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Articles 1 - 29 of 29
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Effect Of Poor Menstrual Health On Uti Diagnosis, Michelle Muturi
Effect Of Poor Menstrual Health On Uti Diagnosis, Michelle Muturi
Pitzer Senior Theses
Urinary Tract infections (UTIs) are microbial invasions of the urinary tract because of abnormal pathogen growth. They have short term symptoms like abdominal pain, fever and urinary frequency. Khayelitsha is a township that has a population of 2.4 million, 52% of which are women. This area is shaped by poor governance in South Africa that exacerbated medical issues due to a lack of resources. With lack of sanitary pad accessibility and knowledge of proper hygiene practices during the menstrual cycle, women are getting infected with UTIs 2-3 times a year. With an increase in antimicrobial resistance patterns, areas like Khayelistsha …
“If It Ain’T One Thing, It’S Another”: Black Lgbtq Students And Their Experiences With School Discipline And Punishment, Quentin Jenkins
“If It Ain’T One Thing, It’S Another”: Black Lgbtq Students And Their Experiences With School Discipline And Punishment, Quentin Jenkins
Pitzer Senior Theses
School officials have disproportionately applied disciplinary policies and exclusionary practices to Black and LGBTQ youth, causing those students to be negatively sanctioned. Characterized by instruments of surveillance, metal detectors, and the presence of law enforcement, schools in the United States have significantly exacerbated the negative experiences these children have within educational spaces. Schools foster “prison-like” environments and subject Black LGBTQ youth to hyper-surveillance, thus increasing their likelihood of coming in contact with the juvenile justice system. Grounded in BlackCrit and Quare theory, this paper analyzes how the coupled intersecting identities of Blackness and Queerness lead Black LGBTQ youth to have …
Decolonial Foodurisms: From Plantations To Agricultural Spaces Of Intersectional Healing, Dominic Arzadon
Decolonial Foodurisms: From Plantations To Agricultural Spaces Of Intersectional Healing, Dominic Arzadon
Pitzer Senior Theses
Considering the complex colonial histories and relationalities associated with agricultural food production, a reimagined future beyond the violent legacy of plantations is presented. Exploring land as the site for intersectional healing to take place, the symbiotic relationship between humans and food production is increasingly becoming a reality—a theoretical framework I propose called decolonial foodurisms (pronounced food-yoor-isms). Combining “food” and “futurism” to emphasize that our collective futures are predicated on food security and food justice for all and especially for marginalized and racialized communities with ancestral ties to agricultural violence, decolonial foodurisms aims to capture how intersectional healing can come into …
The Impact Of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (Ssbs) Taxes On Consumption And Health Outcomes In Latinx Youth Residing In Los Angeles County, Jacquelyn Campos-Araujo
The Impact Of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (Ssbs) Taxes On Consumption And Health Outcomes In Latinx Youth Residing In Los Angeles County, Jacquelyn Campos-Araujo
Pitzer Senior Theses
This proposed research study aims to investigate whether the implementation of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes will lead to reduced consumption and improved health outcomes in the Latinx youth population residing in Los Angeles County. The study will utilize a mixed-methods design, including a baseline survey and health examination, the implementation of SSB taxes, and a follow-up survey and health examination. The expected results suggest a statistically significant reduction in SSB consumption and improved glycemic control following the implementation of the SSB taxation intervention. However, I predict a slight decrease in the number of participants with dental caries, indicating that further …
An Ancient Thread Of “Inseparable Oneness”: A Theoretical Exploration Of Community And Kinship In Grassroots Environmental Justice Movements, Izzy Dean
Pitzer Senior Theses
This thesis arose from a particular fascination and frustration with the prescribed nuclear family unit and the competitive isolation that capitalism breeds within normative communities, particularly in the United States. In this paper, I use the approach of theoretical exploration combined with case study research to explore the role of community and kinship within grassroots environmental justice organizations. I initially wanted to explore examples of people and groups who found strength and resistance by engaging in “non-normative” or “queer” community-building practices. I have since redefined my topic as a broad theoretical exploration in which I cite theories of non-normativity, among …
