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Perfecting Ecological Relationality: Acknowledging Sin and the Cardinal Virtue of Humility
No full textThesis advisor: James KeenanThis dissertation argues that humility is a cardinal virtue that governs our ecological relationality. I define humility as the virtue of knowing and valuing the truth of our place in the world as interdependent beings. Humility is acquired via the practice of other-centeredness and other-acceptance and enabled by the “graces" of self-doubt and self-affirmation. A global survey of recent Christian scholarship on environmental issues and magisterial Roman Catholic teaching supports three conclusions: 1) interconnectedness characterizes human relationships with creation; 2) current ecological crises indicate the presence of sin and 3) we need to understand our place within creation and appreciate other-centered ways of knowing. Utilizing these three themes, I expand upon James Keenan's framework of rethinking cardinal virtues in terms of human relationality in order to account for an underdeveloped aspect of human relationality, that is, ecological relationality. I propose a more robust account of humility as a mean between two equally problematic extremes: pride and self-deprecation. Furthermore, humility helps us better identify sin both by recognizing how pride and self-deprecation can lead to indifference, understood as a failure to bother to love, that stems from our strength, and by rejecting the isolation that enables the sin of indifference so understood. The final chapter addresses how humility can be understood and cultivated in the United States today. In particular, I argue that the adoption of a plant-based diet generally fosters humility in individuals living in wealthy nations with high rates of meat consumption. In conclusion, I suggest that Catholics reinvigorate the Lenten penitential practice of Friday abstinence from meat by seeing it also as an opportunity to foster the virtue of humility.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Theology
Professional Learning and Instructional Leadership During COVID-19: As a Matter of Principal: How Superintendents Strive to Strengthen the Organizational Commitment of the Principals They Serve
Get PDFThesis advisor: Martin ScanlanProblem and Purpose: Without time for preparation, COVID-19 caused a wave of operational and structural changes that encumbered much of the time and energy educational leaders previously spent on moving the district forward. The ripple effect of the pandemic exposed new challenges in teaching and learning, requiring superintendents and principals to establish efficient and effective responsive systems to support the needs of students. Even so, amid crisis principals were given new managerial tasks. This led to tension as principals’ identities as instructional leaders were threatened by increased workloads and changed responsibilities. To better understand this tension, the purpose of this study is to examine how a superintendent strives to increase the organizational commitment of their principals regarding instructional leadership.
Methods: This bounded single-site design examined the interactions between superintendent and principals in one urban district of medium size in Massachusetts where at least 50% of students are high needs. Learning capabilities were used as a conceptual framework to analyze how the superintendent and principals interacted within a Community of Practice.
Implications: This study found that strengthening principals’ organizational commitment during this time of crisis was the result of superintendent interactions in three areas: supervisor support, perceived autonomy, and alignment of personal and district goals. Principals’ investment increased in a culture where connection, candor, and capacity-building existed. Additionally, organizational commitment increased when there was greater alignment between principals’ personal and district goals and the district allowed for more autonomy to achieve goals. Under these conditions principals felt empowered to take on complex challenges and develop innovative solutions. These findings can assist superintendents in cultivating principal investment that will be integral during post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction.Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education
Promoting Self-Efficacious Computer Science Education: Findings from a Smart Greenhouse Project, a Review of an AI Curriculum, and an Analysis of an AI Concept Inventory
No full textThesis advisor: Michael George BarnettComputer science literacy is the key to surviving and thriving in the digital era. Unfortunately, given the negative stereotypes about who does computer science related work and what such work entails, many individuals are dissuaded from learning more about computer science and lack belief in their competence in computer science. As such, this dissertation aims to identify ways to make computer science education more self-efficacious using three connected studies, including (1) a mixed methods study on an intervention project for non-STEM major college students, (2) a practitioner study on a novel curriculum for middle school students, and (3) a study on the internal structure of a novel concept inventory for AI concepts. Findings from the first study confirm the importance of providing learners with mastery experiences in terms of helping them developing self-efficacy in coding. Findings from the second study provide teachers with teaching tips they could use while teaching the AI curriculum in their classrooms. Findings from the third study reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the AI concept inventory in accurately measuring respondents’ knowledge about AI.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Together We Bargain, Divided We Beg The Question: How Do Minimum Wages Impact Labor Union Election Results?
