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Spartan Daily, March 2, 2023, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2023

Volume 160, Issue 16

Book Review: Walter Scheidel. The Great Leveler: Violence And The History Of Inequality From The Stone Age To The Twenty-First Century, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

Inspired by the work of Thomas Piketty, particularly his Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (2013), and Albrecht Dürer’s 1497-1498 woodcut, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” Dr. Walter Scheidel, Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University, argues in his massive 521-page volume that for most of human history reductions in socio-economic equality, supposedly a positive good, have resulted from more-or-less violent compressions entailing destruction and death. The implication is that in “normal” times, societies are characterized by inequality even though it is not perceived as a positive good.

A Transformer Based Architecture For Indonesian Sentiment Analysis - Exploring Indobert Variations, Training Size, And Self-Supervised Model Training, Connor F. Shaw

Theses and Dissertations

There is strong motivation in both civilian and military circles to understand the attitudes, motivations, feelings, and emotions of a population of interest. Social media is a rich source of self-disclosed information by individuals from all walks of life about virtually every domain of the human experience, but the vast quantity of data is impossible to effectively analyze without advanced natural language processing algorithms. This research creates a transfer learning based emotion classification model for Indonesian language Twitter data. Transfer learning consists of two steps: pre-training and fine tuning. Three variations of Indonesian Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (IndoBERT) are …

Peirce Semiotic Analysis Of The Representation Of Oligarchic Power In The Korean Drama Film The Healer, Rizka Septiana

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This study uses an interpretive/constructive paradigm and a qualitative approach using semiotic methods in its discussion. The purpose of this study is to show how a Korean drama film becomes a medium of representation or picture of reality, especially regarding the oligarchic power in the democratic history of South Korea at that time. This study will focus more on signs that describe or show the activities of oligarchic power in the Korean drama film The Healer. By using triadic analysis of Charles Oligarchy's semiotics, namely objects, interpretants and representatives, the researchers found that the semiotics of oligarchic power in …

Nieubuurt On Sloss, 'Tyrants On Twitter: Protecting Democracies From Information Warfare', Joshua Nieubuurt

English Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Information warfare (IW) in the twenty-first century has become a major issue facing democracies across the globe. In Tyrants on Twitter: Protecting Democracies from Information Warfare, David L. Sloss focuses on how legislation may help stem the tide of nefarious authoritarian state actors. Sloss posits that IW in the twenty-first century is allowing democratic decay and that an allied transnational front based on common legislation is a necessary step in equalizing the playing field. Sloss specifically focuses on state agents of Russia and China, calling for limitations on known state actors and eliminating malevolent agents' ability to …

All Bark And No Byte: A Case Study On Nuclear Weapons' Role In Cyber Deterrence, Phuc Nguyen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In what some scholars consider a marked departure from its traditional policy, the U.S.' 2018 Nuclear Deterrence Posture Review declared that the U.S. would consider the use of nuclear weapons in response to "significant, non-nuclear strategic attacks." However, despite real-world examples of the type of significant cyberattacks on U.S., allied, or partner civilian population or infrastructure alluded to in the Review, the factors that might trigger multidomain escalation remain underexplored, which creates a credibility gap in the U.S.' deterrence policy. This paper explores these factors by providing a case study of the North Korean WannaCry and Russian NotPetya cyberattacks and …

Book Review: Katell Berthelot. Jews And Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’S Challenge To Israel, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a magisterial work, one which sets high the bar in the comparative study of civilizations. In it, Prof. Katell Berthelot covers the sweep of 600 years, from the second century, BCE, to the fourth century, CE, as she analyzes the extensive impact of Rome on Jewish ideas of law, religion, and peoplehood and, secondarily, the corresponding impact of their rivals, the Jews, on Roman society and history.

What Constitutes Evidence For An Historical Explanation?, Kenneth Feigenbaum

Comparative Civilizations Review

What constitutes evidence for an historical explanation? What constitutes evidence for the explanations of the falls and rises of civilization? Better, what constitutes evidence for the best explanation of this phenomenon?

The purpose of this article is to acquaint the readers of the Comparative Civilizations Review with the work of a philosopher of history, Raymond Martin. In particular, I will present his approach on what constitutes how a decision should be made as to which explanation of an historical event is superior to another and why this is so.

