University at Albany, State University of New York
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Region-Specific Structural Covariates of Homicide Rates in Latin America: State Legitimacy and Remittances
Get PDFThe goal of this study was to examine region-specific structural covariates of homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). LAC nations possess 8% of the global population but 33% of homicides, yet the region receives limited attention in studies of social structure and violence. Prior literature suggests two separate social forces particularly relevant to the region, state legitimacy and monetary remittances. Theory from multiple fields provides distinct pathways through which each may influence LAC violence rates, suggesting a negative legitimacy-homicide association but competing hypotheses about the remittances-homicide association. Our unit of analysis was the nation-year, and our sample included 16 LAC nations between 2000 and 2018. We obtained homicide data from the World Health Organization and measures of state legitimacy and remittances from the Latinobarómetro, World Bank, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Controlling for several traditional structural covariates of cross-national homicide rates, results from panel fixed effects models indicated that state legitimacy and remittances are, respectively, negatively and positively associated with LAC within-nation homicide rates over time
Early Health Conditions, Family Processes, And Educational Achievements
Get PDFThis dissertation examines how childhood health affects children’s own and their siblings’ educational attainment through home environments and family processes. While health and socioeconomic status have been recognized as reinforcing dimensions of stratification in the past few decades, their linkage has not been contextualized in the critical social institution of families. To fill this gap in prior research, this project uses rich data on childhood health, home environments, academic achievement and educational attainment, sociodemographic background, and linkages between family members from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults to (1) estimate the extent to which home environments exacerbate or alleviate the negative impacts of childhood health on children’s own education within a mediation framework, (2) evaluate how children’s health conditions affect their siblings’ education using multilevel dyadic models, and (3) Examine whether the effects of home environments and siblings’ health vary across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups.The results indicate that low birth weight is associated with disadvantaged home environments and diminished performance in standardized tests for the focal children in non-Hispanic Black families, though there is no robust evidence that these negative associations apply to other groups. In terms of illnesses and behavior problems before age 5, these health conditions are positively associated with home environments that can alleviate the negative impacts on education and improve performance in standardized tests. These positive associations hold for both the focal children and their siblings. Also, the positive effects of illnesses and behavior problems on home environments tend to be greater in size for privileged groups (e.g., non-Hispanic Whites or high-SES families) than their disadvantaged counterparts. This dissertation project makes theoretical and methodological contributions to the sociological literature on stratification, families, and the life course. First, it contextualizes the production and reproduction of health-related inequality in families and evaluates how the role of family processes varies according to racial-ethnic and class backgrounds. Second, this dissertation bridges two fields of research in the sociological literature on families, one on health and family ties and the other one on family dynamics and inequality. In the context of the second demographic transition, it is particularly important to delineate the interrelatedness of families’ impact in different areas of social lives. Third, this project treats the accumulation of advantages and disadvantages as a multilevel process and emphasizes that research on early life adversities should account for the “linked lives” of family members. Fourth, this project uses multilevel dyadic models in an innovative way that is different from most prior sociological studies. While prior quantitative dyadic studies typically use actor-partner interdependence models and mainly focus on topics related to couple dynamics, this dissertation shows that dyadic models can be adapted to include more family members, deal with more complex data structures, and study a wider range of research topics. Findings from this dissertation are also of relevance to the design of policy tools and interventions to lower the detrimental impacts of childhood health problems. Ascertaining how early health problems affect children’s own and their siblings’ education through home environments and family processes can inform intervention efforts in families, schools, and other social institutions. Also, this project evaluates socioeconomic and racial/ethnic variation in how childhood health affects the well-being of family members. Results from these analyses may help identify groups that need interventions the most and improve the effectiveness of policies and interventions
Development of new mass spectrometric approaches for biomarker discovery: application to complex biological matrices for tissue characterization and disease diagnosis
