University of Massachusetts Boston
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Discussant of the First Symposium: Japan\u27s Experience of the War
Get PDFDiscussant of the First Symposium: Japan\u27s Experience of the War. Volume 36, Issue 2 of the New England Journal of Public Policy
Summary of the Second Symposium: Japan\u27s Response to the War
Get PDFSummary of the Second Symposium: Japan\u27s Response to the War. Volume 36, Issue 2 of the New England Journal of Public Policy
Technical Documentation of the UMass Boston Early Education Cost and Usage Simulator
Get PDFThe UMass Boston Early Education CUSP is led by a multidisciplinary team that designed a simulator to produce current, relevant, accurate, and responsive estimates about the key impacts of proposed legislation to expand access to affordable, quality child care and early education. One of the simulator’s valuable features is that it can generate estimates for a range of policy parameters and provisions. The team’s publications aim to provide essential information to guide policymaking on child care and early education affordability, quality, and access in Massachusetts
Modeling and Evaluation of Protein Insertions and Deletions & Cancer Subtyping Using Epigenomic and Transcriptomic Data
No full textMy PhD research consists of two parts. In the first part we developed and published research on Protein InDels and in the second part we developed and published work on integration of omics datasets. The work is described in the same order. Part 1: The effects of amino acid insertions and deletions (InDels) remain a rather under-explored area of structural biology. These variations oftentimes are the cause of numerous disease phenotypes. In spite of this, research to study InDels and their structural significance remains limited, primarily due to a lack of experimental information as InDels are more difficult to model as compared to substitutions. Therefore, there is a dire need for methods that model InDels in silico due to difficulty and cost of InDel modeling using wet-lab experiments. The first half of the dissertation attempts to fill the gap by modelling InDels computationally. This is followed by comparison of computationally generated InDels with their wet-lab counterparts. The results demonstrate the method\u27s ability to generate InDel mutants that are structurally similar to PDB InDel mutants. Part 2: Advancements in the field of next generation sequencing have lead to the generation of vast volume of data, with the challenge often being how to combine and reconcile results from different omics studies such as epigenome and transcriptome. In the second half of the thesis we combined gene expression data with DNA methylation to elucidate the relationship between different types of assay results. These data are integrated using a statistical technique called sparse canonical correlation analysis and this is followed by elucidating subtypes in the latent space. Our approach is validated using multiple cancer datasets and achieved better performance in terms of survival analysis than subtypes identified by both single and multi-omics studies. This paves way for enhanced categorization of cancer data which is crucial to precision medicine
Just Existing Beyond the Gender Binary: Contexts, Agency, and Investment of Non-Binary Teens in French and Spanish World Language Classes
No full textOne in four LGBTQ+ young people in the United States identifies outside of the gender binary, generating an ever-evolving constellation of identity terms and pronouns. Many study French and Spanish classes at school, languages based in a binary grammatical system classifying all nouns and corresponding modifiers as “masculine” or “feminine.” Given the hostile political climate towards queer youth and the power of language for (in)validating trans identities, French and Spanish classes may pose particular challenges for non-binary students. Though vital for building inclusive classrooms, accounts from non-binary language learners have been barely documented in research. This dissertation asks: What aspects of non-binary students’ contexts impact their ability to be themselves in their French and Spanish classes? How do students exercise agency within these spaces? How do students’ contexts and agentive strategies relate to their investment in language learning? As a queer, cisgender teacher-researcher, I adopted a participatory approach grounded in trans epistemologies to create an online community called the Non-Binary Language Alliance with twelve non-binary high school students. Using surveys, interviews, journals, focus groups, and art, generated individually and in interaction, I conducted reflexive thematic analysis with a discourse analytic approach. Analysis revealed multiple constraints for students in their language classrooms: binary grammatical gender, lack of queer curricular representation, queerphobia among peers, and teacher-student power dynamics, while supportive peers and teachers were seen as affordances. Participants exercised agency to navigate and transform their contexts by: innovating in French and Spanish, creating queer representation through headcanon, drawing on community to “queer” their contexts, disengaging from stressful situations as a coping strategy, and taking on the role of language educators. Finally, participants’ investment was associated with their perceived level of agency within the classroom and the degree to which teachers and peers shared their labor of research and advocacy. These findings illustrate the agency and innovative power of marginalized and minoritized youth while highlighting the role of mediating social factors such as language ideologies, classroom power dynamics, and community. The study offers recommendations to language teachers for increasing non-binary students’ investment in language learning by laboring alongside students and fostering their agency