Get PDFThesis advisor: Geoffrey SanzenbacherLabor unions are generally considered to be beneficial for workers wages and benefits, but have been on the decline for decades. This analysis questions why workers appear more hesitant to vote for labor unions now than in the past by investigating what factors influence individual labor union votes. Specifically, this analysis aims to pinpoint the effect that outside minimum wages have on union election outcomes. Using data from the United States National Labor Relations Board, Michigan State, IPUMS USA and the US Census Bureau, I generated two models – a logistic regression, and an ordinary least squares regression – that each predict the likelihood of union support based upon outside minimum wages, after controlling for a variety of factors including but not limited to the county unemployment rate, the existence of the Right to Work law, and county-level demographics. I find that the difference between state-level or city-level minimum wages and the federal minimum wage has a positive relationship with the likelihood of union certification. Specifically, I find that union support is most likely in areas where the local-level minimum wage is 5.13 higher than the federal minimum in the ordinary least squares model, ceteris paribus. Put differently, with a federal minimum wage of 12 are most likely to see union elections pass. Overall, these results suggest that workers are more likely to vote for a union when local exogenous economic environments are strong.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Economics
A Cultural Appropriation of the Concepts of Ubuntu, Ujamaa, and Deou for Trinitarian Theology
Get PDFThesis advisor: Brian DunkleThesis advisor: Margaret GuiderThis thesis argues that in the History of the Church the question of the Trinity has been influenced by cultures, languages and ways of life. Despite these differences, there is a common understanding of the relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The thesis argues that the Trinitarian relationality as it was understood by the fathers of the Church and by subsequent theology is fundamental in appreciating human beings' relationships with each other. This thesis uses the historical investigation method to understand Trinitarian relationality and its impact on African Christianity today. The first chapter will elaborate the Trinitarian relationality approach in the cultures and the languages of the early centuries, the Cappadocians in the East, Augustine in the West, and in the sixteenth century, Ignatius of Loyola. The thesis seeks to demonstrate that each approach was meant to respond to heretics denying the factuality of the three distinct Persons in one God and emphasizing the Trinitarian relationality. The second chapter will focus on an African theological vision for togetherness. The key concepts will be the Ubuntu and Ujamaa. Ubuntu is a concept used in the context of South Africa to resolve the wounds of apartheid in its three periods of pre-, during, and post-apartheid. Ubuntu is the term used for togetherness. In Tanzania, during the post-colonial period, a relative concept is used in terms of "familyhood" to explain togetherness and its implications, the concept of Ujamaa. The third chapter will introduce the concept of Deou. Deou is a word for human being or person in one of the Chadian languages called Murum; this concept expresses the inter-relationality that exists in the life of Murum people. this inter-relationality is a cultural model of living that binds Deoudje (plural of Deou) together. The theological consequence of the concept of Deou is to allow the people of Chad to experience themselves as one despite their diversity. This model for Trinitarian relationality is the aim for this work.Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
The Μακροθυμία of God and the Πραότης of Christ: St. John Chrysostom's Theology of Patience
No full textThesis advisor: Brian DunkleThesis advisor: Margaret SchatkinThe patience of God is a predominant theme in the homilies of St. John Chrysostom. Indeed, for Chrysostom, patience is not simply a human virtue but a diving attribute, an expression or reflection of God's φιλανθρωπία; it must therefore be understood in such a way that goes beyond its usual association with suffering, passivity, and powerlessness. Whereas patience in English, like patientia in Latin, is a somewhat ambiguous term, having both an active and a passive sense, the Greek language allows both for more precision and for greater depth and richness. This thesis will offer first an elaboration of Chrysostom's understanding of God's patience and then an exploration of how patience as a diving attribute colors and transforms not only our appreciation of Christ's patience but also the importance of practicing the virtue of patience in our own lives. In the effort to articulate