Digital Commons Network^™

Indefinability2013c.E., Clayton T. Ehman

CGU MFA Theses

I am a multidisciplinary artist; because I am committed to art that engages a broad array of subjects and ideas. This is reflected in my works which consist of diverse mediums and processes including graphic design, digital imagery, printmaking, painting, sculpting, poetry, song composition, clothing, website design, drawing, video, lighting, installation art, abstract art, Op art, conceptual art, political art, black light art, maximalist art, and various combinations of these.

Wind Energy Opposition In Vermont: Perspectives On The State's Energy Future, William R. Pitkin Iv

Pomona Senior Theses

Due to its high levels of concern and awareness of environmental issues, rural character, and sparse population, Vermont would at first glance appear to possess the ideal recipe to become a national leader in renewable energy development. Renewable initiatives have focused primarily on wind energy, as over a dozen wind farms have been proposed in the last few years across the state. However, in spite of the widely held belief in Vermont’s wind energy future, its proponents have run into vehement opposition at every proposed site, often successfully impeding the planned developments.

This report develops a wide-level framework of the …

Disclosure Of The Producer Of Style, Yoony L. Takeuchi

CGU MFA Theses

Fashion is intriguing in that it is a kind of ritual based on the concealment of seemingly perpetual shame. The psychological mask of style remains an agent of socially precipitated narcissism. Guilt about it stokes the fire. I pour water on this fire by aiming to mediate it with a spirit of respect in the handling of appropriated fashion images. The resulting works I construct may be taken and changed in turn. This non-hierarchical exchange of recast photos allows for the possibility of upturning established codes of visual hegemony.

Fashion propaganda tends to dismiss the power of certain populations. While …

Falling Apart While Awake, Crystal Erlendson

CGU MFA Theses

Crystal Erlendson conceals surfaces with irreverent, ornamental gestures to reveal a daft logic in space.

Find additional websites of the artist's work here and here.

Device Engineering For Infectious Disease Diagnosis Using Isothermal Dna Amplification And Lateral Flow Detection, Kristina Roskos

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Technologies that enable infectious diseases diagnosis in low-resource settings could greatly facilitate effective treatment and containment of such diseases. Nucleic acid amplification testing can be used to identify pathogens, but typically requires highly-trained personnel and large, expensive lab equipment, neither of which is available in low-resource settings. Our overall goal is to develop a portable diagnostic system that utilizes a low-cost, disposable, mesofluidic cartridge and a handheld electronics unit to perform fully-integrated nucleic acid testing at the point of care in low-resource settings. As a first step toward this goal, we developed a subunit to execute isothermal nucleic acid amplification …

Glance Look Stare, Elisa L. Saether

CGU MFA Theses

No abstract provided.

Play In Place: The Role Of Site-Specific Playgrounds In Community Space, Allison Nkwocha

Scripps Senior Theses

Playgrounds do not have to be static sites, but safety standards should not be the only force that guides their evolution over time. Just as the ongoing transformation of any city is a product of many interwoven factors, the collection of smaller sites that delineates one city from another should reflect the same holistic influences. This is not an argument for the abandonment of the safety standards that influence playground design. Instead, it is an argument for the adoption of and stronger adherence to community standards that influence city design. This paper argues that a park area (and more generally, …

Eradicating Malaria: Improving A Multiple-Timestep Optimization Model Of Malarial Intervention Policy, Taryn M. Ohashi

Scripps Senior Theses

Malaria is a preventable and treatable blood-borne disease whose complications can be fatal. Although many interventions exist in order to reduce the impacts of malaria, the optimal method of distributing these interventions in a geographical area with limited resources must be determined. This thesis refines a model that uses an integer linear program and a compartmental model of epidemiology called an SIR model of ordinary differential equations. The objective of the model is to find an intervention strategy over multiple time steps and multiple geographic regions that minimizes the number of days people spend infected with malaria. In this paper, …