From Building To Dwelling: Unfolding Infinity Through Bioregional Fulfillment, Sanjana Bhatnagar
From Building To Dwelling: Unfolding Infinity Through Bioregional Fulfillment, Sanjana Bhatnagar
Pitzer Senior Theses
The causes of anthropogenic climate change touch every feature of our modern-day existences. Approaches to sustainability tend to focus on material actions, but unsustainable practices are guided by an ontological orientation of individuality and human exceptionalism. This thesis provides an alternate account of being that decenters individuality through weaving the metaphysics of Fazang of the Huayan School of Mahayana Buddhism with the metaphysics of Martin Heidegger. To encompass the whole of the relational network that constitutes and conditionally defines our existence, I expand Heidegger’s account of locales as relational sites which are put forth solely by humans to an account …
Grieving Climate Change: A Psychological And Personal Exploration Of Emotionally Processing The Climate Crisis, Hava Chishti
Grieving Climate Change: A Psychological And Personal Exploration Of Emotionally Processing The Climate Crisis, Hava Chishti
Pitzer Senior Theses
The psychological concept of grief, although not typically associated with climate change, has strong applications to the emotional processing of climate change for human beings. Grief can be related to climate change in many ways, including the grief that individuals may feel over the anticipated loss of their future, losses that may be experienced due to climate-related disasters, and grief for the overall implications of anthropogenic climate change. A mixture of traditional literature analysis and creative nonfiction essays, which focus on personal narratives from interviews and the author’s experience, are used to outline the ways in which the psychology of …
La Puerta Park, Graeme F. Logan
La Puerta Park, Graeme F. Logan
Pitzer Senior Theses
The thesis at hand analyzed ecological corridors, biophilic design, and native planting as individual design entities, and eventually combined them through the creation of a comprehensive park proposal called La Puerta Park. The park was located in the urban matrix of Claremont, CA on a 10-acre parcel of land. The land was recently purchased by Trumark Housing, and a housing development plan was put forth. This project creates a superior alternative to the high levels of impervious surfaces, loss of biodiversity, and lack of community that would ensue after the housing plan implementation. The design process was fluid, as each …
Redesigning Pitzer's East Mesa Parking Lot, Maisie Debruyn
Redesigning Pitzer's East Mesa Parking Lot, Maisie Debruyn
Pitzer Senior Theses
Pitzer College’s East Mesa parking lot has been greatly outgrown and hardly adapted in its history. This thesis aims to redesign the lot as something highly usable for the present as well as the future needs of the school. At the core of the design are three design principles: Biophilic design, Human Centered Design, and adaptable architecture. I also pulled conceptual ideas from three precedent buildings from both on and off campus. The on-campus sites are Pomona’s “The Hive” and Harvey Mudd’s “Makerspace” and the off campus site is JaJa Architects’ PARK’N’PLAY. Utilizing each of the three principles in conjunction …
Diversity, Equity, & Exclusion: Examining Jewish Identity & Antisemitism As Missing Pieces Of Dei And Ethnic Studies Education, Katie Meitchik
Diversity, Equity, & Exclusion: Examining Jewish Identity & Antisemitism As Missing Pieces Of Dei And Ethnic Studies Education, Katie Meitchik
Pitzer Senior Theses
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a theory and practice that focuses on systemic structures, inequities, and social change by examining concepts such as race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, and religion. Incorporating DEI initiatives into learning spaces can lead to a deeper sense of self, stronger coalition building, increased civic engagement, and a sense of healing, resistance, and belonging. Although a nationwide criteria for using DEI practices in education has not yet been implemented as a key component to public school teaching, there are programs emerging with the intent to utilize the theory. This has led to a movement …
Can The Xy+Z Heisenberg Model Be Compressed Using The Yang-Baxter Equation? An Exploration Of The Compression Of Quantum Time Dynamic Circuits Describing Heisenberg Spin Chains, Miriam Caron, Bo Peng Dr., Scott Gould Dr., Kevin Setter Dr., Niranjan Govind Dr.
Can The Xy+Z Heisenberg Model Be Compressed Using The Yang-Baxter Equation? An Exploration Of The Compression Of Quantum Time Dynamic Circuits Describing Heisenberg Spin Chains, Miriam Caron, Bo Peng Dr., Scott Gould Dr., Kevin Setter Dr., Niranjan Govind Dr.
