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Visibile Parlare: An Essay on Dante's Commedia
No full textThesis advisor: Boyd Taylor CoolmanThe Commedia begins and ends with two images of the human person: the shadowy self that inaugurates the Inferno and the visage of Christ (la nostra effige) that concludes the paradisal ascent. I read the Commedia as just this: a chronicle of Dante’s translation (trasumanare) from the former to the latter, from shadow to Image. Specifically, this study offers a meditation on how Dante’s translation from shadow to Image is presided over by the Madonna, whose muted presence throughout the poem serves as a theophany, in literary form, of Divine humility. The controlling image of this thesis is a scene in Purgatorio 10 where Dante, after passing through the gates of purgatory and surveying the penitential landscape that horizons his journey ahead, will measure (misurebbe) that distance according to the scale of un corpo umano (Purg.10.24). As I interpret it, the appearance of this lexicon, misurrebbe—the conditional of misurare, meaning “to measure”—at this specific moment is Dante’s way of subtly articulating how the ascent up purgatory’s mountain is fundamentally a search after the human person: the human measure that is obscured and abandoned in inferno as a result of pride (superbia) is slowly rediscovered and mirrored in purgatory (Purg. 1.129). Specific to the Commedia, the search for this human measure unfolds within a Marian soundscape: it is the voice of Mary’s humility that en-voices anew Dante's own.
In Purgatorio 10.97, Dante will name the image of Marian humility as visibile parlare, or speech made visible, an obvious gesture to the incarnation. As the breathing image of God, Mary’s humility represents much more than a mere virtue; at the literary level, it serves as an exegesis of the Divine society, a revealing of God. The image of Marian humility thus provides the key to interpreting the poem’s concluding visio dei, which does not unravel as an imageless mystical vision but appears as an enfleshed image: the face of Christ, whose visage is double, Divine and human. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to ponder the implications of Dante representing Marian humility as the vernacular of God. The result is a theological contribution to Dante studies where the literary presence of the Madonna is more fully thematized, a presence that, though central to both the poem’s form and content, has somehow remained largely understudied within Dante scholarship.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Theology
Getting Off the Sidelines: Individual Motivations for Joining and Remaining in the Line 3 Movement
Get PDFThesis advisor: Josh SeimIn this thesis, I examine what motivated individuals to join the movement against the expansion of the Line 3 pipeline in Northern Minnesota and to stay in the movement even after the pipeline was successfully expanded in 2021. Drawing from a digital ethnography and semi-structured qualitative interviews with 11 members of the Line 3 movement, I find that individuals joined the Line 3 movement because they had relationships with members of the movement and because they were concerned that the Line 3 pipeline expansion would harm the environment and Indigenous people in Minnesota. Moreover, while many people were disappointed that the movement failed to stop the expansion of the Line 3 pipeline, I find that people stayed in the Line 3 movement even after the pipeline was expanded because they believed the movement was capable of success and because they felt that they needed to monitor and shut down the Line 3 pipeline and other pipelines in the area.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Sociology
Examining Mental Health in Boston College Undergraduates
Get PDFThesis advisor: Sara MoormanThesis advisor: Lacee SatcherThe well-being of students is pivotal to the success of higher education institutions, yet students are experiencing an unsettling rise in mental health issues. This study aims to examine the mental health status of Boston College undergraduates and how different institutional and social factors shape variance in mental health. Undergraduate students (N=919) completed an anonymous online survey asking about mental well-being, campus attitudes/culture, and support resources on campus. significant relationships between mental health outcomes and self-rated mental health, feeling tired or having little energy, poor appetite or overeating, thoughts of self-harm, and seeking support for mental health difficulties. Additionally, There are statistically significant relationships between the prevalence of mental health diagnoses and school, race/ethnicity, and sex. Attempting to access University Counseling Services also varies by sex, race/ethnicity, and graduation year. I provide strategies to improve future research, support the well-being of undergraduates, and increase student engagement with mental health resources and practices.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Sociology
A Philosophical Approach to the Opioid Addiction Crisis: Advocating for Mandatory Rehabilitation in the Spirit of American Freedom
Get PDFThesis advisor: Marius StanThis thesis explores America's Opioid addiction crisis through a philosophical lens, arguing for a need to adopt a national mandatory rehabilitative approach for the sake of maintaining our country's cultural ethos grounded in freedom and the subsequent capacity to flourish as a human being. It proceeds in four chapters: the development of our cultural ethos through an analysis of John Locke and J.S. Mill, the history of the opioid addiction crisis and development of the two dominant addiction theories, America's current measures to tackling the crisis, and the proposal of a new approach that recovers addicts' freedom and ability to flourish. The work concludes by arguing for the importance of using philosophical principles and interpretations to guide problem solving and tackling current crises.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Philosophy
Contract Renewal Incentive Effect: Reality or Myth?