Water Reuse As Part Of San Diego's Water Portfolio, Hillary P. Shipps

Scripps Senior Theses

San Diego imports 80 to 90 percent of its water supply, depending on conditions during any particular year. This high level of imports and low diversity of water supply have combined with climate change to generate an urgent need for increased conservation and diversification of San Diego's water supply. Water reuse is one option to mitigate this problem. An attempt was made in the early 1990s to recycle wastewater but the public reacted badly due to a combination of bad public relations, perceived environmental justice issues, and a psychological phenomenon called the yuck factor. With improved public relations and education, …

A Discrete Approach To The Poincare-Miranda Theorem, Connor Thomas Ahlbach

HMC Senior Theses

The Poincare-Miranda Theorem is a topological result about the existence of a zero of a function under particular boundary conditions. In this thesis, we explore proofs of the Poincare-Miranda Theorem that are discrete in nature - that is, they prove a continuous result using an intermediate lemma about discrete objects. We explain a proof by Tkacz and Turzanski that proves the Poincare-Miranda theorem via the Steinhaus Chessboard Theorem, involving colorings of partitions of n-dimensional cubes. Then, we develop a new proof of the Poincare-Miranda Theorem that relies on a polytopal generalization of Sperner's Lemma of Deloera - Peterson - Su. …

Paradise Maintenance Department, Dan Taulapapa Mcmullin

CGU MFA Theses

Based on personal and artistic research in Samoa, Polynesia, Oceania, and the South Pacific Islands, "Paradise Maintenance Department" investigates the contemporary colonial relationship between the U.S. Territory of American Samoa and the United States, while engaging in a poetic expression of f'a'afafine queer Samoan life.

The Affect Of Low Tide On The Digestion Of Balanus Glandula, The Acorn Barnacle., Jesse Osborn

Scripps Senior Theses

The rocky intertidal zone, experiencing fully marine and fully terrestrial conditions, has become increasingly investigated as a model ecosystem for studying the future implications of climate change. The barnacle, Balanus glandula, a common rocky intertidal inhabitant, plays an important role as a key prey item for many organisms. Low tide can be particularly challenging for barnacles as they are marine organisms subjected to the abiotic conditions of a terrestrial environment. The most stressful of these are increased temperature and decreased oxygen availability. This study aimed to investigate how low tide impacts the energy budget, specifically the digestion, of B. …

Chip Firing Games And Riemann-Roch Properties For Directed Graphs, Joshua Z. Gaslowitz

HMC Senior Theses

The following presents a brief introduction to tropical geometry, especially tropical curves, and explains a connection to graph theory. We also give a brief summary of the Riemann-Roch property for graphs, established by Baker and Norine (2007), as well as the tools used in their proof. Various generalizations are described, including a more thorough description of the extension to strongly connected directed graphs by Asadi and Backman (2011). Building from their constructions, an algorithm to determine if a directed graph has Row Riemann-Roch Property is given and thoroughly explained.

Lines In Tropical Quadrics, Kevin O'Neill

HMC Senior Theses

Classical algebraic geometry is the study of curves, surfaces, and other varieties defined as the zero set of polynomial equations. Tropical geometry is a branch of algebraic geometry based on the tropical semiring with operations minimization and addition. We introduce the notions of projective space and tropical projective space, which are well-suited for answering enumerative questions, like ours. We attempt to describe the set of tropical lines contained in a tropical quadric surface in $\mathbb{TP}^3$. Analogies with the classical problem and computational techniques based on the idea of a tropical parameterization suggest that the answer is the union of two …

Analysis Of Time-Dependent Integrodifference Population Models, Taylor J. Mcadam

HMC Senior Theses

The population dynamics of species with separate growth and dispersal stages can be described by a discrete-time, continuous-space integrodifference equation relating the population density at one time step to an integral expression involving the density at the previous time step. Prior research on this model has assumed that the equation governing the population dynamics remains fixed over time, however real environments are constantly in flux. We show that for time-varying models, there is a value Λ that can be computed to determine a sufficient condition for population survival. We also develop a framework for analyzing persistence of a population for …

Structured Matrices And The Algebra Of Displacement Operators, Ryan Takahashi

HMC Senior Theses

Matrix calculations underlie countless problems in science, mathematics, and engineering. When the involved matrices are highly structured, displacement operators can be used to accelerate fundamental operations such as matrix-vector multiplication. In this thesis, we provide an introduction to the theory of displacement operators and study the interplay between displacement and natural matrix constructions involving direct sums, Kronecker products, and blocking. We also investigate the algebraic behavior of displacement operators, developing results about invertibility and kernels.

