Portulano is the electronic magazine of the Spanish and Portuguese department. The magazine will include works of Spanish and Portuguese students of all levels. The works include, poetry, short tales and literary studies. As in the previous year, some students will read excerpts of their works during the presentation.
My senior project consists of a vocal recital and a paper, which outlines my vocal methods and the history behind each of my pieces. I wanted to challenge myself by showcasing my voice in different genres, including coloratura pieces, opera arias, art songs, and avant-garde american tunes. I am performing pieces written in the 18th century to the present, by composers such as Donizetti, Mozart, Debussy, Poulenc, and Ives as well as an original composition, and two modern folk songs. With the help of my voice teacher, Susanne Peck, and my piano accompanist, Cynthia Huard, my complete recital will be on April 20th at 8:00 p.m. in the CFA Concert Hall.
The purpose of my project is to perform and display my classical vocal abilities that I have been developing as a student of Carol Christensen at Middlebury College. I have been studying vocal music that spans many different time periods, languages, and cultures.
A fun variety of brass quintet repertoire from many time periods and styles. Come enjoy a brass-only sound you do not often hear around Middlebury. Our brass quintet is somewhat unusual in its makeup, with two horns: Suzanne Calhoun '14 and Kaitlin Horan '15, horns, Dustin Weigl '13 and Mike Russo '16, trumpets, and Asa Julien '15, tuba.
Whether hilarious, heartbreaking, or profound, the work of this year's Film and Media Culture Department students is inspiring. Students are documenting tragic stories of the loss of a parent. They are crafting fictional shorts about the fantasy world of hand-painted miniature figurine, and the potential for true love in the real world. They are collaborating with six-year-olds to create touching works of art currently exploding on the Internet before hundreds of thousands of viewers. And they are animating, frame by frame, a wide variety of characters from ostriches to hedgehogs to robots in outer space. If they are able to create such works of substance now, imagine what they will be up to five and ten years down the road. From everyone in the Film and Media Culture Departmen,t we encourage you to enjoy the show and to check out the screening of senior thesis work in Dana Auditorium this May.
Kizuna String Trio plays an excerpt from Mendelssohn's String Quartet No.6 in f minor, Op.80. Performers include Jennie Kim '13, violin; Matt Weinert-Stein '14, viola; Grace Bell '13, cello.
Kizuna String Trio plays an excerpt from Mendelssohn's String Quartet No.6 in f minor, Op.80. Performers include Jennie Kim '13, violin; Matt Weinert-Stein '14, viola; Grace Bell '13, cello.
I have been studying the harmonica through Mark LaVoie's lessons since February of 2012. I particularly like the "low octave" diatonic harmonicas tuned to just intonation that produce the biggest organ tone. On such a harmonica, I will play an improvisational tune to highlight some of what I have learned, in a tribute to Mark LaVoie's harmonica philosophy and this wonderful, little instrument.
Emily Luan '15 and Dan Miller '13 perform the first movement of Zoltan Kodaly's Duo for Violin and Cello (Op. 7). Composed in 1914, this duo is infused with the folk tradition of Kodaly's native Hungary and models the cross-pollination of folk themes with the formal structures of chamber music.
Emily Luan '15 and Dan Miller '13 perform the first movement of Zoltan Kodaly's Duo for Violin and Cello (Op. 7). Composed in 1914, this duo is infused with the folk tradition of Kodaly's native Hungary and models the cross-pollination of folk themes with the formal structures of chamber music.
Three seniors present an evening of work shaped by a union of physical and intellectual perspectives. Exploring the intersections between contemporary dance and other interests, including language, embodied politics, literature, and the environment, they create an evening as diverse and layered as their intellectual pursuits.
Students from the Digital Musician class demonstrate new technologies for musical composition and performance using smartphones, tablets, and interactive web sites. Original student creative work will be included.
This project provides a philosophical analysis of sociological explanations of why the U.S. Criminal Justice System permits the death penalty. Special attention will be paid to how ethical and methodological issues intersect. Using both sociological and philosophical frameworks, I argue in favor of the death penalty.
Extensive research has shown that sexual communication with a sexual partner is directly linked to positive sexual outcomes, such as greater satisfaction and fewer risky behaviors. Reducing sexual communication apprehension is an important hurdle that partners must overcome in order to increase levels of sexual communication. That is, feeling uncomfortable with talking about sex inhibits sexual communication. One theory suggests that reducing the novelty of a given role or situation will also reduce communication apprehension (Buss, 1980). In today's society, novelty-reducing agents may take the form of parent-child discussions, peer conversations and formal sexual education. In all three of these contexts, young adults are desensitized to the delicate nature of sexual topics and are given the opportunity to practice the role of sexual communicator. The present study assessed 522 survey participants' experiences with such novelty-reducing agents, levels of sexual communication apprehension and actual levels of sexual communication with sexual partners.
Panel on Modern Political Philosophy and American Constitutionalism Scholars of political philosophy disagree over whether Machiavelli or Hobbes initiated the break with antiquity that ushered in what is now called modern political philosophy. But both philosophers shared the view, as did Bacon, Spinoza, Locke and Montesquieu, that classical political philosophy, with its emphasis on the best regime, was unrealistic. This led to an emphasis on rights over duties and identified the object of learning and politics with “the relief of man's estate (Bacon) and the protection (and increase) of property (Locke). These philosophers focused on institutional arrangements for securing stable government and they devoted substantial attention to religion. Much of what these philosophers advocated can be found in American constitutionalism We, the students of Modern Political Philosophy (PS 318), propose to present several papers on this subject, followed by commentary and then general discussion.
Development in the form of economic liberalization and privatization comes with the hopeful promises of improved living standards through strengthening of the economy. These classical neoliberal norms championed by less developed countries (LDCs) are allowing avoidable water injustices to exist in their respective countries. The priority given to aggregate economic development is jeopardizing social wellbeing. There have been numerous studies of this phenomenon in respect to large infrastructural development projects, such as dams and privatization of piped water and sewerage services. Yet I argue that it is not only such large-scale development projects but day-to-day business practices by global multinational corporations that are furthering these preventable injustices. I use bottling of water (Fiji) and the tourism industry (Bali) as case studies. I hope that my research will garner fruitful information on how to tackle these injustices, not only at the local level, but as part of the global system of capital.
In 1572, a 'new star' appeared in the sky. The young Tycho Brahe was captivated, and a pioneer for science and astronomy appeared on the planet. While most people speculated on the 'meaning' of the new star, Tycho merely recorded what he saw (with unprecedented accuracy and precision). Given Tycho's observations and that supernovae are infrequent (for a given galaxy), Tycho's supernova remnant is of immense interest. Yet, the last study on the expansion rate of the optical remnant was in 1978 (using photographic plates). In the advent of digital imaging, Professor Winkler and collaborators have acquired an excellent, ripe image set of the remnant spanning three decades. From these images, I provide the first full map of the expansion of the optical filaments in Tycho's supernova remnant, and this work helps reveal the nature of the remnant shock wave and the environment through which it propagates.
Credit and debit cards are very common and convenient methods of payment, but some research suggests that shopping with cards makes consumers spend more than they otherwise would with cash. In an auction experiment, Prelec and Simester (2001) found evidence of a large credit card premium,but their experiment could not identify whether the credit card premium arises due to a pure plastic effect or the effect of delayed payments. There are two key differences between credit cards and cash: the timing of payments and the physical form. To identify what I call the plastic effect, I held a similar auction experiment and assigned each subject one of two payment methods: cash or debit card. In a sealed-bid uniform price auction, I found little evidence of a plastic effect.
Well-established academic tradition indicates that practicing Catholics in France are about twenty times more likely to vote for candidates of the conservative party, the UMP, than non-Catholics. Yet this same trend does not hold for the largest far-right party, the Front National (FN). In fact, practicing Catholics vote less frequently for the FN, and the FN electorate is as secular as any other political party's. After reviewing the existing literature on far-right voting and the Catholic vote in France, I developed two likely hypotheses: the underrepresentation of practicing Catholics in demographic groups most likely to vote for the FN, and a fundamental clash of important values. I tested these hypotheses using voting data for the former, and both survey responses and articles in the Catholic press for the latter.
Colonial India experienced the first tremors of the global silver crisis (1870 - 1900) in 1876. The effects of the falling gold value of silver impacted various groups within British India. The Government of India and its salaried officials faced increasing financial strains due to the depreciation of the rupee in sterling value. The Anglo-Indian mercantile community became increasingly agitated as volatile business conditions persisted. Despite such difficulties, a policy measure to counter the vagaries of the silver crisis was not implemented until the 26th of June 1893. Attempts at currency reform in 1878, 1881, and 1886 were unsuccessful, having failed to overcome laissez faire arguments for non-intervention and/or because these proposals conflicted with British interests. My talk will examine how the simultaneous fulfillment of certain criteria was necessary for the successful legislation of Act VIII of 1893.
In Writing Gender and Sexuality (ENam 0172A), we read, examined, and created writing that focuses on the performance of gender and sexuality. Students engaged in contemplative exercises, writing workshops with the class, and one-on-one meetings with the professor throughout the writing process. Each student produced pieces of both fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as some poetry, dealing with issues or experiences pertaining to gender or sexuality (as well as intersections of race, class, ability, etc.) Our purpose in the symposium is to have some students from the class read excerpts of the work they spent a semester drafting, revising, and developing, in the hopes that our audience will walk away with a greater appreciation or understanding of the roles of gender and sexuality in our lives and creative processes.
Whether hilarious, heartbreaking, or profound, the work of this year's Film and Media Culture Department students is inspiring. Students are documenting tragic stories of the loss of a parent. They are crafting fictional shorts about the fantasy world of hand-painted miniature figurine, and the potential for true love in the real world. They are collaborating with six-year-olds to create touching works of art currently exploding on the Internet before hundreds of thousands of viewers. And they are animating, frame by frame, a wide variety of characters from ostriches to hedgehogs to robots in outer space. If they are able to create such works of substance now, imagine what they will be up to five and ten years down the road. From everyone in the Film and Media Culture Departmen,t we encourage you to enjoy the show and to check out the screening of senior thesis work in Dana Auditorium this May.
I grew up the wild, barefoot summer child of a Jersey shore lifeguard. Some of my earliest memories are of my father tossing me around in the surf, teaching me about the waves as we played. The sand was my playground; the waves were my friends. We all grew up like that in Manasquan, with sunburned noses and sand between our sheets. At 16 years old I started sitting the stands of the Manasquan Lifeguards, learning to pull people from the surf, and handle the roughest waters of the Atlantic. My sixth summer, there was a series of off-duty drownings. They lead to extensive debates throughout the lifeguarding community over what, exactly our duties were. The question of drowning stayed on my mind, and I decided to examine it from a multi-cultural, multi-perspective and multi-genre approach to try and weave a fabric of the human relationship to the sea.
Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized in part by impaired cognition. One such deficit is cognitive flexibility, the ability to shift between rules or behavioral strategies as circumstances require. We investigated whether a GABA receptor positive modulator, the neurosteroid allopregnanolone, could alleviate cognitive flexibility deficits induced by the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist MK-801. MK-801 administration induces cognitive deficits resembling those seen in schizophrenia. Male rats were trained on an operant task requiring them first to learn a discrimination rule based on either the presence of a lighted response key, or the location of a response key in the test chamber. Rats were then given injections of a control solution, MK-801, or allopregnanolone, alone or in combination, and trained on the alternative discrimination rule. Results suggest that MK-801 impaired cognitive flexibility relative to controls, and allopregnanolone, when co-administered with MK-801, alleviated cognitive deficits, but only in controlled-access response modules.
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany was a key player in English and French politics during the late 12th century. He was the fourth son of arguably the most powerful family in medieval Europe at the time. His father, Henry II of England, ruled an empire that included the current United Kingdom as well as half of modern day France. His brothers were Richard the Lionheart and King John of ill fame. Surrounded by such illustrious family members, Geoffrey was reduced to a shadow and lost to history. Contemporary chroniclers and current historians often overlook Geoffrey or use him to reflect on the better known figures of his time. To search for Geoffrey is to question all that is known about him, to look beyond what historians have written, and by looking through the cracks in history, find who he really was.
In the developing world, high poverty rates and weak public transfer systems make private transfers among friends and families an important form of economic interaction, but the motives for such transfers are widely debated. Economists identify two motives: altruism and exchange. Altruism posits that individuals send transfers because they care about the well-being of others, while exchange encompasses a set of hypotheses that presents transfers as the result of a mutually beneficial agreement between self-interested actors. Earlier work suggests that both are important determinants of transfer behavior and that motives might vary based on observable traits, such as gender. We use data on transfers of time and money between parents and all of their working-age children in Guatemala to determine which motive is most important, paying particular attention to how motives vary with gender and migrant status.
