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Christian Nukes: The Effects of Christian Ethics on Support for Nuclear Strikes
Get PDFOver the last several decades, constructivist and realist scholars of international relations have acknowledged the empirical holes in deterrence theory and debated the conditions contributing to the non-use of nuclear weapons since 1945. While constructivists have argued that a strong norm of non-use has constrained state behavior through a logic of appropriateness, realist scholars have contended that a logic of consequences prevents their utilization. In the last decade, a wave of survey experiments have measured the validity of these theories. Though these studies generally seem to reaffirm the realist perspective, the literature largely overlooks the micro-level variables that might be constraining state’s willingness to use nukes. This study seeks to fill this gap through a quantitative analysis of the role played by Christian ethics in the willingness to support nuclear strikes. Herein, a survey experiment consistent with the literature is carried out on undergraduate students to test these effects through three groups: a control without framing, a treatment with ethical framing, and another treatment with Christian ethical framing. After receiving respective treatments, each group will read a hypothetical news article borrowed from Dill, Sagan, and Valentino (2022) and be asked to rationalize whether or not they support a nuclear strike. The research tests the groups through logit regression analysis, attributing variance in respondent perspectives to the treatments
Planning an Educational Theatre Tour: Pepperdine University
No full textLast fall, I was the Assistant Director for the Pepperdine Theater Department’s show This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing directed by Hollace Starr. Professor Starr and I brainstormed ways to tour this play since it was a particularly good show for a younger audience by taking it to the local elementary schools near Pepperdine. In the end, we were unable to tour the show, but we still had interest in the idea of some sort of outreach to local schools so we looked at the hypothetical idea of what it would look like if we- the theater department- were to do an outreach event with the local grade schools. The purpose of this study is to see if there is an interest from the local elementary schools in engaging with Pepperdine’s theater program. If yes, then answering the question: How can the theater department most effectively reach the community’s students to explore theater? To answer this question, I contacted the two elementary schools in Malibu- Webster Elementary School and Malibu Elementary School- surveying to see how interested they are in the hypothetical idea of working with Pepperdine Theater on giving the elementary schoolers so the students would have an opportunity to experience theater. I also interviewed Mason Eubank, the arts education coordinator, who works on the ARTSReach program at Pepperdine since he has experience with outreach and knowledge about how to engage with the Malibu community. After researching engagement programs across the United States and conducting my own research, I concluded three main ways how the Theater Department could engage in the local community: (1) the theater department receiving help from the ARTSReach program to bus students in to see a performance, (2) some students volunteer on behalf of the theater department to play theater games or do a warm up with the students who are inviting Pepperdine University to see a show at CFA that same day, or (3) the Pepperdine theater students going to the schools to do a workshop, perform a song or a scene to the students
Deep learning can be used to classify and segment plant cell types in xylem tissue
Get PDFStudies of plant anatomical traits are essential for understanding plant physiological adaptations to stressful environments. For example, shrubs in the chaparral ecosystem of southern California have adapted various xylem anatomical traits that help them survive drought and freezing. Previous studies have shown that xylem conduits with a narrow diameter allows certain chaparral shrub species to survive temperatures as low as -12 C. Other studies have shown that increased cell wall thickness of fibers surrounding xylem vessels improves resistance to water stress-induced embolism formation. Historically, these studies on xylem anatomical traits have relied on hand measurements of cells in light micrographs, but this approach is time- and labor-intensive. Here we propose that deep learning-based models can be used to rapidly detect, classify, and measure plant cells with high precision and accuracy. Our goal was to develop models that can detect and classify plant cell types with greater than 95% accuracy.
In this project, we constructed a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to segment and classify cell types in light micrographs. We created an encoder-decoder U-Net architecture, where we used convolutional layers to encode the features of the cross section, and transposed convolutional layers to upscale the features to a vessel segmentation mask. We interleaved batch normalization and max pooling layers inside the encoder-decoder blocks to provide a strong regularization to the U-Net. For classification, we explored various transformers and convolutional neural networks to achieve a cell type classification accuracy of 98.1%.