On Toric Symmetry Of P1 X P2, Olivia D. Beckwith

HMC Senior Theses

Toric varieties are a class of geometric objects with a combinatorial structure encoded in polytopes. P1 x P2 is a well known variety and its polytope is the triangular prism. Studying the symmetries of the triangular prism and its truncations can lead to symmetries of the variety. Many of these symmetries permute the elements of the cohomology ring nontrivially and induce nontrivial relations. We discuss some toric symmetries of P1 x P2, and describe the geometry of the polytope of the corresponding blowups, and analyze the induced action on the cohomology ring. We exhaustively compute the toric symmetries of P1 …

Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching And Visualizing Differential Geometry, Nathan Pinsky

HMC Senior Theses

In recent decades, education researchers have recognized the need for teachers to have a nuanced content knowledge in addition to pedagogical knowledge, but very little research was conducted into what this knowledge would entail. Beginning in 2008, math education researchers began to develop a theoretical framework for the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching, but their work focused primarily on elementary schools. I will present an analysis of the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching about the regular curves and surfaces, two important concepts in differential geometry which generalize to the advanced notion of a manifold, both in a college classroom and …

Hypergraph Capacity With Applications To Matrix Multiplication, John Lee Thompson Peebles Jr.

HMC Senior Theses

The capacity of a directed hypergraph is a particular numerical quantity associated with a hypergraph. It is of interest because of certain important connections to longstanding conjectures in theoretical computer science related to fast matrix multiplication and perfect hashing as well as various longstanding conjectures in extremal combinatorics.

We give an overview of the concept of the capacity of a hypergraph and survey a few basic results regarding this quantity. Furthermore, we discuss the Lovász number of an undirected graph, which is known to upper bound the capacity of the graph (and in practice appears to be the best such …

Extortion And Evolution In The Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, Michael J. Earnest

HMC Senior Theses

The Prisoner's Dilemma is a two player game where playing rationally leads to a suboptimal outcome for both players. The game is simple to analyze, but when it is played repeatedly, complex dynamics emerge. Recent research has shown the existence of extortionate strategies, which allow one player to win at least as much as the other. When one player plays such a strategy, the other must either decide to take a low payoff, or accede to the extortion, where they earn higher payoff, but their opponent receives a larger share. We investigate what happens when one player uses this strategy …

A Comparison And Catalog Of Intrinsic Tumor Growth Models, Elizabeth A. Sarapata

HMC Senior Theses

Determining the dynamics and parameter values that drive tumor growth is of great interest to mathematical modelers, experimentalists and practitioners alike. We provide a basis on which to estimate the growth dynamics of ten different tumors by fitting growth parameters to at least five sets of published experimental data per type of tumor. These timescale tumor growth data are also used to determine which of the most common tumor growth models (exponential, power law, logistic, Gompertz, or von Bertalanffy) provides the best fit for each type of tumor. In order to compute the best-fit parameters, we implemented a hybrid local-global …

The Relationship Between Snacking Habits And Impulsivity Levels In Adolescents, Bayley E. Clarke

Scripps Senior Theses

Adolescent obesity is an important public health issue, and one important factor that contributes to the problem is overeating, eating more than required for homeostasis. Appetitive behaviors such as overeating may in part be the result of poor control of impulsive behavior. This study investigated the relationship between impulsivity factors and snacking habits. The Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire (YAQ) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) were completed by 198 Southern California high school students (56% female; age M=15.8, SD=0.9). Four subscales were calculated from responses on the YAQ and included the frequency of consuming sweetened drinks, sweet snacks, salty snacks, …

Sustainable Urban Rail Trails: Designing The Cross Kirkland Corridor, Mia Cooledge

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis is a guide to building a sustainable rail-trail, wherein I focus on invasive species removal, green pavement, and creating an inviting space with the inclusion of integrated art. When the City of Kirkland, WA purchased the 5.75 mile long section of railroad going through the city, I approached city manager Kurt Triplett to ask about his plans for the corridor. He liked the idea of aiming for a sustainable trail, so I wrote a guide to building an environmentally friendly trail based on a number of prominent readings on sustainable design.

