Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Radical Recognition In Off-Line Handwritten Chinese Characters Using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization, Xiangying Shuai

Senior Projects Spring 2016

In the past decade, handwritten Chinese character recognition has received renewed interest with the emergence of touch screen devices. Other popular applications include on-line Chinese character dictionary look-up and visual translation in mobile phone applications. Due to the complex structure of Chinese characters, this classification task is not exactly an easy one, as it involves knowledge from mathematics, computer science, and linguistics.

Given a large image database of handwritten character data, the goal of my senior project is to use Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF), a recent method for finding a suitable representation (parts-based representation) of image data, to detect specific …

The Implications Of U.S. Development Aid On Public Health: Understanding The Connection Between India's 1975 Emergency State And The President's Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (Pepfar), Alison A. Brundrett

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Abstract: This essay looks at the public health consequences of U.S. development aid to both India and PEPFAR. A close analysis of the U.S.-India development aid relationship presents an important case study for the purposes of this essay, as it is one of the oldest and longest development aid stories in U.S. history. The evolution of U.S. development aid is traced throughout its history with India. In other words, the varying outcomes that occurred as a result of the presence of paternalism in U.S. development aid are chronologically …

Establishing Public Banks To Address State And Local Government Fiscal Problems, Erind Disha

Senior Projects Fall 2016

Unlike the Federal Government, which has the unique legal power to issue a national currency, state and local governments (SLGs) depend on their revenue capacity for spending. Thus, the quality of public services provided by SLGs depends on adequate, stable funding and long-term commitments. This paper begins with an evaluation of the general fiscal condition of SLGs, meanwhile discerning specific budget areas that have become particularly distressed, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Chapter 3 deals with how SLGs engage in municipal finance with private financial institutions. Finally, the fourth chapter presents how arranging a system of public banks across …

An Analysis Of The Fast Fashion Industry, Annie Radner Linden

Senior Projects Fall 2016

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

“Realists Of A Larger Reality” Conceptualizing Creative Possibilities That Couldwork In Expanding Contemporary Human Rights, Amanda J. Beckley

Senior Projects Fall 2016

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

Envy-Free Fair Division With Two Players And Multiple Cakes, Justin J. Shin

Senior Projects Fall 2016

When dividing a valuable resource amongst a group of players, it is desirable to have each player believe that their allocation is at least as valuable as everyone else's allocation. This condition, where nobody is envious of anybody else's share in a division, is called envy-freeness. Fair division problems over continuous pools of resources are affectionately known as cake-cutting problems, as they resemble attempts to slice and distribute cake amongst guests as fairly as possible. Previous work in multi-cake fair division problems have attempted to prove that certain conditions do not allow for guaranteed envy-free divisions. In this paper, we …

"It's Getting Gangsa Up In Here": Balinese Gamelan In The Western Academy, Ruadhan Davis Ward

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Do You Chill When I Chill? Exploring Strong Emotional Responses To Unfamiliar Musical Traditions, Eleonora Judith Beier

Senior Projects Spring 2016

While research suggests that listeners from diverse cultural backgrounds can infer what mood is expressed in a piece from a different culture, no study to date has assessed whether peak emotional responses can also be induced cross-culturally. The chill response in particular has been defined as a sudden increase in emotional arousal elicited by a passage in music. This study addressed the question of whether listeners could experience chills for traditional Chinese music – with which they were either familiar or unfamiliar – as well as for Western classical music – with which all participants were familiar. Chills were measured …

The Transformation Of Self In Everyday Life: How Undocumented Latino Youth Perform Citizenship, Caley Emmaline Cross

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The purpose of this extended case study is to determine what institutional, social and cultural factors contribute to undocumented Latino youth identity formation. Based on one month of qualitative interviews and participant observation at Peachtree University, a modern day freedom school for undocumented youth in Georgia, I examine how undocumented Latino youth identity evolves within state and societal pressures, and the formation of a commitment to activism through these youths’ experiences. Taken as a whole, this study traces the transformation undocumented Latino youth make from a position of social and political exclusion to actively claiming rights, recognition, and inclusion in …

Financial Warfare: Money As An Instrument Of Conflict And Tension In The International Arena, Gianna Christine Fenaroli