Pitzer Senior Theses
Quantum computing is currently deployed on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, which are only able to simulate circuits reliably on shallow depth quantum circuits. A promising problem on near-term quantum computers is quantum time dynamics (QTD). However, QTD circuits grow with increasing time simulations making them difficult to simulate on NISQ devices. This thesis project explores QTD simulations in variations of 1D Heisenberg spin chains with nearest-neighbor and transverse external field interactions with an eye towards studying the dynamics in broader classes of spin models. I first study the quantum Yang-Baxter equation (YBE) and how it has been shown to …
Investigating Neuroanatomical Evolution Through Proliferative Cells In The Astyanax Mexicanus, Sophie Staeger
Investigating Neuroanatomical Evolution Through Proliferative Cells In The Astyanax Mexicanus, Sophie Staeger
Pitzer Senior Theses
The Astyanax mexicanus is a single species of fish that has two very distinct morphs, the cave fish and the surface fish. 200,000 years ago, cave fish ancestors entered the dark and challenging cave environment of Mexico and were forced to adapt in order to survive. Such adaptions include larger fat reserves, more sensitive olfaction, increased neuromasts, and a unique nervous system structure. Yet, other functions regressed, as they lost their eyes and pigmentation. The Duboué lab has established a clear reciprocal relationship between the volume of structures involved in the neuronal adaptations, but the biological mechanisms underlying the development …
The Ways I'M A Fraud: Essays On Imposter Syndrome In Identity, Jack Friedman
The Ways I'M A Fraud: Essays On Imposter Syndrome In Identity, Jack Friedman
Pitzer Senior Theses
In this day and age, great progress is being made in acceptance of all kinds of "alternative identities." With growing numbers of identities, imposter syndrome about identity rises with people feeling as though they don't fully belong to an identity group. What does it even mean to be a member of an identity group, and why do I, and many others, feel like an imposter in them? I offer two essays discussing the matter. The first covers alcoholism and how not committing fully to sobriety feels like it excludes my using the identity of alcoholic or addict. The other on …
Miniscule And Might Predators: A Cautionary Tale Of The Power Of Mosquitoes In California And The Greater United States, Benjamin Willett
Miniscule And Might Predators: A Cautionary Tale Of The Power Of Mosquitoes In California And The Greater United States, Benjamin Willett
Pitzer Senior Theses
This thesis investigates how the growth of mosquito populations within the United States, and California specifically, poses unique threats both to public health and socio- political conditions. Mosquito species that are native to the country, Anopheles punctipennis (An. Punctipennis) and Anopheles freeborni (An. freeborni) exist in a uniquely threatening position, bolstered by the introduction of invasive species (Ae. aegypti) and Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus). A focus on tracing introductions of invasive species and the resulting spread of zoonotic diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, and chikungunya are valuable indicators of how the insects are influenced by human actions. This relationship …
Radioactive, Internal Colonialism: The Uranium Industry’S Historic And Current Impact On The Navajo Nation, Sophie Arens
Radioactive, Internal Colonialism: The Uranium Industry’S Historic And Current Impact On The Navajo Nation, Sophie Arens
Pitzer Senior Theses
The United States withheld information pertaining to the health problems associated with nuclear power, allowing uranium to be extracted, processed, and stored in the Southwest of the United States and more specifically the Navajo Nation. With this, many Diné people who had previously worked in the mines or lived within close vicinity to facilities developed various types of illnesses. This thesis argues that the development of nuclear energy in the United States is a form of radioactive, internal colonialism and that the current waste facility located in Carlsbad, New Mexico is furthering this history into the present day. This thesis …
Health Behavior And Outlooks In An Altered Microbial Diversity: Changes In Parental Attitudes On ‘Building Immunity’ Throughout The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jennifer Vidal
Pitzer Senior Theses
The Covid-19 Pandemic in a short amount of time put into action disease control measures. Current literature has sought to address the long-term effects of sanitization efforts and social isolation on the diversity of the microbiome and the future of infectious diseases. Microbes – microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoa, algae, fungi, and viruses – inhabit the natural environment and human microbiome with our immune system, playing an essential role in immune regulation. The interplay between humans and microbes forms early immune development that has impacted parents’ attitudes toward microbes shown through their participation in Covid-19 preventative health practices. Using the …
21st Century Exhibition Rhetorics, Sabina Eastman
21st Century Exhibition Rhetorics, Sabina Eastman
Pitzer Senior Theses