Get PDFIn this work, the newly developed technique laser ablation direct analysis in real – time high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry (LADI-MS) and the more established methods direct analysis in real time – high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS) and two-dimensional gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS), were used to interrogate challenging plant- and human-derived complex matrices that have proven difficult to analyze by conventional methods, in order to extract heretofore inaccessible information that can be applied to the understanding of wood systems biology, ecophysiology, dendrochronology and natural product isolation of biologically relevant compounds (on the plant side), and explore the potential for discovery of the presence of molecular markers of a rare otolaryngological disorder, Ménière’s disease (on the human disease diagnostics side). LADI-MS analysis of the small molecule spatial distributions within wood transects of Entandrophragma candollei Harms (named Kosipo), Millettia laurentii De Wild (named Wenge) and Pericopsis elata (Harms) Meeuwen (named Afrormosia), which are all of economic and forensic importance, revealed for the first time several compounds that were associated with specific anatomical features including glycerin, furfural, pentanoic acid, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid. The greatest diversity of compounds were found withing the vessels and parenchyma, and to a lesser extent in the wood fibers. It was also revealed that for certain compounds, their distributions were varied in the heartwood in comparison to the sapwood (i.e., benzoic acid and furfural had lower levels in the sapwood). The approach illustrates how plant ecophysiology investigations can be facilitated, and demonstrates how studies that reveal not only the association between chemical make-up and environmental factors, but also how the possible mechanisms for the synthesis and trafficking of small molecules within specialized tissues can be conducted. GC-MS analysis of the economically important Voacanga africiana seeds revealed the presence of 31 newly reported compounds in the seeds. The spatial distributions of a number of these molecules were mapped using LADI-MS. It was found that fatty acids were centralized in the embryo while alkaloids spanned the endosperm. These findings illustrate that V. africana seeds could be used as a renewable resource for biologically relevant molecules, and the knowledge of their locales could assist in the development of protocols for their isolation. On the application of mass spectrometry to disease diagnosis, GC×GC-MS was applied in an unconventional way to study the highly intractable and challenging to analyze earwax matrix, as a means by which to reveal the presence of Ménière’s disease, an incurable vestibular disorder that is challenging to diagnose. Analysis of earwax from non-Ménière’s disease donors generated chromatograms in the form of visually interpretable contour plots that revealed a range of compound classes present, including alkanes, alkenes, fatty acids, esters, cholesterol esters and triglycerides. While these classes had previously been detected by other methods, GC×GC-MS facilitated the resolution of peaks that co-eluted by 1D-GC, thereby providing the opportunity to detect and identify several analytes for the first time, including 1,6,10,14,18,22-tetracosahexaen-3-ol, 2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl, lathosterol, C28H48O, cholest-4-en-3-one, lanost-8-en-3-ol (3β), lanosterol, cholesteryl myristate, cholesteryl heptadecanoate and cholesteryl stearate. In all, 39 compound were identified, 30 more than had been previously reported for analysis of unsaponified earwax. The characterization of earwax from Ménière’s disease donors contrasted with that of non-Ménière’s disease donors in a number of ways, including the number of peaks detected by DART-HRMS and relative abundance of a number of compounds including fatty acids, alkanes and esters in GC-MS analyses. Application to the DART-HRMS-derived chemical profiles of the machine learning technique random forest (RF), facilitated determination of m/z values that enabled discrimination between the two sample types. GC-MS facilitated identification of these compounds showed them to be cis-9-hexadecenoic acid, cis-10-heptadecenoic acid and cis-9-octadecenoic acid. While all three molecules were detected in both Ménière’s disease and non-Ménière’s disease samples, the relative amounts in each sample type differed markedly. In non-Ménière’s disease samples, the average concentrations were 7.89 µg/mL, 0.87 µg/mL and 4.94 µg/mL, while in the Ménière’s disease samples, the average amounts were 1.70 µg/mL, 0.13 µg/mL, and 2.07 µg/mL. It was the differences in the relative concentrations of this subset of compounds that enabled accurate prediction of the presence of Ménière’s disease from analysis of the earwax samples. Thus, the prediction ability of the RF model using external validation samples showed it to be 100% accurate in predicting whether or not the earwax donor had Ménière’s disease. Overall, it has been demonstrated in this work how some challenging matrices can be interrogated in a manner that unveils attributes and characteristics of materials that can be leveraged for forensic, economic, research and disease diagnosis benefits
The Trifluoromethyltetrafluoro-Λ6-Sulfanyl Group In Organic And Polymer Chemistry