The Need For Recategorized Video Game Labels: A Quantitative Approach, Richard J. Simonson, Joseph R. Keebler, Shawn Doherty

Publications

Prior research has suggested that video game genre labels are an ineffective method of communicating a game's experience. Our investigation serves to provide a quantitative means of assessing experience communication effectiveness. We assessed game similarities by their associated game genre labels. The ratio between the small number of available developer-generated labels and the number of games led to too few labels to effectively delineate between similar and dissimilar games. The ratio between the large number of user-generated labels and the number of games led to too many labels to effectively cluster similar games with one another. However, games that had …

Managing Ethno-Nationalism Within Special Territorial Autonomy Policy: Comparative Cases Between Aceh And Papua, Wasisto Raharjo Jati

Jurnal Politik

The implementation of special autonomy regions is how the central government acknowledges the uniqueness and significant contributions of specific regions to Indonesia. The acknowledgment is then accommodated within special autonomy policies. Starting with Papua in 2001, there are eight provinces with special regions. Despite having a special autonomy status, those provinces may have more problems. The issues are mainly the historical root of integration with Indonesia, resource inequality, and the genuine representations of indigenous people as officeholders. These three issues have been common problems in Indonesia since the up-and-down relationship exists between the central government and those special autonomous regions. …

Lanthorn, Vol. 57, No. 24, February 27, 2023, Grand Valley State University

Volume 57, August 1, 2022 - April 10, 2023

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Of Boys And Men: Why The Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, And What To Do About It, Richard Reeves

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Boys and men are struggling. Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and in the family. While the lives of women have changed, the lives of many men have remained the same or even deteriorated. Our attitudes, our institutions, and our laws have failed to keep up. Conservative and progressive politicians, mired in their own ideological warfare, fail to provide thoughtful solutions.

The father of three sons, a journalist, and a Brookings Institution scholar, Richard V. Reeves has spent twenty-five years worrying about boys both at home and work. His …

Point/Counterpoint: Transgender Sport Participation Policy, Matt Moore, Nafees Alam

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

I am looking forward to a spirited point/counterpoint regarding the NCAA (2022) policy on transgender sport participation. The NCAA Board of Governors voted in support of a sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation that preserves opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion, and safety for all who compete. The national governing bodies for each sport will determine policies for transgender participation (e.g., USA Swimming). The NCAA policy became effective in January. The policy requires transgender student-athletes to document sport specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport’s championship selections. In the 2022-2023 competition season, transgender student-athletes will need documented …

Medical Leave And Unrealistic Ministry Expectations A Study At Zion Lutheran Church, Aaron G. Flatau

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

A medical leave of absence due to a kidney transplant resulted in feelings of guilt and failure for a pastor when he was unable to fulfill his desired ministry tasks. These feelings of guilt and failure were speculated to be unwarranted.

To determine if these feelings were unwarranted, this paper researched sickness as presented in the Bible. Biblical research found illness to be a personal reminder of a global fall, found a link between forgiveness of sin and healing of sickness, and examined illness in the context of the Kingdom of God. Historical examination found that illness within the context …

Point/Counterpoint: Transgender Sport Participation Policy, Nafees Alam, Matt Moore

Social Work Faculty Publications

Professor Alam and Professor Moore submitted a Point/Counterpoint commentary article regarding the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Board of Governors Transgender Sport Participation Policy

The Impact Of Egypt's Mega Events On Egyptians' Public Mood, Nouran Abass

Theses and Dissertations

The study aims to study the Impact of Egypt's Mega Events on Egyptians‟ Public Mood. Egypt organized two Mega Events in 2021: The Pharaohs‟ Golden Parade and Luxor Sphinx Avenue. The study also examines the impact of the two Mega Events on the Egyptian Identity. While the two Mega Events targeted Egypt's external publics to attract tourists to Egypt, the study attempts to assess the impact of the two Mega Events on one of Egypt's internal publics; the Egyptians. Depending on the concept of “Social Listening” as a theoretical framework, the study examines the possible ways the Egyptian government can …