The desire to create a language through which reading artwork can be attainable to an inclusive audience is a relatively modern aspiration. Painting and sculpture have been longstanding ideals of elite aesthetic ambition, which are held in containers of cultural and social tradition, removed from the ebb and flow of mundane existence. These containers were initially created to encapsulate historic moments, providing insight into a creator and their ideas which were inaccessible to the audience of that era. Since the early 19th century, the conversation in art theory has turned toward the meaning, purpose, and justification for the design and …
Growing Culturally Relevant Food At The Urban Farm: An Examination Of Sovereign Foodways, Place-Making Practices, And Autonomous Identity-Shaping, Dahlia Bess Zail
Growing Culturally Relevant Food At The Urban Farm: An Examination Of Sovereign Foodways, Place-Making Practices, And Autonomous Identity-Shaping, Dahlia Bess Zail
Pitzer Senior Theses
This paper examines channels of culturally relevant food production on the urban farm. It further investigates the connection between this production and the shaping of sovereign foodways, as well as how urban farm models provide space and resources for place-making practices and autonomous identity-shaping. This thesis shifts away from the notion of access to culturally relevant food and instead focuses on the multi-fold context that any food item takes on through its production, distribution, and consumption. This allows for a nuanced understanding of the role that culturally relevant food can play in immigrant foodways. Through case-studies at three urban farms …
My Backyard Garden, Hezekiah Smithstein
My Backyard Garden, Hezekiah Smithstein
Pitzer Senior Theses
This thesis follows my attempts to create a new relationship with the land outside my house, through transforming my weed-choked backyard into a native plant garden. Through styles of memoir, essay, and literary journalism, I examine what it means to take care of the outdoor home, as a human family part of an urban ecosystem. This project explores ideas surrounding people and plants, the effects on a space of actions and interactions both past and present, and brings into conversation different ideas and philosophies from homeowner to ecologist, city park to indigenous author, that shape the way we think and …
Effects Of Indonesian Cuisine On The Dutch Kitchen And Culture Post World War Ii, Anton Syril Van Schaik
Effects Of Indonesian Cuisine On The Dutch Kitchen And Culture Post World War Ii, Anton Syril Van Schaik
Pitzer Senior Theses
As a colony of the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies (upon independence named Indonesia) was a prodigious source of economic revenue -- first due to the spice trade and then coffee -- for the Netherlands from around 1610 to 1949. But, despite the long history of Dutch colonization in Southeast Asia, Indonesian cuisine failed to make a large impact on Dutch culture and cuisine until the 1940s. Before World War II, despite the Netherlands primarily deriving its revenue from global trade, both economically, and especially culturally, all areas, except for the economically engaged, Western cities, were extremely insulated. However, due …
Entangled Mangrove Roots: The Shrimp Industry, Ancestral Afro-Descendant People, And Community Resistance In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, O'Philia Le
Pitzer Senior Theses
Mangroves are one of the most important ecosystems because of the many services they provide on a local and global scale, but in contrast, are one of the most threatened by anthropogenic activities at a global level. Being sources of food for various kinds of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, they are essential for the economy, culture, and livelihood of locals in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. This thesis takes an environmental justice approach in the discussion of the loss of mangroves in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. While toxic industries may not be apparent at first, environmental injustice prevails in adverse human health effects, environmental degradation, …
Hyperparameter Codependence In Fieldnet: Guidelines For Ann Construction, Seiji Akera
Hyperparameter Codependence In Fieldnet: Guidelines For Ann Construction, Seiji Akera
Pitzer Senior Theses
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) comprise a non-linear modeling method that is often used to analyze neural data in place of linear models. These networks fall under one of two classifications: pure prediction purposes and improving understanding of the brain through neural interpretability. FieldNet is an ANN designed by Dr. Gautam Agarwal that takes complex valued theta oscillations recorded from implanted multi-electrodes and predicts the rat’s location as it moves throughout a maze. In learning neural features to make this classification, FieldNet appears to reconstruct place fields. The construction of FieldNet has an impact on both the performance and reconstruction capabilities …
Survey Based Investigation On Diet/Bmi In Indian-American Communities, Arjan Deol
Survey Based Investigation On Diet/Bmi In Indian-American Communities, Arjan Deol
Pitzer Senior Theses
Obesity is defined as a disease where abnormal or excessive fat accumulation presents risks to one’s health. It is also associated with a wide variety of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, and cardiovascular health. In recent years, the rates of obesity have continued to grow in the United States, especially amongst the Indian-American community. Asians have a lower BMI cutoff ( ≥27.5 kg/m2) for obesity instead of the standard ≥30.0 kg/m2 recommendations by CDC due to a higher prevalence of weight-related diseases at lower BMI and carrying 3-5% more body fat than an average Western …