Students in college are constantly required to use directed attention (i.e., effortful focus) for hours of lectures and assignments. Therefore, they should consider how effective different rest activities are at recovering their ability to concentrate on work. Prior research has suggested that both time in nature and deep breathing may help students restore and maintain cognitive functioning and reduce stress. My thesis compared three different relaxation approaches: nature immersion, deep breathing, and relaxing on one's own to assess which would be the most beneficial for cognitive functioning. I measured one's ability to engage in focused attention and general stress over the experimental sessions. I expect that directed attention will improve the most after the nature immersion exercise, but that stress will decrease the most after the deep breathing exercise. If this is supported by my data, the findings will be valuable to Middlebury students who have ample opportunity to be surrounded by nature.
Significant research has been conducted on the price determinants of carbon permits traded through the EU-ETS, but limited research detecting structural breaks in these relationships exists. This paper looks to identify structural breaks in EUA price and link these breaks to policy events to determine the effect of non-market forces on the price of carbon permits during the first and second periods of the program. An algorithm proposed by Bai and Perron (2002) is employed to detect endogenous structural breaks across multiple econometric specifications. This paper reveals four robust structural breaks in addition to eight breaks with potential explanatory significance. These are linked to significant policy events which directly impact the carbon permit market as well as those which have larger-scale economic effects. The resulting implications are that these structural breaks are significant in terms of their effect on the price of carbon permits, and that events which cause such breaks should be closely followed. In addition, the future of the EU-ETS could see additional measures come into play which will not only alter the structure of the system which is in place, but potentially counteract many of the persistent problems the EU-ETS has witnessed through the end of 2012.
It seems like an awfully outlandish idea to build an entirely sustainable house in Vermont, take it apart, ship it to California, put it back together for a competition before taking the whole thing down again to send back to Middlebury to be resurrected as a part of campus housing. But what makes Middlebury's Solar Decathlon team so interesting is not the seemingly impossible nature of the project at hand, but rather the stories of those who have decided to invest themselves in this competition. With over 100 students involved in Middlebury's Solar Decathlon effort, the InSite team is one of the most diverse groups on campus. Through the parallel stories of several members of the team, it is easy to see and fully understand just how important this project is.
We often underestimate the extent to which social structures, situated in history and culture, affect how we relate to our sexuality. By analyzing gay identity in a different culture, in which the label carries different assumptions and connotations, we can begin to understand how sexual identity is shaped. Urban Brazil is a particularly interesting case, due to deeply embedded class divisions, a long history of cultural imperialism from the global North, and a juxtaposition of violent reactions against and extremely tolerant attitudes towards non-normative sexual identities. Between my semesters abroad in South America, I spent five weeks in Rio de Janeiro, completing a total of twelve 40-minute interviews with young gay men about their "coming out" experiences. This data is presented in combination with extensive secondary research in my International & Global Studies (SO/AN) senior thesis.
Why do human beings have a sense of right and wrong? My thesis research draws upon the work of contemporary ethicists, theologians, and evolutionary biologists in order to compare two answers to this question: 1) a theistic answer, according to which human morality is grounded in God's moral nature and will for humankind; and 2) a naturalistic answer, whereby morality is an evolutionary adaptation that was naturally selected for in humans because the propensity to make moral appraisals helps motivate cooperation and other adaptive prosocial behaviors. The aim of this comparison is to assess whether the two answers are necessarily exclusive. Can a Christian theist maintain that moral truths are grounded in God, while still giving credence to contemporary findings which point to the evolutionary acquisition of a neurobiological platform for moral thinking in humans?
While living and working on a biodynamic farm for a season I found myself inspired and in love with the gifts of educational farming. When winter came and I left the farm, I decided to spend Winter Term touring small farms with education programs in New England. I visited seven farms and spent time learning about their missions, farm systems, and feeling the pulse of their work. I created a sketchbook of my journey and now want to share this heart-based work with more people!
A tragedy is waiting to unfold in Kathmandu. The city of 3 million is highly prone to earthquakes due to its location on an ancient lake basin filled with soft sediments above the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates that created the Himalayas. The city is dangerously underprepared: if a major earthquake occurred today, loss estimates include at least 100,000 deaths, twice that number severely injured, and 1.5 million rendered homeless. The motivating question for the paper is: How can losses in Kathmandu from a major earthquake be reduced? Section 1 offers a study of the plate tectonics, the local geology with an emphasis on the possibility of liquefaction, and an analysis of available Earthquake prediction technologies. Section II offers four concrete policy measures to reduce losses based on this analysis. These policy prescriptions are made keeping in mind the limited resource availability in Nepal and the current political uncertainty in the country.
The diversity of avian species and their coexistence in riparian habitat has become increasingly significant in the face of rapidly decreasing vegetation along hydric areas, primarily due to urbanization, overgrazing, and climate change. The complex and rare riparian habitat system is primarily supported by willow vegetation in the high-altitude areas of the Rocky Mountains, which provide a multitude of niche types for many species of songbird. The objective of this study was to evaluate songbird community response to differences in vegetative structure. Bird abundance and vegetative composition in riparian habitat was sampled along the East River in Colorado. Overall species richness and diversity was found to increase with higher vegetative complexity, while species abundance was significantly lower at sites with more complex vegetation. The results of this study indicate the importance of understanding the structural requirements of stream-side songbird habitat to effectively manage and improve this threatened ecosystem.
Over the last century and a half, as the world's metropolises have become more crowded and expansive, underground mass transit systems, commonly known as subways or metros, have become an urban necessity. Ever since the first underground rail line was built in London exactly 150 years ago, maps of these sprawling tunnel networks have evolved with and responded to their social and historical context in creative ways. I trace the historical origins and evolution of these maps, compare their common purposes and features across time and place, and examine the power they have to influence our conceptions of space and human behavior. As the world's population continues its urban migration in the 21st century, subway maps will become an even more integral part of the urban psyche that provides a guiding light in an otherwise dark and frightening underworld.
When a government decides to spend more money than it makes in taxes, it must borrow money from whoever will lend to it to close the gap. This project is a inquiry into what determines the cost of that borrowing for sovereign nations. While the media is fixated on reducing the national debt and deficit, this project finds that maintaining long-term fiscal sustainability may be more complicated. Based on a series of regressions, various macroeconomic fundamentals (Debt, Deficit, Per Capita GDP, GDP Growth Rate, etc.) are empirically tested to find if borrowing costs for economically-developed nations are reflective of what theory suggests they should be.
As hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is experiencing a boom in many parts of the US, a growing industry in Wisconsin intends to supply the silica sand needed by the extraction industry. Injected into the ground to extract natural gas, this silica sand can be found in large quantities in western Wisconsin, where a burgeoning mining industry has appeared in response to demand for this frac sand. However, despite the potential for new jobs, environmental advocates are examining the frac sand mines to assess the likelihood of groundwater contamination as a result of the extraction industry. The central question I address is whether frac sand mining in western Wisconsin will cause chemicals, mostly acrylamides, used as flocculants during the mining process to negatively impact the water quality and safety in Trempealeau County, with special attention to Arcadia, a small town located on the Trempealeau River.
When we consider the Vermont landscape, we often imagine a tapestry that includes the New England town, the working landscape, and wildlands. For many, the conservation and protection of these landscapes is vital. There are a number of laws at the federal, state, and municipal level to protect these communities, but few policies integrate all three considerations. I will be assessing the opportunities for integrated landscape-scale planning in Vermont, with a specific emphasis on laws that integrate Vermont's three communities, like Act 250.
In the eyes of the West, Islamism presents a threat to global security and macroeconomic stability. Yet on November 3, 2002, Turkey became the first democratic Muslim nation to be governed by an Islamist party, and surprisingly, the international community welcomed the electoral outcome. Following the electoral victory of the Freedom and Justice Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi, AKP), foreign capital began pouring into the country and Turkey's average real GDP growth reached an unprecedented 7.2% between 2002 and 2007. What are the causes of economic growth in Turkey under the AKP? This thesis argues that two decades of building inclusive economic institutions (1980-2000) moderated Islamist parties and stimulated economic growth. Can Egypt's and Tunisia's Islamist parties replicate Turkey's experience and prevent their economies from falling into a downward spiral? If they are unable to boost their economies, we may be expecting another Arab Awakening in the near future.
An adolescent's experience shapes their brain and impacts future emotional and cognitive functioning. This study explored the hypotheses that adolescents taught meditation will show improvements in their emotional well-being and cognitive skills. Thirty male and female participants (aged 16 to18) enrolled at Mt. Abraham Union High School in Bristol, VT were assessed on measures of mindfulness, anxiety, mood, and on cognitive tests of verbal fluency, problem solving and attention. Some students underwent a 9 week meditation training while others did not. After training, students were assessed again. The findings may suggest an impact of meditation on emotional measures, but no impact of meditation on cognition was seen. The findings also revealed significant methodological considerations for implementing meditation training in adolescent populations: short, guided meditation trainings will be most successful with a teenage population. When implemented successfully, meditation may help sculpt a healthy emotional brain in adolescents.
In the Buddhist tradition various forms of meditation have been practiced for more than two thousand years, and these practices have often been claimed to have beneficial effects. However up until recently, the neuroscientific correlates of these practices have remained largely unclear. What happens in our brains when we meditate? What do the experiential, emotional, and cognitive effects that take place during the process of meditation indicate about the nature of the mind and its relation to the physical world? Furthermore, can meditation provide reliable knowldge of the mind and the world? These and other questions will guide an exploration into both the neuroscientific research surrounding meditation, and how it can be used to further our understanding of consciousness and its relation to the world.
This study explores the American writer David Foster Wallace and his relationship to postmodernism--both as a literary aesthetic and as a larger cultural logic. Though most criticism of Wallace's work suggests that he attempted to overcome postmodernism in literature, I have discovered that the question is significantly more complicated. I show this by exploring Wallace's relationship with another leading postmodern writer, Don DeLillo, through their correspondence (obtained from the Harry Ransom Center on a research visit there), as well as two of their works of fiction: White Noise by DeLillo, and Oblivion by Wallace, one of the stories in which Wallace composed in his personal copy of White Noise. I conclude that Wallace had a relationship with DeLillo (and thus to postmodernism) characterized by inspiration and respect, rather than aggressive patricide. Â
Poster 26: The goal of this project is to create new datasets and benchmarks for 3D reconstruction methods. Middlebury hosts internationally-known benchmarks for stereo algorithms, which compute 3D depth maps from multiple input images. Building on work done in previous summers, we used a mobile stereo rig with four cameras and structured lighting from two video projectors to capture images and accurate 3D scene structure. We acquired seven new datasets of different scenes, each under multiple lighting conditions and exposures. Our new datasets include a reconstruction of the famous Tsukuba "head and lamp" scene as well as a motorcycle scene in which we applied matte white paint to glossy surfaces in order to enable 3D measurements. We also improved both hardware and software of our system for increased robustness, accuracy, and usability.The long-term goal of this work is to stimulate research into the next generation of 3D reconstruction techniques that can handle real-world challenges.
Poster 12: I will be presenting this project as my senior thesis work for architectural studies. The prompt for the class is to design a learning library for one of the education departments at Middlebury. My library is focused on the music department and through its design I have attempted to create a space where both the College and greater Middlebury community can explore, experience, and be inspired by music in all its forms. My design will be presented in forms from floor plans to site models each, of which have been refined throughout the year.
Poster 19: The Geography Learning Library was conceived out of the senior architectural studies thesis prompt to design a learning library for any department on campus. The structure embodies the ideas of layers and intersections, themes that are intrinsic to the Geography discipline. It is situated on Bakery Lane, a site that invites both students and community members alike to use the space. The library is a place to learn about Geography, as both an interdisciplinary subject and an important narrative of Middlebury's history.
Poster 21: Middlebury's architectural studies thesis class (HARC 730) was presented with the challenge of individually designing "learning libraries" for Middlebury center. Each of our libraries focuses on a specific academic major at the college, and serves as a space for collaboration between the town and the College as students work towards completing topical projects. My learning library, situated north of the new bridge between Mr. Ups and the Blossom Basket, offers a gathering space for the environmental studies department and the local community. My design is meant to serve as a hub. College students and community members are led to a meeting space that extends out to a point above Otter Creek. By bringing like-minded individuals into this neutral space, the learning library allows visitors to wrestle with larger issues of sustainability that necessitate collaboration.
Poster 7: This study seeks to employ Self-Determination Theory as a framework for understanding social communication in the forensic interview setting. SDT suggests than an individual's level of engagement in an activity is predicated on the satisfaction of his/her needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. It is hypothesized here that an individual's recall performance in an interview setting, measured by the quantity and quality of information they provide, will be affected by the level of psychological need support provided by the interviewer. Specifically, this study examines psychological need support and recall performance in interviews with children.