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project employs a historical, institutionalist, and legal approach to analyzing financial warfare, specifically utilizing a chartal-spatialist theory of money. Utilizing these theories in conjunction with historical case studies, a theory of financial warfare is developed through understanding money as a product of social stratification and hierarchy, and therefore that the creation of money itself is a process of power. The spatiality of a powerful money expands beyond its national borders, and hence there is a hierarchy within money itself in the international arena. To build the theory, this project includes three case studies of implementations of financial warfare, each …

The Effect Of Controllability Beliefs On Attitudes About Weight And Socioeconomic Status, Marna Nicole Dunne

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Many studies have shown that weight and socioeconomic status are related, such that people of low socioeconomic status are much more likely to be obese than people of high socioeconomic status (Drewnowski, 2009; Ljungvall & Zimmerman, 2012; Pudrovska, Reither, Logan, & Sherman-Wilkins, 2014; J Sobal & Stunkard, 1989; Jeffery Sobal, 1991). Additionally, people are biased against both the poor (John-Henderson, Jacobs, Mendoza-Denton, & Francis, 2013; Williams, 2009) and the obese (Puhl, Andreyeva, & Brownell, 2008). Through two empirical studies, I investigated the relationship between people’s attitudes about weight and people’s attitudes about socioeconomic status. In study 1, which was conducted …

Before The Earth Is Hollow: The Case Of Land And Oil On The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Kalen Tyler Goodluck

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Islamic Conversion Confined: A Look At Why Black Men Convert To Islam While Incarcerated And The Effects Conversion Has On Their Processes Of Reentry, Antoinette Marie Kane

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Based on ten in-depth interviews with Black men who converted to Islam while incarcerated, this project serves to better understand why Black men in prison convert to Islam, the effects conversion has on their prison time and on their reentry processes. In this paper, I argue that conversion to Islam among Black men in prison allows them to construct a new conception of self, which further allows them manage their prison time. I also argue that the presence of conversion to Islam in prisons helps to influence inmate culture and leads to the formation of a new masculinity within the …

Ngos, Development, And Dependency: A Case Study Of Save The Children In Malawi, Gina Oramae Lewis

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Sanctioned Silencing, Symbolic Resistance: Race, Space, And Dispossession In A Marginalized South African Community, Killian Richard Miller

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

My field work and the written portion of my ethnography work through issues of marginality, state apparatuses, illusions of freedom, and making meaning in a context of oppression. All these power dynamics are historically-situated within the cultural context and community of Hangberg, a place forged by the race-based forced removals of Apartheid. British and Dutch colonization, Apartheid's racial regime, and the post-Apartheid oligarchical state, are all historical and contemporary authoritative forces that are impacting the everyday lives of people in Hangberg. Perspectives of power also serve as examples …

"Fruits Are Ripe, We Are Fresh": The Rapper, The Emcee, The Cypher And The Participatory Spectrum Of Hip-Hop, Peter Heyer Anchel

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Mad Men Or Bad Men? How Gender Stereotypes, Individual Symptoms, And Participant Gender Affect Non-Expert's Evaluations Of People With Borderline Personality Disorder, Quinnehtukqut James Mclamore

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Gender-role stereotypes affect how people with mental disorders are perceived and judged. People with a gender-stereotype congruent mental disorder (i.e., men with alcohol use disorder) are viewed as less mentally ill and more to blame for their disorder than people with a gender stereotype-incongruent disorder (i.e., women with alcohol use disorder, Wirth & Bodenhausen, 2009). Borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and comorbidities often vary between men and women along gendered lines (i.e., explosive anger is more common in men with BPD and compulsive buying is more common in women). These different presentations may cause men and women with BPD to …

A Mind At War: Erga Paraloga In Thucydides' History, Damon George Korf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Persistent Asset Mispricing: Variations On A Simultaneous Move Game, Arjun Kavi Brara

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The purpose of this paper will be to demonstrate instances of persistent asset mispricing. By persistent we mean the existence and achievement of a stable equilibrium where market prices deviate from an underlying fundamental value. These equilibria will be demonstrated through three variations on a general model in which agents make investment decisions on an initial public offering (IPO), given imperfect information on a stock’s true, fundamental value. The first variation holds agents’ beliefs fixed, and trades are conducted “blindly” through a market maker who clears the market by adjusting the stock price. The model establishes a case for initial …

Pacific Confrontations: Historical Lessons For The Sino-American Strategic Relationship, Graham Trumbull Clark