Get PDFFluorine atom was widely applied in the organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry due to its strong electronegativity and lipophilicity. Fluorine atom, trifluoromethyl (CF3) moiety, trifluoromethyl sulfenyl (CF3S) moiety, pentafluoromethylsulfenyl (SF5) moiety have already been applied in the medicinal chemistry. These fluorinated groups brought the good chemical stability, oral stability, low toxicity, and longer half-life compared with the analogs. Fluorine containing compounds can be synthesized via radical reaction, electrophilic fluorinated source as well as nucleophilic sources. Additionally, the fluorinated compounds can also be synthesized via chlorofluoro-oxidation and SN2 reactions. In our lab, we introduced the super fluorine rich moiety (trans-CF3SF4 group) to different substrate. trans-CF3SF4Cl was synthesized in our lab with the chlorofluoro-oxidation process with CF3SSCF3. We firstly synthesized the fluorinated amines, and herein we reported that trans-CF3SF4 group alter the chemical features of the traditional amines compounds such as basicity and lipophilicity. Additionally fluorinated groups help the formation of alpha helix structure of peptoid, thus we also reported the synthesis of fluorine group containing peptide-peptoid sequences. Fluorinated groups were used in the synthesis of nucleoside compounds, and the fluorinated group provided the better chemical stability and oral absorption. Compared with C5’-fluorinated nucleoside we synthesized the analog containing trans-CF3SF4 group. Introduction of fluorinated group can be a challenge. Cross metathesis is an atom-economic and efficient method of introduction of functional group. Fluorinated groups can be introduced to various substrate via cross metathesis. Herein we reported the successful cross metathesis of fluorine-rich olefins, and the method provides an ideal method to expand the categories of fluorinated compounds. Fluorinated moieties were applied in the synthesis of polymers because of its high surface energy providing the good hydrophobicity. Wide variety of fluorinated polymers are synthesized and applied in the daily life. Our lab reported an important fluorinated polyacrylate and the tested results showed good thermal stability and hydrophobicity, and these features implies the further applications of our fluorinated polymers
Contributions To Robust Statistical Learning And Its Applications In Biological Spectral Imaging
Get PDFThis thesis investigates robust statistical learning and its applications in biological spectral imaging. The first part of this thesis addresses the challenges raised in the statistical learning of robust expectile regression. Expectiles can be obtained through empirical risk minimization (\acrshort{erm}), which minimizes the sum of asymmetrically weighted squared deviations. However, this \acrshort{erm} scheme lacks robustness to abnormal observations and flexibility. To overcome these limitations, we adopt the empirical gain maximization (\acrshort{egm}) scheme that learns expectiles using an asymmetric Gaussian \acrshort{egm} approach. The corresponding \acrshort{erm} can be formulated with a robust expectile loss, which is bounded and nonconvex. Through a learning theory analysis, we explore the relationship between the asymmetric Gaussian \acrshort{egm} approach and the expectile regression model. Our findings demonstrate that the expectile level and the scale parameter in the loss function trade off the convergence rates and robustness of the regression model
Intergenerationality : the making and consequences of parental intervention in children’s marriage in China
Get PDFThe mosaic family theory posits that Chinese families are a combination of the tradition of parental control and the neoliberal rhetoric of individualism. This theory is also used to explain the low speed of marriage modernization in China. However, how to empirically examine this “mosaic” is ambiguous. This dissertation research uses parental intervention in children’s marriage as a case of “mosaic” to unravel how the intergenerational axis and the conjugal axis interact in mate selection. Employing the mixed-method approach, this dissertation research finds three levels of intergenerationality involved in the making and consequences of parental intervention in children’s marriage in China. First, filial piety culture is found to be strongly associated with the marital practice of parental intervention. This association suggests the intergenerational nature of parental intervention and the cognitive (cultural) level of intergenerationality. Second, older parents and young adults hold different understandings of parental intervention and negotiate it in mate selection. Intergenerational disagreement and negotiation reflect the behavioral level of intergenerationality because the two generations interact to embody filial piety obligation in the marriage market. Third, parental intervention is estimated to increase intergenerational solidarity in terms of parental support provision, whereas it undermines conjugal happiness. These marital impacts are also found to be greater in urban areas and more recent cohorts where parental intervention is less practiced. These findings echo the marital level of intergenerationality that the intergenerational axis trumps the conjugal axis when the marriage is traditionally formed. The three levels of intergenerationality together demonstrate that intergenerational relationship is a key lens to understanding mosaic families in contemporary China. Chinese families are sustained in the changing dynamic between tradition and modernity