Poster 25: The relationship between climate, tectonics, and erosion rates in mountainous terrain remains poorly understood over long timescales. Although studies of modern systems allow comparison across modern climatic and tectonic gradients, long-term records are required to test the importance of disequilibrium landscape conditions created by global climate cycles and long-term climate trends. To address the question of erosion rate response to changes in tectonic setting and climate cycling, we present U-Pb zircon dates from 5 new interbedded ashes to further refine the stratigraphic framework, as well as 16 new basin-scale erosion rates estimated from 10Be in quartz separated from foreland basin sandstone strata deposited between 3.2 and 1 Ma. Comparisons of erosion rate data with climate proxies and tectonic models of sub-Andean and Andean growth over this time period should newly inform our understanding of the relative contribution of each forcing in the erosional history of the northwest Argentine Andes.
Poster 8: Recent empirical work has found evidence of customer discrimination against minorities, but it remains unclear whether the underlying source is taste-based or statistical discrimination. I design and implement a field experiment using an online marketplace that allows me to measure customer discrimination against blacks in a real-world setting. I sell iPod Shuffles on eBay and vary seller race and rating to isolate the independent effects of taste-based and statistical customer discrimination. I find no evidence of either source of customer discrimination against minority sellers. In fact, the results suggest black sellers may even be favored in this online venue, although the estimated differences are imprecise and lack statistical significance.
Poster 11: My design of a Library for Musicology in Middlebury explores the integration of musical performance, composition, theory, and history. The library will serve as a collaborative leaning lab where college students and members of the community can work together, experiment, and apply a variety of academic perspectives to performance at the local level.
Poster 4: Lexical simplification is the task of replacing a target word or phrase in a sentence to make the sentence simpler. Lexical simplification is a sub-problem of the full text simplification problem which can benefit children, second language learners, and people with cognitive disabilities. In this paper we investigate whether the textual context surrounding the word to be replaced is important in identifying and selecting substitutions. Starting with a corpus of sentence-aligned English Wikipedia and Simple English Wikipedia data we generated lexical simplification examples. These examples consist of a sentence, a target word to replace, and a list of candidate substitutes solicited from users on Amazon"s Mechanical Turk service. We compare data collected both with and without the sentence context and utilize a variety of metrics including frequency, entropy, and similarity of the collected substitutes. We find that for some word,s context does matter for the simplification task, however not for all words.
Poster 5: Previous studies have produced inconsistent results of serotonin's effects on aggression in crustaceans. While exogenous serotonin has attenuated aggressive displays in crayfish, it has also enhanced the associated behaviors in lobsters (Tierney and Mangiamele, 2001; Huber et al., 1997). I sought to address these conflicting results by investigating the effects of serotonin on aggressive behavior in another crustacean, the fiddler crab (Uca pugilator), whose nervous system is relatively simple and easy to study. Adult male fiddler crabs were injected with either a control saline solution or serotonin at a behaviorally relevant dose. The animals were placed in pairs in an open circular arena, and their aggressive behaviors were categorized and quantified. Serotonin levels before and after drug administration were also assayed using ELISA. Given that serotonin is a key neurotransmitter also found in vertebrates, the results of this work have implications for treatment of mood-related disorders.
Poster 17: The goal of my project is to evaluate the practical potential for adoption of green energy technologies -- including solar hot water systems, PV systems, pellet stoves, and various types of insulation -- in small college buildings. I have been working with Facilities Management to collect almost 10 year's worth of energy consumption data, and I have been conducting feasibility studies for these technologies on a subset of houses across campus. Data collection and research on carbon neutral energy options for these smaller buildings has been limited to date, and it is my goal to provide some of this background for potential future investments in these energy alternatives. In total, my research will include green technology feasibility studies, a compilation of data from a broader set of small, college-owned homes, and a focused analysis of the costs and savings associated with making these upgrades.
Poster 24: The goal of this senior architectural project was to design a learning library in the town of Middlebury, focused on the College's Anthropology department, that facilitates an understanding of humanity via its architecture. Throughout the design process I have studied how architectural forms from heated doorknobs to panopticons influence our actions in an attempt to design an interactive and informative space for both people and person.
Poster 3: Laser cooling techniques have been used for many kinds of investigations, but one of the promising areas for future research is to observe the interaction of cold highly-excited atoms with electric fields. Atoms in a highly-excited, or Rydberg, state can be tremendously sensitive probes to investigate the strength of potentials or stray fields near the surface of a material due to their high polarizability. Using cold atoms is important because they have less variance in thermal speeds according to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. In preparation for future experimental work, I have computationally examined the paths of atoms in the presence of an external electric field. I investigated the effect of various parameters on the path of the atom, including excitation level and strength of electric field.
Poster 28: The interest surrounding food has grown considerably in the 21st century, with an ever increasing awareness of culinary science and molecular gastronomy. The modern chef has taken on a new image: utilizing centrifuges, vacuum sealers, and homogenizers in addition to the simple pot and pan. What effect does this have on the geography of cuisine, and how does food chemistry play a role in the understanding of character, gender, and culture in the space of the contemporary kitchen? Through a culmination of culinary labs, readings, and videos, I am exploring the realm of food science and considering the questions, benefits, and consequences that may arise.
Poster 10: Bedrock wells supply the majority of drinking water for rural areas in Vermont and New York, and the health hazards of drinking arsenic contaminated water are numerous and severe. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element within the earth's crust, and its relative solubility allows it to move from bedrock to groundwater with relative ease. Earlier studies indicate that increasing metamorphic grade may correlate with decreased arsenic concentrations in metamorphosed clay-rich sediments. Within my study area, metamorphic grade increases from west to east, so I hypothesized that the least metamorphosed, westernmost rock units should contain the highest concentration of arsenic, and higher-grade units to the east should contain a lower concentration of this element. This hypothesis was supported by mineralogical and geochemical data, with a resulting mean As concentration of 26.9 ppm in the lower-grade sample set, and 13.8 ppm for higher-grade samples.
Poster 20: The tectonic history of the Vermont Appalachians can be refined with the aid of geochronological data. The Moretown Formation of Vermont has been interpreted as sediments deposited in the fore-arc basin of the Cambrian-Ordovician Shelburne Falls arc. This study uses detrital zircons to provide new information on the provenance of the Moretown sediments. U-Pb ages of zircons separated from nine samples taken from the Moretown Formation of northern Vermont were determined using the LA-ICP-MS at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The age signatures of the Moretown, and some rift-related sediments of Vermont, are compared to age signatures of potential source regions. Results from Moretown samples suggest a peri-Gondwanan source component, likely mixed with a Laurentian component, suggesting more provenance sources than the exclusively Laurentian signature postulated by previous work on the Moretown in southern Vermont and northern Massachusetts. Such a distinction could indicate that the Moretown is not the same along strike.
Poster 13: Past studies in experimental economics have looked at how sharing profits with workers improves worker productivity. However, most studies have left ambiguous whether this improved productivity is due to greater incentive on any worker's end to personally work hard or due to greater incentive to monitor your peers (and punish them for slacking). This paper seeks to resolve this ambiguity in an experimental setting by exploring whether peer monitoring is a necessary condition for profit-sharing to improve worker productivity in a workplace. We ran two treatments (one with peer monitoring and one without) on small groups of "workers" and "managers" and found that, despite the presence of free-riding incentives, profit sharing schemes can effectively improve worker productivity even in the absence of peer monitoring. Rather, the presence of peer monitoring may be detrimental to effort levels if worker's feedback to the manager is not both thorough and honest.
Poster 9: I am designing a learning library for the Music Department at Middlebury that will create a place for performance, creation, and education. This library will provide a space for the academic study of music at the College to overlap and interact with the local music culture in Middlebury.
Poster 6: The lower 9 km of the Buffalo River, which flows from the east along the southern border of Buffalo, NY before discharging at its mouth into the eastern end of Lake Erie, has been designated as a Great Lakes area of concern (AoC). The present Remedial Action Plan (RAP) for this AoC centers on sediment remediation and therefore understanding the hydrodynamics and subsequent sediment transport processes within the river is key. A highly dynamic transport system within the river including both downstream and upstream flow regimes has developed due to seiche events (large standing waves) on Lake Erie. An examination of data collected by Acoustic Doppler Radar Profilers (ADCPs) greatly enhances the our database of knowledge by sampling the vertical water column and horizontal cross-section velocities of the river in multiple strategic locations at short time intervals.. This hydrologic data reveals new trends and creates a more comprehensive image of this dynamic setting.
Poster 2: Nanowires have become the focus of increased interest recently due to the constantly decreasing scale of technology. Conductive polymers are one approach to creating a nanowire and are characterized by a conjugated π-system through which electrons can freely move. These wires have the potential to be much smaller than traditional copper wires, allowing for a new level of nanotechnology. My research focused on creating a monomer that could then be easily polymerized into one of these long-chain molecules with a fully conjugated π-system. The monomer contains a complexed chromium tricarbonyl atom, which we believe stabilizes the monomer and will further the conductive properties of the wire by increasing the amount of conjugation.
Poster 14: The 2D:4D finger ratio is a marker of prenatal testosterone exposure. This organizational influence of testosterone is thought to make people more sensitive to the activational influence of free testosterone in the bloodstream. Men with high free testosterone levels demonstrate increased cortisol reactivity during competition. We hypothesize that the chronic stress that accompanies competitive encounters among those most sensitive to testosterone can be a cause of stress-related illness.
Sixty-three male students filled out a series of questionnaires including measure of health symptoms and competitiveness. The participants' right hands were scanned and finger lengths were measured. Results indicated that finger ratio and competitiveness predict health in males. Males with high testosterone who viewed themselves as competitive reported more illness symptoms on the health report. This study helps show the effects of testosterone exposure and competitiveness on health, adding to the understanding of mental and physiological factors that can cause illness.
Poster 22: Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized, in part, by severe cognitive impairments. These impairments greatly impede a schizophrenic patient's ability to function in society, and are not well-treated by current medications. One such cognitive impairment is cognitive inflexibility: the inability to adapt ones cognitive/behavioral responses to changing environments or task requirements. We used a maze-based task measuring rat cognitive flexibility to test whether a novel drug, TCS1205, a selective agonist of GABAA A receptors containing α2 subunits, could block cognitive flexibility deficits induced by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. TCS1205 was injected into the prefrontal cortex before rats were tested on a cognitive shift paradigm. We found that TCS1205 administration blocks the impairing effects of MK-801 in a dose-dependent manner, while having no effect when administered alone. Our data support the hypothesis that deficiencies in inhibitory neurotransmission within the prefrontal cortex contribute to schizophrenia-associated cognitive problems.
Poster 18: The Solar Decathlon is a competition run every two years by the U.S. Department of Energy for which teams from colleges and universities around the world design and build entirely solar-powered homes. Middlebury's submission this year, InSite, is focused on reconnecting people with place. We saw the concept of sustainability as threatened by growing disconnects between products and their resources, buildings and their contexts, and families and their neighbors. In addressing these issues, we created our Five Points of InSiteful Design: Live in a Walkable Community, Prioritize Social Space, Centralize Energy Systems, Engage the Street, and Use Local Materials. We have used these Five Points to design our home InSite, but they are not limited to our project. Our Five Points can be translated into any context to help create a sustainable future. This presentation was supported by the entire 2013 Solar Decathlon team.
Poster 15: Human hemoglobin is a tetrameric protein containing two α and two β globins, each with a hemeprosthetic group in a deep cavity. The primary function of hemoglobin is to load oxygen at the lungs and release it at the tissues for cellular respiration. In normal red cells, around 5% of hemoglobin is found with a glucose adduct; this form of the protein is designated hemoglobin A1c. The glucose attachment is a posttranslational modification formed in vivo by a nonenzymatic reaction of glucose onto the N-terminus of the β chain. HbA1c serves as a measurement of the average blood sugar level over an extended period of time. Elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin are correlated to hyperglycemia, and consequently HbA1c is currently used as the definitive marker for unmanaged diabetes. Our research investigated the action of a highly active sugar, ribose-5-phosphate (R5P), as a hemoglobin glycating agent. Using LC-MS and SDS PAGE, we show the reaction between hemoglobin and R5P to be quite rapid and to form covalent crosslinks between hemoglobin monomers.
Poster 27: I investigated how vision and chemosensation interact to guide predatory behavior in the octopus (Octopus bimaculoides). Previous studies have described the visual system of Octopus species, including the processing of polarized light by the octopus eye and the functionality of the optic lobes (Dilly et al., 1963; Talbot et al., 2011). Although chemosensation in octopuses has been less thoroughly investigated, recent studies have shown that O. bimaculoides demonstrate a positive chemotaxic response to chemicals released by certain prey (Fry, 2011). In the present study, adult octopuses were presented with a stoppered glass jar containing live prey, an empty glass jar coated with a chemical stimulus (herring oil), or a glass jar that contained a crab and was coated with the chemical stimulus. In each trial, latency to approach and attempts to open the jar were recorded. Studying the behavioral implications of visual, chemosensory, and motor systems integration provides important information about the sensory systems of invertebrates.
Poster 23: Can one infuse the culture of the Italian piazza into rural Vermont and Middlebury College? My Italian Library creates density and a void to shape a lively public piazza. A Middlebury, Vermont version of the Italian piazza aims to provide a mostly enclosed space that lures in passers-by and creates a gathering place for people to pause and connect.