An Analysis On How Housing Status Influences The Gut-Brain-Axis For Populations In And Around The Skid Row Area Of Los Angeles, California, Mauricio Guzman
An Analysis On How Housing Status Influences The Gut-Brain-Axis For Populations In And Around The Skid Row Area Of Los Angeles, California, Mauricio Guzman
Pitzer Senior Theses
Over recent years, the “microbiota-gut-brain axis” (MGBA) has garnered significant attention in the scientific community. Specifically, perturbations of the MGBA via stress and dietary intake have been linked to a wide-range of diseases including gastrointestinal diseases, metabolic diseases, mood disorders, and cognitive diseases. However, most studies have been solely conducted on mice models and have yet to consider the more complex, intricate systems that impact the human body. In addition, researchers have yet to consider the populations who may be most susceptible to chronic stress and negative dietary outcomes. Drawing from the fields of medical sociology, non-invasive human biology, and …
Machines With Heart: Utilizing An Sts Framework To Analyze Implementation And Design Of Social Eldercare Robots In Germany And Japan, Lucy Conover
Pitzer Senior Theses
Robots are everywhere from car factories to cafes, but many people may not realize robots are quite popular in assisted living residencies for older adults. Social eldercare robots (SER) provide care to older adults without relying on human labor, offering a lucrative promise of technological efficiency during global labor crises. However, their adaptation into care settings is not this simple. Human trust in robots is rooted in nuanced social, cultural, and historical factors, making SER a highly interpretively flexible technology. This thesis analyzes social eldercare robot implementation in two countries, Germany and Japan, using a "Science, Technology and Society" (STS) …
Preparing For Uncertain Water Futures: An Analysis Of Climate Change Impacts On Southern Sierra Nevada Snowpack, Infrastructure Vulnerability, And Implications For San Joaquin Valley Groundwater Management, Kyle Greenspan, Branwen Williams, Heather Williams
Preparing For Uncertain Water Futures: An Analysis Of Climate Change Impacts On Southern Sierra Nevada Snowpack, Infrastructure Vulnerability, And Implications For San Joaquin Valley Groundwater Management, Kyle Greenspan, Branwen Williams, Heather Williams
Pitzer Senior Theses
Increased average annual temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change will impact snowpack in the Sierra Nevada region in two ways. First, an increasing share of precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow. Second, snowpack will melt earlier in the season. Earlier runoff driven by precipitation type change and earlier snowmelt necessitates earlier releases of water from dams for flood control. These earlier releases reduce the amount that can be stored for water supply. Analysis of instrumental and model snow water equivalent (SWE) data shows that climate models relied upon in state decision-making capture changes in peak SWE magnitude, but …
Decoherence And Preferred Tensor Product Structures For Systems Of Qubits, Marissa M. Singh
Decoherence And Preferred Tensor Product Structures For Systems Of Qubits, Marissa M. Singh
Pitzer Senior Theses
In recent decades, the program of Decoherence has helped clarify how features of the classical world emerge from Quantum Mechanics. According to Decoherence, the interaction between a system and its environment dynamically selects certain system states — the pointer states — that exhibit predictable, classical behavior while their superpositions rapidly decohere. However, most Decoherence studies to date pre-suppose a preferred division of the world into “system” and “environment”, corresponding to a preferred choice of Tensor Product Structure (TPS) on the Hilbert Space of states. A few previous works have suggested that the existence of a well-defined pointer observable may be …
Quantum Darwinism And Preferred Choice Of Subsystems, Mahima Kumar
Quantum Darwinism And Preferred Choice Of Subsystems, Mahima Kumar
Pitzer Senior Theses
Quantum Darwinism (QD) seeks to explain the emergence of the objective reality of the classical world from the underlying quantum physics. According to QD, the process of decoherence leaves a joint quantum state of a system and its environment in special states with non-generic properties. In particular, these special states allow information about the state of a system to be redundantly imprinted in many distinct fragments of the environment. The objectivity of post-decoherence states is quantified with a Partial Information Plot (PIP) exhibiting a characteristic classical plateau. The account of QD implicitly relies on a particular way of dividing the …
From Bloom To Bouquet: Unearthing The Toxic Cut Flower Industry, Addie Wasikonis
From Bloom To Bouquet: Unearthing The Toxic Cut Flower Industry, Addie Wasikonis
Pitzer Senior Theses
The commercial cut flower industry is an expansive network of growers, laborers, airlines, government workers, wholesalers, retailers, supermarkets, and florists, which deliver a crafted bouquet to the consumer for those special occasions. We often buy flowers during our weekly trip to the supermarket, call our local florist for an arrangement, or make a last-minute order online to be shipped within hours. For this demand to be supplied, the cut flower industry has spread to equator-localized countries where the labor is cheap, the land is plentiful, and the sun shines all year round in order to grow any type of flower …