Three Essays on the Effects of Regulation on Crime and Social Norms

Niedermayerova, Petra Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines the impact that public policy and private services have on crime and social norms. In the first two chapters, I evaluate the effect of late night transportation options on the incidence of crime. Chapter 1 studies a temporary late night public transportation program in the city of Boston. Using public transit ridership information, I provide evidence of both direct and behavioral effects of the program on late night ridership. While I find that the launch of late night service did not alter the occurrence of crime, I show that its termination led to a significant decline in violent crime. The asymmetric effect is likely due to the presence of a ride-sharing platform when the program was terminated, but not when it was launched. With the spatial information included in the crime data, I further confirm that the effect was concentrated in Boston's nightlife areas. Overall, my results indicate a shift from public transportation to ride-sharing services that reduce the risk of violent encounters. In Chapter 2, I examine the effect of a ride-sharing service on violent crime in college towns. I use multiple data sources to create a unique college-town crime dataset and ultimately find that the availability of ride-sharing facilitated a decline in simple assault. The findings of both chapters are complementary and suggest, that private provision of safe and affordable transportation is particularly beneficial at night when public transit is insufficient and involves security risks. In Chapter 3, I investigate the effect of a father-specific parental leave policy reform in Quebec, Canada. A simple theoretical framework describes two channels through which the reform may affect gender-specific labor market outcomes. Consistent with the gender-norm channel, I find that the reform led to an increase in the probability of employment for women of all ages. Reduction in younger males' wages serves as evidence of the statistical discrimination channel. The analysis implies that public policy can promote gender equality through its direct effects on fathers, but also through its indirect effects on the opportunities for women in the labor market.

Role of Lysyl Oxidase Like-2 in Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Regeneration

Ali, Faiza Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

Introduction: While the progressive joint disease osteoarthritis (OA) affects a significant portion of the US population, there remain a few therapeutic options. Identifying agents that promote cartilage regeneration and protect against cartilage damage could provide breakthroughs for OA prevention and treatment. However, there are no chondroprotective agents approved for clinical application. In the previous studies from our lab, we showed that lysyl oxidase like-2(LOXL2) is elevated in the regenerative response during fracture healing in mice and has a critical role in chondrogenic differentiation. Indeed, LOXL2 is an anabolic effector that attenuates proinflammatory signaling in OA cartilage of the TMJ and knee joint, and induces chondroprotective and regenerative responses (Alshenibr, Tashkandi et al. 2017). The goal of the present study is to evaluate the role of LOXL2 in post-traumatic OA in destabilized medial meniscus mouse (DMM) model.Materials and methods: The approval to obtain human tissues was obtained from Institutional Review Board, and animal experiments were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Boston University. In order to evaluate loss of LOXL2 function, Tamoxifen inducible cartilage-specific LOXL2 mice were generated. At 5-6 months of age, the destabilized medial meniscus (DMM) surgeries to induce OA was performed (n=48 mice).Tamoxifen injection was administered to delete LOXL2 (LOXL2-cKO) and vehicle injection (LOXL2-VC) was performed, The gain of LOXL2 function were performed in by administering intra-articular injections of adenoviral-LOXL2 (Adv-RFP-LOXL2) and respective control (Adv-RFP-Empty) followed by an treadmill exhaustion test, allodynia, immunostaining, safranin-O staining, and RT-qPCR to determine knee joint functional and structural analysis. Results: The analysis of data from LOXL2-cKO group compared to the respective control (LOXL2-VC) showed that LOXL2 and aggrecan have reduced levels in DMM LOXL2-cKO mouse model. The comparison of sham surgery group showed LOXL2- cKO has reduction of ACAN and LOXL2 compared to LOXL2-VC . Thus, LOXL2-cKO mice with DMM-operated knee joint has severe changes compared to LOXL2-VC. Safranin-O-staining for proteogylcan and immunostaining and its quantification data shows that DMM surgery in LOXL2-cKO knee cartilage reduced proteoglycan, aggrecan, LOXL2, lubricin whereas elevated MMP13 and IL-1 β compared to LOXL2-VC. In another study the role of adenovirus delivered LOXL2 in the knee joint, the treadmill exhaustion test showed that the treadmill running for time and distance are impaired in the group with Adv-RFP-EMPTY injected group and rescued in Adv-RFP-LOXL2 injected group.Conclusion: LOXL2 appears to protect mice from DMM-OA-induced impaired functional changes. Cartilage-specific deletion of LOXL2 shows defects in proteoglycan and aggrecan expression. As expected, LOXL2 overexpression restored knee joint function and impaired structural changes. Earlier studies from our laboratory showed that LOXL2 could have interaction with epigenetic regulators such as lysine-specific demethylase 1. We showed in the current study that LOXL2 could restore structure and function in Lsd1 knockout mice knee joint, and the mechanism must be through LSD1. We have identified novel role of LOXL2 in the mechanism of OA; our studies will provide more information for therapeutic application.