Poster 1: Global food prices escalated between 2004 and 2008, causing a significant concern to the world's poor since a large portion of their household budget is spent on food, and some depend on food production for their livelihoods. In South Asia, for an average household, food takes close to half of total household spending, compared to only 17% in the US. I examine the welfare impacts of rising food prices on households in Bangladesh by investigating the food expenditure as a share of total household expenditure. Natural disasters, coupled with the food crisis, resulted in more than 50 percent increase in the price of rice (staple food) between October 2007 and April 2008 in Bangladesh. Using the food crisis as a natural experiment, I expect to find non-agricultural households (net consumers of food) to be worse-off than agricultural households (net producers of food).
In his 2010 novel The Bird Saw Me, the new and upcoming author Ah Yi presents a raw and, some may say, coarse depiction of Chinese life. Based on translations conducted for my senior project, I argue that the primary reason behind Ah Yi's sudden and rapid rise in Chinese literature is derived from his masterful amalgamation of existentialist thought and philosophy into his seemingly simple literature. While certainly not the first writer to stray from traditional Chinese values, Ah Yi embeds existentialist thought into his literature as a means of transmitting his message of the need to relinquish these traditions and live one's life to the utmost.
Turkey is not part of the European Union; however, this nation located at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East has been engaged in negotiations to join the EU since 1999. The United States is lobbying for the EU to accept Turkey given Turkey's status as a secular democracy with a very large Muslim population and its influence among Middle Eastern nations. Nevertheless, negotiations have stalled over Cyprus, with the island divided between a Turkish-Cypriot northern section and a Greek-Cypriot south. Given Turkey's difficulty thus far in attempting to join the EU, there is ongoing debate over whether the U.S. should refocus its strategy. I propose the U.S. should push not for Turkish EU membership but for a special role for Turkey to use its status as a NATO member to serve as an intermediary between the West and Islamic regimes in the Middle East.
Historical geography is the study of past places, landscape change over time, and the spatial patterns and processes embedded in historical conditions and events. Focusing their analytical efforts on the geographies of the Holocaust, students in Professor Anne Knowles' senior seminar will discuss their investigations of the spaces and spatial patterns of Nazi perpetrated genocide. This session will present methodological prototypes that explore data derived from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos project and themes emerging from the ongoing work of the international, interdisciplinary Holocaust Geographies Collaborative project. Visualizing the past using innovative spatial analysis and GIS, students will explain how mappings of SS concentration camps, Jewish ghettos, and Nazi decision-making reveal the spatial characteristics of the Holocaust.
Over the last several decades, spatial attention has been shown to influence the activity of neurons in the visual cortex in a number of different ways. These observations have inspired different theories of how attention influences perception and behavior. We used measures of brain activity (electroencephalography or EEG) to assess steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in human subjects. Our data show that different patterns of neural modulation do not reflect fundamentally different neural mechanisms, but instead reflect changes in how people distribute their attention. This finding confirms predictions made by the normalization model of attention (NMA) that changes in the size of the stimulus and the distribution of attentional focus explain neural responses in visual cortex.
The variation of informal pronouns in Costa Rican Spanish is complex and substantially different from that in other varieties of Spanish. Of the available second-person pronouns tú, vos, and usted, many varieties employ usted as a formal pronoun and either tú or vos as an informal pronoun. However, in Costa Rica the informal pronouns usted and vos coexist, appearing in the same conversation and directed towards the same interlocutor, and the paradigm excludes tú completely. Choice of pronoun is sometimes based on dialectal, stylistic and pragmatic variation, but the “pronominal dance” (Quesada Pacheco) and seemingly random choice of pronoun call for careful studies at the level of conversation. While these studies have established tendencies that explain some of the pronominal variation, they are not sufficient and data often present contradictions. Since free variation is not widely accepted, further study is needed to understand rules governing pronoun use in Costa Rica.
The Taiwanese identity has become increasingly noteworthy in contemporary times, particularly as it is often placed in distinct opposition to the Mainland Chinese identity. This creation of the "self" in contrast to the "other" is largely politicized, and has become a major cornerstone in the Cross-Strait Dispute over Taiwan's political sovereignty. In my presentation, I will explore the ethnic and political origins of this identity, as well as how it has transformed over time. I will then outline the connection between this identity transformation and the various political, social, and economic interactions between these two sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is the result of an independent research project, combining evidence from academic books and journals, as well as official statistics
The nineteenth century is widely regarded as the beginning of the 'modern' era in Egypt. In this presentation, I explore the notion of 'modernity' as it is typically applied to the Egyptian context, and argue that the common practice of equating Egyptian 'modernization' with the act of 'westernization' is problematic. Focusing on the arena of legal reform, I examine the legal positions of three populations 'on the margins' of Egyptian society - slaves, European immigrants, and Muslim women and explain how those positions were, or were not, subject to both institutional and epistemological modernization over the nineteenth century. Ultimately, I propose that three widely held assumptions about Egyptian modernization that it was initiated by the introduction of Western ideology and practice, that Westerners invariably encouraged Egypt in its attempts to modernize, and that success or failure of Egyptian modernization efforts should be assessed according to Western standards, are each invalid.
Self-sufficiency and wilderness skills are dying arts in an increasingly modern world. Ron Hardt of Salisbury, VT spent a career in the military educating soldiers on survival and outdoor living, and established a school for teaching these skills to civilians upon the end of his service. After a series of sessions with Mr. Hardt, Middlebury students Hunter Nolan '13 and Mike Gadomski '13.5 embarked on an overnight adventure in the Green Mountains to practice some of their skills and to demonstrate one of Ron's most important lessons: that the benefits of self-sufficience are not only vast, but available to anyone willing to take an interest and put in the time. As the two students gained an appreciation for Ron's values, they also learned the merits of documenting an adventure experience--namely, the ability to spread ideas and knowledge to those previously unfamiliar with them. The resulting film shows successes, failures, and the process of learning age-old skills that are as valuable now as ever. Â
As fuel prices grow and environmental concerns become a larger priority, farms must start investigating renewable fuel sources. We investigate the use of methane as a tractor fuel for dairy farms with the specific focus of those in Addison County Vermont. We find many farms are already using digesters to convert manure into methane. These farms currently use that methane to generate electricity on the farm. But with an increase in natural gas infrastructure and foresight from equipment manufactures we believe that these farmers could use that methane as tractor or other vehicle fuel.
This project seeks to explain how the Chinese government manages its durability and legitimacy through censorship. I systematically elucidate the preferences and priorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has significant implications for understanding one of the world's most opaque powers. Variation in China's well-known Internet censorship regime provides a unique window into the Party's preferences and perpetuation strategies. The project first establishes a comprehensive framework for understanding modern authoritarian durability; subsequently, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of content analysis, I examined censored posts on Sina Weibo (China's "Twitter") to evaluate that framework in the Chinese case. The project shows the relative importance of performance criteria and other less-intuitive drivers of legitimacy to the modern CCP regime's aim of long-term viability.
This project argues that while 21st century cultural representations of gender and race have become slightly more complex, representations of disability remain virtually unchanged. This is due in part to the cultural need for normalization in the face of drama.This project focuses on two social problem films: William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives, a postwar era film that tells of the homecoming of three World War II veterans and the challenges they face as they try to re-integrate into society, and Irwin Winkler's Home of the Brave (2006), a 21st century film that similarly portrays the homecoming of three Iraq War veterans and the re-integration challenges they face individually. In each of these films, I examine portrayals of gender, race, and disability, noting the differences and similarities between the dominant representations in The Best Years of Our Lives and those featured in Home of the Brave.
The word organic gets thrown around a lot, be it in packaging, advertising, scholarly writing, or daily speech. Data taken from all of these sources reveal that this word, technically an adjective, has taken on the grammatical role of a noun. Specific linguistic tools have been used by interested parties in the organic movement to affect this transformation, which reveals a great deal about the nature of semantic change in the modern world as well as the ways that language both shapes and reveals the way we think about our food.
The labor market for nurses is often presented as a classic example of monopsony. In monopsony, a limited number of hospitals retain market power over nurses who have high search costs, and as a result can pay lower wages than in an efficient scenario. I use data from the CPS to estimate the effects of a mobility-enhancing agreement, the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), on nurse wages over the past decade. Although both Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) fall under its purview, I find a small wage premium for RNs lasting one year but no impact for LPNs. The effects of neighboring states enacting the policy and the distance to these states are negligible. I conclude that licensure reform is unlikely to lead to substantial reductions in monopsony in the labor market for RNs.
In 1911, China burst open in a revolution that resulted in the first republican government in Chinese history. The government, however, never lived up to the dreams of those who worked to create it. Two of these men were Sun Yat-sen and Zhang Binglin. They were both essential in developing the nationalist revolutionary ideology that became the essence of the early 20th century revolutionary movement; however, today they have radically different legacies. Looking closer, however, one finds that these two men have a great deal in common, even though for most of their professional lives they were fierce rivals, disagreeing about strategy for the revolution and foreign aid. My goal was to find their similarities, and to contrast what I concluded to be their similar ideological development and ideas on nationalism and republicanism with their problematic and tension-filled personal relationship and the chaotic nature of the revolutionary movement itself.
Many modern cosmogenic dating techniques are limited by time-consuming and labor-intensive mineral or chemical purification procedures, which are required to ensure reliable and repeatable age determinations. 3Hecosmogenic dating of calcite, aragonite, and dolomite has the potential to provide cosmogenic ages relatively quickly and easily in a range of field environments. However, the primary limitation to applying cosmogenic 3He dating is the poor helium retention observed in many natural carbonates and the lack of understanding regarding helium diffusion behavior in these minerals. One of the first steps to improving our understanding of helium diffusion is to determine the basic trends in diffusion behavior, such as anisotropy. Anisotropy experiments were therefore conducted on the major axes of calcite, aragonite, and dolomite to test for and quantify the direction-specific diffusion rates of 3He atoms through each of these minerals.
We present transport measurements of a germanium/silicon nanowire device in a dilution refrigerator with an electron temperature of ~100 mK. Using a lock-in measurement technique, we are able to observe excited states in the Coulomb-blockade regime of a single quantum dot created in the nanowire. In addition, we observe double quantum dot behavior in the nanowire. Germanium/silicon nanowires contain relatively low nuclear spin densities, making them promising candidates for spin qubits.
Nickel (II) oxide (NiO) nanowires that are only 1/10,000,000 of a meter wide have potential for energy efficient and dense memory chips in modern technology. This emerging technology is known as memristor technology. The NiO nanowires have a presence of mobile oxide ions in an ionic lattice, along with the density of these ions that can be packed in a dimensionally-confined high surface area material. In these experiments, NiO nanowires were created by a technique called electrospinning, in which a solution of nickel nitrate, polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP), and methanol yield a fiber which is then heated at temperatures up to 1000 degrees Celcius. NiO nanowires were able to be modulated from ca. 70 nm to an upper limit of 330 nm, most sensitively affected by the initial nickel nitrate concentration. An automated syringe pump was used, which improves the size and width distribution of the nanowires. Upon preliminary testing of the hysteretic behavior of a 250 nm nanowire, it seems that the behavior is consistent with memristive properties.
Both the germ line and soma are specified together during the early stages of vertebrate mesoderm induction. Recent findings suggest a sequential gene regulatory network (GRN) in ambystoma mexicanum, whereby Nodal induces Mix expression and Mix subsequently induces Brachyury expression. Xenopus laevis exhibits a more canalized pathway in which Mix and Brachyury are expressed independently. Independent Mix and Brachyury expression, as well as the five functionally redundant Nodal copies, allows for more rapid specification and is more evolutionarily robust. The linear nature of the axolotl pathway is, by comparison, inherently less robust. Despite this, the axolotl GRN mechanism represents the ancestral vertebrate state and, therefore, may not be as simple as the literature suggests. Mesoderm specification may alternatively act through FGF-8, which can be induced by exogenous FGF-10. This redundant mechanism has likely allowed it to become the ancestral vertebrate state and persist today.
The aim of this project is to examine the ways in which perception and production of Arabic pronunciation among native English speakers learning Arabic are related to one another. Over the course of acquiring a second language, there is a point at which the learner becomes able to accurately hear the difference between Arabic pronounced by a native speaker and that produced by a learner. This point, however, may not be the same as the point at which the learner himself can produce native-like Arabic. Through this research, I aim to determine when accurate native production and perception are each attained, if at all. I will also analyze the relationship between these two achievements in the process of second language acquisition.
Good nutrition and health at a young age have positive impacts for a person's wellbeing. Improvements in nutrition have been associated with better cognitive develop.m.ent, health, educational achievements, and labor market opportunities. Designing and implementing effecting successful interventions, however, has been challenging. Conditional Cash Transfer (CTT) programs have become a popular intervention in Latin america for improving education and health in the poorest sectors of society. This project analyses the impact that the CCT program in Nicaragua (Red de Protección Social) has had on nutritional status of young children. To do so, I will not only look at the average effect but also, the extent to which the program has reduced (or not) the severity of stunting.
