VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Temporary Measures: Housing Insecurity, Waiting, and Injury in Post-Grenfell London

Temporary Measures: Housing Insecurity, Waiting, and Injury in Post-Grenfell London examines London’s growing housing crisis, focusing specifically on the use of temporary accommodation (TA) and the provision of interim shelter for vulnerable populations by local government. TA was situated in the cracks produced by the undelivered promise of the English social housing program and the experience of chronic housing insecurity in contemporary London. Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Borough of Newham, in East London, this dissertation examines the ways families in temporary accommodation experienced uncertainty in cycles of housing deprivation, and how they challenged their conditions in collaboration with a direct action housing campaign called Focus E15. Only temporary in name, as I argue throughout this dissertation, the punctuated temporalities of the temporary and of waiting constituted the cyclicality of housing insecurity that generated diffuse practices of neglect for London’s vulnerable housing-insecure population. Moving across scales, I analyze the embodied, existential, material, and temporal experiences through which housing insecurity manifested by focusing my analysis on such everyday phenomena as a set of stairs, mold, and geographic displacement. Through an analysis across these scales, I attended to the registers in which women came to articulate their individual experiences in the form of political and legal challenges against the management of housing and the temporal/spatial conditions of their waiting. When these women demanded safe and permanent housing, they were told that “your time is coming”—but this “time” was endlessly deferred. In the wake of the lessons learned from the Grenfell Tower fire, this dissertation reflects on what it means to live in endemic insecurity with the heightened sense of living in, and with, different and intersecting forms of exposures.

Advisor: Briggs, Charles L
The Skeptical Pilgrims of Spiritual Autobiography

In the seventeenth century, Puritans would record detailed accounts of their lives, searching for signs of salvation—or damnation—in their everyday experiences. But given the highest possible stakes, these texts are remarkably inventive, wry, and skeptical about the reliability of autobiography itself. Case-studies of Thomas Browne, Richard Norwood, and Laurence Clarkson show how the autobiographies’ speculative fictions and stylized picaresque detachment baffle the expectations of confessional identity. In very different ways, John Milton and John Bunyan demonstrate a knowing skepticism about spiritual autobiography as a forthright transcription of belief and experience. Milton’s career-long anxiety about and attraction to autobiography—always inherently an account before God—critiques the genre’s propensity for self-justification and continual refashioning. Bunyan’s Grace Abounding works as a complex and deeply ironical pastoral instrument. By playing with the anti-narrative premise of Calvinism—the fixed status of one’s election—Bunyan modulates readerly identification and authorial self-aggrandizement, ensuring that the artistry of his “paradigmatic” spiritual autobiography would be inimitable. Breaking the fundamental rules of their genre every time, all of these writers give us new ways to think about their influence on narrative aesthetics and the complex nature of religious belief in the early modern period.

Advisor: Turner, James G.
Saturated de Rham-Witt complexes with unit-root coefficients

The saturated de Rham-Witt complex, introduced by Bhatt-Lurie-Mathew, is a variant of the classical de Rham-Witt complex which provides a conceptual simplification of the classical construction and which is expected to produce better results for non-smooth varieties. In this paper, we introduce a generalization of the saturated de Rham-Witt complex which allows coefficients in a unit-root $F$-crystal. We define our complex by a universal property in a category of so-called de Rham-Witt modules. We prove a number of results about it, including existence, quasicoherence, and comparisons to the de Rham-Witt complex of Bhatt-Lurie-Mathew and (in the smooth case) to crystalline cohomology and the classical de Rham-Witt complex with coefficients.

Advisor: Olsson, Martin C
Test-Time Training

Most models in machine learning today are fixed during deployment. As a consequence, a trained model must prepare to be robust to all possible futures, even though only one of them is actually going to happen. The basic idea of test-time training is to train on this future once it arrives in the form of a test instance. Since each test instance arrives without a ground truth label, training is performed with self-supervision. This thesis explores the first steps in realizing this idea, for images, videos and robotics.

Advisor: Efros, Alexei A
Hardt, Moritz
Multigraded Regularity and Betti Numbers on Smooth Projective Toric Varieties

The Castelnuovo–Mumford regularity of a sheaf on projective space is an integer that describes the vanishing of higher cohomology of twists of the sheaf. Regularity can be computed from the degrees of the syzygies of the corresponding graded module. Maclagan and Smith definedan analogous invariant for sheaves on smooth projective toric varieties, where the regularity is no longer directly bounded by Betti numbers. We investigate the relationship between regularity and Betti numbers in a number of situations that generalize classical results, such as the regularity of powers of ideals and the Betti numbers of truncations of modules.