Adventure And Spiritual Restoration: Older Adult Motivations For Undertaking A Pilgrimage On El Camino De Santiago, Holly Nelson-Becker, Joseph G. Pickard, Florian Sichling

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

A pilgrimage is an intentional journey undertaken for reasons that can increase a sense of well-being. Although originally completed for religious purposes, motives in contemporary times may include anticipated religious, spiritual, and humanistic benefits as well as appreciation of culture and geography. This quantitative and qualitative survey research explored the motivations of a sample subset age 65 and over from a larger study who completed one of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes in Spain. Consistent with life course and developmental theory, some respondents walked at life decision points. The analyzed sample was 111 people, nearly 60% of whom …

Choices For U.S. Contributions To Nato: Stability Policing In The Age Of Multi-Domain Operations, Nathan M. Colvin

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

The United States Army claims they are a “force out of position” and must transform for large-scale combat operations (LSCO). The current narrative toward LSCO warfighting comes at the expense of lessons hard-won over decades of small wars and stability operations. The focus on LSCO is an oversimplification of the complexity and ambiguity of the future operating environment. The Army is trading clarity of narrative at the expense of a force balanced for both LSCO and non-LSCO operations. LSCO perspective assumes a worst-case scenario of war over more likely scenarios of continuous disruptions across a spectrum of conflict, which may …

Ddr, Cassandra Jagroop

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) has been a facet of post-conflict resolution since the 1980s. DDR seeks to address a wide range of issues varying from security to human rights, law, elections, and governance. One of the major issues arising from a conflict region are armed groups involved in the fighting and how to handle them. These armed groups represent the deep insecurity and lack of faith the population has in the state mechanism (Rondeau 2011, 654), thus in order to move ahead in the post-conflict situation the issue of armed groups needs to be tackled. The evolution of warfare …

Complex Global Value Chains And Economic Interdependence: A New Look At The Opportunity Costs Argument, Melle Scholten

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

The classical economic interdependence argument states that trade and investment between countries make conflict less likely, because they increase the opportunity costs of war. War means that trade and investment will dry up, to the detriment of society as a whole. The increased opportunity costs of war (vis-`a-vis peace) means war will be less likely to occur between interdependent states. Certain strands of realism have challenged this assertion. They argue that expectations that trade will decline in future can be a strong incentive for initiating conflict. Giving increasing political and economic tensions between the world’s superpowers – the USA and …

Trusting Ai: Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into The Army’S Professional Expert Knowledge, C. Anthony Pfaff, Christopher J. Lowrance, Bre M. Washburn, Brett A. Carey

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

Integrating artificially intelligent technologies for military purposes poses a special challenge. In previous arms races, such as the race to atomic bomb technology during World War II, expertise resided within the Department of Defense. But in the artificial intelligence (AI) arms race, expertise dwells mostly within industry and academia. Also, unlike the development of the bomb, effective employment of AI technology cannot be relegated to a few specialists; almost everyone will have to develop some level of AI and data literacy. Complicating matters is AI-driven systems can be a “black box” in that humans may not be able to explain …

Pla Logistics And Sustainment: Pla Conference 2022, George R. Shatzer, Roger D. Cliff, Kenneth W. Allen, Joshua Arostegui, Justin Boggess, Travis Dolney, Matthew P. Funaiole, Brian Hart, Lonnie D. Henley, Bonny Lin, Erin Richter, Benjamin Rosen, James R. (J. R.) Sessions, Eli Tirk, Joel Wuthnow, Christopher D. Yung

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The US Army War College People’s Liberation Army Conference (PLA) Conference was held March 31 to April 2, 2022, at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

The conference focused on PLA logistics and sustainment. As the PLA continues to build and modernize its combat forces, it is important to examine if the capabilities meant to support combat operations are also being developed.

