IDA Mount Holyoke College Institutional Digital Archive
Not a member yet
1794 research outputs found
Sort by
Justice at Work: Towards an Adaptive Workplace
No full textWhy is it that some bodies, but not others, are able to comfortably navigate the workplace? What would it mean to imagine a workplace that allowed all bodies to exist and succeed in it fully? In this thesis, I explore how workplace norms are constructed, what politics and feminist justice theory has to say about it, and why certain performances and not others are accepted in the public sector workplace. Workplaces privilege “professionalism” scripts based on white, male performance and see white, male bodies as the somatic norm of public sector, salary work. These rigid behavior and bodily expectations construct an uneven playing field for success at work based on embodiment and performance. The Urban Scholars Program challenges how workplaces currently function by creating pathways for students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to enter the public sector in the Twin Cities. I analyze the successes and opportunities for improvement of this program in order to discern what lessons can apply to creating a just workplace. I pose that while programs like Urban Scholars are important to increase diversity in the public sector, they train people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to enter the workplace as is. This approach overlooks the unique gendered and racialized embodiments of Scholars. In order to create a truly inclusive and just workplace, the workplace itself must change based on the bodies that compose it. It must become an adaptive workplace, meaning that workplace norms and behavior expectations become more fluid and constantly reform themselves. From this investigation, I hope a more inclusive and equitable workplace can emerge.Politic
Modeling Swallow Roosts Using Weather Radar
No full textEvery day, large flocks of swallows fly away from nocturnal roosting locations at
sunrise. These flocks, comprised of any one of the 4-5 swallow species present
in the US, are known as roosts. Along with storm systems and precipitation,
roosts are visible on weather radar. It is estimated over 200 million radar scans
have been collected containing potentially invaluable information pertaining to
bird roosting behavior. Biologists could use this data to gain a better understanding
of bird migratory patterns, and the effect of climate change on avian
behavior. However, it is difficult for biologists to interpret information from the
radar scans due to the lack of established methods for detecting roosts in these
scans.
This thesis project seeks to simplify the process of interpreting bird roost
radar data by developing an automated method of detecting and locating roosts.
We consider two approaches to solving this problem; the development of empirical
parametric models based on data products returned by the radar, and
adaptation of existing computer vision algorithms. For the first approach, we
find a hypothesized Gaussian relationship between reflectivity of volumes of atmosphere,
and their distance from the center of a labeled roost. We then use
this relationship to construct a model for localizing roosts within radar scans,
and compare the results to a similar model that uses radial velocity. For the
second approach, we begin by adapting an open-source Haar feature-based cascade
classifier object detection method. We also consider convolutional neural
networks.
In each case, we observe the suitability of the model for detection or localization
of roosts within radar scans, as well as precision and accuracy compared
to human annotation. Our experiments on a subset of a pre-labeled database
of roost scans show that a machine learning approach to roost labeling can
improve on existing methods of annotation, though false detections due to the
difficulty of distinguishing between roosts and precipitation are an ongoing issue.
Fine-tuning of the models could improve precision.Computer Scienc
Blanchard Hall 10
No full textAll building footprints were obtained from Facilities Management and are updated annually as necessary.201
Confusing the Quotidian: An Exploration of Domestic Furniture
No full textFurniture accommodates us and organizes how our bodies move through space. We interact
with furniture everyday and have sets of expectations for how it should look and act. If furniture
defies these expectations, it disrupts our understanding of these familiar objects thus causing
confusion. For my thesis I am interested in drawing attention to furniture by skewing its
appearance, taking into account the associations we subconsciously carry about domestic
furniture.
What we expect from furniture is that it exists to serve its function; if it’s a table, shelf,
bookcase, then you set things on it. If it’s a chair, sofa, stool, you sit. If it’s a bed, you lie. We are
accustomed to seeing chairs and recognizing them as being accommodating for us. There’s an
established trust between our furniture and our bodies; when we use furniture it becomes an
extension of the body. Taking furniture out of its original context and re-presenting it as an art
piece can be unsettling. The familiarity is visually there but we cannot physically use it in the
way we are accustomed to. If furniture doesn’t serve its expected purpose it adds confusion.
