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Preterm birth, defined as birth prior to 37 completed weeks gestation, is a serious health concern. Despite advances in health care screening and interventions, the rate of preterm birth in the United States has risen more than 30 percent since 1981. In 2006, Menon and associates reported the first multilocus genetic interaction in three single nucleotide polymorphisms predictive of spontaneous preterm birth in a population of White mothers. A gene association study using a case-control design was conducted to determine whether the results of the Menon study were also true for Black women and their infants. The case group included 22 preterm mothers and 22 preterm infants. The control group included 106 term mothers and 108 term infants. Study variables included high-risk and low-risk genetic combinations of the three single nucleotide polymorphisms. Birth certificate applications were reviewed to determine subject eligibility. Blood samples obtained by hospital personnel were sent to a laboratory for genotyping. It was predicted that there would be no statistically significant difference in the occurrence of the high-risk genetic patterns in the preterm Black mothers or their infants. Data analysis suggested that the multilocus genetic combinations reported by Menon were not predictors for preterm birth in Black mothers or their infants. Further study is recommended to identify genetic variations predictive of preterm birth across ethnic groups.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / W. Richard Goe / At each milestone of its development, advocates of the juvenile court have repeatedly and rightly recognized the court for what it is: a powerful instrument affecting the normal development of youth. The juvenile court is a social institution organized to achieve certain values. At its most mundane, it ensures that certain practices and beliefs actually exist somewhere in the world. At its most grandiose, it imprints these behaviors and thoughts on those involved, extending its locus of influence and transforming society itself. Because of its potential to transform people’s lives, it is important to understand the circumstances under which the juvenile court more regularly and, perhaps more zealously, reinforces what people can and cannot do. To understand social control and the juvenile court, court case records were drawn from a large, Midwestern Juvenile Court filed between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2016. These records were obtained using the juvenile court’s Justice Information Leveraging System, an online, real-time court records management system available to the public. Drawing a random sample of juvenile court cases (N=582), the present study examines the effects of demeanor, context, race, social class, and gender on court imposed social control. Controlling for alternative explanations (i.e., prior involvement, offense severity, judge idiosyncrasies, and age), the present study shows that demeanor, context and race, as well as demeanor and gender affect decisions made during the juvenile court process. Among cases involving youth whose contexts were criminogenic, minority youth, more than white youth, were more likely to be detained prior to adjudication. Additionally, the effect of demeanor on disposition length among cases involving girls was greater than that observed among boys. Lastly, cases involving youth whose demeanors were disagreeable, were more likely to be detained and to receive dispositions that were longer and more severe than cases involving youth whose demeanors were agreeable. Notably, sufficient evidence was observed of effects involving offense severity and prior record on social control. Cases involving youth charged with a felony were, more than cases involving youth charged only with misdemeanors, more likely to be detained, disposed to a more severe intervention, and disposed for a longer period of time. Cases involving youth with more involved prior records generally received greater social control, particularly regarding detention and disposition length. However, mixed results were observed regarding adjudication and disposition severity. Sufficient evidence was observed to suggest that not all youth received a “first-timer discount” at adjudication. Likewise, first-timers were, compared to those with a history of court involvement (but not adjudication), more likely to receive some form of court intervention. These findings suggest new directions for juvenile court policy and practice. The juvenile court should investigate racial and gender disparity in what it does. It is possible that mundane, unintentional practices reinforce disparate social arrangements. Additionally, the court should reassess it reliance on “Just Deserts” and other graduated forms of intervention. As the latest research on adolescent development suggests (Steinberg 2007), youth are not adults, and, as such, should not be judge by adult standards.

A vast literature acknowledges that minority groups, particularly African-Americans, receive less, and lower-quality treatment than Caucasians in U.S. health facilities. It remains an open question as to how much of this disparity is a result of poverty, and how much, a result of more overt discrimination. Former empirical studies are far from conclusive given the endogeneity of hospital quality, as minorities are overrepresented in areas served by poor health facilities. To remedy this endogeneity issue, we observe visitors to the state of Florida, as well as travelers within Florida. When an individual experiences a health shock far from home, her hospital assignment becomes random. By contrasting treatment intensity, and patient outcomes of minority visitors with the total population, we find that residence plays a substantial role in the provision of healthcare. Our results indicate that though African-Americans as minority group receive less treatment and experience higher mortality rates, these disparities disappear for African-American visitors.