As part of an ongoing project to investigate relationships between emerging adults and their parents, the current study sought to characterize the influence of parent-student contact on college student development in light of advances in communication technology. By tracking the form, frequency, and content of communication between college students and their parents, we investigated autonomy and self-regulatory development, each of which is central to reaching adulthood. Our study includes a student survey collected at the conclusion of the fall semester (n = 749). We found that students communicate with their parents an average of 22 times per week (m = 22.13) with parents initiating communication slightly more than students. High rates of student-initiated communication were related to lower emotional autonomy, higher rates of parental regulation of academics and behavior, and lower rates of student academic achievement.
How can a national media landscape become freer after decades of government control? Many have suggested that in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region the emergence of a "free" transnational media model since the 1990's could revolutionize national media systems. This argument often refers to pan-Arab satellite television, most prominently al-Jazeera and the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), and to online media outlets. In this presentation, I challenge this premise by investigating how a national media landscape within MENA has evolved in the transnational media era, as local journalists react to the emergence of these foreign competitors. I focus on the Algerian case, where the entrance of pan-Arab satellite channels and of French television has been met with a clearly articulated "nationalist" response from journalists and public audiences. For my study, I rely mostly on national press legislation, audience surveys, media content analysis, journalists' accounts, and NGO reports.
The unforeseen outbreak of civil war in the United States in 1861 created a bottleneck in the global supply of raw cotton. The textile industries of Lancashire and Manchester relied on India to help resolve this scarcity. Consequently the price of cotton in India rose exponentially, fueling a commodity bubble in Bombay, the heart of India colonial commerce at the time. The bubble intensified over the next three years and peaked in 1865. An in-depth examination of the events leading to the bubble suggests that systemic factors were equally important in understanding how this situation evolved. My talk will explore how the arbitrary introduction of British financial innovations into the colonial Indian setting factored heavily in the destabilization of the latter's economy. Moreover, the talk will focus on how disrupting the natural evolution of financial institutions can lead economies toward episodes of intense, devastating speculation.
Upper Sorbian, a Slavic language spoken in Germany, contains an unusual possessive adjective construction that has puzzled linguists for years. In my research, I considered and evaluated differing theories of morphology (the study of word components) to explain this phenomenon. Previous analyses, such as the Split Morphology Hypothesis, presented a disjointed and account of the Upper Sorbian data, leaving some data unexplained. However, Distributed Morphology, a recent and more complex theory of morphology, is a more adequate theoretical framework for explaining complex hierarchical relationships between morphemes, and therefore can better explain the formation of the possessive adjectives.
Pompey the Great's traditional narrative of one-dimensionally striving for power ignores the possibility of the affairs of his private life influencing the actions of his political career. This talk gives emphasis to Pompey's familial relationships as a motivating factor beyond raw ambition to establish a non-teleological history to explain the events of his life. Most notably, Pompey's opposition to the special command of the Lex Gabinia emphasizes the incompatibility for success in both the public and private life and Pompey's preference for the later. Pompey's disposition for devotion and care permeates the boundary between the public and private to reveal that the happenings of his life outside the forum defined his actions within.
The 2012 collection Animal Essays , edited by Danny Zhang, is a compilation of work by contemporary Chinese writers reflecting upon the relationships between animals and human beings. The writers featured in this collection, including Taiwanese monk Grand Master Xing Yun, Shandong writer Zhang Wei, and Xinjiang writer Liu Liangcheng, all reflect a complex ideological mix of religion, animal rights, Chinese secularism, and Western environmentalism. Dispersed throughout the book are the iconic ink paintings of Feng Zikai, a twentieth-century Chinese artist and writer whose work has become symbolic of the animal rights movement. The publication of Animal Essays represents a slowly emerging consciousness in China of environmentalism and animal rights. Whether tenderly depicting the peaceful lives of lambs, or looking cynically at the harsh lives of working dogs, Animal Essays ultimately forces us to stop and reexamine our relationships with animals, at once incomprehensible and yet so reminiscent of ourselves.
Harvestmen, colloquially known as daddy longlegs, comprise the third most diverse order within the arachnid species, yet very little research has been devoted to them (Pinto-da-Rocha 2007). Harvestmen nervous systems and their external leg sensors may provide investigators with an amenable system for analysis and modeling of the internal sensors of other organisms. The proposed investigation will examine specific harvestmen leg tactile receptors using scanning electron microscopy. Specifically, the experiment would focus on the tactile receptors on their second legs which seem to act as environmental surface detectors, since harvestmen reach forward with these legs to feel the ground as they move. This leg contains tiny sensory projections referred to as sensilla that may accumulate static charges and are the likely mediators of touch sensitivity. (Sackett, 2012). This subject is important to study because of its potential as a model for touch sensors in humans and other mammals.
Second digit and fourth digit finger ratios have been linked to one's exposure to prenatal testosterone. These organizational effects have been found to influence the impact of circulating testosterone in adulthood. Fluctuating levels of testosterone interact with challenging situations, predicting cortisol reactivity, a precursor to poor health. The present two studies explored whether levels of biological testosterone create a risk for poor health, and whether actual or perceived social support serves as a buffer for poor health outcomes. Study 1 found differences in general health between collegiate varsity athletes (high social support) compared to non-athletes (low social support), health and finger ratios while controlling for reported athleticism. Consistent with predictions, it was found that non-athlete individuals with low levels of biological testosterone reported worse chronic health. A follow-up study was then conducted exploring connections between perceived social support, stress, and chronic health as it related to individual's finger ratios.
In just 11 years, the number of Chinese undergraduates studying in the U.S. has risen more than tenfold, from 7,500 to 80,000, according to the Institute of International Education. Some families sell their homes and drain their savings to send their only child abroad to study, hoping a speedy success will come along after four years. Their American peers also eye with envy their future prospects once these students return to China. But what is the reality? Through personal interviews with a CEO of a Shanghai-based company and with several Chinese undergraduates, I present a more comprehensive picture of the future for this group of students. I will show the benefits and hardships of both staying in the United States and returning to China and shed light on the skills commonly required by both choices.
SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/elmaburnham/Desktop/Symposium%20Abstract.doc How did Middlebury students react and respond to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s? How did the administration react to the national conversation on race? In order to complete a minor in African American Studies, I conducted research using primarily The Middlebury Campus as a source to write a paper titled, “Civil Rights at Middlebury: How a Campus Culture Defined Middlebury Student Activists' Participation in the Movement." The paper reveals that student activists were involved in the national movement while functioning within the campus and institutional culture. This presentation will recap the ways in which students became part of the movement with solidarity marches, by challenging the anti-discrimination policies of Greek life, and through academic discourse such as the “Civil Rights Seminar." A discussion of more modern activism and the Middlebury context will also be included.
The interpretation of the book of Ezekiel has a complex and controversial history. In recent years, one line of modern interpretations has centered on a feminist critique of the text, emphasizing the possible demeaning and misogynistic themes and content of the particular sections of the text. One branch of these feminist interpreters focuses on the graphic elements of Ezekiel, going so far as to label specific chapters pornographic. This presentation introduces background information on Ezekiel, discusses the arguments of feminist interpreters of Ezekiel as pornography, tests the validity of those claims through textual analysis and multiple definitions of pornography, compares the texts to other similar biblical sources, and offers possible theological implications for those connections. The research for this presentation includes sources from traditional and contemporary biblical scholars, socio-historical works on the ancient Near East, and independent textual analysis.
Self-Determination theory suggests that people who feel related to others, competent, and autonomous show signs of greater psychological well-being and are more intrinsically motivated in a variety of areas. People who have these basic needs satisfied are more likely to wholly dedicate themselves to volunteer activities and make decisions based on the good of others. In this study, Self-Determination theory is applied to the field of behavioral economics. I will examine the relationship between basic need satisfaction and people's willingness to cooperate with others in a public good decision-making game. This study applies psychological concepts to questions of economic, environmental, and social justice decision making.
This thesis examines the debate over the compatibility of the U.S. Constitution and the idealized body of Islamic religious law (the Shari'a) that was thrust into the American political spotlight during the 2011 Republican Party Candidate race and the “9/11 mosque" controversy. The anti-Shari'a movement driving the debate and the American Muslim leadership's response to it are analyzed through a sociological religious studies lens that applies the secularization theories of Charles Taylor, Peter Berger, Robert Bellah, and Mark Chaves. Competing visions for the future of Islam in the American religious landscape based on contradictory notions of sovereignty and authority challenge our assumptions about the true extent of the pluralism and secularization of the overarching American worldview.
We all know Michelle Obama as America's ever-popular “Mom-in-Chief," the woman who encourages us to get active in her quest to end childhood obesity through her Let's Move! initiative. The First Lady of the United States has always been a public figure, but how powerful is she exactly? Previous analyses of American First Ladies tell us much about their femininity, but very little about their politics. This presentation aims to add to the scholarly work on first ladies by assessing if, and how much, first ladies are able to wield power independent of the presidency through the execution of their "pet projects." Through qualitative case study analysis of first ladies from Lady Bird Johnson to Michelle Obama, I propose a framework for measuring that power by examining factors such as issue choice, relationships with the public, the press, the President, and Congress, and touching on issues of gender roles and accountability.
In different relationships, people search for elements of self-verification and self-enhancement. In dating relationships, people more frequently look for self-enhancement, or a partner who views them more positively than they view themselves, potentially due to the idea that any type of criticism might lead to rejection. In marriages, however, people search more often for self-verification, or others who view them as they view themselves. This could be because unlike dating situations, marriage does not have a very high risk of rejection, and people wish to marry others who understand them. Rather than looking into marriages, I studied friendships and dating relationships, and then compared those with Friends With Benefits on the Middlebury campus. Do people search for self-verification or self-enhancement within Friends With Benefits? Do men and women differ in this search? And how do people's sensitivity to rejection influence what they want in a relationship?
Due to growing perceptions of teaching as a marginalized career among the student bodies of selective colleges and universities, this paper investigates the opinions and attitudes toward teaching of seven Middlebury College seniors planning soon to enter the field of education. Of the students interviewed, four have studied extensively in their college's Education Studies program (ES), while three have not and are applying to Teach for America (TFA). The research focuses on the following areas: the basic demographic differences between the ES and TFA students (including ultimate career ambitions), the students' motivations for pursuing teaching, and their views of effective teaching. In analyzing the interview data, the project makes use of theories related to elite educational institutions (Bourdieu, Khan) and pre-professional socialization (Becker, McAlpine, Klossner, Chumbler).
I aim to find the factors that contribute to alumni giving habits. To do this, I will be using data that covers 18 years of detailed information on alumni and their donations to Middlebury College. By using regression, I aim to explore the factors that contribute to the likelihood of alumni to give and the amount they will give. I also plan to expand on the current literature, by looking into how financial crises affect different groups of people's giving behaviors. I wish to explore how people who do well or are unaffected during a recession react in their giving behavior. Do people realize that others cannot give the support to their alma mater due to the recession, and so they must pick up the slack for their fellow alumni? I hypothesize that they do not, but this is something worth exploring. As far as I have been able to find, there are few, if any other studies that explore these questions.
The past decade - and those to come - brought unprecedented levels of dam building, development, and displacement to Yunnan Province, China. While dams represent an avenue for achieving energy independence and reaching national carbon dioxide targets, the local human and environmental impact is enormous. Moreover, those most affected often receive little to no benefits from dam construction, which primarily go to urban centers on the east coast of China. Environmental Justice has become an international movement: does it have weight in the movement against dams in Yunnan? How are community activists framing their resistance in a country with a history of top-down control and persecution of activists? This presentation will draw on my interviews in Yunnan over the summer of 2012 and my thesis research.
From Eastern Europe of 1989 to the Arab Spring of the present, waves of democracy transform entire regions of the globe. But it is difficult to understand how these democratic waves function. However, this experimental study brings a new perspective to this age-old puzzle. By creating and experimenting with a computer simulation of the real world (an agent-based model), this investigation is uniquely able to study the spread of democracy. The results of this experiment make a fascinating prediction about the future of democracy and authoritarianism. The results also illustrate how democracies can better pursue the goal of creating more democracies, as well as how authoritarians states might resist democratization.
Research on mindfulness meditation is quickly becoming a hot topic in the field of neuroscience. Mindfulness meditation practices have been used for centuries in the Buddhist tradition, and have recently been integrated in clinical settings as a method of relieving symptoms for patients with anxiety and attentional deficit disorders. However, in order to fully understand the usefulness of a meditation practice for treating specific disorders, we must understand the basic science of the practice. To this end, I will present a literature review that will examine the empirical evidence documenting cognitive benefits of a mindfulness meditation practice. The well-documented attentional improvements and anxiolytic effects will be discussed, as well as new research demonstrating increases in body awareness and emotion regulation. These intrapersonal benefits are predicted to work together to develop a profound interpersonal effect: increasing empathy.
