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When cowboys go mad: American masculinity in postwar film and genre fiction
(2024) Powers, Korine L.; Foltz, Jonathan; Rivera, Takeo
This dissertation situates the serial killer as the culmination of a postwar exploration of American masculinity in postwar genre films and pulp fiction. It examines how these popular texts explore and critique American masculinity as a form of violent mental disorder. These texts present white manhood as a site of anxiety, paranoia, delusion, and compulsion expressed in violence against perceived threats to patriarchal white supremacy and the protagonist’s elevated status within that system. Focusing on the convergence of racial and gender identities within these genre texts, this study analyzes the postwar transformation of familiar nineteenth century icons, specifically the cowboy and the hardboiled detective, and how these figures are adapted across genre film and fiction. In particular, this study focuses on how those adaptations trouble the gendered and racialized depictions of American masculinity and culture they historically represent. As traditionally masculine figures begin to diagnose themselves–or invite the viewer’s diagnoses–the American “psychopath” emerges in the late twentieth century as its own genre of masculine performance. Initially depicted as a villain, the psychopath reveals the pathology behind images of American masculinity in the postwar period. Through close readings, cultural studies, gender studies, historicization, and psychoanalysis, this dissertation argues that postwar American masculinity culminates in the late twentieth century invention of the “reel” and real serial killer. In three sections exploring case studies of the postwar cowboy, the detective, and the serial killer, the dissertation traces the historical blending of genre fiction and film, beginning with the earliest formation of the Western, to argue that the serial killer distills postwar masculinity to its core elements: violence and infectious reproducibility. The American serial killer, like the cowboy and the hardboiled detective, becomes a repeatable model of wounded/wounding masculinity. Ultimately, this study argues that the act of categorization itself enables the production of a genre of masculine identification centered on repeatable, pathological violence, reflecting and reinforcing the persistent conservative cultural narratives of masculinity.
Interpolation and optimal motion planning for mechanical systems
(Boston University, 1998) Akileswar, Subramanian
During the past few years, researchers have considered various motion planning
problems for systems with nonintegrable constraints. The aim of this thesis is to
formulate and study the problem of motion planning for systems with both complex
dynamics and nonholonomic constraints and to develop a theory of optimal
motion control for such systems. Both the kinematics and dynamics of kinematically
constrained systems present challenges. The presence of payloads with complex internal
dynamics further complicates matters. In principle, solutions can always be
found. The numerical solutions of the optimal control problems under consideration
turn out to be computationally difficult, although numerical solutions can be
found for very special boundary conditions. For low dimensional kinematic optimal
control problems, we present the optimal paths and analyze their geometry in detail.
These results contribute to the growing body of knowledge concerning explicitly
solvable motion control problems. For more general classes of problems, we appeal
to interpolation strategies. While it is relatively simple to find motions within suitably
restricted classes of interpolating functions, it is necessary to understand how far such solutions are from optimality with respect to some reasonable criterion.
Specifically, polynomial interpolants work very well when applied carefully to the
mechanical systems considered in this thesis. In addition: the methods we propose:
result in near optimal trajectories which can be readily computed and used in real
time applications.
Essays on monetary policy and financial markets in heterogeneous economies
(2025) Zhu, Pengyue; Fukui, Masao
This dissertation investigates three major macroeconomic events, the Dot-com Bubble (late 1990s-2000), the Great Financial Crisis (2007-2008), and the COVID-19 Pandemic (2019-2020), through novel analytical channels, with a particular emphasis on heterogeneity at the household, firm, and sector levels. Across three interconnected chapters, it examines how distributional effects, information asymmetries, and financial frictions influence the transmission and effects of economic shocks. Each chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of macroeconomic dynamics by developing theoretical frameworks and conducting quantitative analyses to uncover key propagation mechanisms and inform policy implications. Chapter 1: Quantitative Easing with Heterogeneous PortfoliosQuantitative Easing (QE) has been extensively employed as an unconventional monetary policy tool to stabilize financial markets and stimulate economic activity. Notably, quantitative easing re-emerged as a key policy tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, its effectiveness and distributional consequences hinge critically on the heterogeneity of household portfolios. This chapter develops a macroeconomic model in which households differ in their asset holdings. By incorporating these differences, the analysis examines how wealth redistribution may amplify or dampen QE-induced asset price movements, and how such redistribution influences aggregate consumption and investment.
