sample of markers, population-membership information is correlated with the degree of heterozygosity at the loci considered. In the sixth chapter, I propose a method for linking genetic datasets when individual identifiers are unavailable and apply the method to a set of CODIS genotypes from a worldwide sample.

Keywords: Biology.
Advisor: Rosenberg Noah
Feldman Marcus W. advisor. Thesis advisor
Petrov Dmitri Alex
A pixel-size receiver with integrated subarray beamformer for 3-dimensional photoacoustic imaging [electronic resource]

Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging imaging modality based on light excitation and acoustic sensing, providing valuable diagnostic information through the optical absorption contrast in the object. Due to the same receiving scheme, photoacoustic imaging is often combined with ultrasound imaging to provide both the functional information and the structural information at the same time. Therefore, current photoacoustic imaging setups often reuse the existing ultrasound imaging instruments and therefore suffer from the same limitations as those present in today's ultrasound imaging systems. The current 2-Dimensional (2D) medical ultrasound system is a mature and prevalent technology; however, the development of a 3-Dimensional (3D) system faces substantial challenges due to the large channel count. In a conventional 2D system, each element of a 1-Dimensional (1D) array is directly accessed through a coaxial cable by a main system that processes the signal; however, this approach is not feasible for a 2D array in a 3D system. To address this issue, recent work has proven the viability of flip-chip bonding or direct transducer integration. This shifts the burden to a CMOS substrate, which must be designed within the same pixel pitch and must provide dense signal conditioning and processing to ensure the compatibility of the output channel count with the current cable connections. A common approach for data reduction is to employ subarray beamforming, which applies delay-and-sum (DAS) operations within a group of pixels. Conventional digital beamforming involves high complexity analog-to-digital converter (ADC) design and is difficult to be integrated within the pixel area. Alternatively, prior works apply analog beamforming for its simplicity and, yet, suffer from a combination of issues related to limited delay, coarse delay resolution and low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). In this thesis work, we leverage the integration density of fine line CMOS and implement pixel-size receivers with efficient integrated ΔΣ digital subarray beamformer. To simplify the building block, design specification are appropriately tailored to the system requirements derived from imaging simulation results. In addition, we combine functional blocks and utilize inverterbased amplifiers to achieve compact layout in the pixel-size receiver. This thesis work is realized in a receiver chip fabricated in a 28nm CMOS process, demonstrating the first pitch-matched receiver electronics with in-pixel A/D conversion and subarray beamformer.

Keywords: Electrical Engineering.
Advisor: Murmann Boris primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Khuri-Yakub Butrus T.
Wooley Bruce A.
Plasmonic nanomaterials for biological sensing and biomedical diagnostics [electronic resource]

This thesis describes the development of plasmonic nanomaterials and their spectroscopic applications in biological sensing and clinical diagnostic applications. Gold nanomaterials and their assemblies possess unique localized surface plasmon resonances in the visible and near-infrared (NIR). The enhancement of both the local electric field and NIR fluorescence emission rate via the coupling of scattering nanoparticle plasmon modes can lead to NIR fluorescence enhancement (NIR-FE) under appropriate conditions. Here, those conditions are optimized to yield the NIR-FE effect in the context of immunoassays. A novel solution-phase methodology was developed to prepare plasmonic chip and beads at large scale. Surface chemistry were explored on the so-called "nano-bio interface" for improved biocompatibility, enhanced targeted biomolecule immobilization, and reduced non-specific binding. Multiplexed protein assays are constructed on the nanostructured, plasmonic gold film to enjoy ~ 100-fold fluorescence enhancement, extending the protein/nucleic acid detection dynamic range by ~3 orders of magnitude towards the 1fM regime. Compared to conventional assays on commercial substrates, the plasmonic surface based immunoassays achieve vastly higher signal-to-noise ratios and broader dynamic range, owing to the large fluorescence boost and unique surface chemistry. The methodology developed affords high sensitivity detection of cancer biomarkers, cytokines, antibodies, DNA and microRNA, offering a broad dynamic range applicable to a wide variety of assays. The fast, simple, sensitive, multiplex and low-cost immunoassay based on plasmonic nanomaterials has great potential in both research and clinical settings.

Keywords: Chemistry.
Advisor: Dai Hongjie
Cui Bianxiao advisor. Thesis advisor
Utz Paul advisor. Thesis advisor
Plotting the Wild West: Action and Description in the Dime Novel Western

This thesis investigates the roles of action and description in the dime novel western. Text mining and machine learning tools show that the dime western uses a significant amount of description - much more than standard critical reception would have you believe - and uses it in surprising ways. Closer investigation of a particular kind of descriptive moment shows just how important description can be, for the novel, the happy ending, and the reader's experience of escape.

Keywords:  Department of English
Stanford University
Department of English
dime novel
western
digital humanities
escape fiction
genre fiction
19th century
nineteenth century literature
Deadwood Dick
Edward L. Wheeler
Beadle and Adams
description
action
plot
Thesis
Advisor: Spingarn Adena
Algee-Hewitt Mark