Despite many useful applications, the baseball analytical community has placed little focus on applying Game Theory to define optimal strategies for pitchers and hitters. We present the optimal strategy for pitchers' location of fastballs in two-strike counts given the hitter's best response. This model is set apart from previous solutions because we model the locations as a continuous strategy set, rather than discretely as in or out of the strike zone. Therefore, we are able to solve for both the pitchers' and hitters' payoffs at all possible locations. This model can be used as a tool to ensure that hitters and pitchers are behaving optimally in the two-strike setting.
PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) is a globally renowned test, which evaluates performances of the students from 71 countries. The detailed quantitative data of PISA demonstrates the average performance per category (mathematics, science and literacy), government expenditure and socioeconomic disparity between students. According to PISA, Korea and Finland have very similar profiles. They have about the same level of performance, and cheap but effective public education systems. Both countries come across as ideal. However, PISA results do not explain why Korean parents spend $2,600 annually for private tutoring while the Finnish government struggles to persuade parents that they should take more part in education. Using the two cases of Korea and Finland, I wish to show how data from PISA can be misleading, as they only paint a part of a big picture.
Christianity today may strike us as monotheistic, but narratives from the origins of the faith betray pagan origins. This tendency is evident in popular Christian narratives, including The Acts of Thecla. Like Potnia Theron, the Minoan sacred lady of the beasts, Thecla of Iconium's influence over the natural elements and wild animals establishes her status as a martyr as well as a strong female figure in a patriarchal society. Borrowing traits of pagan deities, whose worship was still very much in practice, Thecla's tale of martyrdom represents a compelling paradox, depicted visually and narratively: the syncretism of these two fundamentally different expressions of belief makes one wonder if pagan powers attributed to a Christian saint legitimize or compromise her station. By looking at the narrative of Thecla and her visual representations, I will explore how the pagan elements of Thecla's world affect her role and status as a martyr.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984 has been framed as the "world's worst industrial accident," but there are no culprits in an accident. However, for Bhopal survivors, the Union Carbide offense is inextricably linked to America and the American ideal. This study began as an attempt to identify the media, political, and economically constructed "fiction" surrounding the disaster, but it was impossible to deal with this topic without being caught in a web of anti-American sentiment. Ultimately, the hostility and distrust which greeted me framed my investigation and provided invaluable insight into the current divisions in both the activist struggle and everyday life in Bhopal.
Christian Zionism is a movement that has had significant historical impact on American relations with Israel, and Christian Zionists today still actively seek to shape Israel's future. But how do those directly involved view this movement? How do Jews - both in America and in Israel - perceive the assistance offered Israel by Christian Zionist organizations? And how do Palestinian Christians reconcile themselves to this international Christian community that supports Israel's settlement policies? Utilizing a diverse collection of sources - specifically Hebrew-language sources - this study examines these groups' responses to Christian Zionism, assesses the interface occurring between Jews, Palestinian Christians, and major Christian Zionist leaders, and analyzes the place Christian Zionist organizations currently occupy in the faith-based discourse on Israel and Palestine.
Theory of mind (ToM), the understanding that people have differing thoughts, desires and intentions from our own, is typically viewed as a cognitive accomplishment during childhood and is fairly robust during adolescence and young adulthood. However, young adults do not always employ this skill in every day life, suggesting a discrepancy between the testing conditions for ToM and its actual use. In this study, participants (n=60) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: ostracism (emotionally hot) or inclusion (emotionally cold). Following this manipulation, participants took part in two ToM tasks. One task required participants to read physical and emotional stories and answer questions (Strange Stories). Another task required participants to identify which of two images displayed more of a certain emotion (Two-Image Emotion task). I hypothesize that participants who are ostracized from the Cyberball game will perform worse on the subsequent ToM tasks.
William Shakespeare's Falstaff and Geoffrey Chaucer's the Wife of Bath are two of the greatest and most-discussed literary characters in the English language. Critics often connect the two, citing the Wife as a possible inspiration for Falstaff. In my research, I argue that the characters' dual nature is what makes them so appealing to us as readers. Both Falstaff and the Wife of Bath embody two elements at the core of human nature: they live their lives as pleasure-seekers and they are deeply afraid of their own mortality. We enjoy and laugh at their humor, wit, and larger-than-life personalities, while we empathize with their fear of death. I discuss how the intricate weaving of perhaps the greatest dichotomy of human nature has caused these characters to become two of the most recognized names in Shakespeare's and Chaucer's works.
The benefits of self-affirmation, where one's self-concept is validated through reflection upon important personal values, has been shown to increase math performance. After contemplating their personal values, people found to experience stereotype-related declines in math performance (such as women in mathematics) instead perform at levels consistent with their actual ability. One study, however, found that awareness of the potential benefits of a self-affirmation exercise may in actuality undermine its effects. The goal of my thesis was to explore strategies to reverse this undermining effect. Participants completed a self-affirmation writing exercise before taking a math SAT test. Half of the participants who were made aware of the benefits of the exercise (undermining) also received information intended to bolster the self-affirmation effect (reversing the undermining). The hypothesized results predict a higher mathematics performance for participants who received a reversal of the undermining effect.
The ovarian follicle provides a unique microenvironment for the development of a healthy oocyte. Antioxidants play a key role in promoting oocyte quality, especially in the face of oxidative stress. My project aims to understand how levels of the antioxidant glutathione respond to various combinations and concentrations of reproductive hormones within bovine granulosa cells that line the wall of the ovarian follicle. These cells are cultured for 6 days in the presence of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol (E2), followed by assays to quantify levels of glutathione. FSH and E2 appear to have a synergistic effect, an effect that has been observed in rats but is novel in the bovine system. FSH treatment correlates with an increase in glutathione, and the introduction of E2 may provide an additive effect in promoting glutathione levels. Understanding the antioxidant profile of granulosa cells can ultimately be used to improve assisted reproductive technologies.
This presentation is drawn from my senior Chinese thesis which analyzes the contemporary Queer Chinese novel, Beyond Brothers, (2010) by He Yaohui. I focus on the struggles and conflicts of queer identity formation for the balinghou generation or the group of Chinese born in the eighties. I argue that the lives of the two main protagonists of the novel, Xiang Lei and He Fei, serve as allegories for how current queer men discover and come to terms with their own sexual identity and the means they go about finding potential partners. Key concepts I analyze in the novel regarding queer identity formation include: the role of internet in identity discovery, the conflicts and contradictions involved in efforts to assimilate into a heteronormative Chinese society, the queer sexuality of the two characters, the significance of a tone of loneliness in the novel and the literary devices used to convey it, and the use of real historical events in character development.
Poster 47: As part of a senior thesis in architectural studies, this design of a "library" in the town of Middlebury explores how knowledge is stored, how we understand ourselves, and how this fits into the historical and physical context of Middlebury.
Poster 36: We analyzed a core retrieved from Soldier Lake, a tarn at 2775 m asl in the Ruby Mountains of northeastern Nevada, to reconstruct a record of post-glacial Holocene environmental change. The core penetrated to a depth of 415 cm below the sediment-water interface. Three amS radiocarbon analyses indicates that the core extends to at least 26065 cal ka BP. A layer of tephra encountered at a depth of 190 cm was correlated with the Mt. Mazama eruption by geochemical fingerprinting. Multi-proxy laboratory analysis of the core included measurements of magnetic susceptibility (MS), water content, loss on ignition (LOI), estimated bulk density (BD), grain size distribution (GS), and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N). Analysis of results will support development of an environmental history that will be compared with other post-glacial lacustrine records from the region, in particular Angel and Overland Lakes in the Ruby Mountains, NV
Poster 41: This thesis addressed three types of "intersections" to contribute to an improved "Middlebury". The first intersection merges existing and new architecture to respect the town's vernacular, without forgoing the opportunity to look forward in design. The second intersection is that of program; this library will serve both research-based and experiential learning on both an individual and collaborative scale. These two intersections are meant to encourage the third, which is that of the "town" and the "gown" coming together in the same place within daily life. Middlebury lacks a public space that is truly open and flexible for our climate and our needs. This library serves to address this absence, and to bring together the college and the town for the mutual social- benefits and educational opportunities that increase when we find ourselves in the same place.
Poster 30: DapE-Encoded N-Succinyl-l,l-Diaminopimelic Acid Desuccinylase (DapE) plays an integral role in the biosynthesis of lysine (Lys) and meso-diaminopimelic acid. The full-scan Magnetic Circular Dichroism (MCD) spectra of DapE from both Haemophilus influenza and Neisseria meningitides confirms that metal at the high affinity site of this enzyme is 4-coordinate. The Variable Temperature Variable Field (VTVH) study of DapE from both species suggests that the bridging ligand between the two metals is water. The addition of captopril, an inhibitor of DapE, into the enzyme from both species shows similar results with a shift in the four-coordinate peak. This shift indicates antiferromagnetic coupling at the active site. The addition of DTT shows similar results as seen in those from the addition of captopril, but the antiferromagnetic coupling was even stronger. However, an additional peak at 700 nm was found only in the full scan of HiDapE with DTT, suggesting additional interactions of DTT with HiDapE active site which was absent in NmDapE.
Poster 33: Some of schizophrenia's most debilitating symptoms include impairments of working memory and recognition memory. Working memory is considered an "executive function", and depends on the functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Research suggests decreased inhibitory activity of the neurotransmitter GABA may underlie schizophrenia's cognitive symptoms. Restoration of GABA functioning in areas like the PFC thus has potential for schizophrenia treatment. Administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 is a recognized preclinical schizophrenia model in rats, thought to work through GABA interference. This research examined how neural networks involved in two behavioral memory tasks -- novel object recognition (NOR) and the temporal order memory task (TMT)-- are altered by injection of MK-801, alone and combined with allopregnanolone directly into the PFC. Allopregnanolone is a positive GABA A receptor modulator. We hypothesized administration of MK-801 would impair working and recognition memory relative to control rats, and that allopregnanolone administration would block the MK-801-induced impairments.
Poster 31: Once considered expensive research hardware, electroencephalograph (EEG) neural scanners are now mass-produced and commercially available. Using one such commercial EEG headset, we have constructed a brain-computer neural input interface. This neural interface detects electromagnetic brain waves emanating from a user's scalp and decodes them into a set of mental commands to be sent to a computer. Previous neural interface systems have expected users to learn how to produce the specific brain states recognized by the neural interface; these systems rely strictly on the user's learning ability and, thus, require lengthy training times. In contrast, a neural interface based on machine learning (ML) principles can greatly shorten this training period by learning to recognize mental states specific to each user. Using ML and commercial hardware, we have produced an adaptive neural interface that reduces user training time while allowing hands-free mental input.
Poster 43: Chinese is one of the oldest written languages still in existence, and Mandarin Chinese has the greatest number of native speakers with over a billion speakers as well as being widely used in over 30 countries. As Chinese influence on the global economy grows, it has gradually become an increasingly important communication medium of commercial and cultural interactions for myriad industries throughout the world, especially in Asia. However, due to the difficulty of the language, the number of students continuing to major and minor in Chinese at Middlebury College has decreased as students rise into upper level courses. The design of the new Library for Chinese Studies will further support and promote the teaching of Chinese language study and other Asian cultural studies and strive to maintain and increase the number of Chinese majors.
Poster 37: The current study investigated whether the accuracy of dietary recall in interviews relates to when in the interview facts are recalled. Fifty-seven children (Mage=7) ate snacks and then were interviewed two days later about what foods they had eaten using either the Enhanced Cognitive Interview or the Multiple Pass Protocol. The recall portion of each interview was divided into three sections: beginning, middle, and end. Temporal aspects of recall influenced the likelihood that a given fact was accurate, inaccurate, or intrusive. Implications for public health and forensic interviews are discussed.
Poster 46: In this hypothetical design thesis, Middlebury College is instituting a new pilot project to prepare for a full implementation of new senior work requirements. A 'learning library' is to be built on a site in the local community. In this particular project, Finding Biology in Frog Hollow, the learning library is built for Middlebury College biology majors. This facility will be open to all residents of Addison County. Seniors majoring in Biology will apply and hone their knowledge and skills by presenting, demonstrating, tutorin, and otherwise engaging with local high school students, retired residents, continuing education adults, and anyone else who cares to learn about the particular subject in this library. The architecture of this learning library highly focuses and explores the hierarchy, progression, and balance between order and chaos found in natural world.
Poster 49: An important topic in astronomy is the study of supernova remnants (SNR) -- the clouds of gas remaining after the death of a star--their shockwaves, and their interaction with the interstellar medium. Using IRAF and previously taken images, I am compiling a full false color image of SNR G206.9+2.3 in the visible spectrum. Using a number of images taken by Professor Frank Winkler, I am applying a coordinate system to multiple images and reducing and correcting the images for a variety of factors such as background starlight in order to create a composite image of SNR G206.9+2.3, the first full image of this object of the CCD era. This project is part of my independent project with Professor Winkler working to process the images of multiple supernova remnants taken by him through the years and create an online catalog of images and data of various supernova remnants.