Chapter 2: Credit Shocks in a Two-Sector Economy with Leverage Heterogeneity
This chapter focuses on the macroeconomic implications of credit-supply-side financial shocks, particularly how disruptions in banks' balance sheets propagate through the broader economy. While much of the literature has emphasized credit-demand shocks, this study shifts the focus to the supply side, where financial intermediaries face constraints that limit their lending capacity. Extending the Gertler and Karadi (2011) framework, the chapter introduces a DSGE model with two sectors, aiming to capture core mechanisms behind the Great Recession. A key contribution is the analysis of how shocks originating in one sector, such as the housing sector, can transmit to other sectors through the banking system, as banks reallocate or reduce credit in response to changing risk and regulatory conditions. The model highlights how leverage heterogeneity and intersectoral linkages via financial intermediaries can amplify the macroeconomic effects of financial disruptions, offering insights into the sectoral dynamics observed during the Great Recession.
Chapter 3: Stock Overpricing, Managerial Incentives and Firm Investment: A Step Toward Firm-Level Heterogeneity
This chapter examines how managerial compensation structures and market sentiment jointly influence managerial behavior and firm-level investment decisions. Drawing on insights from behavioral and corporate finance, it develops a theoretical framework in which managers, motivated by stock-based compensation and attentive to market expectations, may respond to over-optimistic valuations by increasing investment, even in projects with weak fundamentals, in an effort to signal firm quality. The analysis highlights how information frictions and market sentiment can lead to investment distortions when market valuations deviate from intrinsic value. This framework lays the groundwork for studying firm-level heterogeneity and its role in aggregate misallocation. It also provides a lens through which to interpret episodes of "irrational exuberance," such as the dot-com bubble, and offers tools for quantifying their broader macroeconomic effects. Collectively, the three chapters explore key economic events and emphasize a central insight: heterogeneity plays a crucial role. By incorporating portfolio, sectoral, and firm-level differences into macroeconomic analysis, this dissertation offers new perspectives on policy transmission, financial stability, and the design of interventions that are both effective and equitable.
Counting the wins: extensions and applications of win statistics for time-to-event outcomes in randomized controlled trials
(2026) Pan, Stephanie; LaValley, Michael P.
This dissertation develops and evaluates extensions of win statistics for analyzing time-to-event outcomes in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Win statistics, including the win ratio (WR), provide an alternative interpretation to the conventional hazard ratio (HR). Although win statistics, and particularly the WR, have been increasingly adopted in clinical trials, further methodological development and broader clinical applications are needed. Chapter 1 addresses settings of non-proportional hazards by introducing a novel nonparametric approach that partitions follow-up time into disjoint intervals to estimate the WR. This approach leverages a meta-analytic framework to detect and quantify treatment effect heterogeneity in contexts such as immuno-oncology and cardiology trials. Chapter 2 considers the challenge of censoring in generalized pairwise comparisons (GPC), where censored pairs often do not contribute information to the test statistic. We propose a method based on pseudo-observations to address this issue and compare its performance with existing GPC methods. Chapter 3 extends Kraemer’s composite-moderator framework to time-to-event outcomes using the expected win time against reference (EWTR). By combining multiple baseline moderators into a composite measure, we evaluate conditions under which personalized treatment recommendations (PTRs) outperform single moderators. Extensive simulation studies, along with illustrations using reconstructed and real clinical trial datasets, were conducted to assess these methods. Collectively, this work advances methodological tools for analyzing time-to-event data in RCTs by addressing three key challenges: non-proportional hazards, censoring, and treatment effect heterogeneity. These contributions aim to improve the detection of treatment effect heterogeneity and treatment effect estimation and support the development of personalized treatment strategies.