Chrysostom's theology of patience, the primary concern of this thesis lies with the philosophical and theological concept of patience rather than with the lexical exactitude for which the translator always strives. The first chapter is theological in emphasis as it considers the description of God as μακρόθυμος in the Septuagint and examines Chrysostom's discussion of God's μακροθυμία in a selection of his homilies on Genesis and the Psalms. The second chapter is christological in emphasis as it analyzes Chrysostom's use of the term πραότης - whch in a (pagan) philosophical context is synonymous with μακροθυμία but in a biblical context has a very different meaning - in his exegesis of Christ's Passion in his Homilies on Matthew. Finally, the third chapter is anthropological in emphasis as it takes up the question of the imitation of God's μακροθυμία and Christ's πραότης as the way to restore and strengthen the divine likeness in the human person. Far from being a mere intellectal construct or the topic of purely academic debate, Chrysostom's theology of patience has much to teach us in regards to approaching current social and cultural reality.Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
An Incarnational Mission of Mercy: A Hermeneutical and Praxis-Based Criterion for Social Reconciliation
No full textThesis advisor: ORFILIO E. VALIENTEUganda’s fragmented ethnic reality comprises the reconstruction of ethnic identities into rival categories of difference and otherness. From a historical perspective, under the ‘divide and rule’ British colonial policy, colonial anthropology, political, and economic systems polarized and mobilized native nations into oppositional and competing configurations of embodied otherness. The resultant antagonistic social ethos, ingrained in the consciousness of persons and groups, foments a legacy of sociopolitical oppression and economic alienation and instigates religious and spiritual fragmentation within the body of Christ. From a Christian perspective, this project proposes an incarnational mission of mercy centered on the event of encounter as a hermeneutical and praxis-based criterion toward social reconciliation. It offers a way of interpreting conflicted reality by transforming ethnic attitudes, social structures, practices, and new habits of relation among persons of different ethnic groups and institutions. Based on Christian values, human agency, and God’s grace, it envisions transformed human relations and the establishment of a renewed social fabric. Christian faith, hope, and love lived out in a concrete praxis of mercy inspire this proposed new way of being, relation, and practice so that Uganda may become a reconciling society that anticipates an eschatological communion in God’s Kingdom.Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry.Discipline: Sacred Theology
Investigating Interfaces between Heterogeneous Catalysts and Metal-Organic Frameworks for Catalytic Selectivity Control:
No full textThesis advisor: Matthias M. WaegeleDepositing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on the surfaces of metal nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance catalytic selectivity has recently attracted great attention; however, a solid understanding of how the NP-MOF interface promotes catalytic selectivity is lacking. In this thesis, we have conducted three fundamental studies and further applied the knowledge to other types of catalysts using enzymes. The first part of this thesis focuses on understanding the NP-MOF interfacial structures and their impact on catalytic performance. We have systematically probed the NP-MOF interface generated by three commonly used approaches by IR and Raman spectroscopy. We have revealed significant differences in interfacial chemical interactions between them, and have found that these differences in interfacial structure dramatically impact selectivity. For example, the interface generated by the coating approach contains trapped capping agents. This trapped capping agent reduces crotyl alcohol selectivity for the hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde.
The second part of this thesis focuses on addressing the trapped capping agents at the NP-MOF interface. We developed an approach to creating a direct NP-MOF interface by utilizing weakly adsorbed capping agents during the MOF coating process. Their dynamic nature allows for their gradual dissociation from the NP surface with the assistance of the organic MOF linkers. Thus, direct chemical interactions can be built between NP and MOF, generating a clean and well-defined interface. Direct evidence on capping agent dissociation and formation of chemical interactions was obtained by Raman and IR spectroscopy. Combined with transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, we have revealed the relative orientation and facet alignment at the NP-MOF interface.
