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Towards a More Complete Computational Model of Phonation
Full text linkPhonation contrasts have proven difficult for linguists to accurately and adequately categorize cross-linguistically. While particular acoustic features may robustly distinguish one phonation type from another in a given language, no known acoustic features robustly distinguish all phonation types in all known languages with phonemic phonation-type contrasts. This study presents an exploration of possible resolutions to the challenge of classifying phonation types in a cross-linguistically consistent manner. A novel adaptation of the ExSTraCS learning classifier system demonstrates some similarities between Black Miao modal voice and Yi lax voice. This model also demonstrated, surprisingly, that CPP was the most effective predictor of Black Miao and Yi phonation types, but that it loses effectiveness in the presence of low values of H1*. A second experiment utilizes the same model with a balanced dataset generated by the ROSE resampling algorithm. This experiment demonstrates that, while class imbalance does pose a challenge for the construction of models that can accurately classify phonation types, the primary challenge remains cross-linguistic inconsistency in the acoustic measures used to classify phonation. This study concludes by using the results from the previous two experiments to propose a new phonation-type paradigm which is designed to be as cross-linguistically consistent as possible while maintaining within-language phonemic distinctions
Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Human-Carnivore Conflict in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem, Tanzania
Full text linkLivestock depredation by large carnivores significantly threatens human livelihoods across the globe, with severe ecological and socioeconomic implications. Economic costs of livestock depredation impact the tolerance for carnivores among communities living alongside wildlife, often straining human-carnivore coexistence. Using geographic and temporal attributes from livestock depredation records (n=406) collected between 2004 and 2023, we identified spatiotemporal patterns of depredation by African lions, leopards, and spotted hyenas in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem in northern Tanzania. We found significant interactive relationships between the number of attacks reported and the season, time, and site of attack; with these interactions differing between the carnivores. To better understand the ecogeographic factors influencing livestock predation, we delved into predictive analysis using a subset of the data (ranging from 2019-2023). We used Maximum Entropy models to predict depredation hotspots for the three predators, in general and separately, at the interface of eleven environmental layers. Across all models, likelihood of livestock predation was higher between Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara, including Burunge Wildlife Management Area. Terrain topography and distance to protected areas were key variables for depredation likelihood for all the carnivore species. Our results highlight different livestock-predation hotspots for the three carnivores, which seemingly follow the different ecologies and spatial preferences of lions, leopards and hyenas. An understanding of these hotspots could inform strategic efforts towards human-carnivore conflict mitigation in this critical biodiverse area
Mashed Potato Gravy Boat and Cream Cheese Fish: Modifying a 3D Printer to Print with Unconventional Materials
Full text link3D printing is growing beyond plastics into fields like food and construction, bringing rapid additive manufacturing to various industries and consumers. However, high costs and the need for specialized knowledge limit access for many. My project aimed to modify a low-cost 3D printer to print with paste-like materials using commonly available parts and simple processes. I tested the modification with clay, mashed potatoes, and cream cheese, and found that it successfully worked with all three. This modification has three key benefits: it allows users to print with unconventional materials, helps researchers create low-cost proof of concepts, and contributes to the open-source 3D printing community
Capital and Ritual: Unlikely Partners on the Commercial Dancefloor
Full text linkHow do individuals at million-dollar festivals and in basements find connection and care on their respective dancefloors? This research utilizes dance music culture to analyze how commercialization shapes participants’ spiritual experiences, and their responses to drug usage, violence and perceived erosion of shared values. Current literature focuses on either the spiritual or commercial aspects of dance music culture, but has not combined the two. I qualitatively examine a continuum of dance music venues from the mainstream to the underground through interviews and participant observation, finding continuity, rather than contradiction. I find that mainstream events center commercial activity, relying on spectacle to produce spiritual experience, and utilizing formal authority to police events; however, community members fill in where institutional authority cannot, by appealing to norms of non-violence and responsibility and recapturing the ability to dictate what constitutes “authentic” dance music culture. Underground events deemphasize commercial activity, generating spiritual experience by cultivating shared purpose and constant dance, rather than high production values, and use aforementioned norms as first principles of organizing, creating decentralized authority
Navigating Institutional Apathy: Resisting the Co-optation of Decolonial and Liberatory Frameworks in Higher Education
