Digital Commons Network^™

Graphical Model For Three-Way Living Donor Kidney Exchange, Carmen Beatriz Rodriguez

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). There are three possible organ sources for these transplants; cadaver, living, and good samaritan donors. The living donors are usually friends or relatives of the patient. The benefits of living donors in kidney exchanges are to increase the patients’ chance of receiving an organ sooner than patients waiting for cadaver donors, as well as providing them with a higher graft survival rate. In cases where a living donor is incompatible with their loved-one in need of a transplant, kidney paired exchanges are possible. Kidney paired exchanges …

The “Reasonableness” Of Poverty: Progress And Pitfalls In South Africa’S Socio-Economic Jurisprudence, Benajmin Oliver Powers

Senior Projects Spring 2014

The Constitutional Court of South Africa is perhaps the strongest institution in the country today. It is one of the few places for people to pursue institutional redress. In light of this, this thesis critically examines the reasonableness standard, the depoliticizing rhetoric around poverty the Court uses, as well as the practical obstacles for individuals or groups pursuing public interest litigation through the judiciary. It has found that for the Court to be more effective institution in light of the failings of other bodies conceived of by the Constitution, a number of the Court’s approaches must be altered slightly. The …

Exp(A/E)Ndable (Fall), Stella Rose(N)Fell (Spring), Re-Envisioning The Fourth Wall: The Production Of A Fluid And Mobile Stage An Investigation Of The Placement Of Experimental Dance In Museums (Paper), Julia E Meyer

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Artist Statement:

I’m interested in the bizarre, the dark, the disturbing, and the messy. I collaborate with my dancers to make movement that falls outside the pedestrian, yet remains human in the most peculiar and sometimes virtuosic ways. Exploring site specificity, with a particular focus on transforming spaces to create distinct experiences for viewers and dancers alike. Finding new ways to understand and engage with dance by re-situating the audience and giving them the opportunity to move with dancers, thereby creating their own frame of view and cultivating a personal experience with the bizarre world that they have entered. Right …

The Viewing Self: A Reflection On Mirrors As Medium From The 1960s To The Present, Claire H. Demere

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Reaching New Heights: An Examination Of Cognitive Dissonance And The Attitude Toward Height And Leadership, Emily Faith Harris

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Cognitive dissonance is the theory that when someone holds two conflicting cognitions they will feel internal discomfort and will be motivated to reduce this discomfort. They reduce the discomfort by changing one of the cognitions, either by intensifying the original cognition or by diminishing the original cognition, making the new cognition the dominant cognition. The present experiment examines the role that cognitive dissonance plays in intensifying or diminishing prejudices within the attitude domain of the association between height and leadership. I attempted to induce dissonance by showing 20 Bard College students the discrepancy between their explicit and implicit attitudes about …

The Embattlement Of Reproduction: Exploring The Contemporary Pro-Life Movement As Embodied In Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Madeline Marie Mcquail

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Wreck Of Titanic: A Comedy, Christopher Giuggio Shea

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Incidental Emotions And Trust Decisions: Visceral Influences On Economic Behavior, Idan Aviv Elmelech

Senior Projects Spring 2014

In recent years, trust has emerged as a key concept in the understanding of cooperation between individuals and organizations. It has been implicated as an important variable in topics ranging from individual decision-making in finance, to macroeconomic growth and stability in developing countries. This thesis employs an experimental design to investigate the impact of emotions on trust behavior. In the experiment, emotion was induced in participants who then played a basic trust game originally proposed by Berg, Dickhaut, & McCabe (1995). Results indicate that emotions do impact trust, with anger decreasing trust behavior. However, the data also reveal that individual …

The Word Of Thought And The Thought Of Word: An Analysis And Translation Of Lev Vygotsky's Chapter Seven In "Thinking And Speech", Amanda Gan

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

A Translation And Analysis Of Christian Kracht's Faserland, Miranda Jones

Senior Theses

Faserland, Christian Kracht's debut novel in the Popliteratur scene, portrays a young and nameless writer who travels throughout Germany without any fixed destinations. He illustrates 1990's Germany for the reader by way of a first-person narrative that utilizes popular culture references and brand names to highlight the themes of consumerism in the text. The novel has not yet been published in English, but it provides a perspective on German culture that I believe the English-speaking reader should experience. Therefore I have translated the entire novel from German to English. Along with the translation, I provide the reader with a …

Omnilegitimacy: From Representative Democracy Toward Emerging Alternatives, Hans Rosso Kern

Senior Projects Spring 2014

As citizenries around the world become increasingly dissatisfied with the traditionally accepted model of governance, the challenge is to look to forms that better meet a demand for rule by the people. Individuals have largely lost their ability to influence decision-makers within bureaucratic and administrative governments, whose interests are increasingly felt to be divergent from their own. Within "western democracies," it is held that power derives from the people, who appoint their leaders through the majoritarian approval of a voting constituency. Though an imperfect claim to the ideal of "government by the people," it is this system of representative democracy …

Onus 1, Caleb Charles Benore

Senior Projects Spring 2014

This senior project is a set of three major compositions: a string quartet, a piano quintet, and a piano suite called “Pantheon.” Frankly, the string quartet is the best piece. It’s my most recent effort and I definitely improved while working on the other two compositions. My primary concern for the string quartet, particularly in the first movement, was how my instruments fit together. I might have a melodramatic taste in harmony but I believe I created a few elegant moments in the rhythm and line contours.