Advisor: Eisenbud, David
A Punishment of the Severest Kind: Immigration Enforcement, Social Degradation, and the Harm of Illegalization

In this dissertation, I develop a systematic account of illegalization, which I define as state practices of criminalization that use immigration enforcement as a tool of social degradation. Noncitizen status almost always suggests some precarity, but just how much is an under-discussed problem that implicates matters of justice and harm from the vantage of the harmed themselves. Illegalization as the state’s use of immigration enforcement as a tool for social degradation to create and sustain the permanence of an enemy, squares the punitive nature of immigration enforcement and its effects on aspects of the immigration apparatus outside of removal./nThis dissertation finds its doctrinal home in crimmigration, the intersection of criminal andimmigration law. Whereas the portmanteau brings to bear the similarities between these two legal domains, my paper focuses on the ways in which they are different and argues that such differences—like the lack of many procedural protections that are in the criminal law—are significant in that they provide a glimpse of how the state treats noncitizens.

Advisor: Song, Sarah S
Kutz, Christopher L
Transferable Generative Models

We present progress in developing stable, scalable and transferable generative models for visual data. We first learn expressive image priors using autoregressive models which generate high-quality and diverse images. We then explore transfer learning to generalize visual representations models to new data modalities with limited available data. We propose two methods to generate high quality 3D graphics from sparse input images or natural language descriptions by distilling knowledge from pretrained discriminative vision models. We briefly summarize our work on improving generation quality with a Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model, and demonstrate how to transfer it to new modalities including high-quality text-to-3D synthesis using Score Distillation Sampling. Finally, we generate 2D vector graphics from text by optimizing a vector graphics renderer with knowledge distilled from a pretrained text-to-image diffusion model, without vector graphics data. Our models enable high-quality generation across many modalities, and continue to be broadly applied in subsequent work.

Advisor: Abbeel, Pieter
Characterizing Prefrontal Tertiary Sulcal Morphology in Cognition, Development, and Evolution

A major goal of cognitive neuroscience is to understand the link between anatomical brain structure and cognition. In the work that follows, I characterize patterns of cortical folding in the prefrontal cortex and its relation to reasoning skill. A central thread running through this work is that by exploring the relationship between variability in anatomy and cognition, we can establish a link among cortical structure, function, and behavior.In Chapter 1, I test a classic hypothesis and ask whether small, variable structures known as tertiary sulci have cognitive relevance. By combining precise neuroanatomical techniques with a modern data-driven analysis pipeline, I show that these structures can be reliably identified in individuals across childhood and adolescence and that the depth of a subset of tertiary sulci explains additional variance in reasoning not accounted for by age. In Chapter 2, I further examine variability in the presence and prominence of cognitively relevant tertiary sulci in prefrontal cortex. I show that the variability in the presence of these structures is associated with variability in behavior and that these sulcal components have discernable functional connectivity profiles that relate to reasoning skill. Finally, in Chapter 3, I take a modern comparative anatomy approach and show that while these structures exist in chimpanzees, they are notably smaller, shallower, and more variable. This work lays out a methodological approach to compare structure, function, and behavior across individuals, age groups, and species. I show that sulci, particularly tertiary sulci, can be reliably identified across individuals and that variability in the presence and morphology of these structures can be linked to variability in cognition. The goal of these studies is not to claim that a single sulcus predicts a specific cognitive process, but rather to demonstrate that sulci are useful landmarks that can provide valuable insights into the relationship among cortical structure, function, and cognition.

Advisor: Weiner, Kevin S
Estimating Causal Effects of Occupational Exposures on Lung Health in the Presence of Competing Risks

In many longitudinal studies researchers are interested in examining failure times associated with a particular risk in settings where subjects may fail due to only one of multiple competing risks. Using targeted learning, we present a method of estimating the cumulative incidence of the multinomial outcome constructed of all possible risks which does not require independence assumptions among the outcomes. We show analytically and with simulation that this method is suitable within the causal roadmap to provide causal contrasts with natural interpretations. We compare the minimal assumptions required for statistically and epidemiologically unbiased interpretations using this method to those required for cause-specific estimation. We apply this method to estimate the causal effect of average yearly cumulative exposure to metal-working fluids on mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer among a cohort of autoworkers hired between 1938-1985.