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Life After Austerity: Did Ireland Succeed & Greece Fail? A Modern Money Approach, Madhurima Das

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project examines the imposition of austerity measures on two periphery countries in the Eurozone – Greece and Ireland – after the global financial crisis that erupted in 2007. Ireland was the first economy to both enter and exit the crisis. Greece is still reeling from it, 9 years later. This project offers a detailed analysis of the policy response and economic conditions in each country, and reveals that Ireland’s success is illusory. Even though Ireland exited the crisis in 2013, their ‘success’ was in part due to the relatively small size of fiscal contraction, the rebuilding of private sector …

Presidential Power In Foreign Policy: Richard Nixon And The Era Of Détente With The Soviet Union And China, Gregory Donald Drilling

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project analyzes the role and limits of the presidential policy-making in foreign policy through an examination of President Richard Nixon’s policy of détente with the Soviet Union and China during the 1960s and 1970s.

I will ultimately present a set of four components that I argue played a role in enabling Nixon to pursue détente at the time he did. The four consequential factors include the following: First, domestic conditions exist in which the general public is focused primarily on domestic policy. Second, the existing international conditions allow for a change in foreign policy. Third, when a president is …

The Unintended Consequences Of The International Women's Movement: Medicalizing Rape In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Faye N. Forman

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The legal advancements made by western feminists from the 1960s continuing today mark a distinct shift for both the women's movement and mainstream radical feminist philosophy. This project examines the unintended consequences of the rise of the international women's movement as American feminists brought the law to bear as the primary instrument for reform to eradicate rape and violence against women. As contemporary political scholars demonstrate, legal remediation further codifies gender inequality and protective tropes that sexualize women's injury. Chapter 2 and 3 examines the intensified feminist efforts to criminalize domestic abuse at an international level, first at the United …

The History And Democratization Of Men's Lacrosse, Samuel Woodward Funnell

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Performing Femininity: Gender In Ancient Greek Myth, Katherine Anne Gabriel

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

Hybrid Algorithm For Matching Profiles And Social Networks, Peter Elliot Garcia

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Abstract: The online dating experience has revolutionized the way how many of us form relationships with one another. It turns out that many people struggle with finding their perfect match because their self interest tends to get in the way. They may find someone of their liking but someone else might spark their interest so this project aims to eliminate this uncertainty by creating a hybrid algorithm to match people within a dating pool. The algorithm acts as a self-enforcer to create the best match possible under the guise of a social network application. The application will act as a …

Old Time Quiet In A Breathless Age: Faith, Virtue, And The Strength Of The Social Gospel At Trinity-Pawling School, Donald Evan Kanouse Iii

Senior Projects Spring 2016

“Old Time Quiet in a Breathless Age: Faith, Virtue, and the Strength of the Social Gospel at Trinity-Pawling School” is a Senior Project by Donald Evan Kanouse submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College. This project presents All Saints’ Chapel, located on the Trinity-Pawling School campus in Pawling, New York, as a transhistorical symbol of the School’s religion and of its core ideology. Its chapters demonstrate these claims by using both ethnographic and archival research to delve into conceptions of faith, virtue, and masculinity as they were once defined by the School’s founder, Dr. Frederick Gamage, and …

Making A Killing: A Study Of The Trade And Production Of Arms, Jonas D. Kempf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This thesis attempts to put arms transfers and the modern defense industry in historical context by identifying the drivers of change in the trade and production of arms over time. To this end, a review of the literature on the arms trade up to the Second World War comprises the first part of the study, presenting a largely qualitative overview of shifts in the flow of arms, the location of the world’s arms-producing centers, and changes in attitudes towards transfers as they have affected the trade. The second half of the study provides a data-driven analysis of trends in the …

It Happened At El Mozote: How Two Reporters Broke The Story That Washington Refused To Believe, Naomi Rubel Lachance

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to the Division of Languages and Literature and the Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Effects Of Affective Arousal On Color Perception And Memory, Nicole Elizabeth Lang

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The link between affective arousal, color perception, and color memory was explored by inducing fear, sadness, or embarrassment in 158 participants who them completed a color perception and memory task. It was predicted that participants experiencing fear or embarrassment would more often correctly identify and remember red and green than a neutral condition whereas experiencing sadness would lead to less correct identification and memory for blue and yellow than neutral. There was only a marginally significant effect of fear on color memory for red. In the low arousal condition, there was an effect of fear on color memory for green …