Poster 54: Understanding of long-term landscape evolution in the Champlain Valley is hindered by recent glacial modification which has eroded or buried much of the landscape that existed prior to the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation about 2.8 Myr ago. For example, it is likely that glacial and lacustrine deposits have buried ancient river valleys that once floored the Champlain Valley and obscured their relationship to the ancestral Champlain trough. To search for these paleo-channels and other clues to long-term landscape evolution, we analyzed well-log data to create a map of bedrock topography in the Champlain Valley. The well-log dataset was provided by the Vermont ANR and contains wells located by GPS, E911 addresses, and screen digitizing. Numerous mislocations and inconsistent data reporting made the dataset challenging to synthesize. To improve the quality of the analysis we incorporated NRCS soil data for the Champlain Valley to constrain areas of shallow bedrock. Using the inverse distance weighted method, we were able to create an interpolated map portraying both bedrock elevation and depth to bedrock. These maps unveiled topographic anomalies below the surface, some of which have bedrock elevations below modern sea level and comparable with the deepest points in Lake Champlain. Work is ongoing to determine the nature of these anomalies, specifically whether they represent ancient fluvial valleys, glacial scouring, or extensional faulting.
Poster 39: Streptococcus mutans is the primary causative agent of dental caries in humans. The SloR protein is of interest to the Spatafora laboratory where it has been shown to bind recognition elements (SREs) at or near promoter regions in a manganese-dependent manner. As a metalloregulatory protein, the ability of SloR to regulate downstream genes depends on its ability to bind metal ions at each of two sites within its predicted dimerization domain. We propose that a glutamine (Q) at position 170 within the SloR FeoA domain may be important for coordinating metal ion binding at site 1. This is true of SloR homologues in Corynebacterium diphtheria (DxtR) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (IdeR). The present study investigates the impact of a Q170A mutation on SloR:SRE binding in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Preliminary results are consistent with a unique mechanism for metal ion binding at site 1. This research can reveal potential targets for the development of an anti-caries therapeutic.
Poster 35: Bicycling, and especially bike commuting, is a way to improve health, save money and resources, and foster a strong community. In order to improve the bikeability of the Middlebury area, it will first be necessary to survey the current road conditions. I will rank the roads in the Middlebury area on their safety for bicycling based on feedback from cyclists in the area and data about road properties. This includes road and shoulder width, speed limit, road condition, and locations of recurring accidents. The final product will be a map showing the bicycling suitability of the roads in the area. Cyclists will be able to identify the best routes, and planners will have an inventory of roads that need the most improvement.
Poster 51: Can a stronger bond be created between the town and college through the medium of a new learning library dedicated to a subject area so important to both parties?
Poster 34: Russian punk-protest collective Pussy Riot's demonstration in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, as well as the ensuing arrests and trial of three group members, garnered massive media coverage internationally. Human rights organizations and the Western press almost unanimously backed the protestors. However, Pussy Riot was received with overwhelming negativity within Russia itself. This analysis seeks to explore why this is the case, and ultimately concludes that a convergence of factors including Pussy Riot's ineffective use of the Internet, their use of shock value to promulgate their message, and the Russian government's successful manipulation of the legal system and public broadcast media led to Pussy Riot's infamy within the borders of Russia. The consequences of Pussy Riot's demonstration speak not only to Russia's current climate for political dissent, but also to its future.
Poster 42: Past studies have documented a strong correlation between the 2D: 4D ratio of the right hand and prenatal testosterone exposure (e.g., Lutchmaya et al., 2004), such that that those with a lower 2D: 4D ratio experienced higher testosterone in utero. Past studies have also explored the influence of testosterone on personality and found that circulating testosterone reliably predicts status-seeking behavior (Sellers et. al, 2007). However, studies looking at the 2D: 4D ratio as a proxy for the organizational influence of testosterone during brain development have not found a consistent correlation with personality traits. The present study examined the relationship between individuals' finger ratio, self, and informant report of leadership. 141 participants rated their self-reported dominance, had a close friend rate them on the same trait, and had their finger length recorded and measured. Findings indicated that both finger length and self-report of leadership independently predicted informant report of leadership behavior.
Poster 40: Many women in the military are experiencing severe trauma from their experiences in the Iraq War, and once veterans, they are prevented from accessing treatment for this trauma. The reason why this physical and structural violence continues to be inflicted upon women veterans is unclear. To attempt to answer this question and offer a solution, I will re-insert the history behind the creation of trauma as an official disorder. Further, I will analyze U.S. military culture for practices that exacerbate violence against women and the ultimate silencing of this crime, as well as the U.S. media for ways in which they depict women in the military in specific roles, leading to inaccurate stereotypes of military women. Ultimately, I hope to show the multifaceted factors contributing to this problem and to suggest solutions so that women may be granted what they minimally deserve: safe, affordable, and accessible mental health care services.
Poster 50: This project examines how inequity in access to transportation affects the low-income population's access to jobs. Spatial mismatch theory suggests that distance acts as the primary barrier to employment for low-income people. However, more recently, scholars have suggested that it is not only distance, but also the mode of transportation that influences job accessibility for low-income people. Using the specific case of low-income population in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, the analysis differentiates between spatial and modal mismatches. The gravity model is used to calculate the accessibility index at the neighborhood scale for the D.C. population, which is mapped using GIS to determine the geography of job accessibility based on different modes of transportation (private automobile vs. public transportation).
Poster 52: Education is an act of human symbiosis. The realm of education is dynamic. Students and teachers are ever-changing. The definitions of what it means to serve either role are constantly redefined, and refined, responding especially to changing cultural necessities. Subsequently, it is important to create spaces that foster such exploration. Symbiosis: A Library for Education Studies should be a laboratory where Middlebury students can interact with local elementary and high school-age students, and in which each can learn from the other. It should provide the framework for dialogue concerning education and education studies with an emphasis on collaboration. Symbiosis should tell a story; Symbiosis should tell many stories. It can honor all ways of moving through space. There are multiple ways to access the textures of life; we can feel texture with all five senses. Ultimately, this library is a flexible space where all may seek out discovery.
Poster 44: The goal of this project is to investigate whether taxation policies directly influence economic growth. Most economic theories suggest that higher taxes result in lower economic growth; however, past empirical studies have shown mixed results regarding the issue. This project uses statistical analyses of taxation and expenditures data from the 48 contiguous states over the time period of 1997 to 2011 to test for the effects of certain fiscal policies on economic growth. The project also presents a review of past empirical studies regarding taxation and economic growth. A key contribution of this project is its analysis of state-level taxation during the Great Recession.
Poster 48: The bacterium Vibrio harveyi senses its growth density in an environment through the ability to respond to auto-inducers released by these or other cells. When a quorum threshold of a specific auto-inducer, AI-2, is reached, the cells respond by luminescing, which provides an evolutionary advantage in V. harveyi's natural environment. Optimizing the AI-2 bioassay using V. harveyi will allow us to test similar molecules for auto-inducing properties, including R5P, an intermediate in the Maillard reaction. The formation of AI-2 during the Maillard reaction may have major implications in many aspects of evolution and interactions between food and bacteria.
Poster 29: The oceans of the world currently absorb 30-50% of the CO2 produced by human activity, resulting in a gradual decrease in ocean acidity over time. As acidity decreases and the concentration of shell building materials decreases, marine calcifying organisms like mussels and crabs may have greater difficulty creating calcified structures. Although many organisms can maintain a high level of calcification in acidified conditions, a more holistic look at certain species has revealed unexpected physical and behavioral signs of stress. In this study, a Chilean mussel species, Perumytilus purpuratus, was held at increased concentrations of CO2 in the laboratory over a three-month period and the animals were measured experimentally for reduced calcification rates and stress in both physical and behavioral characteristics. It appears that this species was unaffected by increased levels of CO2 over the course of the experiment, although longer-term studies may reveal more subtle effects on this species.
Poster 55: Schizophrenia is a chronic and debilitating disorder that can greatly impair cognitive function, including working memory and cognitive flexibility. Recent research has linked these impairments to reduced inhibitory signaling by the neurotransmitter GABA within the prefrontal cortex. Our study tested the ability of a positive modulator of GABA activity, TCS-1205, to reverse working memory impairments induced by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. MK-801 impairs cognition, in part by reducing GABA neuron activity, and is used as a model of schizophrenia. We injected MK-801 into the prefrontal cortices of adult male Sprague Dawley rats. Following drug injections, rats were tested for spontaneous alternation behavior, a measure of spatial working memory. We have seen a small decrease in spontaneous alternation performance in the treatment group given MK-801 when compared with the control group. Contrary to our working hypothesis, this decrease has been more pronounced in the groups given MK-801 and TCS-1205 simultaneously.
Poster 56: A learning library was designed as a senior Architectural Studies Thesis Project. The building is intended for use by the Middlebury community at large and will explore the framing of space and setting through architectural layers.
Poster 38: In the last ten years, the relationship between the town and the College has vastly improved as a result of the College's financial support of recent community initiatives. This economic interaction is mutually beneficial for both parties, but it is yet to be fully developed and formalized. In addition, Economics majors at the College rarely get a chance to experience theory in action. The Economics Library will serve as a point of convergence for the College and the town in order to encourage this conversation and provide practical experience for students. Located on a central site next to Bakery Lane, the library will provide a venue for Economics students to incorporate their curriculum into the local economy as well as provide educational opportunities for the public.
Poster 53: Recent fieldwork in Archean rocks of the Northern Madison Range in southwestern Montana has revealed a zone of high strain approximately 2 km long and at least 800 meters wide, herein referred to as the Spanish Creek mylonite. A multipronged structural approach incorporating fieldwork, microstructural analysis, and geochronology is applied to study of this mylonite. The dominant rock type in this area is granitic to granodioritic orthogneiss with variable porphyroclastic character. The mylonitic foliation within the zone is dominantly NE-striking and NW-dipping (~225°/45°) and is often accompanied by a subhorizontal mineral lineation. Examination of thin sections reveals the presence of high-temperature microstructures such as quartz ribbons and polygonal, recrystallized feldspar grains. Microstructural differences between samples confirm field observations of strong strain gradients associated with this zone. Electron backscatter diffraction results indicate a strong quartz CPO in all samples. Based on this data, diffusion creep deformation mechanisms were likely dominant.
Poster 32: Currently Economics, English, and Political Science are the three most popular majors at Middlebury College. Guidance available to seniors in preparation for post grad life in the field of the Visual Arts is minute in comparison. Integrating the local arts community with the Visual Arts program will help reinstitute facilitation to prepare students for post graduation life. This Visual Arts teaching library focuses on the sharing and critiquing of each fellow artist's work. In this way, both students and the community will be teaching and learning from each other. The program will be structured around two main spaces, an informal discussion space and a formal gallery space. This teaching library is NOT a creation space; rather it strives to create a communal gathering space in order for artists to discuss their work. Focus on materials and techniques will be basic, allowing a greater concentration on the discussion and feedback aspects of this library.
Poster 45: Caste has always been a major factor underlying social stratification in India, and caste-based discrimination continues to be the basis for several controversial issues today. One such area where the effects of caste have been found to percolate has been through disparities in the cognitive develop.m.ent of children. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was implemented in 2005 as a way to promote and provide livelihood security to rural adults, in particular. For my senior thesis in Economics, I look at the effect that this scheme has had in indirectly reducing the caste gaps that plague children's cognitive development. Using longitudinal survey data from the Young Lives studies in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India, I focus particularly on the channels through which NREGS could potentially have had this effect on children's cognition, including but not restricted to mothers' employment and potentially enhanced household socioeconomic status.
I began my study of beloved community with the hope to discover ways of fostering inclusive congregations. My initial conception located beloved community within the church. Fairly quickly, I realized that this notion was backward. Beloved community is not about what happens within the immediate church congregation. It is a far more expansive ideal. Beloved community is a continual process within the Christian tradition that, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives. It occurs outside the doors of the church and within the lived experience of our faith. In coupling an academic study of beloved community in Christian theology with a practical internship at the Middlebury Congregationalist Church, I found what beloved community means for my personal faith journey and my future exploration of vocational ministry.
I suggest that the 2006 film "Casino Royale" can reshape our ideas about collaborative production and, consequently, copyright laws. After arguing that it is a product of what Laurence Lessig calls an emerging "Hybrid Hollywood," where “Hollywood is including the audience in the process of building, spreading, and remaking its product," I assert that the film is the most powerful evidence we have for believing that James Bond has gradually become as much the property of the general public as of his copyright holders. I relate the works of major thinkers on readers' copyright, such as Lawrence Lessig and Jessica Litman, to my reading of the film. I conclude by suggesting revisions to our present ideas about copyright.
For J-term I went on a month-long adventure through Cuba. It was an exploration of simple living‚ free of the fast paced, capitalistic, and individualistic pressures of the modern world‚ through the lens of the built environment. The purpose was to evaluate how architecture influences culture by examining how different values affect the way in which buildings are designed, and as a result, affect the way in which people interact with resources, space, and each other. It became much more than that. In order to discuss my experience, I will use a combination of videography, photography, and sounds I captured during my month there.