Advisor: van der Laan, Mark
Perceived Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Academic Help-Seeking

Implicit theories of intelligence refer to individuals’ beliefs about the fundamental nature of intelligence. On one end of this spectrum are entity theorists, who believe intelligence is a static entity that cannot be altered. On the other end are incremental theorists, who believe intelligence can be modified through action. An incremental view of intelligence has been linked to adaptive motivational patterns and better academic outcomes. It stands to reason, however, that adaptive motivational patterns will be beneficial only in educational contexts that are supportive and foster growth. Consequently, research assessing educators’ theories about intelligence and how they relate to student outcomes has emerged in recent years. The research presented in this dissertation suggests that students’ perceptions of their instructors’ beliefs about intelligence, and behaviors that relay those perceptions, can be reliably measured and are related to a constellation of student cognitions in the classroom—this includes students’ belief in their intellectual potential, attitude toward academic help-seeking, and sense of efficacy about achieving academically. Help-seeking behavior, however, was unrelated to self-reported help-seeking behavior across three studies. Results consistently showed that when students perceived their instructors to hold a malleable view of intelligence, they perceived the learning environment as less competitive. This finding is potentially relevant for educational contexts plagued by higher levels of competition. Evidence also suggested that these perceptions are related to higher course engagement, lower concerns about negative evaluation, and lower negative feelings like belonging uncertainty and impostor feelings. I begin the dissertation by exploring the lay of the theoretical land and motivating the research topic (Chapter 1). Next, in Chapter 2, I provide preliminary evidence that suggests that students’ perceptions of their instructors’ implicit theories correlate with their attitude toward academic help-seeking and several other sociopsychological outcomes. In Chapter 3, I present evidence that suggests that these theories can be measured as a unidimensional construct in a principled way by describing the development and validation of an instrument designed to measure Perceived implicit Theories of Intelligence (P-TOI). Lastly, in Chapter 4, I report the results of an observational study that links P-TOI with some of the hypothesized variables related to students’ psychological experience in rigorous STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses. I end with a discussion of the theoretical implications and limitations of this work and speculate briefly on future directions.

Advisor: Bunge, Silvia A
Crossing the divide: A bioarchaeological approach to religious lifeways and deathways in medieval Santarém, Portugal.

This project employs multiple methods to explore how shifting periods of autonomy during the Portuguese Middle Ages (c. 500-1500 AD) impacted the social and biological fabric of everyday life and post-mortem bodily integrity in religiously distinct communities. The archaeological materials from Santarém, Portugal offer an opportunity to facilitate a comparative approach, as many of the excavated cemetery sites within the municipality are a palimpsest, and contain members of distinct religious and temporal communities. This dissertation prioritizes two cemetery sites: Avenida 5 de Outubro (S.Av5Out; n = 164 burials) and Largo Cândido dos Reis (S.LCR; n = 622 burials) which contain the human skeletal remains of Islamic (c. 8th – 12th centuries, C.E.) and Christian (c. 12th – 16th centuries, C.E.) city residents. This project examines how religious identity might explain some of the variation within and between medieval communities through an investigation of both lived experience (lifeways) and death, dying, and burial treatment (deathways). Lifeways are examined through three major axes: 1) oral health and disease, 2) growth and development, and 3) cortical bone maintenance and loss. The data overall suggest minor differences between Islamic and Christian sub-samples, though Christians exhibited reduced stature, increased odds of some indicators of non-specific stress (porotic hyperostosis and periostosis), and dental pathological lesions. Deathways are similarly examined along three major axes: 1) post-hoc archaeothanatology, 2) macrotaphonomic indicators (preservation, erosion, weathering), and 3) microtaphonomy (histotaphonomy). Islamic and Christian burials were found to be highly different in terms of construction, with Islamic graves significantly narrower and shallower than their Christian counterparts. Islamic skeletons were also less represented, and significantly less preserved than their Christian counterparts, regardless of age and/or sex. The results of this dissertation are part of an emerging pattern that the Christian conquests (canonically termed “Reconquista”) may well have been drastic in their restructuring and urbanizing of the Iberian Peninsula, for both the living and the dead. By examining both lifeways and deathways, this approach and accompanying results demonstrate synthesizing both bioarchaeological assessments of livelihood and funerary taphonomic assessments of deadlihood can reveal more textured understanding of past communities and how the living and the dead become intertwined in urban spaces.