Get PDFThesis advisor: Michael GrubbThe contract renewal incentive effect is an economic topic that has been controversial in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This study investigates whether or not the performance and effort of NBA players tend to increase in contract years and decrease afterward. With the most recent data set, this paper evaluates performance and effort variables, conducts multiple linear regressions, and presents discussions related to the real world. The results conclude that based on the reality-based metric, performance decreases by approximately 1.3 points and 0.7 points in contract years and post-contract years, respectively, while effort persists at the same level. From the perspective of basketball fans, this surprising finding provides a reference when understanding the world of basketball.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Economics
Living as an Act of Courage: Dante's Treatment of Suicide and its Applicability Today
No full textThesis advisor: Christopher ConstasThere is a huge problem today with high suicide rates skyrocketting and the medical community lacking the necessary tools to deal with it. Dante Aligheri's philosophy of condemnation of the act while recognizing limited culpability is a possible solution. Hopefully, this philosophy can be implemented by the medical community in their effort to deter potential suicides.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Philosophy
Celibate Friendship in the Christian Tradition: A Study of Aelred of Rievaulx and Teresa of Avila
No full textThesis advisor: André BrouilletteThesis advisor: Colleen M. GriffithThis thesis studies Celibate Friendship in the Christian Tradition from the perspectives of Aelred of Rievaulx and Teresa of Avila. Both of them taught and modelled celibate friendship in response to their vocation as religious, in their time and space. It is the desire to reclaim authentic Christian living through friendship as lived and taught by Aelred of Rievaulx and Teresa of Avila, that necessitate this study. I realized that Aelred and Teresa's doctrine on spritual friendship is basically Christ-centered. It begins with Christ, proceeds in Christ and ends in Christ. Aelredian and Teresian celibate friendship is essentially love for God and humanity. It is incarnational, communal, apostolic and scripture-based. It teaches authentic way of living the Gospel values of love, unity, justice, peace and joy in the contemporary world. Religious life as a charismatic gift to the Church, is a most appropriate vocation for Christian witnessing through celibate friendship as taught and modeled by Aelred of Rievaulx and Teresa of Avila. To live Aelredian and Teresian sprirituality of celibate friendship in the twenty-first century, religious men and women need to be versatile in knowledge, sustained by on-going formation on the subject matter.Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
Resource Dependency and Sustainability in the United States:
No full textThesis advisor: Andrew JorgensonRecent research suggests that no country in the world meets its social needs in a sustainable manner. The U.S. is a prime example, as it has achieved a high standard of living but at a substantial cost to the environment. Although, research also suggests that subjective and objective measures of well-being are declining in the U.S. Thus, not only must the country reduce its emissions and environmental resource use, but it must also rethink its development strategy as well-being continues to deteriorate. However, these trends are not homogeneous as there are significant differences in ecological degradation and well-being across the states. What could explain these differences? Resource dependency, w¬hich refers to economic overspecialization in the extractive natural resource sector, offers a promising theoretical perspective to apply to this question. In my four-part dissertation, I explore whether and how resource dependency impacts sustainability-related measures in the U.S. Using state-level panel data, I assess the effects of resource dependency on the carbon-intensity of well-being, the renewable energy-fossil fuel nexus, and CO2 emissions in chapters two through four. In the fifth chapter, I describe three Stata commands (eiwb, xtasysum, and lreff) that I developed as part of my dissertation. Taken together, I show that resource dependency undermines environmental and social well-being outcomes in the U.S., but it does so in complex ways. I conclude by discussing the implications of my findings, this dissertation’s contributions to sociology and sustainability science, and paths for future research.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Sociology