Relationships among auditory representations and overall musicianship of classical and non-classical music students

Yankeelov, Marjorie Landgrave ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Boston University 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

The focus of this study is on the relationships among three basic auditory representations as well as their interaction with a measure of overall musicianship (sight-singing) among a group of classical and non-classical university music students (N = 112) selected from three different universities. Students were enrolled in level one of an aural skills course at the time. Basic auditory representations included were tonic centrality, measured by Colwell's (1968) Feeling for Tonal Center, tonal grouping, measured by Colwell's (1968) Auditory-Visual Discrimination, and harmonic function grouping, measured by a revised version of Holahan, Saunders and Goldberg's (2000) assessment. I evaluated relationships by correlating scores on each measure and also compared these relationships among classical and non-classical music students. The participants in this study were the most skilled at forming auditory representations of tonic centrality and non-classical musicians significantly (p = .002) outperformed classical musicians in this area. Tonic centrality was also most strongly correlated with overall musicianship (tau = .45, p < .001) within the sample, and this relationship appeared to be stronger among non-classical musicians (tau = .52, p < .001) than among classical musicians (tau = .39, p < .001). This difference may be accounted for by the increased reliance on grounding in a tonal center required by the musical activities of a typical non-classical music student. Given the changing balance of musical endeavors present in tertiary music schools today (Lehmann, Sloboda, & Woody, 2007), educators are encouraged to better understand the particular strengths non-classical musicians may bring to the classroom in terms of ear-based musical abilities. Likewise, music educators on each level are encouraged to incorporate ear-based activities such as improvisation and playing by ear to the benefit of musicians of all genres.

Quantum Monte Carlo Studies of Phase Transitions

Patil, Pranay M ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Boston University 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Phase transitions have been an active area of research in statistical mechanics for almost a century and have recently been integrated into quantum mechanics. Many phenomena such as superconductivity and unconventional magnetism are understood to arise from exotic quantum phases and at points describing quantum phase transitions. A detailed understanding of these phase transitions requires numerical simulations of models which benchmark realistic models against theoretical frameworks. The topic of this thesis is the implementation of Quantum Monte Carlo simulation, which is a powerful technique to understand quantum condensed matter, in interesting models to illustrate novel phenomena in magnetic systems. The novel features of condensed matter systems described in this thesis consist of emergent symmetries at critical points, interesting dynamical features of such systems and the drastic effects of defects in spin systems used in the field of adiabatic quantum computing. Emergent symmetries are shown by condensed matter systems especially at critical points and are features which cannot be shown by individual or a small number of spins. Examples of this in one and two dimensions are presented in an early chapter of this thesis. In addition to this, spin systems can show excitations which have an interesting spatial structure as a consequence of restricted dynamics which only allow the excitations to spread in a particular region. This is presented in the context of a simple model in the following chapter along with numerical support. The following chapter contains a description of adiabatic quantum computing along with a particular model which we study. The phase transition and the effects on the performance of adiabatic quantum computing are studied in this context.

Reassessing College and University Gambling Policies: How Have Schools Changed From 2003 to 2017?

Kleschinsky, John H Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

BACKGROUND In the U.S., more than two-thirds of college and university students report gambling in the past year. Although most U.S. college students gamble without experiencing clinically significant symptoms, they do experience more problems c. RESULTS A previous assessment of gambling policies among this sample of U.S. colleges and universities found that only 25 had a gambling policy. By the beginning of the 2016-17 academic year, a review of each college and university's policies re. CONTRIBUTION In addition to the study findings, I provide college and university health practitioners with a guide to assess, select, and implement problem gambling policies and programs that are responsive to their campus needs based on SAMHSA'.

Digital Picaresque Studies and the Academia Picaresca

Shoen, Bente Berg Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation contributes to the Digital Humanities in general and to the study of the picaresque novel in particular. Its immediate goal is to coordinate and enhance the dialogue of scholars and readers of the picaresque. In order to accomplish this objective, I created an extensive digital bibliography and textual archive whose search capacity and structure were designed to host and foster dialogue among critics and lay readers alike. The bibliography and archive are presented in the form of a Zotero Group Library. Zotero is a free, downloadable software application that allows for the crowd-sourcing and collaborative annotation of primary and secondary references and texts by scholarly communities. The group library I have developed and begun to annotate (and which contains over 1900 works to date) represents a living medium of exchange and will always maintain its essential status as a collective work in progress. The dissertation’s objective is to cultivate order within the field, such that all who use the library will have a progressively better reading and research experience and thus feel empowered to make their own contributions to the ongoing dialogue. The technological infrastructure provided by this project will contribute to our shared endeavor as students, readers, and scholars of the picaresque. The dissertation’s Introduction discusses digital technology within a specialized scholarly community and attempts to demonstrate how digital tools can be successfully employed in traditional literary research and criticism. It is followed by two appendices: the first, a “user’s manual” for the library (its “Readme” file); the second, an automatically generated bibliography of the library’s current contents. This document is accompanied by two supplemental files, both of which represent exports of the Zotero library—one RDF (with notes but without files) and one CSV (with notes, in UTF-8 without BOM).