Full text linkAmidst nationwide challenges to DEI programs, frameworks of decolonization and liberation have been simultaneously employed and depoliticized by institutions of higher education to falsely build a progressive façade while dismissing the values associated with these terms. To explain this dynamic, I introduce institutional apathy, which I define as the tendency of colleges to reproduce the status quo, denying the potential of an ongoing commitment to decolonial and liberatory values. Using interviews with staff and faculty at a liberal arts college, I explore how actors in the institution resist co-optation using foundations of solidarity, community partnerships, and incorporations of incremental change
Capturing Non-linearity between Household Debt and GDP: A Deep VAR Approach
Full text linkHousehold debt plays a significant role in shaping the macroeconomy. The relationship between growth and household debt is nonlinear; however, most research regarding household debt and GDP utilizes linear techniques. Using a Deep Vector Autoregression (Deep VAR) model, a recursive neural network-based approach that has been shown to outperform linear alternatives, I analyze the relationship between household debt and GDP using quarterly data from an unbalanced panel of 39 countries over the past 40 years. The Deep VAR outperforms linear alternatives, further providing evidence that the relationship between household debt and GDP is non-linear. Using impulse response functions (IRF), I find evidence supporting Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis, highlighting the effects of relaxed borrowing conditions. Moreover, I identify a cyclical pattern in household responses to GDP shocks, where households deleverage during periods of economic growth and increase leverage during contractions
A Vanguard of All Progressive Humanity: Youth Culture, Mobilization, and the New Soviet (Young) Person in the Post-Stalin USSR
Full text linkAmongst the many changes which shook the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, one of the least researched is the changing role of youth. The post-Stalin era saw a reappraisal of the role of youth in the Soviet project, who were increasingly positioned as central to the creation of a communist society in the Soviet imaginary. In this Honors Project, I analyze Soviet youth culture in the post-Stalin period, examining the varying strategies employed by the Soviet state to stimulate youth participation and create the New Soviet (Young) person in an era where coercion and force had been discarded in favor of individual initiative and grassroots action
Petrology and Geochemistry of Anorthosite Xenoliths from the North Shore of Lake Superior
No full textPurple and green anorthosite xenoliths occur along the North Shore of Lake Superior. A comparative study was conducted of their mineralogy, texture, and geochemistry to explore color-correlated differences. Samples contain \u3e95% plagioclase and primary Fe-Ti oxides, with secondary minerals indicating hydrothermal alteration. One sample includes trace olivine and pyroxene. Major and trace element abundances are broadly similar among samples. Purple samples on average contain more oxides, some of which have altered to hematite. Green samples contain serpentine that has replaced mafic minerals. The best distinguisher of color difference is the presence and abundance of Fe-Ti oxides (ilmenite, magnetite, and hematite). These most likely reflect differences in the pressure, temperature, or oxidation state during anorthosite crystallization
Examining Mulit-Wavelength Variability and Magnetic Interactions in the Polar ST LMi
Full text linkCataclysmic variable (CV) stars are interacting binary systems that exhibit exotic, multi-wavelength behavior driven by mass transfer from a donor star onto a white dwarf. As rich laboratories for accretion physics, binary dynamics, and the origins of Type Ia supernovae, CVs have been well studied in the X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and infrared—but remain comparatively underexplored in the radio regime. This paper presents simultaneous, time-resolved optical and radio observations of the magnetic CV ST LMi, aimed at constraining its emission mechanisms and orbital modulation. The optical light curves display brightness variations of approximately 1.31 ± 0.02 magnitudes on a period of 0.079089 days (approximately 114 minutes), consistent with the known orbital period. Fluxes are higher in longer-wavelength filters, consistent with cyclotron emission from a magnetically funneled accretion region. The radio data also exhibit strong orbital modulation (approximately 238.5 ± 27 μJy) but with a phase offset Δφ ≈ –0.40 relative to the optical peaks. This phase shift suggests that the radio emission originates from a region distinct from the optical accretion pole, likely near the L1 point and periodically eclipsed by the secondary. In addition, we observe variable circular polarization in the radio, ranging from weak levels (\u3c5 \u3e± 25% in quiescence) to 80 ± 17% during flux peaks. Our findings strengthen the interpretation of electron cyclotron maser (ECM) as the dominant radio emission mechanism in magnetic CVs and provide new constraints on the spatial and temporal structure of radio-emitting regions in polars
Rock-Melt Interactions in Mantle Xenoliths from Two Intraplate Settings (Tariat, Mongolia and Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico)
No full textInteractions between Earth’s lithospheric mantle and migrating melts contribute to mantle heterogeneity. Mantle xenoliths from Tariat, Mongolia, and Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico, record distinct melt-rock interactions. Tariat xenoliths (equilibrated at 930 – 950 ◦C) contain a pyroxenite vein formed by prolonged equilibration with Si-rich melts. Kilbourne Hole xenoliths (1050 – 1150 ◦C) show evidence of brief basaltic melt interactions. Mineral chemical profiles near melt interfaces exhibit elevated Mg in or- thopyroxene (Mg# \u3e 90), Ti depletion in clinopyroxene, and elevated Cr in spinel (Cr# \u3e 23), indicating localized melt depletion. Diffusion modeling and geospeedom- etry constrain melt-rock interaction timescales, spanning decades at Kilbourne Hole and thousands of years at Tariat