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The Arrogant Autonomy of the Police: Police Violence, Police Unions, and the Politics of Accountability
No full textThough most Americans agree that police violence requires substantive reform, even in instances where the political desires of citizens and the political will of local elected officials are aligned, police departments remain stubbornly resistant to change, and police officers are rarely disciplined. The institutions that work most aggressively to protect police officers from accountability are police unions. Police unions work aggressively to protect police officers from accountability for their violence. Further, they do so in ways that openly antagonize elected leaders and citizens. Their unique role and function run counter to settled scholarly knowledge.
In this dissertation, I explain the inability of local governments to institute effective police discipline and the role police unions play in that process. I argue that police departments operate as independent, politically insulated bureaucratic units empowered by state governments but funded by and submerged within local governments. I present the concept of insulated police governing authority—the collection of laws, court decisions, bureaucratic regulations, and informal customs and deference by which police departments are governed and insulated from local governments’ political influence—trace its development from American capitalism and demonstrates how it maintains standing social hierarchies. Analyzing the political development of the Baltimore Police Department, I demonstrate that state governments empower police unions in ways that keep urban policing beyond the political power or influence of local governments or citizens. Their insulation from local politics permits police unions to function in ways that do not align with the political and cultural demands of citizens and residents in the cities in which they are embedded
Exploring early adolescent gender norms expectations with vignette-based data: A methodological inquiry
No full textPurpose. Very young adolescents (VYAs), those ages 10-14 years, have more deeply gendered experiences as they transition from childhood. Restrictive gender norms, including norms around cross-gender socializing, produce gender-differentiated health risks and negatively impact the well-being of boys and girls alike. However, research examining gender norms and the health of VYAs has typically examined individual attitudes rather than group-based norms, and there is a lack of cross-cultural research with VYAs in low- and middle-income settings.
Methods. This study includes 6,119 VYAs living in Kinshasa, Semarang, and Shanghai who participated in the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS). The first paper developed and explored two bi-dimensional measures of gender norms expectations (GNEs) using vignette-based items: gender comparison (similarity/difference in exclusion/acceptance by gender) and self/group comparison (similarity/difference in exclusion/acceptance norms and by the respondent themself). The second paper examined the factors associated with GNE measures at multiple ecological levels. The third paper assessed the relationship between GNEs and psychosocial outcomes of violence perpetration and internalizing symptoms. All papers examined variation by site and gender using stratified analysis.
Results. In Kinshasa and Semarang, approximately three-fifths of VYAs expected cross-gender exclusion of other-gender peers; this was less common in Shanghai, especially among boys. One-third or more of boys/girls in Semarang and girls in Shanghai expected they would accept a peer of the other gender despite exclusionary norms. Factors across ecological levels were associated with more accepting GNEs, especially having a friend of the other gender and, for girls, community social cohesion. Associations between GNEs and psychosocial outcomes were mostly non-significant, but some associations between expectations of cross-gender acceptance and greater odds of violence and more internalizing were found.
Conclusions. VYA boys and girls in multiple cultures expect norms around cross-gender socializing to be exclusionary, especially in Kinshasa; but across sites, there are groups of VYAs willing to defy these norms. Analysis of the factors influencing GNEs show there is both variation and concordance across site and genders, reinforcing that norms change interventions should be culturally specific and may benefit from multilevel approaches. The processes connecting norms of gendered social exclusion and health merit further investigation
MECHANISTIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS OF ENDOMETRIAL GROWTH AND SIGNALING IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
Get PDFHumans are one of the few species with a uterine mucosal lining (endometrium) that grows and sheds each month in response to hormones and other cues. Endometriosis occurs when endometrial-like cells grow abnormally outside of the uterus, often resulting in severe symptoms including debilitating pain and infertility. The endometrium and menstrual disorders are difficult to study partly because menstruation depends on interactions between multiple cell types and occurs through complex molecular mechanisms. To help understand this system, researchers need human or humanized experimental models and computational models that can interrogate how these endometrial cell populations communicate with and impact each other in both physiological and pathological conditions. Although several data-driven computational models exist, few computational studies simulate the mechanisms (i.e. how biological components work together) contributing to endometrial behaviors.