A Negative of Knowledge

Rabello Mestre, Andre ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Boston University 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition and Theory consists of a seventeen-minute work for two clarinetists and electronic media. A Negative of Knowledge is based on a secular song by the 15th-century Burgundian co. The piece was premiered by David Angelo and Shannon Leigh at Boston University's Marsh Chapel on April 30, 2018.

Patriarchal Killjoys: The Experiences of Three (Women) University Band Directors

Foley, Megan J Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

According to the 2011 College Music Society directory, 9% of university band directors in the United States are women. Band directing in higher music education remains dominated by men. In a career field traditionally occupied by men, women have anecdotally reported a variety of experiences with gender as they sought to be considered competent or worthy enough to fulfill what is sometimes presumed to be a male role. The purpose of this study was to understand the ways three women have experienced gender within the culture of band directing while identifying as women, university-level band directors. Of prime interest was the process of how (and if) verifications and agreements were (or were not) made between these women, their students, and colleagues. This study was based on the theoretical platforms of gender theory, role theory, and identity theory, which, when combined, provided the foundation from which I was able to view, understand, and interpret the ways three women university band directors felt pressure to exist within a culture that demanded they "do" and "undo" gender within the role of band director. Via interview and observation within a qualitative, multiple case study format, it became clear that women who wish to become university band directors face a variety of obstacles, most having to do with gendered expectations of the role of band director. Findings indicate that the participants' experiences of gender were more complex than initially expected. The participants' understanding of the expectations related to the role of band director were easier to negotiate than the identities they sometimes struggled to name. Participants engaged in a variety of types of negotiation, including the use of gendered attributes, humor, and confidence, which when viewed as a whole, suggest that these women engaged in behaviors that represent what Ahmed (2014) terms as willfulness, a component necessary for each to attain their positions as university band directors. Although participants engaged in such willfulness, each was compelled to acquiesce to the patriarchal rules that continue to govern the role of band director and conductor.

Spatio-Temporal Logics for Verification and Control of Networked Systems

Haghighi, Iman Boston University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

Emergent behaviors in networks of locally interacting dynamical systems have been a topic of great interest in recent years. As the complexity of these systems increases, so does the range of emergent properties that they exhibit. Due to recent developments in areas such as synthetic biology and multi-agent robotics, there has been a growing necessity for a formal and automated framework for studying global behaviors in such networks. We propose a formal methods approach for describing, verifying, and synthesizing complex spatial and temporal network properties.Two novel logics are introduced in the first part of this dissertation: Tree Spatial Superposition Logic (TSSL) and Spatial Temporal Logic (SpaTeL). The former is a purely spatial logic capable of formally describing global spatial patterns. The latter is a temporal extension of TSSL and is ideal for expressing how patterns evolve over time. We demonstrate how machine learning techniques can be utilized to learn logical descriptors from labeled and unlabeled system outputs. Moreover, these logics are equipped with quantitative semantics and thus provide a metric for distance to satisfaction for randomly generated system trajectories. We illustrate how this metric is used in a statistical model checking framework for verification of networks of stochastic systems.The parameter synthesis problem is considered in the second part, where the goal is to determine static system parameters that lead to the emergence of desired global behaviors. We use quantitative semantics to formulate optimization procedures with the purpose of tuning system inputs. Particle swarm optimization is employed to efficiently solve these optimization problems, and the efficacy of this framework is demonstrated in two applications: biological cell networks and smart power grids.The focus of the third part is the control synthesis problem, where the objective is to find time-varying control strategies. We propose two approaches to solve this problem: an exact solution based on mixed integer linear programming, and an approximate solution based on gradient descent. These algorithms are not restricted to the logics introduced in this dissertation and can be applied to other existing logics in the literature. Finally, the capabilities of our framework are shown in the context of multi-agent robotics and robotic swarms.

Exploring the intersection of cello and poetry

Wilkins, Sara Ayse ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Boston University 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

Chapter one provides an overview of this project and its limitations. There is a summary of each chapter, an explanation of the three chosen methods of combining cello and poetry, and brief examples. Chapter two provides background on the emergence of the cello as a popular instrument in the twentieth century. The rise is evidenced by an improved technique of playing, the fame of two humanitarian-cellists, increased collaboration between cellists and composers, and the lessening of gender restrictions that previously discouraged women from playing the cello. Chapter three is divided into three sections, one for each method. Specific pieces of varying instrumentation by diverse composers are analyzed. Score excerpts and poetic texts illuminate the discussion. Chapter four briefly examines the use of signature in twentieth-century pieces for solo cello. Chapter five presents the piece commissioned for this dissertation. An analysis of the piece, including score excerpts, and a discussion of the collaborative process are provided. Chapter six concludes the dissertation and summarizes the findings. Suggestions for further research are offered. There are two appendices. The first is a compilation of pieces that combine cello and poetry. The author has made every attempt to make the list as inclusive as possible. The second appendix is a score to Kite by Chris LaRosa.