Specific topics included: 1) China’s national-level logistics, including how China mobilizes national resources for the military and how it provides joint logistics support to the PLA Theater Commands; 2) the logistics capabilities of the different PLA services, especially the Army, Navy, …

Neo-Nazi Postmodern: Right-Wing Terror Tactics, The Intellectual Neue Rechte, And The Destabilization Of Memory In Germany Since 1989, Esther E. Adaire

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that from 1989 onwards an increasingly terroristic neo-Nazi underground in Germany became gradually entangled with the reactionary Neue Rechte, whose crusade against the German culture of remembrance is also a crusade against European integration, increased migration, and the conceits of liberal democracy. This entanglement produced an ideologically coherent extreme-right political movement with a heavily armed and tactical paramilitary faction that has, contrary to what various governments of the Federal Republic have wanted to believe, been developing in Germany since the early 1990s. Moreover, tactics of information warfare initiated by so-called “postmodern” terrorists of the 1990s would, by …

Finding Autonomy Under The Russian Bear: Explaining Central Asia’S Response To The Invasion Of Ukraine, Ryan Hitch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was one of the most important geopolitical events of the 21^st century, which will have lasting effects on the international community. While the responses of the United States and Europe to Russia’s invasion have been extensively covered, the response of Central Asia has received relatively less attention. Russia’s extensive investments in multilateral regional organizations and Central Asia’s heavy reliance on Moscow for security and economic assistance should predict that Central Asian states would bandwagon with Russia. However, the region has thus far remained officially neutral towards the war and certain states are openly antagonizing …

Armenia: Overcoming Economic And Geopolitical Obstacles, Chester English

Senior Theses

Over thirty years of Armenian independence has been characterized by existential security threats, a hollow political establishment, economic and defense reliance on Russia, and an out of touch diaspora. This paper takes on a historical analysis to identify the roots of these problems, and ultimately attempts to seek out potential solutions and identify Armenia’s place in an ever changing global landscape. Beyond the history, it studies the relationships Armenia has with its neighbors, its diaspora, and the international community at large. Establishing a forward looking outlook, Armenia’s goals should be oriented toward investment based relations with its diaspora; embracing the …

David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …

Fog Of War: How The Ukraine Conflict Transformed The Cyber Threat Landscape, Threat Analysis Group (Tag), Mandiant, Google Trust & Safety

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

One year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions of Ukrainians have fled and the country has sustained tens of billions of dollars worth of damage. Importantly, this marks the first time that cyber operations have played such a prominent role in a world conflict.

Since the war began, governments, companies, civil society groups, and countless others have been working around the clock to support the Ukrainian people and their institutions. At Google, we support these efforts and continue to announce new commitments and support to Ukraine. This includes a donation of …

Competing Social Influence In Contested Diffusion: Luther, Erasmus And The Spread Of The Protestant Reformation, Sascha O. Becker, Steven Pfaff, Yuan Hsiao, Jared Rubin

ESI Working Papers

The spread of radical institutional change does not often result from one-sided pro-innovation influence; countervailing influence networks in support of the status quo can suppress adoption. We develop a model of multiple and competing network diffusion. To apply the contested-diffusion model to real data, we look at the contest between Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus, the two most influential intellectuals of early 16th-century Central Europe. Whereas Luther championed a radical reform of the Western Church that broke with Rome, Erasmus opposed him, stressing the unity of the Church. In the early phase of the Reformation, these two figures utilized influence …

The Impact Of Gender Differences And Geographic Locations On Social Media Literacy Among Public Universities Students, Heba Tallah Moustafa Helmy

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of both gender difference and geographic location on social media literacy levels among undergraduate students in public universities in Egypt. Four aspects related to social media literacy were considered in the Likert-scale survey, including basic technical skills, digital interactions, information evaluation, and privacy and security practices. A total of 520 students participated in this exploratory research, of which 265 males and 255 females enrolled at four public universities in different geographic locations. Cairo University and Ain Shams University represent the urban areas. The other two universities are located in center-periphery …

God Games: An Experimental Study Of Uncertainty, Superstition, And Cooperation, Aidin Hajikhameneh, Laurence R. Iannaccone

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

This paper uses a novel lab experiment to test claims about the origins and functions of religion. We modify the standard public goods game, adding a computer-based agent that adjusts earnings in ways that might depend on players' contributions. Our treatments employ three different descriptions of the adjustment process that loosely correspond to monotheistic, atheistic, and agnostic interpretations of the computer's role. The adjustments neither mask players' contributions nor magnify their impact. Yet players in all three adjustment treatments contribute much more than those who play the standard public goods game. Players' contributions and survey responses show that adjustments induce …