What does the new purpose become? If you cannot sit in a chair, has it failed? What does failure
look like? For my thesis research I have been reading The Queer Art of Failure by J. Jack
Halberstam, which presents queerness as failure in a heteronormative world. I am taking this
sentiment and applying it to domestic furniture from my house. In accepting and navigating
through failure we are exploring a new set of possibilities that are not contingent on succeeding.
Recognizing failure illuminates what we consider success to be. For example, the mattress; it is
not doing what a mattress is supposed to do. Then, what does it become? It highlights what we
expect a mattress to do by defying it; illustrating the dichotomy of sculpture and object. At face
value it is unsettling because it is unexpected.
The path to conventional success is limiting, there are so many different ways to bungle the
course. When you take something as regulated as furniture and you fail it, you open up many
avenues of exploration and understanding. The failure of the furniture is a direct confrontation of
your garnered expectations. By altering furniture, making it recognizable but unfamiliar I hope to
put into question your associations and relationships with these pieces that organize our lives.Art Studi
Japanese Loan Words 2
No full textThis lecture discusses the use of loan words in Japanese today and the related issues.Five College Blended Learning Initiativ
The Recovered History of Prospect Hill, 1879-1920: Goodnow Park, the Pepper Box and Lake Nonotuck
No full textGoodnow Park, Lake Nonotuck, and the Pepper Box: These were once familiar places at Mount Holyoke College, but they have been utterly lost. Only one of the three, the Pepper Box, has literally disappeared, torn down in 1920. The other two remain but their names have changed. Goodnow Park is now simply Prospect Hill, and Lake Nonotuck has reverted to the prosaic Lower Lake. There is no mystery about the Pepper Box or the origins of Goodnow Park, but just when and how the Lower Lake was renamed Lake Nonotuck is an enigma. It’s first mentioned in print in early 1896, but no longer appears after 1918. The process of rediscovering these abandoned place-names involves sorting through the college archives, especially its rich collection of postcards, photographs, stereopticon views and glass negatives which offer a delightful excursion into the years between 1879 and 1914. Because there are rather few printed documents about the evolution of the three sites, it’s these photos that let us see the progressive changes in the hill above the campus and the lake, as well as the rise to prominence of the Pepper Box pavilion at the top of the hill
Burl Bowls and Birchbark Baskets: Decolonizing Indigenous Material Culture in the Native Northeast
No full textThe collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) contain a burl bowl tentatively attributed to Metacomet, or King Philip, the Wampanoag sachem who fought against English colonists in King Philip’s War (1675-1678.) The MHS carved their version of the bowl’s history into its basin when they received the object in 1803. Written in gold lettering is the description: “A Trophy / from the Wigwam of King Philip / When he was slain in 1676 / by Richard. Presented, by Elezr / Richard, his Grandson.” The story presented by the MHS is an improbable tale which says more about the colonial fantasies of nineteenth-century institutions than the object itself, which is likely Wampanoag, the Native Nation whose homelands span the east coast of present-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The burl bowl, carved from an elm tree’s outgrowth in the seventeenth century, is culturally and historically significant to modern Wampanoag communities. Yet it sits in storage in Boston, where most Native people are unable to engage with or interpret its history.
This project explores decolonized museum practices for indigenous objects held in the collections of institutions throughout the Northeast. Decolonization is the process of questioning and removing the colonial lens which has dictated not only the history of indigenous material culture, but also how and for whom museums conserve Native objects. Using case studies of three sets of objects, a seventeenth-century Wampanoag burl bowl, an Anishinaabe miniature mokuk, or birchbark basket, and three of Passamaquoddy birchbark artist Tomah Joseph’s pieces, my analysis shows how institutions can implement decolonizing practices. These practices are at least threefold: privileging indigenous perspectives gained through consultation with Native people while curating exhibits, implementing conservation practices that make objects accessible to Native communities, and representing holistic history that tells the story of Native agency within the context of colonialism.