The third part of this thesis investigates how various MOF components affect the selectivity of hydrogenation reactions catalyzed at the MOF-NP interface. We found that the replacement of Zr-oxo nodes with Ce-oxo nodes yields the highest selectivity for cinnamyl alcohol (~87%), whereas the functionalization of the terephthalic acid linker with -OH, CH3, -NO2 and NH2 groups only moderately modulates the selectivity relative to the Zr-UiO-66 (~58%). Reaction kinetics studies demonstrate that coating Pt NPs with Ce-UiO-66 increases the rate of C=O hydrogenation, which infrared spectroscopic observations suggest is due to the interaction of the C=O group with the Ce-oxo node. This work highlights the critical role of metal-oxo nodes in regulating the catalytic selectivity of metal NPs in specific reactions.
The fourth part of this thesis extends the interface control to other catalysts involving enzymes. We compared the interfacial interactions of catalase in solid and hollow MOF microcrystals. The solid sample with confined catalase was prepared through a reported method. The hollow sample was generated by hollowing the MOFs crystal, sealing freestanding enzymes in the central cavities of the hollow MOF. By monitoring this hollowing process, we observed that the enzymes gradually changed from a confined form to a freestanding form. The freestanding enzymes in the hollow MOFs show higher activity in the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, attributed to their lesser chemical interactions and confinement. This study highlights the importance of the freestanding state for the biological function of encapsulated enzymes. Taken together, the four sections in this thesis establish design rules for refining MOF-based catalyst design.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
Stereoselective Synthesis of Organoboronates Through Olefin Transformations and Their Application Towards Biologically Active Targets:
Get PDFThesis advisor: James P. MorkenThis dissertation describes three methods towards the stereoselective synthesis of organoboronates, and their application towards pharmacological targets of interest. The first chapter describes the use of alkyl migrating groups and alkyl electrophiles in the synthesis of secondary boronic esters through a highly selective nickel-catalyzed three component conjunctive cross-coupling reaction. Products from this conjunctive cross-coupling reaction are then converted to two alkaloids through boron amination and annulation processes. The second chapter describes the platinum-catalyzed diastereoselective diboration of carbocyclic, heterocyclic, and bicyclic alkenes. This reaction proceeded under air and both a homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst was employed. Application of this reaction towards synthesis of the nucleoside analog Aristeromycin is also described. The final chapter details the development of an inexpensive and easily synthesized chiral diazaborinine that provides stereoinduction across a wide range of concerted and stepwise cycloaddition processes, affording heterocyclic-boron containing products in high yield and selectivity. Transformations of resulting organoboronates are also described.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
TheSynthetic Applications of 1,4-Hydrogen Atom Abstraction via Co(II)-Based Metalloradical Catalysis:
No full textThesis advisor: Peter X. ZhangThesis advisor: James P. MorkenRadical reactions have attracted continuous research interest in recent year considering their diverse reactivities. Hydrogen-atom abstraction (HAA), as one type of the most well-explored radical reactions, has been identified as one of powerful tools for C–H functionalization. Reactions involving 1,4-HAA, which is typically a challenging process both entropically and enthalpically, are rather scarce, while 1,5-HAA have been well demonstrated for variety of synthetic applications. Guided by the concept of metalloradical catalysis (MRC), 1,4-HAA was for the first time utilized as the key step to achieve asymmetric construction of chiral ring structures: cyclobutanones, azetidines and tetrahydropyridines. The design of different D2-symmetric chiral amidoporphyrin as the supporting ligand is the key to all these transformations. The reactions can be conducted under mild conditions, affording corresponding ring structure in good yields with excellent selectivity. Furthermore, The combined computational and experimental studies have shed light on the mechanistic details of these new asymmetric radical intramolecular C–H alkylation processes, which are fundamentally different from existing catalytic systems involving metallocarbenes for concerted C–H insertion. We envision that these asymmetric radical processes via Co(II)-based MRC could become an alternative method for important chiral ring structures synthesis and potentially provide new opportunities for complex molecule construction.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry