Digital Commons Network^™

New York Citadel: A Future History Of Hudson Yards, Pansy D. Schulman

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Upper Bounds For The Number Of Lattice Edges Needed To Represent 4-Regular Graphs As Lattice Graphs, Shenze Li

Senior Projects Spring 2019

A lattice graph is a graph whose drawing, embedded in Euclidean space R2, has vertices that are the points with integer coecients, and has edges that are unit length and are parallel to the coordinate axes. A 4-regular graph is a graph where each vertex has four edges containing it; a loop containing a vertex counts as two edges. The goal for my senior project is to find upper bounds for the number of lattice edges needed to represent 4-regular graphs as lattice graphs.

Color X Line, Vittoria Ciaraldi

Senior Projects Spring 2019

COLOR x LINE

VITTORIA CIARALDI

The four main paintings that are 6x6 foot are my central concept of the Color by Line theme. In these paintings I chose to work from sketches I made two years ago. My past sketch paintings revolved around a self reflective human figure. As I was thinking about the bigger scale and what those paintings meant to me, I wanted to deconstruct the notion of the figure and really break it down to the basics that for me, revolve around: Color and Line.

My four central paintings are meant to emphasize colors and how lines …

Polygonal Analogues To The Topological Tverberg And Van Kampen-Flores Theorems, Leah Leiner

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Tverberg’s theorem states that any set of (q-1)(d+1)+1 points in d-dimensional Euclidean space can be partitioned into q subsets whose convex hulls intersect. This is topologically equivalent to saying any continuous map from a (q-1)(d+1)-dimensional simplex to d-dimensional Euclidean space has q disjoint faces whose images intersect, given that q is a prime power. These continuous functions have a Fourier decomposition, which admits a Tverberg partition when all of the Fourier coefficients, except the constant coefficient, are zero. We have been working with continuous functions where all of the Fourier coefficients except the constant and one other coefficient are zero. …

Casualty Of Design: An Exploration Of The Zeniths And Nadirs Of American Public Diplomacy, Tonery Rose Rogers

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College. This thesis is an examination of various factors inhibiting effective American public diplomacy. A unique case study, American public diplomacy operationalized through educational and cultural exchanges, radio broadcasting and American cultural centers and libraries and implemented through American public diplomacy agencies such as the World War II era Office of War Information and the Cold War era United States Information Agency has been an effective tool for pursuing U.S. foreign policy objectives. Despite positive impacts, for example, helping to dismantle the Soviet Union, facilitating cross-cultural understanding and respect …

Becoming Ourselves: Black Women’S Autobiographical Interrogation Of Tropes Of Identity, Christina L. Duncan

Senior Projects Spring 2019

A central premise of this project is that Black female identity has historically been seen as a fixed identity. Much of the imposed rigidity on Black female identity has been informed by conservative strategies for survival. Such conservative strategies include respectability politics, as racial leaders have found utility in upholding the principle that if they or others work hard, they can uphold the race. Only by maintaining these standards of respectability have Black women been deemed as worthy and able to uphold and reinforce positive images of Blackness. Many of the stories written by Black women generally fall into the …

Checking White, Feeling Brown: Iranian-American Racial Ambiguity In Relation To Whiteness And Blackness, Lily Yasmin Mojdehi

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Optimizing Glide-Flight Paths, Rory Cveta O'Daly Maglich

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Flight is no rare event in today's society, and aviation is a global industry that significantly contributes to carbon emissions and global warming. Thus, my project theorizes how aviation might be better optimized at a fundamental level to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. This is done by analyzing two systems of flight: gliding and powered flight. In pursuit of an understanding of a hybrid of these flight systems, I first look to qualitatively analyze the benefit of gliding over powered aviation. Powering an aircraft involves an engine that generates thrust, while gliding only involves three forces: lift, drag, …

Myth Busting: Rethinking Social Contract Theory And Reorienting Sovereignty From John Locke To Georges Bataille, Mandalay Maelee Win

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Time And Finance: Exploring Variance In The Black-Scholes Model, Edward Chase Skorupa

Senior Projects Spring 2019

In their 1973 paper, The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities, Fischer Black and Myron Scholes published mathematical methods they had devised with the goal of accurately pricing European options. When using the model to predict future options prices, all input variables in the model can be empirically viewed, and calculated, at present time except for the future volatility of the underlying security. Retrospectively analyzing the volatility implied by the Black-Scholes model using price history shows that this implied volatility is an inaccurate estimate of actual future volatility. This project sought to explore the relationship between the implied future volatility …

What Is So Bad About Veganism?, Rhys Vk Nordstrom

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

"Rebel Girls: Radical Feminism And Self-Narrative In Early 20th-Century Japan And China", Corrina Gross

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

How To Be Okay, Isabel G. Van Den Heuvel

Senior Projects Spring 2019

I began this line of thought with the desire to understand human connection. I want to know how people operate both as individuals being perceived as well as how they connect to each other in small, casual ways. Acts like introducing yourself, or navigating in a crowded place seemed like skills that everyone had learned on the day I had skipped class. This began as a private venture, an intensifying of my day to day attempts of applied observation. My result, rather than gradual mastery of interpersonal relations, was deeper confusion and frustration. I wanted instruction, but the construction of …

French Classicism In Four Painters: Where It Went And Why, Kristen Tayler Westerduin

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Language and Literature and The Division of Arts of Bard College. French Classicism in Four Painters: Where It Went and Why is an analytical approach to the history of classicism and its definitions since being proposed as a style by the ancient Greeks. This paper looks to artists such as Nicolas Poussin, Jacques-Louis David, Charles le Brun, and Eugène Delacroix to understand the evolution of the style’s interpretations within France between the 16^th and 19^th century.