Advisor: Agarwal, Sabrina C
Coherent and Incoherent Quantum Feedback in an Atom–Cavity System

Feedback control allows a wide range of systems to be stabilized to out-of-equilibrium states. In quantum systems, feedback control takes two forms: incoherent control, in which projective measurements are made of the system state and the measurement results are used to inform changes to the system Hamiltonian, bringing the system towards its desired state; and coherent control, in which the system is allowed to interact coherently with an auxiliary quantum system, such that Hamiltonian dynamics coherently drive the system of interest into its desired state./nAn ultracold atomic gas coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity offers a convenient testbed for both of these forms of quantum feedback. Light escaping from the cavity mode carries information about the state of the atomic sample; this information can be processed externally and used to inform changes to external magnetic fields, to trapping parameters, and to the amplitude or frequency of light used to pump the cavity, effecting changes to the system's Hamiltonian and driving the atoms towards a desired state. Meanwhile, the atomic sample continually exchanges information with the cavity field through coherent interactions; by treating the atomic sample as the system of interest and the light field as an auxiliary controller, a Hamiltonian can be engineered such that these coherent interactions drive the atomic sample towards a desired state without the need for any external control./nIn this dissertation, I will re-introduce the elder of the two atom–cavity experiments currently active in the Stamper-Kurn group at Berkeley—dubbed the E3 apparatus—and will describe how it can be used to examine quantum feedback. I will discuss two instances of this, in particular: a coherent quantum feedback system, in which the energy of the collective atomic spin is autonomously stabilized to a set point conditioned on the detuning of the pump light from cavity resonance; and an incoherent feedback system, in which light escaping from the cavity offers a real-time measurement of the number of atoms present in the cavity during evaporative cooling, which is then used to stabilize to a desired atom number. Along the way, I will discuss other interesting findings that have been made along the way, as well as techniques that we've found particularly useful.

Advisor: Stamper-Kurn, Dan M.
A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Different Trajectories of Suicidal Behavior: A Longitudinal Study from Adolescence to Middle Adulthood

The importance of studying suicidal behavior cannot be overstated given the concerning prevalence. Despite a wide range of studies on suicidal behaviors, three major limitations remain. First, most studies are cross-sectional. Second, most studies examined risk factors of suicidal ideation in isolation. A meta-analysis covering the past 50 years of suicidal research found that prediction was only slightly better than chance because researchers rarely tested the combined effect of multiple risk factors. Researchers recommended utilizing machine learning (ML) approaches to study suicidal ideation instead because ML can address complex classification problems. Third, many studies have ignored the possibility that suicidal ideation can shift throughout different developmental stages. Disregarding the fact that there are different trajectories of suicidal ideation can lead to biased results. In this paper, I addressed the limitations of past research by first investigating different trajectories of suicidal ideation using Latent Class Growth Analysis on a large, nationally representative longitudinal dataset (n = 7,295). I then used two ML approaches, classification trees and random forests, to examine which risk factors are predictive of the identified trajectories. Two hundred and eighty-one predictors were included in the ML models, spanning demographic, psychological, behavioral, economic, social, and environmental variables linked to suicidal behaviors, such as mental health, violence exposure, family, peer, and school functioning, neighborhood characteristics, community engagement, negative life events, expectations for the future, risky behaviors, self-esteem, and substance use. The Latent Class Growth Analysis identified three distinct trajectories: (a) Resilient Class, (b) Declining Class, and (c) Escalating Class. When comparing the predictive performance, machine learning models, specifically classification tree (AUC = 0.73) and random forest (AUC = 0.79), outperformed the traditional multinomial logistic regression (AUC = 0.64). Variable importance analysis from the random forest model revealed prior suicidal behaviors, psychological distress, and school belonging to be one of the most important predictors across all three classes. The findings of this study provide insight into the utility of these advanced computational approaches for predicting suicidal outcomes and inform future intervention efforts to support those struggling with suicidal ideation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Advisor: Worrell, Frank c
Toward Platform-based Building Design

The building industry is responsible for over 40% of the world's energy consumption, making it imperative to develop more efficient building designs to reduce energy usage and minimize environmental impact. However, the current building design process is highly fragmented, resulting in inefficient and sub-optimal designs. Although the digitalization of the building industry happened nearly at the same time as the electronics industry, the latter has become fully automated, whereas the building industry still lags behind./nThis dissertation identifies the challenges in the building design process that hinder automation and proposes a platform-based approach as part of the solution. Platform-based design enables the development of common interfaces for greater consistency and efficiency in the design process, along with modularity that breaks down complex systems into smaller, more manageable modules. This facilitates easier design iteration and adaptation to changing requirements, while also allowing for the reuse of design components across different projects, saving time and resources./nIn addition, the dissertation explores the potential of levels of abstraction in building energy models to better support the design process without requiring a full building model at early design stages. This can help reduce design iterations and save time and costs. Finally, we streamline the process of constructing building models as a step towards automated design. Although fully automated design is yet to be realized, this streamlined process serves as a potential starting point for achieving automation in the future.

Advisor: Spanos, Costas J.