The testing samples were isolated from the training data, and our DCNN performed vessel segmentation on this dataset with high pixel classification accuracy (97.05%) and excellent precision score (80.71%) that represents the model’s ability to predict positive vessel-class pixel values. With further development, the DCNN may provide the ability to measure vessel thickness and area, while also potentially measuring vessel cell wall thickness by performing a digital subtraction of a cell wall mask and vessel mask. This approach could provide opportunities to rapidly analyze larger plant anatomy datasets, allowing us to scale up questions relating plant xylem structure and function to the level of ecosystems or the globe
Loneliness in the Words of First-Generation College Students
Get PDFLoneliness is a painful awareness that one’s social relationships are less numerous or meaningful than one desires. To feel lonely is to feel excluded from a group, unloved by those surrounding oneself, unable to share one’s private concerns, or alienated from those in one’s surroundings. Loneliness might be particularly acute in first-generation college students. In addition to the usual challenges of adjusting to academic demands and the social life of college, first-generation college students have the challenges of being away from their home country, language, food, and more. We sought to understand loneliness in undergraduates’ own words as they described their experiences of loneliness. We employed focus groups to gain an understanding of the range of opinions and experiences pertaining to loneliness among first-generation college students. Six first-generation college students (4 women, 2 men) at a small, liberal arts Christian university that has a loneliness rate of 53.3% participated in one of two focus groups. The focus group discussions lasted an average of 38.46 minutes (SD = 18.54 minutes). Discussion questions included “Have you ever felt lonely at Pepperdine before? If yes, what did this feel like?” and “In what situations do you, as a first-gen student, feel particularly lonely?” along with “What helps you when you are feeling lonely?” We recorded the focus group discussions and employed transcribeme.com for the transcripts. Our focus group study is ongoing. We will have completed more focus group discussions and, thus, have data from more first-generation college students by the time of the WPA 2024 Convention. So far, we have found that first-generation college students’ comments fall into one of six themes: (1) academics, (2) social media, (3) access to a car, (4) familial relations, (5) campus on the weekend, and (6) time for connection (responsibilities, first-year experience). These findings are important because they show how some first-generation college students experience loneliness. The findings also start to provide ideas of what student affairs offices on college campuses might consider in their efforts to help alleviate loneliness among their first-generation college students
Modes of Fracture of Flat Bone: Fracture Direction and Stress
Get PDFThis study delineates the application of fractography to discern the multifaceted modes of fracture in flat bones, explicating the interplay between fracture directionality and stress states regarding the viscoelastic nature of bone. Despite the perceived brittleness, bone exhibits toughness, attributed to its intricate structure design and amalgamating properties of solid and viscous materials. This research elucidates the variegated fracture modes inherent to bone\u27s dualistic nature by examining fracture surfaces and identifying fracture markings using stereoscopic microscopy. Our observations across seven bone specimens reveal predominant fracture patterns from top to bottom in six instances, with a singular deviation where the fracture initiated from the bottom to the top. This anomalous pattern is hypothesized to be attributable to the distinctive thinness at the center of the seventh bone, suggesting that structure variations significantly influence the direction of fracture propagation under quasistatic impacts. This insight into the structural determinants of fracture directionality, underscored by the exception in our dataset, highlights the critical role of bone morphology in dictating fracture mechanics. Focusing on the differential thicknesses of the trabecular and cortical layers, we correlate the observed fracture patterns with the underlying stress mechanisms—whether from contact damage, bending, or inherent flaws. This quasistatic impact study, eschewing dynamic and static stresses, furthers our understanding of bone fracture mechanics under controlled yet physiologically relevant conditions. Our findings offer insights into flat bones\u27 structural vulnerabilities and mechanical behaviors under varying stress states. This research refines our comprehension of bone\u27s biomechanical properties in treating and preventing bone injury
Une investigation des raisons pour la continuation ou l’ abandon d\u27études de langue dans le contexte d’un programme d\u27étude à l’étranger du modèle île
Get PDFDans ce travail, nous investiguons l\u27étude de langues à l’étranger au niveau universitaire, particulièrement dans un programme île. En nous appuyant sur les interviews avec des étudiants, dans le texte, nous examinons les propos de cinq étudiants, participants à un tel programme à l’étranger, qui ont choisi soit de continuer avec leur étude de la langue française, soit de l’abandonner. Selon une analyse thématique de données qualitatives par une approche inductive, nous identifions trois thèmes communs dans l’analyse: l’influence du modèle des études à l’étranger, les raisons explicites pour l’étude supplémentaire de la langue française (ou le choix de ne pas continuer avec la langue) et les charges de cours et pressions académiques. Enfin nous expliquons comment ce programme île influence les perceptions de soi des étudiants comme apprenants de langue, leur investissement langagier et finalement leurs désirs de continuer, ou de ne pas continuer, à parler français