Sequential user modeling and recommendation under partially observable environment
Get PDFA tremendous amount of user data is collected daily due to technological progress that enables us to understand users better. The availability of this data also advances machine learning-based technologies, which aim to learn generic global patterns of user behavior from large volumes of data. User modeling is the process of building user profiles and finding the inherent representation of the user. Precise user modeling is critical for predicting users\u27 future behavior and providing personalized services or products to individuals. Many machine learning models have been explored for user modeling to meet the increasing demand for user-centric technologies. Machine learning for user modeling is challenging because a user\u27s inherent representation, such as user preference and cognitive state, is typically not observable and should be estimated or reasoned from the collected (observed) data, such as the user\u27s demographic data and user-item response data. Also, many well-established user modeling methods are built based on the assumption that the user\u27s inherent representation is static over time and that the user\u27s sequential activities or events are independent. However, temporal dynamics naturally exist in user behavior, and the inherent representation of users may change over time in many real scenarios. This thesis aims to develop and improve sequential user modeling (SUM) and recommendation in applications where users\u27 inherent representations are dynamic and unobserved but could be approximated from partially observed data. Our focus will be on educational and mental health domains, in which student knowledge states or user mental states are dynamic and not observable
Applying the theory of planned behavior to intentions to seek couple therapy : the role of attachment, relationship satisfaction, and expectations
Get PDFAlthough the negative consequences of relationship distress on mental health symptoms have been amply documented (e.g., Beach & Whisman, 2012), many distressed couples do not seek professional help (Cicila et al., 2014). While previous studies identified various barriers to help seeking, such as financial concerns and a lack of childcare (Williamson et al., 2019), there is limited knowledge of psychological factors that encourage distressed couples to seek help. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Azjen, 1991), the present study examined several predictors of a person’s intention to seek couple therapy. Participants were a convenience sample of 665 adults (362 men, 300 women, 70.1% married) who indicated being unhappy, unrewarded, or dissatisfied in their committed relationship but no prior couple therapy experience. Structural equational modeling was used to test the direct and indirect contributions of attachment orientation, relationship satisfaction, role and outcome expectations, to the four TPB constructs: attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions. A revised model demonstrated adequate fit and numerous significant pathways. Specifically, anxious attachment and current relationship satisfaction had positive indirect associations with intentions, through higher expectations, whereas avoidant attachment had a negative indirect association with help-seeking intentions, through lower expectations. In turn, outcome expectations and expectations for the participant’s own engagement in couple therapy (but not for their partner’s engagement) had positive indirect associations with intentions, through greater subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (but not attitudes). Additionally, relationship satisfaction had a positive indirect association with intentions through perceived behavioral control. Notably, examination of gender differences showed that men, but not women, reporting high avoidant attachment had lower expectations for their own participation in couple therapy, less perceived behavioral control, and lower help-seeking intentions. Taken together, these results support the TPB’s application to help-seeking intentions and suggest that attachment orientation, expectations for couple therapy, current relationship satisfaction, and gender play significant but different roles in predicting whether an individual experiencing a romantic relationship problem might seek couple therapy. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for practice and future research
Black migrants in Harlem, 1900-1942: West Indian migrants and the ideologies that helped shape Garveyism and Black politics in New York City\u27s interwar period and Harlem Renaissance
Get PDFABSTRACT This dissertation tells a new story of Harlem black radicalism by inserting four West Indian migrants\u27 experiences in advancing and enriching conversations on Harlem’s black radicalism, on Garveyism and on black politics during the interwar period and Harlem Renaissance era in Harlem. These four men include Hubert Harrison of St. Croix, Wilfred A. Domingo and Marcus Garvey of Jamaica and Cyril Briggs of Nevis of St. Kitts-Nevis. It writes a new history of Harlem black radicalism that inserts these four West Indian thinkers into the conversation and brings all these thinkers together under one history. This dissertation makes a unique contribution to the study of black internationalism. It analyzes how difference and the internationalization of black spaces in the U.S. and particularly Harlem helped to contribute to black radical politics in Harlem with a focus on how the experience of black west Indian migrants