In this thesis, I present mechanistic computational models of endometrial cell growth and signaling to further study menstruation and menstrual disorders. I calibrated the growth models using data from 3D experimental platforms generated with endometrial cells donated by women with different menstrual disorders. I use this computational model to compare the growth of endometrial epithelial and stromal cells in the presence of hormones and cytokines. By modeling the diffusion of signaling molecules within these 3D platforms, I also show how variability in endometrial cell proliferation between different donors’ cells leads to differences in molecule distribution and cell signaling which need to be accounted for when analyzing experimental results. I then present a generalized computational model to predict the formation of molecular gradients when studying different cell types in 3D hydrogels or tissues. I use this model to show how hydrogel parameters can be optimized to achieve the desired level of homogeneity in molecular gradients and cell activation. Altogether, I’ve developed these computational models to quantify the influence of different endometrial cell types on each other, to identify differences across endometrial cells from different donors, and to provide quantitative tools for designing future 3D culture experiments to study different cell types
BODIES IN PAIN: THE MEDICAL CULTURE OF SYMPATHY IN THE UNITED STATES, 1830-1865
No full textThis dissertation focuses on the intersection between the history of emotions and the history of medicine in the mid-nineteenth century, a period of significant transformation in medical science. It focuses particularly on the expansion of surgical intervention, physicians’ patriarchal control over female bodies, and the medical exploitation of racial minorities—issues that remain relevant today. I shed light on how these facets of modern medicine became deeply ingrained in its practice, not so much through the inhumane scientific objectification of patients, but rather through the moral discourse surrounding pain and sympathy. Although sympathy could foster positive physician-patient relationships, this dissertation demonstrates that for physicians it also functioned as an instrument of power rather than solely as an expression of kindness
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF HUMANOID TECHNOLOGY (HT) DRIVEN HEALTH-ENHANCING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (HEPA) PROGRAM AMONG COMMUNITY-DWELLING FILIPINO OLDER ADULTS
No full textBackground. Staying active has been one of the mainstays in promoting older adult health. As an example of health-enhancing physical activities (HEPA), structured physical exercise is valuable in promoting healthy lifestyles among community-dwelling older adults. Technology-driven mixed reality virtual coaches have the potential to enhance and improve exercise programs, preferences, and intention to use among the aging population were not previously explored.
Purpose. The study aimed to examine the impact of the mixed reality virtual coach program on health among young older adults in selected urban ‘senior centers’ in the Philippines. It also investigated older adults’ preferences of an ideal HT-HEPA and their intention for technology use and explore their experience in the program.
Methods. An explanatory sequential mixed-method research design was conceptualized to examine the potential impact of a mixed reality technology-driven virtual coach program. Specifically, experience-based conjoint analysis, structural equation modelling and comparative analysis, and descriptive qualitative designs were employed. Purposively selected groups of respondents (N= 232; N=130) from two senior centers in the Philippines were tasked to complete a conjoint activity, participate in the traditional or virtual coach program, and answer a computer-based survey followed by informal interviews.
Results. Conjoint analysis revealed the subjects' inclination to a humanlike, feminine, local language-speaking virtual coach projected through a mixed reality platform with a contemporary music background. A measurement model to describe older adults’ intention to use the virtual coach program was developed, demonstrating valid and reliable estimates. Comparison between the traditional and mixed reality exercise groups revealed significant mean differences in 6MWT and PSQI. RM-ANOVA noted significant differences in 6MWT over time between groups. The time and group interaction effect showed significant improvement on 6MWT, MOCA, and PSQI in the mixed reality group compared with the traditional group. Several themes defining older adult experiences in the program have emerged from the interviews of the key informants.
Conclusion. The results of the study reinforce the importance of human-centered design and multidisciplinary approaches to health technology development and sustainable health outcomes. The study results are valuable in developing technologies and improving older adult participation in technology-driven community health programs
Consequences of Police Violence on Communities and Police Departments
No full textOver the past decade, public concern over police violence has grown following high-profile incidents of police violence. Research has investigated the consequences of these incidents on society, but it has led to no clearer understanding of what their impact is. The incidents of police violence that dominate the public’s attention are only a small fraction of the number of people injured or killed by police each year. Relatively little is known about how these incidents are handled and the subsequent impact they have on communities and police departments.