Dissecting disease pathways of NOS1AP variants that contribute to nephrotic syndrome
(2025) Ranga, Arathi; Kintsurashvili, Ekaterina
Glomerular diseases are a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease and characterized by dysfunction in the key kidney filtering cells, podocytes. Genetic podocytopathies (GP) are the most severe subset, in which patients frequently develop treatment-resistance and irreversible renal scarring (e.g. focal segmental glomerulosclerosis). Delineating the molecular pathways underlying these conditions can reveal therapeutic targets to reverse disease progression. We previously discovered that NOS1AP (nitric oxide synthase 1 adaptor protein) is a Mendelian glomerular disease gene that regulates the actin cytoskeleton, a major hub of disease proteins in GPs. Disease variants localize to its phosphor-tyrosine binding (PTB) domain and cause defective actin remodeling in immortalized podocytes. In this investigation, we strive to understand the key proteins and pathways through which NOS1AP regulates the podocyte actin cytoskeleton and that are impaired in disease. Quantitative proteomics was performed to determine the critical protein interactors of NOS1AP abrogated by disease and biological mutants. Wildtype and mutant tagged NOS1AP constructs were transiently transfected in immortalized human podocytes. Immunoprecipitation (IP) of NOS1AP proteins was performed followed by a non-denaturing elution, protein trypsinization and tandem mass tagging. Liquid chromatography followed by tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was performed on biological triplicates. Peptide and protein calling was performed, and aggregate peptide signal was normalized per 100 peptides and to the signal of the bait. Co-expression of candidate interaction partners in podocytes with NOS1AP was assessed using kidney single cell mRNA sequencing datasets (z-score of % cell expression>1). Top candidates were confirmed by subsequent IP studies. Additionally, commercial PTPN14 antibodies were assessed through immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. PTPN14 antibody testing was also conducted with immortalized podocytes exhibiting PTPN14 overexpression or PTPN14 knockdown.
Quantitative-IP proteomics of wildtype NOS1AP, patient variant NOS1AP C143Y, and a biological mutant lacking the PTB domain (NOS1AP δPTB) resulted in the detection of 12761 peptides in 2351 proteins. Of these proteins, PTPN14 (protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 14) and KANK1 (KN motif and ankyrin repeat domains 1) were highly expressed (z-score>1) in the majority of datasets with NOS1AP in podocytes, suggesting these proteins may interact with NOS1AP in the disease-relevant cell type. Confirmatory co-IP studies showed that tagged PTPN14 as well as KANK1 co-precipitated with wildtype NOS1AP, and this co-precipitation was reduced with the disease mutant C143Y and biological mutant δPTB.
Overall, this data highlights new potential signaling pathways in genetic podocyte disorders (e.g. protein tyrosine phosphorylation) and suggests therapeutic targets for future investigation.
Preaching for progress: how the Social Gospel elevated the Canadian left beyond its U.S. counterpart
(2025) Paxton, Gabriel Noah; Seligman, Adam B.; Evans, Christopher H.
The following dissertation explores Werner Sombart’s century old question, “why is there no socialism in America?” from a comparative study of the Canadian Left and Social Christianity. I make the argument that the relative success of Left-liberal or ‘democratic-socialist’ politics in Canada is in no small part a product of social gospel efforts in the Canadian prairies. This importantly challenges the assumption by American historians that the “frontier” or agrarian nature of early 20th century North American life was a reason for socialism’s failure in the new world. Instead, through a comparison with Canadian prairie politics, historians can see that social gospelers in Canada viewed leftist politics as a natural extension of the nation-building process. Equipped with this view, radical Protestant ministers settled the Canadian prairies and turned rural-populist dissent into support for a strong welfare state. In the United States, the populist leanings of rural workers were either miscalculated, or worse ignored, by a middle-class social gospel ministry and an urban socialist movement. In the absence of a workable “spiritual” socialist movement in the American Heartland, populist politics were easily co-opted by ethno-nationalist, racialized, and fundamentalist reinterpretations of populism.
Community residential facilities for emotionally disturbed adolescents
(Boston University, 1982) Gurry, Susan Elizabeth
The purpose of this research was to study several concepts related to deinstitutionalization and community facilities for emotionally disturbed adolescents. This study proceeded in two phases.
In Phase I, a mail survey of licensed group care agencies in Massachusetts provided background data on residential facilities.