contributed to black Harlem radicalism. I examine the impact of violence and us white supremacy on black migrants. Furthermore, I center Harlem as an international space, where adaptation to new experiences and contexts led to new and distinct perspectives that aided in black politics of this time. I argue that between 1900 and 1942, “the problem of the color line” (i.e. violence and white supremacy) in the U.S. became an immense issue in West Indian migrants struggles for upward mobility and justice in the U.S., coming to be inscribed on most aspects of their black lives. Their exposure to U.S. violence and oppression and incompatible solutions for uplift for them however led to them reshape understandings of race and class and who they were and contributed to them turning to one another for guidance and each’s later adherence to race first politics. I argue that as migrants, their experiences of the U.S. and New York City helped reshape their identities and contributed to them constructing new political identities and to new and unique forms of black radicalism. Importantly, however, they drew from one another in their responses to these new experiences to create these multiple forms. As I argue their reactions as migrants, both as a collective and apart, came to have an important impact on black politics of this time. This was shown in their interpretations of concepts like constructing/writing a new black history, nationhood, self- determination, self-defense and self-reliance and their extension into the black politics overall of Harlem. Further, in this dissertation, I argue that each went from distinct West Indian idealisms as migrants with an ambivalence to radicalism which merely asked for democracy and representation to race-first politics and radicalism. While some would expand on race-first, each were guided in important ways by the early race-first radicalism of Harrison. In this dissertation, I look at and link their individual contributions to Harrison and each other’s politics in the U.S. between 1900 and 1942. This project relied on a content analysis of archival data and secondary sources. Archival documents were characterized by the Negro World, Messenger and Crusader newspapers and documents published between 1900 and 1942. Secondary sources were characterized by biographies and histories of the lives of these men and of these times. I look at the histories of these individuals in the first five chapters, weaving their ideas into different points in the history of their lives. In doing this I locate and identify the issues of importance to these different West Indians and their newspapers and the points where they evolved and changed and how this contributed to black radicalism in Harlem. I locate the introduction of key ideas in the newspapers of this period within the contexts in which they emerged. I layer context onto this to highlight the history surrounding and their significance to the introduction of these ideas
Volunteer Fire Departments Confront A Challenge: Socializing For Trust While Diversifying For Survival
Get PDFThis qualitative study that analyzed data from interviews, observations, texts, and artifacts sought to answer the following questions: What qualities and characteristics are most valued in HROs such as fire departments? How are bonding, trust, and cohesion observably accomplished in high reliability organizations (HROs) such as fire departments? How do informal communicative practices unique to fire departments participate in this accomplishment at interpersonal and organizational levels? How do these informal communicative practices contribute to fostering diversity or perpetuating exclusion? The results of the study were that fitting in socially was a key determinant of successful assimilation. Additionally, as HROs, fire departments require bonding and trust among members to function effectively, but some of the mechanisms of bonding and trust formation (social identity processes for creating and reinforcing ingroups) have unintended, and sometimes intentional, adverse outcomes especially for women, minorities, and other marginalized groups. The processes are usually informal forms of social control but can communicate messages of exclusion and hostility to uninitiated outsiders. It was also found that fire departments are permeated with unwritten rules, a situation which is disadvantageous to newcomers who lack pre-occupational socialization or a mentor. This situation would be detrimental to any type of organization because they could not reap the benefits of diversity and inclusion and, in the case of some volunteer fire departments, threatens their continued existence because they no longer attract sufficient volunteers from their traditional populations and are not attractive to women and minority volunteers due to their historically exclusionary and hostile environments. The flow of the study begins with a review of the history of race and gender relations in fire departments. Then the literature review invokes the traditional lens of HRO literature to understand fire department culture and links the exigencies of bonding and trust to the mechanisms described in social identity theories. The literature on diversity and inclusion are used to highlight why lack of diversity and inclusion are counterproductive. Lastly the literature review focuses on communicative tools of workplace humor and ostracism to highlight phenomena revealed in the data relating to ubiquitous and outwardly benign practices of pranks and silent treatment in fire departments and their adverse effects