This dissertation is divided into three manuscripts. The first manuscript presents analysis on 54 incidents of police violence that occurred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 2013 through 2022. A mixed-methods approach is employed to describe incident-level characteristics and to understand the response by communities and criminal-legal system. Even when use of force is deemed to be legally justified, there is concern about the ways officers conducted themselves during an encounter which led to varying reactions in the form of protests, lawsuits, and reform to department policies. The second manuscript examines the impact of exposure to police violence on daily incidence of homicides and nonfatal shootings reported to the Milwaukee Police Department. Analyses found that across the city there was no relationship between exposure to police violence and incidence of homicides and nonfatal shootings. However, when models were stratified, there was a 16% reduction in incidence of homicides and nonfatal shootings with eight-week exposure to police violence. The third manuscript assessed the impact of exposure to police violence on citizens reporting a shooting in Milwaukee. On days a neighborhood experienced a shooting, it was only reported 54% of the time. There was no effect of exposure to police violence on citizen call behavior.
Policymakers and law enforcement agencies should invest in efforts to promote transparency and accountability. Mandating participation in a national effort to collect and report data on use of force events is a critical first step to understand the extent of the problem. Future research should prioritize studies that engage the community to understand the bases of police legitimacy and legal cynicism
GETTING LOST IN THE WEEDS: URBAN DRIVERS OF PLANT ADAPTATIONS
Get PDFCities impose many significant challenges to plants that live within them, from heat to pollution, and successful plant species must either acclimate or adapt to survive these conditions. Weedy plants in particular have been incredibly successful in cities due to their fast rates of growth, short life cycles, numerous offspring, and large degrees of phenotypic plasticity, in addition to novel adaptations. However, how their morphology, phenology, and physiology are responding to urban environmental factors, and how these changes over time may lead to adaptive evolution is less understood.
This dissertation characterizes weedy plants in cities respond to urban environmental stressors through their functional morphological, phenological, and physiological traits. In the first chapter, I assess the presence and absence of a unique adaptation called heavy metal hyperaccumulation in two weedy plant species: Plantago lanceolata (non-native) and Plantago rugelii (native). In this study, I found that neither Plantago species hyperaccumulates heavy metals, but both species have potential to bioaccumulate copper in roots, and P. lanceolata may also bioaccumulate zinc.
The second and third chapters of this dissertation focus on local adaptation of functional traits in weedy plant species between and within cities. In the second chapter, I employ a common garden approach to observe differences in traits of Digitaria sanguinalis, Lactuca serriola, and Taraxacum officinale across a gradient of urbanization in two cities: Baltimore, MD and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. I found high phenotypic plasticity in T. officinale and L. serriola, and both D. sanguinalis and L. serriola exhibited signs of local adaptation to each city. Lastly, the third chapter of this dissertation uses a temperature-controlled common garden experiment to test the effects of urban heat island on adaptation in L. serriola and T. officinale. I found significant evidence of local adaptation to temperature in both species, and evidence of parallel evolution in bud initiation day of T. officinale.
Life in cities is challenging for most organisms, especially plants which are unable to escape hazardous conditions. Understanding how these organisms respond to urbanization is one way we can learn more about the biological impacts of our society
Structural Racism and Black and White Infant Mortality in Metropolitan Statistical Areas
Get PDFBackground: Racial inequities in infant mortality (IM) remain a problem in the US. Black infants are over twice as likely to die as white infants. One explanation for racial inequities is structural racism. The objectives of this research were to examine geographic patterns in overall and race-specific IM at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level (Aim 1), evaluate whether MSA-level structural racism measures were associated with overall and race-specific IM and absolute and relative differences in IM outcomes (Aim 2), and assess whether MSA-level structural racism measures were associated with overall and race-specific IM after adjusting for individual-level covariates (Aim 3).
Methods: Data were from the Period Linked Birth-Infant Death file for IM outcomes and the American Community Survey for MSA-level structural racism measures for employment, education and spatial social polarization. We conducted a descriptive analysis of geographic patterns. Ecologic and individual-level study designs assessed associations of MSA-level structural racism variables with IM outcomes. The ecologic analysis also examined the relationship between structural racism measures and IM by timing of infant death.
Results: Geographic analyses showed that MSAs with the highest Black infant mortality rates (IMRs) were located in all four Census Regions, unlike the overall IMRs, where the highest-ranked MSAs were predominantly in the South. Based on the absolute Black-white difference in IMR, we estimated there were 16,977 excess Black infant deaths in the 216 included MSAs (2013-2017). Relationships between the structural racism variables and IM outcomes varied by race and which structural racism variable was examined. The MSA-level structural racism analysis indicated that greater racial equity is associated with benefits for Black infants and potential negative outcomes for white infants. In general, the individual-level structural racism analysis showed that the addition of individual-level covariates in the adjusted models did not impact the relationship between structural racism variables and IM in the overall, Black, and white samples.