Framing The Superheroine: Form And Character In Contemporary Comics And Manga, Dana Elizabeth Lubow

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Healing Hut ~ Weaving Earth Circles Along The River Whose Waters Are Never Still, Sophia Martina Lopez

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Welcome to a woven circle of earth. The land that you walk on has birthed this hearth through my hands as an offering of earth healing connection for all who enter. We give gratitude to the Mohican people whose homeland we walk on and who call this great river Mohicanituk or “the river who flows both ways.” We acknowledge all beings who call this land home - the animals, the plants, the stones, the winds, the waters, the humans, the spirits, and all others throughout time. May this woven earth circle be an offering of healing to those whose wounds …

Credit Risk Analysis In Peer To Peer Lending Data Set: Lending Club, Mohammad Mubasil Bokhari

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This project studies the classification variable ‘default’ in Peer to Peer lending dataset known as Lending Club. The project improved on existing work in terms of accuracy, F-1 measure, precision, recall, and root mean squared error. We explored balancing techniques such as oversampling the minority class, undersampling the majority class, and random forests with balanced bootstraps. We also analyzed and proposed new features that improve the Learner performance.

The Holistic Self: A Visual Analysis Of Carl Jung's The Red Book, Emma Lindsay Klement

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This senior project will look at Carl Jung’s The Red Book and how it’s creation was the process by which he healed from his psychotic break, or “deep-sea voyage.” Through the exploration of various other texts by Carl Jung this thesis will endeavor to understand Jung’s psyche during this time of deep turmoil by analyzing the images that he creates and the way in which he creates them. Jung was deeply molded by both Christian doctrine as well as Alchemy and the Occult, thus this project will take into account the specific Christian and alchemical meanings of particular motifs within …

The Master And His Master, Kristýna Petišková

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Baby Snooks And Daddy: A Little Gal's Journey To Joy And Jell-O, Sofia Luella France

Senior Projects Spring 2019

A little girl in pursuit of Jell-O can do anything! In this Theater and Performance project Baby Snooks just wants a happy, gelatinous Halloween, but will Daddy’s petty pranks get in the way? Worry not, Baby Snooks saves the spooky day, and finds herself along the way. Come on pumpkin heads! It’s time for a treat!

The Social Construction Of Homelessness By Service Providers: A Narrative Of Our Country's Biggest Blindfold, Sophia Kali Pappas

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Sanguine Salvation: Pilgrimage And Penance At The Sanctuary Of Chimayo, Isabella J. Spann

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College

Fruit Chapel, Olivia Claire Zorn

Senior Projects Spring 2019

This is my chapel where I have gathered a massive amount of fruit and other precious objects for the living things that are sacred to me. These are my non-violent, sacrificial offerings brimming with art symbolism, sympathy, and whimsy.

I think it’s endearingly illogical to leave food offerings for beings who can’t eat them because they’re transcendent, not present, or mouthless. I can’t stop marveling at the tiny sugar sculptures made by nature. I can’t stop taking pictures of fruit.

Value(S) Based Diversification: Environmental, Social, And Governance Investing Sub-Issue Preferences Mapping Through Forced Trade-Offs, Sophia Justine Logan

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Using empirical evidence on consumer preferences for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing issues, this author builds upon the economic literature that agents have pro-social inclinations. Evidence from the study shows that ESG preferences are nuanced and heterogeneous, unlike the assumptions in academia and the financial services world today of homogenous preferences across ESG issue categories. This author employs the relatively new methodology of MaxDiff to analyze preferences by forcing trade-offs. A survey with 1,000 respondents was administered to create a rank ordering of ESG issue preferences. The project finds that the highest ranked issues fall within the “social” category …

(Gardesh) گردش, Peymaan Motevalli-Aliabadi

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

After Translation, Sofia Koukia

Senior Projects Spring 2019

While not devaluing translation as such, through a detailed analysis of interlingual, intralingual, and intersemiotic translation, I intend to show, in this essay, how it is the case that ‘the meaning of a word’ is such a complex entity that no attempt to translation can replicate it. Through my examination of a select collection of original and translated words and entities, I want to provide the reader not with a linguistic theory about translation but with a method of approaching linguistic meaning with respect to a word's particulaties, context, and implications.

Imagining Ceuta And Melilla, Hailey Cassidy

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

Deconstructing And Reconstructing Guidebook Ideologies: The Influence Of Travel Guidebooks And The Media On Nature Tourism Projects In Costa Rica And Tanzania, Sarah Wallock

Senior Projects Spring 2019

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

The Future Of Forever Wild: The History, Politics And Economics Of The New York State's Forest Preserve, Michael R. Callejo

Senior Projects Spring 2019

The New York State's Forest Preserve, a successful century old public land program, has been the target of new development projects that threaten its fragile ecosystem, particularly its trees. This paper examines the history, politics, and economics of the Forest Preserve in order to understand what factors led to its creation and why it is so important in times where many citizens are experiencing the effects of climate change for the first time in history.

“Only Girls Play With Those”: An Analysis Of Preschoolers’ Gender Schema Development Through Gender Stereotype Knowledge And Recognition Of Gendered Information, Abigail Lee Sullivan

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Since Sandra Bem’s introduction of Gender Schema Theory (GST), researchers have analyzed how gender schemas influence children’s information processing (Signorella, Bigler, & Liben, 1993; Welch-Ross & Schmidt, 1996). These studies, however, tested schema processing using familiar gender-atypical information (e.g., “only boys play with dolls”) instead of novel gender-atypical information (e.g., “only girls play with xylophones”). The present study seeks to fill this gap in the research by using novel gender-atypical information in order to test the extent to which children’s schemas influence their information processing. First, I tested children’s memory and preference for two picture books, one with a female …