Family Engagement on Neuroscience Units with Post-Covid Visiting Policies: A Retrospective Chart Review
No full textFamily engagement is important to safe transition between care setting and providers; and ultimately, as serious illness progresses. The family engagement domains are presence, assessment of family needs, communication, shared decision-making, and contribution to care. Family engagement improves quality and safety and, therefore, patient outcomes in the hospital. Unfortunately, post-Covid visiting policies restricting family access to patients combined with the fact that family engagement is poorly operationalized in the hospital setting makes a description of family engagement in the hospital setting elusive in the literature. This dissertation aimed to contribute to the research on family engagement in the hospital setting with three manuscripts. The first manuscript, an integrated review, describes the domains of family engagement present in the literature with Covid-era hospital visiting policies as the backdrop. The review revealed that presence is recognized as a facilitator of the other domains of engagement and that family engagement is poorly operationalized in the hospital. A second manuscript describes the pre-pilot and pilot stages of a retrospective chart review and the influence these stages had on the abstraction tool. The development of an abstraction tool is a first step in operationalizing family engagement in the hospital setting by providing a framework to assess the family engagement documentation that exists or is absent from the record. The third manuscript, a retrospective chart review, provides an initial description of family engagement in the documentation captured in the electronic health record, a description that is missing in the literature, as well as explores if there are differences in the family engagement documentation related to race, social deprivation index (SDI), and diagnosis of cognitive impairment. This retrospective chart review addresses the literature gap by describing who is documenting the family engagement domains, where it is being documented, and identifying the significant patient, provider, and clinical factors to explore. While there do not appear to be significant differences in the documentation related to race, SDI, and cognitive impairment, without a structured template the existence of disparities may not be obvious. Implications for future work on family engagement in the hospital setting should focus on three areas: research, policy, and education. Further research needs to explore patient and family preferences including perceived facilitators and barriers of family engagement, and provider attitudes toward family engagement. The results of these studies can further inform the description of family engagement in the hospital setting. This work will be used to inform state and institutional policies and the development of a tool to measure family engagement in the hospital setting. Finally, the work will inform interprofessional learning opportunities on family engagement domains how to activate and document family engagement in the hospital setting with a specific focus on shared decision-making. In all, this dissertation, offers foundational work to fill the gap in the literature by describing who is documenting family engagement, where it is being found in the record, and if there are differences between populations
Evaluation of 3D Beach Profiles: A New Method for Monitoring Changes in Beach Morphology and Grain Size
Get PDFBeach profiles are a simple and affordable approach to monitoring changes in beach morphology. However, traditional methods offer limited resolution and dimension. Recent advancements in technologies, particularly structure-from-motion (SfM) and grain size detection models (GSDMs), can be integrated into conventional beach profiling techniques, enabling more detailed spatial and temporal analysis of slope and grain sizes. This research introduces a new technique for coastal monitoring, termed “3D Beach Profiles,” which integrates SfM technology to create high-resolution three-dimensional digital surface models (DSMs) and orthomosaics of beach surfaces. These digital surfaces enable the extraction of beach slopes with orders of magnitude more data than standard beach profiles and the estimation of grain size distributions using GSDMs. The proposed technique is simple and affordable compared to other high-resolution monitoring methods. To evaluate its feasibility and effectiveness, three mixed sand and gravel beaches along the Massachusetts coastline were surveyed seasonally over one year using the 3D Beach Profile method. The findings demonstrate that the technique effectively captures slope changes and estimates grain size distributions. The DSMs produced had an average resolution of 1.2 mm/pixel and an average elevation uncertainty RMSE value of 4.5 cm, comparable to RTK-GPS devices. Extracted 3D Beach Profiles consisted of thousands of points spaced millimeters apart vs tens of points spaced meters apart from two-dimensional beach profiles, capturing slope changes missed by standard beach profiles. Grain size estimates for sediment samples for D10, D50, D90, and mean grain size generated by the segmenteverygrain model had RMSE values under 15 mm compared to measurements by the Camsizer. On average, 80 grains were segmented per quadrat with sizes ranging from 5.50 to 112.08 mm. The 3D Beach Profiles method was particularly successful at Trunk River Beach, capturing storm-driven morphological changes and grain size variations related to slope changes. The surveys provided valuable insights into seasonal rates of change and raised questions about the drivers of these changes. The versatility of the 3D Beach Profiles technique presents opportunities for other coastal monitoring applications. The high-resolution data products generated by this method can better inform beach management decisions and deepen our understanding of coastal processes
