18062 research outputs found
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Breaking Down the Box Office: An Analysis of Film Profitability Factors
No full textThis study analyzes a comprehensive sample of 1,892 films from 2007-2019, looking at the relations between qualitative film factors and their profitability. I estimate profitability using public box office and production budget data as well as an estimated post-production marketing budget. The study investigates the role of three prevalent film factors in film box office performance: type of film, the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) rating, and star power in the director’s chair or casting. Utilizing multivariate regressions and various means of robustness checks, this study whittles down what film factors have a tangible effect on ending financial performance. I find that sequel and prequel films are much more likely to earn a profit and generate significantly higher return on investment and profit margin, while the MPAA rating and star power have inconsistent to negligible correlations with film performance variables
Connecticut’s Crumbling Foundations: Legal Remedies and Legislative Responses
No full textLatent harms pose unique challenges for the legal system. Such issues are often referred to as long-tail issues, wherein the actual harmful chain of events is set in motion years before it is discovered and wreaks havoc. Asbestos is one example. Pyrrhotite is another.
A seemingly innocuous mineral, pyrrhotite has infiltrated Connecticut homes. Somewhere between 3,000 to 35,000 concrete foundations were poured in the state from 1983 to 2016, with varying amounts of pyrrhotite trapped within. These foundations have begun to deteriorate, costing homeowners thousands of dollars as their investments quite literally crumble beneath their feet. While the problem was little known in the 1980s, subsequent research has brought to light much more information about this mineral and its consequences for construction. Some of this research was inspired and necessitated by Connecticut’s ongoing crisis.
As homeowners gradually became aware of this crisis, they sought relief through the various legal avenues available—imploring the torts system, their insurance providers, and the state and federal government for relief. While each system afforded discrete relief to homeowners, no system functioned perfectly. This Note surveys the relief these systems afforded to homeowners, evaluates each system’s functionality, and observes opportunities for harmonizing and enhancing legal relief.
These findings will be particularly useful in confronting long-tail crises, including those which may be created, accelerated, or aggravated by climate catastrophe. Viewing this crisis as a model to assess how our existing legal systems can provide relief more effectively will better equip the state to confront future crises. By learning from previous crises how we can unite and mobilize our legal avenues as events unfold, we will be better prepared to respond to long-tail crises to come
Supporting Data for Figures in Mixing of the Connecticut River plume during ambient flood tides: Spatial heterogeneity and contributions of bottom-generated and interfacial mixing
No full textThis archive contains the supporting data for figures in the manuscript Mixing of the Connecticut River plume during ambient flood tides: Spatial heterogeneity and contributions of bottom-generated and interfacial mixing by Michael M. Whitney. The objectives of this modeling study are 1) characterizing the spatial heterogeneity of turbulent buoyancy fluxes, 2) partitioning turbulent buoyancy fluxes into bottom-generated and interfacial shear contributions, and 3) quantifying contributions to plume-integrated mixing within the tidal plume. Data are from the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) results for idealized model configurations. The Zip file (Figure_data.zip) contains MATLAB data files, which are named FigureXX_data.mat. Variable names and units correspond to graphed data of each figure in manuscript. Full descriptions of research methods and results are included in manuscript
Enhancing Tomato Fruit Quality: Application of CRISPR/dCas9-Mediated Methylation on the PG Gene Promoter Region
No full textCommercially produced tomatoes are typically harvested well before maturation in order to withstand domestic and international distribution. While this process ensures unspoiled goods, the nutritional value of the fruits have been curtailed as a result of premature harvesting. Previous research has found that the polygalacturonase gene (PG gene) is responsible for cell wall degradation of the tomato. In this study, CRISPR/dCas9 technology was employed to increase methylation levels in the promoter regions of the PG gene. This method is significant in that it epigenetically modifies the tomato genome using a technique that has the potential to develop non-genetically modified progeny with enhanced nutrient accumulation. This alteration could lead to decreased PG expression, thus delaying the weakening of the cell wall of the tomato. By delaying this softening, farmers can harvest tomatoes at a later growth stage, thus improving the nutritional value of the product. Although my time to work on the project has been limited, Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of tomato plants and various laboratory and greenhouse techniques were learned. More importantly, tomato plants that express GFP and dCas9-PG-gRNA have been produced, a significant step for the project. Characterization of the plants that express dCass9 and PG-gRNA will allow us to verify whether dCas9 can be used to enhance DNA methylation levels of the promoter region of the PG gene, consequently extend the ripening period of tomatoes on the plant, and boost their nutritional value
In Search of a Better World? Reconsidering Sociology and Music Education as Utopian Fields
No full textMusic education research has in recent years been interested in defining music education’s societal mission. Concepts such as praxial music education, artistic citizenship, or an activist approach tried to determine that music education’s foremost task would be to transform societies. This seemed urgent in view of global crises. But is music education’s foremost mission really social change? To a certain degree, this is a sociological question. To answer it, a look back to the beginnings of sociology as a field of research is a promising way to go. When sociology emerged as a specific field of investigation, it was not clear if its task would be only analyzing how societies work or proposing necessary changes. The tension between the present and the future, between reality and “utopia” was significant for an emerging field. But the close connection to utopia got lost over time. Sociologist Ruth Levitas revives the approach of understanding sociology as a utopian field and develops the concept of the imaginary reconstitution of society. Furthermore, scholars in utopian studies or political science emphasize the usefulness of utopia in critical relation to transforming societies. Understanding sociology as a utopian field could provide innovative ideas for music education
Identity, memory, and performance in the time of pandemic: A duoethnography
No full textHow can a musician maintain her sense of self in quarantine, a self that is constructed by intertwined strands of creativity, performativity, and relationship? The hiatus brought about during the pandemic has created a lack for musicians and music educators, an absence or loss of professional identity and personal meaning. On March 12, 2020, we found ourselves shut out of the classroom and barred from the performance stage. Over the course of a year, we two musician-educators engaged in duoethnography as a way of documenting our experiences. It became a site where we could provide each other with a “destabalizing lens” (Sawyer & Norris, 2016) to the metanarratives that both drove our sense of identity and constrained our ability to find our way to a new state of balance. This duoethnography traces our paths, as we moved through stages of distance and loss, and stages of simulacra and performativity, during the time of pandemic
