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The Gaze and the Other on Social Media: Reexamining Existence as Human Beings in the Digital Age
Get PDFSocial media is now a prevailing tool for people and we often interact with other people on social media. Human interaction takes place both in face-to-face settings and on social media and becoming so-called influencers is a dream among teenagers. However, using social media necessarily entails exposure to the other people and social media companies. Then, is using social media existentially beneficial? I explore this question by employing arguments from Erving Goffman, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Guy Debord to explicate the existential issues which social media entails. From Sartre and Debord’s perspectives, we are inevitably objectified by the gaze when using social media but we might use social media as a means to achieve our goals. Then, I argue that Social media would be a valuable tool for us to achieve our own goals but we are inevitably objectified and easily feel existential anxiety in our everyday life
Land, Belonging, and Relationality: Black & Indigenous Environmental Justice Activism in the Twin Cities
Get PDFStatement of Purpose:
This essay is a culmination of my personal experience as an Afro-Indigenous person while living in the Twin Cities for the past few years. As a descendant of the Meskwaki Nation of Iowa and of African-American/Black ancestry, the formation of my identity has shaped the way I approach my research in views on culture, relationality, and past/present histories. I was often taught in my youth to attempt to separate these identities and communities, to not draw many parallels between the two. But, in my development in this new space, I have found the communities in the Twin Cities to be a perfect example of how Black and Indigenous peoples cannot be separated and we must work together in order to liberate ourselves and our people. Between being at Macalester during the George Floyd protests in 2020 and other subsequent protests, activism, and community action, I have found a passion for these connections and honed in on these real-life issues. The Twin Cities is filled with an immense amount of knowledge and history that has brought me to where I am now. I want to acknowledge and thank those that have been a guide during my time here and have welcomed me into their communities, knowledges, and stories: thank you to Kiri Sailiata in American Studies at Macalester who has been my advisor during my time here and has been such a solid figure; and thank you to Lisa, Prof Velez, and those at LPCP
Abolish the Body Mass Index: A Historical and Current Analysis of the Traumatizing Nature of the BMI
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Rage, change, and liberation; these are the concepts that our papers, collectively, embody. I was enraged. I am enraged. But even through the rage, I am choosing to center this paper around enacting change. Throughout maturation, I have increasingly been deeply affected by how the United States medical system and insurance industry treats patients with a Body Mass Index of over 30, as a young fem person whose doctors deny validity and respect. I have been sent the message that my body is not worthy of the same treatment that is afforded to other, smaller, patients. I have been sent the message that the lifesaving treatment I received, “lacked medical necessity.” I have been sent the message that the act of saving my life, my life that I live at a BMI that categorizes me as “obese,” is not worth living. That is why I am writing this, not just for myself; but for every other person who has been sent the message that they are not worthy of medical treatment
Gentrification and Crime in the Twin Cities: Insights and Challenges through a Statistical Lens
Get PDFGentrification is a complex process of urban redevelopment that typically involves an in-migration of educated people to neighborhoods experiencing a period of disinvestment. While gentrification is widely regarded for its potential to displace long-time businesses and residents of the neighborhood, its impact on crime is highly controversial. There is not a consensus on the relationship between gentrification and crime across criminological theory and past statistical studies have also shown contradictory results. Measuring gentrification on the tract level with census data, we seek to understand gentrification’s relationship with violent crime and theft in the Twin Cities. Using a Poisson model with spatial components, our results show no indication that gentrification results in reduced rates of violent crime or theft. Broader crime patterns and implications of gentrification are also discussed
Comparison of Expanded Panel Testing vs Targeted Testing in Pharmacogenomics: What Are We Missing?