In Phase II, field research methods were used to collect data on five facilities, each serving between four and sixteen residents. An average of 35 hours was spent observing in each facility and a total
of 53 interviews were conducted with staff, administrators and residents.
Survey findings indicated that a total of 125 agencies in Massachusetts served 4081 residents of all ages and disabilities. Sixty of these group care agencies accepted adolescents. Seventy four
of them were also residential schools for youngsters with special needs.
One finding from the field research was that small group care facilities placed emphasis on therapeutic interventions and treatment.
The therapeutic activities of the five group care facilities shared many similar features. A classification system based upon their
formal and informal features was developed.
Two forms of community were noted: internal and external.
Facilities with a high degree of internal structure had fewer community-oriented activities. Living in small group care facilities did not insure integration into the external community. A four-point
scale was developed to measure the range of possible community oriented activities. Four origins of decision-making about community oriented
activities were noted.
Other findings indicated that group care facilities possessed some characteristics of total institutions, mediatory institutions, and families, but not all. The facilities were characterized by a high degree of staff/resident interaction, intensive therapeutic
effort, and varying levels of community orientation. Results indicated that group care facilities are a new type of social setting that have no direct correlation to known institutions in contemporary society.
Recent print and digital resources related to Christianity in Africa
(Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2026-02) Restrick, Beth
[This volume brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to examine aspects of the daily lived experiences of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority from late Antiquity to the present. In doing so, it serves as a supplement and a corrective to institutional or theological narratives, which are generally rooted in studying the wielders of historical power and control.]
Book excerpt: the story of the Copts: the true story of christianity in Egypt
(Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2026-02) el Masri, Iris Habib
[61. While Abba Dionysius was so engaged in encouraging the people to face the fierce tempest of persecution raging about them, a solitary figure detached himself and turned
his face toward the desert, trudging on and on toward the fastnesses of its inner depth in search of peace through payer and fasting in its vast solitude. It was St. Paul [230-341 CE], who became the first Egyptian hermit. When he first set out into the desert, no one knew about his intentions, not even the man who sat on the Chair of St. Mark. At the outset of the persecutions of the Emperor Decius, he was a young man of twenty, very wealthy and well-educated in both the Coptic and the Greek literatures. He was of a gentle spirit and a strong lover of God. He had an only sister who was married. Her husband, coveting his wealth, went to the authorities and denounced his wife's beloved brother as a Christian. Hearing of it, Paul's sister went weeping to him, and entreated him to go into hiding. Thereupon, he fled into the desert. His idea at first was to hide temporarily, but the life of solitude both attracted him and appealed to him, and what had been his necessity became his free choice. He journeyed on, further and further, into that vast ocean of desert solitude, until he came to a cave beyond which were a fount of clear water and some palm trees. There he made his abode, from the time of his arrival, at the age of twenty, and there did he abide till he died, ninety years later, at the age of a hundred and ten. All these long years he spent in utter solitariness, unknown and unheard of by man, but in complete communion with God.]
Effect of race and ethnicity on pediatric pain management and perceptions of care in the emergency department as a result of long bone fractures
(2025) Nott, Elijah; Gerstenfeld, Louis; Rufo, Paul
Pediatric pain management represents an area in which studies into the impact of race and ethnicity on equitable care have yet to be fully elucidated. In this study, we assessed the effects of real or perceived differences in pain management Studying the effects of race and ethnicity on long bone fractures allows data to be collected on the and perceptions of care. Parents of eligible patients completed a survey regarding their experience in the emergency room during their follow-up visit to the orthopedic clinic. Patients were also asked if they would be interested in participating in a semi-structured interview, which would provide them with an opportunity to provide more details about their interactions in the Emergency Department. Initial data collection has recently begun. We anticipate that the data collected in this project will contribute to the development of policies and recommendations ensuring equitable pain management in the Boston Children’s Hospital Emergency Department. Research studies of this type, which assess the impact of demographic factors on equitable pain management, are crucial for identifying and addressing systemic and historical biases that exist in current clinical practice. These inequities can contribute to a culture of misunderstanding and generational mistrust in healthcare if not recognized and properly addressed.