Marston Quadrangle: Past, Present, And Proposals For A Sustainable Future, Meryl Seward

Pomona Senior Theses

Pomona College has professed a commitment to sustainable leadership and decreased water use, exemplified by shifts to garden areas with native landscaping. However, the central college green space, Marston Quadrangle, was renovated in the summer of 2012 and only a few native plants were added to the landscape. In this thesis, I explore Pomona’s Marston Quadrangle as a visual and symbolic space, attempting to better understand the intentions of the landscaped area. I first briefly examine recent campus dialogue surrounding sustainability, water issues, and native landscaping. Then, I look at the history and architectural iconography Marston Quadrangle is steeped in, …

Cooking Up A Course: Food Education At Pomona College, Christina A. Cyr

Pomona Senior Theses

Cooking skills are important but declining, with significant health, social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental implications. Food and cooking education can begin to address some of the negative effects of the cooking skills decline. This thesis makes the case for cooking classes in the education system, especially in higher education. The paper begins with a history of cooking education and skills, outlines the implications of the decline in skills, and discusses the potential for cooking education in higher education. The second part consists of a course syllabus, designed for Pomona College. The third section includes a discussion of the implementation …

Environmental Economics: A Case Study For The Big Cottonwood Canyon Watershed, Robert Hull

Pomona Senior Theses

Environmental economics is the application of economic principles to the study of how natural resources are developed and managed. The methodologies used attempt to value ecosystem services provided by healthy, functioning natural lands and ecosystems. Ecosystem services attributed to natural lands contribute significant human welfare benefits that go largely undervalued or misrepresented in the decision-making process for the development of land. As environmental valuation methodologies and techniques continue to advance, policy decisions will be better able to create outcomes that maximize benefits for targeted populations and landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to first describe the methodologies used in …

Public Land And Its Management: Why The Research Is Not Enough, Corinne Calhoun

Pomona Senior Theses

Ecological research, both basic and applied, can inform management decisions on public land in a number of ways. Most importantly, it can illuminate any negative effects of a given land use practice as well as the causes behind that effect. This type of information can be important to a management agency, such as the BLM, with a multi-use mission as these studies indicate under what management regimes a land use is in contradiction with other goals, such as conservation or restoration.

The current body of research, however, is flawed. In order to make fully informed decisions, land managers are in …

Conserving Fish And Forests: Community Involvement And Its Limits In Resource Management On The Island Of Hawai'i, Amber W. Datta

Pomona Senior Theses

In this thesis I examine the limits of community involvement in accomplishing the conservation goals of biodiversity and ecosystem function in resource management by analyzing the multiple interest groups that compose community. Two case studies are presented to accomplish this goal. The first case study is the West Hawaii Fisheries Management Area, where a group of community stakeholders provide management recommendations that are then implemented by the state. The second case study is the Ka’u forest reserve, where community involvement is invited into the management decision-making process but is also limited in its ultimate political power by the state. Through …

Agency Decision-Making For Climate Change: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And The Bounds Of Rationality, Laura Carr

Pomona Senior Theses

Climate change tests the limits of human understanding of complexity and uncertainty. It challenges assumptions about our presumed power of control over this planet. This paper examines the theory of how governmental executive branch agencies make regulation decisions about climate change using the decision-making methodologies of cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle, and as influenced by perceptions of the bounds of human rationality and ability to deal with risk and uncertainty.

Social Entrepreneurship: The Ideal Business For Humanity And The Economy, Maya D. Horgan

Pomona Senior Theses

This essay argues that social entrepreneurship is the most efficient means to generate lasting social change and permanently reduce poverty. Using the support of scholarly research, interviews with experts in the field, and my own qualitative observations, I conclude that traditional aid models that are economically dependent on outside funding, as well as those that simply provide monetary and product contributions in order to sustain the poor or marginalized communities they serve are inherently structured in a way that prevents them from resolving social ills. Despite the influx of aid organizations over past decades, chronic poverty and other serious social …