The most important lesson came from my piano quintet, which does have some …

Students: Extended Episode, Keila Brown

Senior Projects Spring 2014

A continuation of the web series installment, STUDENTS seeks to provide a realistic take on a liberal arts college experience. Formatted as an hour-long finale to the series, we follow the main character, Annie as she suffers a significant event at school. She must overcome a great change in her life, all while negotiating a rigorous course load with an inadequate social life. Through her eyes, we witness the other side of common college portrayals that often highlight a prominent Greek life, school spirit for athletic teams, and a general glorification of party life. Based on my own experience adjusting …

I'M Not Finished — Done, Dimitri A. Cacouris

Senior Projects Spring 2014

This paper examines the creation and performance of the piece Done, by the author, and tries to take a critical and analytic perspective as well as a reflective one, of interest largely to the author, but also to anyone interested in a documentation of the creative process. It is accompanied by a video recording and photographs of the performance and several appendices which document the majority of the textual material which represents the genesis of the piece and from which the piece was eventually built.

(The paper, as it is, is best taken salted)

Love, Lust, And Loss: A Senior Recital/An Afternoon Of Contemporary Works, Emily Cedriana Donato

Senior Projects Spring 2014

I am graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bard College’s Music Department as a classical vocalist. For my senior project I have put together a set of two recitals. My goal was to create contrasting programs that were interesting, each with a specific theme.

The first recital took place on Sunday, December 15th at 7:00 p.m. in the László Z. Bitó Conservatory Performance Space. The concert was titled “Love, Lust and Loss: A Senior Recital” and it explored these themes while demonstrating a wide range of abilities in my voice. Throughout all musical eras, composers have written about …

Colette, Andrew James Petersell

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Colette is a work of interactive fiction that questions the role of the reader, and explores the unique ways in which agency, interpersonal relationships, and environmental conditioning can define a person’s identity. The reader is placed in the mind of the titular Colette as she tries to piece together the life she had before a tragic accident robbed her of her memory. The piece purposefully blurs the line between audience and character by giving the reader almost full control over Colette’s actions. By typing simple text commands into the interface, the reader can choose where Colette goes, what she explores, …

Cyber Power Restrained: How Strategic Culture Inhibits The Integration Of Cyber Weapons By The United States Military, David Matthew Bisson

Senior Projects Spring 2014

This article seeks to reconcile the support status of cyber power in the United States military with the seriousness of the cyber threat confronting the nation. It rejects the argument that cyber weapons are not useful and are not traditional “weapons” by drawing parallels between cyber power and military force in the physical domains, as well as revealing how some of the most prominent issues in cybersecurity are political and not technological in nature. The article proposes strategic culture as an alternative explanation for U.S. cyber power’s current status. By studying the case studies of American air and space power, …

The Philosopher's Diagnosis: Sickness In Plato, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, And Heidegger, Anna Menaker Daniszewski

Senior Projects Fall 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Blue Sun, And Other Poems, Tamas Julius Panitz

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Human Eclipse, Elizabeth Macdonald Von Klemperer

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Offcut, Lydia Meredith Meyer

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Offcut Lydia Meyer

There is a tendency in nature to repeat forms that are successful. Because of their strength or efficiency, structures used for one purpose by a creature may resemble those created for different tasks by another. In creating “Offcut” I attempt to integrate myself into this way of thinking to better understand natural/evolved processes, by borrowing structures from both the human and animal world that look like neither. I use materials that I foraged from my environment and occasionally the Internet. The foam is free offcuts from a plastics factory and all of the wood is scrap from …

Coming Home, Rose Arline Panke

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Born and raised in Saugerties, my choice to go to Bard meant that I would be attending college only a short drive from my family, friends, and the familiarity of my hometown. Though in some ways I've deprived myself of the new experiences that come with going away for school, this has also allowed me to continue to explore and appreciate the Hudson Valley, the place I’ve called home my entire life. However, the loss of my father in my freshman year, coupled with being in a college environment unlike anything I had experienced before, threw my sense of being …

End User, Rufus Alexander Paisley

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

“Am I Math Compatible?”: How Stereotype Threat Relates To Gender And Math Identification In Women, Elyse Murphy Neubauer

Senior Projects Spring 2014

The current study investigates the relationship between stereotype threat (i.e. adverse effects of stereotypes on stereotyped individuals’ performance in stereotype-relevant tasks), gender identification, and math identification in women completing a mathematics test. Prior to test-completion, stereotype threat was induced by telling female participants that men had previously out-performed women on the test. Unthreatened women were told that both men and women had performed equally. Participants completed measures of implicit and explicit gender and math identification and rated traits on how typical they were of “male” or “female.” I hypothesized that stereotype threat would increase both gender and math identification, but …

A Woman's Voice: Female Autobiography In The Nineteenth Century, Penelope Rose Weber

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

"Bushwick Was Mine," "Bushwick Es Mio:" Gentrification And The Emotional Displacement Of Latinas, Rosemary Ferreira

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Seeking Vita Contemplativa: A Search For Contemplation In A Secular World, Rosette Marie Cirillo

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Divisions of Languages and Literature and Social Studies of Bard College

The Bangwa Queen: Interpretations, Constructions, And Appropriations Of Meaning Of The Esteemed Ancestress Figure From The Cameroon Grassfields, Julia Lynn Defabo

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Clay Licks As A Keystone Resource And Their Potential In Conservation In The Las Piedras Watershed, Gowri Varanashi

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Clay licks, or salt licks or mineral licks are sites of exposed clay in the rainforest where mammals ingest soil (geophagy) in order to obtain salt and other essential minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium and so on, which are lacking in the vegetation. The minerals supplement the diets of the animals and help fight parasites and gastrointestinal problems. These sites promote biodiversity and the health of animal populations. My paper is a camera trap study, done from May 7th to June 17th of 2013, at a research station in an eco-tourism concession on the Las Piedras River, Peru, …

Looking To The East: Benefits Of Combining Chinese And Western Medicines, Rushell A. Reid

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.