Middlebury College has recently constructed a solar farm consisting of 34 sun tracking solar panel arrays producing up to 136 kW of electric power, approximately offsetting the energy consumed by Battell Hall. Solar tracking allows a solar panel to yield up to 45% more energy. The Middlebury College solar trackers use their geographic location to calculate the Sun's apparent trajectory through the sky. While this approach is effective, there are other Sun tracking approaches. I have designed and built a light sensor based tracker to compare the effectiveness of the two tracking methods.
The increasing utilization of mobile phones has helped fuel the mHealth sector, a field within healthcare. mHealth offers great promise in its potential for improving the health of individuals in developing countries. Uganda, having experienced a rapid expansion in mobile phone subscriptions and a simultaneous growth in mHealth projects, is an ideal setting wherein to empirically examine how mHealth impacts health outcomes. I make the argument that mHealth programs, utilizing the channel of mobile phones, can have a significant positive impact on individual health as evidenced by breakthroughs in telemedicine, mobile banking and remote diagnosis to name a few. My study utilizes a difference in difference framework to empirically test this hypothesis. I hope that both my paper and talk will inspire the audience to reflect on how the rapidly evolving technologies of our times can be best utilized to address the concerns of underprivileged populations.
The minutes honoring former Chaplain Charles Scott's retirement from the Religion Department, explain "[Scott] argued that if the religious life was to remain a respected and vital dimension of experience in a College community, there should be a Religion Department...In this way Charles Scott founded the Religion Department." However, academic courses concerning Religion had been offered for decades by that point, and the Religion Department, named as such had been around for almost ten years. This presentation will explore the place of religion in the academic curriculum from roughly the 1920's through the 1960's, starting with the Department of Bible Studies headed briefly by President Moody, moving to President Stratton's appointment and the start of the non-president chaplain, ending with Charley Scott's arrival, the end of the mandatory chapel program, and the creation of the major in Religion. ÂÂ
Much attention has placed on international negotiations on climate change and sustainable development in the past few years, in particular the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Copenhagen in 2009, and more recently the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. This presentation will focus on the role of non-governmental organizations and individuals in the negotiation processes, in particular youth representation. How are civil society members represented at these conferences? Who gets to go, and who doesn't? What are the formal (and informal) structures for participation? Is their involvement truly productive, or is it just "token" participation? This presentation will give a very brief history of UN conferences related to the environment, the general framework of participation by all stakeholders, focusing on the UNFCCC and UNCSD processes, and explore how this framework affects the effectiveness of civil society participation, drawing upon first-hand experience.
Traditional elegies are written to commemorate a person gone in both mind and body. But how do poets respond to someone whose mind is transformed beyond recognition while their body remains? My work explores how Alzheimer's affects the traditional elegy, discussing the common themes, allusions, and style of contemporary poems written about Alzheimer's disease and its sufferers. It also analyzes how particular symptoms appear in the poems, and the differences between poems written by a caretaker/relative of an Alzheimer's patient (for example, Rachel Hadas's The Ache of Appetite) and those written around a fictional character (Sean Nevin's Oblivio Gate). I examine the differences (if any) between traditional elegies and Alzheimer's poetry, and the possible motivations for writing these poems.
Through an analysis of naturally occurring recorded conversation, Narrating an Identity investigates how people use conversation to sculpt individual and collective identities. The investigation is a comparison between the conversations of Swahili women in Malindi, Kenya and international students at Middlebury College. There are certain common points people use as defining features around which to construct a self-other identity. The difference comes in that international students attach to certain places or ideas and recombine them to create an individual identity bounded by several group identities, whereas the Kenyan women attach primarily to a group identity. The investigation includes reflection on narrative topic, subject, length, context, and tense. It also examines the interrelation between narratives to highlight patterns in narrative, intergenerational, and gender relations. It concludes with an investigation of features internal to transcribed narratives.
It is interesting to reexamine everything that seemed "real" and "true" for you in a place. I was born and raised in the capitol city of Bhutan, Thimphu. After revisiting my city five consecutive summers, I noted an interesting trend in the culture and narrative surrounding youths. It was only as I stepped out of the space that I started noticing the system's various gaps and cracks. My thesis looks at several narratives of young individuals in Thimphu who are often viewed as "problem youths" and estranged figures in the community. Their narratives weave a story of the city they live in and its various shortcomings, some of which include the incredible tension between development and cultural preservation and the growing gap between the powerful and powerless. This research might be able to push the city into examining its so called “youth issue" on a more in-depth and honest level.
In a series of creative pieces, both personal essay and short fiction, I examine human symbioses with animals. Using language as an avenue to unpack meaning, I study human participation in mutualism, parasitism, and other forms of symbiotic "living together" with non-human animals. The pieces are concerned with how the scientific informs the cultural, and with how our understanding of our natural interspecific relationships can inform our rapidly evolving definition of life in an era of cyborgs and automatons. I draw from my experience studying and living in Madagascar, as well as observations of Western culture, history, and literature and the way we have come understand our own humanity. Ultimately, this work aims to challenge how we use animals to define ourselves as distinctly human.
My project will investigate how the ongoing democratization and political liberalization process in Burma will affect the nation's foreign policy strategy. Burma has traditionally been allied with China, but as Western nations lift sanctions and seek to engage the increasingly liberal Burmese leadership, Burma will pursue improved relations with the U.S. I trace the domestic political and foreign policy develop.m.ent in Burma to explain how the current-day political dynamic formed. To demonstrate my Burma's shifting foreign policy, I will analyze Burmese investment and trade flows, formal statements by U.S. and Burmese leadership, and recent high-level meetings between Burmese leadership and other governments. Furthermore, I will include policy recommendations for U.S. leadership concerning how to encourage Burma to foster a close relationship with the Western nations.
I will be demonstrating and reading from my creative thesis, The Artist/The Scientist, an interactive website comprised of a full length screenplay and a short story blended together through web design. The screenplay follows Natalie, an aspiring painter who, after killing a serial killer in self-defense, has a breakthrough in her artistic career at the price of ever worsening hallucinations. The prose story follows Mick, a college student who has just finished watching that very film, and his drunken descent into an unforgettable party. My reading will be accompanied by a brief introduction to my process and the genre of electronic literature.
In 1925 Thomas Edison wrote: "Inventors must be poets so that they may have imagination." As an independent project in the Geography department, I am in the process of creating a graphic novel that blurs the boundaries dividing technical scientific communication and the stories of history, geography, and art. Electric explores the history of wild electricity, conceptions of the "genius" inventor, the method behind the scientific process, and how lightning was harnessed in a light bulb. The graphic novel contributes a unique space in which to identify the process of knowledge production, how ideas travel and how they are received, as well as how stories are put together and by whom. During my presentation I will discuss the concept of my project as well as share pages from my work, providing a "behind-the-scenes" look at the process of my own invention, the work itself.
I will map the rise and fall of the Azorean independence movement, the Azorean Liberation Front, which arose as a conservative backlash to the liberal 1974 Portuguese Revolution. Although its short duration and conflicting features make it difficult to classify, I will chart the development models of three genres of political movements' radical right movements, secessionist movements, and social-based movements and map each of these onto the historical trajectory of the Azores. This way I hope to reveal that, while the movement does not fit neatly into any box, it contains elements of all three in differing amounts. I will tease out the elements most important to the movement's formation and those which ultimately led to its failure, paying special attention to the political environment of Portugal, the legacy of Azorean autonomy, the internal structure of the leadership, and the social and class divisions within the group.
In today's digital culture, many believe that there has been a shift from creating to passively consuming. With the advent of video sharing websites like YouTube and Vimeo along with easily accessible digital editing software, remix has come to the forefront of creative works as a way to put artistic control back in the hands of viewers. Remix transforms pre-existing footage with the goal of creating a dialogue between creators, though copyright law and those who do not see it as a valid art form often challenge it. Vidding, a type of video remix, looks at underrepresented figures in mass media and creates new narratives to try to fill this void. In my presentation, I will to attempt define remix and shed light on vidding by presenting my own political remix vid "High For This" that tackles the representation and autonomy of women in modern music video culture.
The relationship between circulation currents, suspended sediment concentration, and sedimentation rates were investigated as part of a larger 5-year project studying the causes of eutrophication in Missisquoi Bay, a shallow bay (4 m) in Lake Champlain. Two months of currents, wind forcing, and water level variations at five sites were examined to understand sediment resuspension and deposition. North-south and east-west centimeter-scale diurnal oscillations of lake level were observed and were not linked to the calculated ~30 minute surface seiche. Currents obtained from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) indicate that after consistent wind forcing, both cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation patterns were established. Unique to this very shallow bay was the degree of directional shear as high as 180 degrees. Sediment properties, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and sedimentation rates indicate that sediment accumulation rates are not constant throughout the bay. Implications of these results will provide insight into how phosphorus and nitrogen are being moved throughout the bay.
My presentation, “The Construction of Nationalist Identity in Jordan" traces the evolution of Jordanian nationalism, from the inception of the state in 1921, until the 1970s. The paper posits that the Bedouin military, and its evolving relationship with the monarchy and state, exemplifies the transition from tribalism to nationalism in Jordan. I will also maintain that the wider Jordanian population (i.e. civilians and/or those without a tribal heritage) followed a nationalist path distinct from that of the tribal military. Using the memoirs of several key figures in Jordanian history, as well as a variety of secondary source material, I argue that Jordan's leaders actively sought to foment nationalist sentiment from the inception of the state. More broadly, this paper explores how nationalist sentiment can be created in a region whose inhabitants lack ethnic or religious homogeneity, as well as any history of national unification.
Our voices have the amazing capability of producing a wide spectrum of tone and color. Exploring a multitude of vocal techniques while multitrack recording (used to great effect by artists such as Bobby McFerrin), I can sing and record every musical line of a song from the bass line to the melody and harmonies, recording as the sole musician. By manipulating the timbre or quality of my voice, I can create a particular character for each song. Implementing these techniques to a variety of genres, including classical, rock, popular and folk, and by incorporating improvisation, I can make my own interpretation of each piece during my recording process.
The paper examines the relationship between an exogenous economic shock "the global financial crisis of 2008" and migrational remittances in the rural highlands of Guatemala, a region with substantial international migration outflows and significant remittance inflows. Using a panel data set, a difference-in-difference approach that controls for the selectivity of migration is used to assess the impact of the global financial crisis on migrant and non-migrant households in Guatemala. Literature on the post-financial crisis' effects is rather thin. What are the differences in remittance levels sent to households before and after the crisis? How do households respond to overseas members' economic shocks and how is it reflected in total per-capita expenditure? What connection, if any, is there between the pervasiveness of risk in developing countries and international remittance flows? These are burning questions that beg further investigation and upon which this paper attempts to shed light.
The household registration (hukou) system is one of China's key institutions that proves to be both a blessing and a curse for China's citizens and development. Though initially intended to restrict migration between rural and urban areas, the hukou system has been adapted over the years creating an altogether new and more complex system. The hukou system is currently a main source of China's increasing levels of inequality. Attempting to address these issues, the Chinese central government recently permitted several local governments to enact groundbreaking pilot reforms, such as those occurring in Chengdu and Chongqing. In order to understand China's future, it is necessary to study the hukou system and how it relates to other aspects of Chinese life. This project examined local pilot reforms in Chengdu and Chongqing to understand the impact that pilot reforms will have on the hukou system, China, and the global community.
"We're all explicable. What we're not is extricable." This joint acting thesis project, entitled 17 ½, was an 8-month journey that culminated in the production of an evening of scenes drawn from contemporary plays, plus one original piece. The compiling of work encouraged us to expand our knowledge of contemporary theatre and led us to a program that explored varying perceptions of power, gender, love, and regeneration. This project was extraordinarily dependent on successful collaboration: five directors, six actors, and a production team worked together to create an entirely new piece of theatre. We served in several roles as actors, directors, and producers, which gave us a new understanding of theatrical production and stretched our ability as artists.
Throughout this presentation, we will turn to Buddhism in both the Asian immigrant and American convert communities to illustrate the concepts of religious identity and the role of religious community. We will first question whether religious identity is primarily inherited, chosen, or some combination of the two. By understanding how individuals construct their religious identities, we can more fully comprehend what religion represents to adherents and thus better understand religion's scope in America. We will then explore the need for a supportive community in order to reinforce these religious identities. An analysis of the interplay between social and religious functions in different communities will inform our discussion on how Americans maintain different religious identities within a pluralistic society
In his final performance at Middlebury College, pianist Richard P. Chen '13 shares interpretations of pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Barber. Chen is a student of affiliate artist Diana Fanning and the winner of the 2010 Alan and Joyce Beucher Concerto Competition. He has been presented in major concert venues in the United States, including Carnegie Hall and Steinert Hall.