Expect Delays: The Parkinson\u27s Disease Risk Factor TMEM175 Regulates Endocytic Traffic
Get PDFEndocytic traffic is the coordinated process by which membrane, membrane-associated proteins, transmembrane proteins, and soluble luminal cargo distribute throughout the cell in the functionally interconnected membrane-bound compartments known collectively as the endocytic network. Regulated endocytic traffic is critical to nutrient uptake, clearance of cellular material targeted for degradation, and spatiotemporal organization of intracellular signaling events. In neurons, endocytic traffic influences neuronal activity by refining receptor composition at specialized domains such as the synapse, and by targeting receptors for lysosomal degradation to ensure proper cellular and subdomain specific sensitivity to extracellular signaling molecules. My work focuses on the predominantly lysosomal H+ channel TMEM175 – loss of which is associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk. In cells, TMEM175 depletion causes defects to lysosomal and mitochondrial function – both of which are common features of cellular PD models. Rather than such specific lysosomal influence, I find that TMEM175 broadly regulates the endocytic network. In TMEM175-knockout cells, I detected increased segregation of fluid-phase endocytic cargo from hydrolytically active compartments, indicating a trafficking basis for decreased cargo hydrolysis. Furthermore, I demonstrated that TMEM175 depletion delays both receptor-mediated endocytosis and subsequent recycling – disinhibiting receptor signaling from both the plasma membrane and from endocytic compartments. In neurons, TMEM175 depletion disrupts calcium handling and regulation of spontaneous calcium oscillations – a significant neurodegenerative liability in PD-vulnerable dopaminergic neurons. In sum, my work represents a departure from interpreting TMEM175 as a facilitator of hydrolytic function. Instead, I place emphasis on its role in organization of the endocytic network, dysregulated signaling, and the potential neurodegenerative burden such dysregulated activity may confer upon PD-vulnerable dopaminergic neurons
Innocence Incarcerated: A Critical Examination of U.S. Wrongful Convictions, 19th Century to Present
No full textThis thesis examines the persistence of wrongful convictions in the American justice system from the early 19th century to the present, analyzing how superficial reforms repeatedly fail to address fundamental inequities that produce wrongful convictions. Drawing from court records, trial transcripts, contemporary media accounts, and modern statistical data, this study investigates three key questions: 1) How have patterns of wrongful conviction evolved from early cases of ethnic and religious prejudice to modern instances of racial bias? 2) Why do reforms consistently fail to prevent similar miscarriages of justice across different historical periods? 3) How do contemporary wrongful convictions continue to reflect historical patterns despite technological and procedural advances
Agreements and Discrepancies in Perceptions of Mentoring Relationship Quality: A Multi-Informant Investigation
No full textMentoring relationship quality (MRQ) is an important indicator of program effectiveness and is associated with a number of youth psychosocial and academic outcomes. However, evaluations of MRQ have largely relied on reports of a single informant’s perceptions and have failed to acknowledge that mentoring exists within larger ecological contexts in which various stakeholders may hold different views. In particular, few studies have included assessments of youth, mentors’, and parents’ perceptions of the relationship, and even fewer have examined the extent to which these perceptions converge, and whether patterns of convergence (or lack of convergence) in MRQ are associated with differential youth outcomes. To bridge these gaps in knowledge, this study draws on data from a large-scale, multi-wave evaluation of mentoring programs (n = 1,882, 57.5% females, mean age = 12.4) to examine the dynamic profiles of youth, mentor and parent MRQ ratings. Three-step latent profile analyses showed that a six-profile solution best fit the data. The largest profile (42.9%, i.e., Congruent) showed positive congruence in youth, parent, and mentor MRQ ratings. Results indicated that mentor-mentee matches in the Congruent profile lasted longer than those in the other profiles. Youth in this profile also experienced better outcomes, including fewer depressive and emotional symptoms than the other profiles. Compared to the Congruent profile, mentors in the profile in which mentors perceived more negative MRQ than both parent and youth (i.e., Divergent-M(-)) were less likely to have received training. In contrast, mentors in the profile in which both parent and youth perceived more negative MRQ than the mentor (i.e., Divergent-PY(-)) were more likely to utilize mentor support groups. These results suggest that different dyads may have different post-match training and support needs. Broadly, this study highlights the importance of taking a systemic perspective (i.e., accounting for multiple stakeholders) in the assessment of MRQ. Triangulation of MRQ responses is also recommended when assessing associations between MRQ and mentoring effectiveness