Catalytic Stereoselective 1,3-Enyne Carboboration, Hydroalkynylation, and Hydrothiolation Reactions:
No full textThesis advisor: Shih-Yuan LiuThesis advisor: Amir H. HoveydaChapter 1. Senphos–Palladium-Catalyzed cis-Carboboration of Internal 1,3-Enynes with Carbon–Bound Boron Enolates: Reaction Development and Mechanistic Analysis. A new family of carbon-bound boron enolates (C–boron enolates) that are created through a kinetically controlled halogen exchange process between B–chlorocatecholborane and silylketene acetals is presented. These C–boron enolates are demonstrated to activate 1,3-enynes substrates in the presence of a Senphos-Pd complex to achieve carboboration reaction of an alkyne unit. This carboboration reaction produced highly substituted dienyl boron building blocks in high site-, regio-, and diastereoselectivity. A combined experimental and computational study of this carboboration reaction by Density-Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, 31P NMR study, kinetic study, Hammett analysis and Arrhenius/Eyring analysis will also be described. Mechanistic study supports a syn outer-sphere oxidative addition mechanism featuring a Pd-π-allyl intermediate followed by coordination-assisted rearrangement instead of the conventional inner-sphere β-migratory insertion mechanism. Chapter 2. trans-Hydroalkynylation of Internal 1,3-Enynes Enabled by Cooperative Catalysis. A trans-hydroalkynylation reaction of internal 1,3-enynes enabled by a cooperative catalysis system that comprises of Senphos–Pd complex, tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, copper(I) bromide, and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine, is described. The tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane as Lewis acid catalyst is shown to promote the reaction involving the emerging outer-sphere oxidative reaction step. This hydroalkynylation reaction affords the cross-conjugated dieneynes that serve as versatile synthons for organic synthesis. The photophysical properties of these cross-conjugated dieneynes depend on the position of electron donor/acceptor substituents along the conjugation path, as characterized by UV–vis absorption and emissions spectroscopy. Chapter 3. Senphos–Palladium/B(C6F5)3-Catalyzed trans-Hydrothiolation of 1,3-Enynes: Reaction Development and Mechanistic Analysis. A trans-hydrothiolation reaction of 1,3-enynes enabled by a cooperative catalysis system that comprises of Senphos–Pd complex and tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane is detailed. The tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane is shown to alter the reaction pathway, leading to a trans-addition product over cis-addition one. Experimental mechanistic study that includes 31P NMR, kinetic study, kinetic isotope effect (KIE) study, Hammett analysis, is consistent with a cooperative activation mechanism that features an outer-sphere protonation step.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
A Sick Anomaly: Exploring the Effects of COVID on the U.S. Stock Market
Get PDFThesis advisor: Peter IrelandIt is not unreasonable to surmise that public sentiment views stock market behavior as an indicator of economic health. Historically, movements in the the stock market indeed correspond to business cycles, but this is not always the case, and the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a distinct case to highlight such an irregularity. The contrast between the behavior of the stock market and that of the economy during the pandemic compels an analysis of the pandemic's actual impact on the stock market, and this paper finds a negative and significant relationship between the interpolated daily closing prices of the S&P 500 and the daily number of COVID-19 cases.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Economics