Conclusions: In our analyses, MSA-level measures of structural racism were associated with IM outcomes in both the ecological and individual-level analyses. Interventions and policy around reducing racial inequities in manifestations of structural racism is important
CERVICAL ROOT MORPHOLOGY AND DIET IN EXTANT CATARRHINES: IMPLICATIONS FOR DIETARY RECONSTRUCTION IN MIOCENE FOSSILS
No full textDiet represents a critical component of an organism’s life and directly impacts biological and social processes. Tooth crowns have been used as a dietary proxy owing to their direct role in food processing and their preservation in the fossil record. The relationship between tooth roots and diet, however, has rarely been examined; as a result, it is not well understood. This dissertation examined molar root form through the analysis of the root cervix using mandibular molars to fill this gap in our knowledge.
Cross-sectional slices (n=191) were obtained from micro-CT scans using a broad sample of extant catarrhines. The slices were processed to obtain measures of cross-sectional geometry and 2D landmark coordinate data. Three interconnected data chapters are presented: First, an examination of cervical root cross-sectional geometry was performed to identify signals associated with dietary ecology. Next, geometric morphometric analyses were employed to quantify cervical root morphology and distinguish signals linked to diet and phylogeny. Lastly, results from the first two studies were combined to reconstruct the diet of three Miocene fossil catarrhines: Dendropithecus, Limnopithecus, and Proconsul.
Chapter two showed that the cervical root cross-section contains information regarding the biomechanical function of a tooth and conveys aspects of dietary ecology specialization. Chapter three indicated that variation in dentine morphology was found to be significantly influenced by phylogeny which was closely linked to dietary ecology in these data. Finally, chapter four demonstrated that the fossil taxa had greater dietary complexity than previously known, adding nuance to what we know about the dietary ecology of these fossil primates.
In summation, this work has uncovered a link between diet and root morphology using a novel region: the cervical root cross-section. The root cervix is informative of dietary ecology, and phylogeny, and can be used to reconstruct the paleoecology of fossil taxa enhancing our understanding of primate evolution
INVESTIGATING THE CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF INFLAMMATION-ASSOCIATED FIBROBLASTS IN REGULATING COLON EPITHELIAL CELLS AND IMMUNE CELLS IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
No full textInflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory condition with multifactorial etiology that affects the intestine. Chronically injured epithelial and mesenchymal cells can instigate excessive immune responses and perpetuate IBD pathogenesis. Here we demonstrate that colonic fibroblasts crosstalk with epithelial cells and macrophages during inflammation to the propagate IBD phenotypes, including disrupted barrier function, increased mitotic errors, and skewing of classically activated macrophages towards alternative activation.
Using patient derived colon fibroblasts, we show that inflammation-associated fibroblasts (IAFs) are an inducible state of normal fibroblasts, and that selected cytokine cocktails can induce IAF-like cells (induced IAFs or iIAFs) in vitro which share key transcriptome signatures of IAFs in vivo. When patient-derived colonoids (colon-derived epithelial organoids) are co-cultured with iIAFs, they exhibit rapid luminal swelling resulting from excessive prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) from IAFs. We show that PGE2 activates prostaglandin receptor EP4 in colonoids and regulates fluid transport via protein kinase C and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (PKC-CFTR) signaling. This rapid fluid influx also increases DNA damage and mitotic errors in colonoids due to mechanical disruption from intracellular vacuoles. We also show that these phenotypes can be mitigated by either PGE2 inhibition by targeting cyclooxygenases (COXs) or by blocking EP4.
Using the immortalized human monocyte cell line THP-1, we co-cultured iIAFs with M1-polarized THP-1 cells and observed that M1 macrophages were skewed towards alternative activation with a transcriptional profile similar to tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Finally, using mouse colonoids and lymphoid cells from different regions, we showed that intraepithelial instead of splenic lymphocytes migrate and interact with normal or dextran sodium sulfate-induced (DSS) colitis colonoids, suggesting that peripheral lymphocytes needs additional signaling in order to migrate and reside with colonoids. Overall, these results provide evidence that IAFs interact with both colon epithelial cells and macrophages and play important roles in regulating tissue homeostasis