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Thesis advisor: Eyal Dvir / This research studies the effect of exchange rate expectations on A-H share discount in China and Hong Kong. The A-H class listing of Chinese stocks offers an interesting framework to examine asset price in segmented markets. This research wants to contribute to the existing literatures by adding other currencies into the exchange rate model and verify their effect, introducing and controlling for company specific information, such as earnings. I find that the effect of both Euro and US dollar to be significant in explaining the share price disparity, and companies in different sector and with different market capitalization react to currency information differently. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

Most computational theories of stereopsis require a registration stage prior to stereo matching to reduce the matching to a one-dimensional search. Even after registration, it is critical that the stereo matching process tolerate some degree of residual misalignment. In this paper, we study with psychophysical techniques the tolerance to vertical disparity in situations in which false targets abound ?? in random dot stereograms ??d eye movements are eliminated. Our results show that small amounts of vertical disparity significantly impair depth discrimination in a forced-choice task. Our main results are: a) vertical disparity of only the central "figure" part of a random dot stereogram can be tolerated up to about 3.5', b) vertical disparity of the "figure + ground" is tolerated up to about 6.5', and c) the performance of the Grimson implementation of the Marr-Poggio stereo matching algorithm for the stereograms of experiment (a) is consistent with the psychophysical results. The algorithm's tolerance to vertical disparity is due exclusively to the spatial averaging of the underlying filters. The algorithm cannot account by itself for the results of experiment (b). Eye movements, which are the principal registration mechanism for human stereopsis, are accurate to within about 7'. Our data suggest that tolerance to this residual vertical disparity is attained by two non-motor mechanisms: 1) the spatial average performed by the receptive fields that filter the two images prior to stereo matching, and 2) a non-motor shift mechanism that may be driven at least in part by monocular cues.

This thesis presents a 3D stereoscopic interactive fish tank system that combines the 3D stereoscopy and ¡§controller-free¡¨ components. Based on the characteristics of human vision, when seeing the objects, the left eye image and right eye image will be slightly different, one can use the intensity information and the epipolar geometry to proceed matching, and then to generate the 3D depth information. This system allows a user to use gesture to do interaction. It estimates 3D objects depth information, and uses eyes distance, distance between the user and the sensor, disparity map to calculate the virtual objects¡¦ three-dimensional coordinate, and then transforms hand and virtual objects¡¦ coordinate into the same coordinate to allow accurate interaction. The system allows users to experience the innovative multi-media interactive entertainment.

India has experienced a period of unprecedented economic growth over the past few decades, credited with lifting millions out of poverty. The high rates of economic growth, however, have not led to commensurate improvements in human development indicators. While health outcomes, an important dimension of human development, have improved in India, the rate of improvement has been slow. Moreover, health outcomes vary substantially across different regions of India. The disparity in health outcomes will play a crucial role in India’s future development and necessitates new ways for targeting and evaluating policy programs. This report analyses regional disparities in health outcomes using sub-national development indicators at state, district and demographic zone level. The first chapter of the report provides an overview of health systems in India and creates a framework for understanding health disparity in India. The second chapter uses spatial mapping techniques to identify regional patterns of health disparity. The analysis uses district level indicators from health surveys and census data. The third chapter uses sub-national data to analyze infant mortality rates in India according to state and demographic zones. Along with regional variation the report also explores gender differentials and rural-urban divide in health outcomes. The final section of the report concludes by highlighting the findings, delineating a course for future research and suggesting policy measures necessary for achieving improved health outcomes. / text

abstract: The purpose of this preliminary study is to determine if sentencing disparities exist between male and female teachers who have been convicted of sexual misconduct with a student in Maricopa County, Arizona over a ten-year period. The hypothesis is that male teachers convicted of sexual misconduct with a student will receive harsher punishment than their female counterparts. In addition, this research will analyze the sentencing decisions of Arizona judges and prosecutors through plea-bargaining when compared with the presumptive sentence set by the Arizona Legislature. Issues that will be addressed include: a brief review of gender disparities in sentencing, sex offender sentencing, Arizona's rules of criminal procedure, and a review of the Arizona Revised Statutes pertaining to sexual crimes as well as the Arizona Supreme Court sentencing guidelines. The data set consists of fifteen different Maricopa County teachers who committed a sexual offense against a student and were convicted of that offense from February 2000 through September 2009. According to the results of this study, male teachers do receive harsher penalties than their female counterparts within Maricopa County. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2012