No full textThe field of pharmacogenomics (PGx) is a new and rapidly growing area of study aimed at lowering the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by investigating individual patient genetic variations. These variations alter medication metabolism and affect the efficacy of treatment. Different styles of PGx testing ranging from single gene/drug pairs to expanded panel tests have been developed based on recent need and litigation. This study compares the safety and effectiveness of these varying PGx test types through analysis of the number of potential gene-drug interactions found and reported as well as the number of genetic variations missed within individual patients. This was done with four tests and one list in a 246-patient population, 47 of which were excluded due to having no listed gene-drug interactions. Three targeted PGx tests were used and one targeted list of the seven most genotyped genes in psychotropics. This list was used for comparison only and demonstrated that even the most commonly genotyped psychotropic genes are not sufficient for safety due to missing significant potential gene-drug interactions. The expanded panel test is utilized at The Christ Hospital Health Network and was used as the basis of comparison. It was found that targeted PGx testing, testing that focuses on specific gene-drug pairs or clinical areas, is not comparably safe to expanded panel testing which reports on all discovered gene-drug interactions. This is due to the small percentage of potential interactions that targeted testing reported to patients and the substantial amount of [potential interactions missed. Targeted PGx testing additionally found less variations within patients that could become impactful in patient medication management as those unknown variations can lead to ADRs. Future research will expand on these findings and help to show how standard integration of expanded panel PGx testing can greatly improve patient safety
Minyan
Get PDFMinyan is a full-scale art installation that recreates my memory of the synagogue sanctuary my family attended when I was a child. Salient furniture: a bimah, chairs, and a mechitza have been welded from wire and covered in fabric. These items are arranged in their traditional locations, inviting viewers to enter the “sanctuary” space and walk among the furniture. In place of an ark hangs a handmade tallit. The recreation of this familiar space was part of my effort to understand what Judaism means to me and how my identity as a trans and queer person resides within Jewish space. It attempts to capture a complex narrative of identity by mixing adolescent memory with hope for the future
Mapping the Tesseral Field of Saturn
Get PDFSaturn\u27s rotation rate is still uncertain, and while it is theorized to exhibit differential rotation much like Jupiter, this claim is somewhat disputed. By analyzing the properties of waves in the ring system of Saturn as measured by the Cassini spacecraft, we aim to provide observational evidence of this phenomenon. The results of wave analysis allow us to characterize the perturbers responsible for the production of these waves, which are believed to be mass anomalies in the interior of Saturn itself. By calculating the masses of these anomalies and attempting to pinpoint their locations inside of the planet, we provide strong support for the presence of internal mass anomalies and for what is known about Saturn\u27s differential rotation
Development of a Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo Simulation for Weakly Ionized Plasmas
Get PDFA plasma is a gaseous system that contains large numbers of electrons and ions that are subject to forces produced by electric and magnetic fields. Weakly ionized plasmas, where the plasma density is much lower than the background gas density, are common in laboratory, atmospheric, and astrophysical situations. Theoretical calculations of plasma properties are challenging due to the complexity of the differential equations used to characterize fundamental physics. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations bypass the mathematical difficulties associated with analytic models, at the expense of more complex and time-consuming computer calculations. In this work we developed a one dimensional PIC simulation of a weakly ionized plasma. We use a Monte Carlo technique to include a simplified model of electron-gas and ion-gas collisions. The results of preliminary simulations give good qualitative agreement with simplified theoretical models of plasma sheath formation and ambipolar diffusion
Queens of the Castle: The Power of Helen and Arete in the Odyssey
Get PDFMuch scholarship has been dedicated to detailing the roles of women in the Odyssey, often regarding their power or lack thereof. Helen and Arete, as two high-standing queens of societies, provide an interesting case study into women’s roles in the story. This comparison project aims to open up new avenues of study for future classicists. An analysis of the interactions between these two women and their husbands and Odysseus in the original language reveals that the women wield power through their speech and stories. It is also clear that scholars have previously discounted the power of these women by characterizing them as inhuman. This article avoids discounting these women’s power by attributing it to superhuman status but appreciates it and its impact on the narrative
Who’s Really the Imposter Here? An Examination of the Relationship Between First-Generation College Students and Institutions of Higher Education Through a Collection of Oral Histories
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Navigating an elite higher education institution has ignited a reaction of rage, a desire for change, and a hope for liberation for me and my peers. My last four years have been clouded by the exhausting cycles of struggling through college, drowning in imposter syndrome, and feeling the cold absence of honest conversation on the adverse layered realities of first-generation college students embedded in these institutions. These cycles left in a puddle of rage with no outlet. This paper is that outlet, grown from my efforts to speak up and bring awareness of the silenced students forced to navigate college in isolation. My hope is for liberation from the restraints of oppressive institutions, and I know that we cannot get there if we don’t discuss why we haven’t gotten there- while also honoring and validating those who are brave enough to do so. First-generation (first-gen) students deserve to have an equitable education, and I aim to address and shorten the dissonance between the facade the higher ed puts out and the lived experiences and sad truths of those navigating it through the practice of oral history. I hope to be able to build this paper to function as an alleviating source of honesty and support gifted to first-gen students currently at Mac, and those to come after. Lastly, I am writing this paper for myself. I feel that throughout my time at Mac I lost a piece of myself to this institution. This evoked the unrelenting need for me to investigate what role our college played in contributing to the loss of what used to be mine through institution-generated turmoil