Through a combination of historic and modern perspectives, I argue that indigenous material culture is a crucial source for understanding Native history in the Northeast. While colonial historians have often written Native people out of this region’s past and present, the study of indigenous objects from the seventeenth century through today provides evidence of the active presence of indigenous people at every point in time. Additionally, museums have participated in the disruption of the dissemination of traditional knowledge in Native communities by collecting culturally significant objects to display for non-Native visitors. Today, institutions with indigenous collections have a responsibility to ensure these objects are accessible to Native communities.Histor
Japanese Existential Verbs 1
No full textThis video discusses the use of two existential verbs in Japanese, namely 'iru' and 'aru,' while reading Kudo and Yakame (2008).Five College Blended Learning Initiativ
Our Mightiest Heroes: US Identity Politics and Ideal Citizenship in the new Ms. Marvel
No full textKamala Khan is the new Ms. Marvel, a superhero with polymorphing, shape-shifting abilities. She is also a Muslim, Pakistani-American, high school student who loves playing videogames and writing fan fiction about the Avengers. Kamala Khan replaced Carol Danvers, a white, European-American military officer who previously held the mantle. In a popular culture environment saturated with images of superheroes, it is important to look beyond the apparent entertainment value of the genre and consider the social effects of superhero stories, particularly their potential to visualize national ideals and engage a shared morality. The central question of my research was whether, in transmitting ideal-laden narratives superhero comics serve only to reflect established social norms, or if they can themselves act to constitute new ideals and imagine a new national morality. Towards this end I examined the new Ms. Marvel series as a case study, exploring its social positioning and impact.
I conducted my research over many sites, both physically bounded and virtually constituted, mixing participant-observation, interviews, and archival research. I gained insight into the industry norms that dominate comics “diversity,” the public narratives Ms. Marvel’s creators employed in presenting the series, the narrative and aesthetic techniques used to encode socially salient themes in the comic, and the way these themes were received and renegotiated by audiences through fan productions. I concluded Ms. Marvel is a dynamic text and a site of reimagining that engages an emerging praxis of identity politics, built upon an intersectional model of identity. It leverages perceived difference and highlights the heterogeneity that exists within groups imagined to be cohesive. Ms. Marvel ultimately calls into question the legitimacy of the lines upon which we draw the exclusionary boundaries that demarcate ideal citizenship in the United States.Sociology & Anthropolog
Characterizing Heat Shock Protein Expression Patterns in a Fruit Fly Model of Glial Tauopathy
No full textTauopathies are degenerative diseases characterized by the accumulation of aberrantly phosphorylated tau in both neuronal and glial cells. The aggregation and fibrilization of tau in both neuronal and glial cells is a pathological hallmark of at least 15 different neurodegenerative tauopathies. The presence of tau aggregates in these diseases implies that this protein can somehow escape normal intracellular quality control machinery, aberrantly accumulate, and become toxic. Therefore, it is vital to investigate the role of the protein quality control systems in the pathogenesis of tauopathies. By doing so, we can develop an understanding about the cooperation between molecular chaperones and the ubiquitin proteasome system responding to the tau aggregates in order to find molecular targets for therapeutic intervention. In this project, a Drosophila melanogaster model of glial tauopathy is used to study how the overexpression of tau can impact intracellular defense systems. More specifically, we are investigating the effect human tau expression has on the induction of chaperones upon exposure to thermal stress over a period of six hours. Western blot analysis was used to determine the time course of tau expression. To measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of various molecular chaperones, we utilized Quantitative Real-Time PCR. Our results indicate that that the induction of human tau expression is a possible stressor on the cell, leading to a spike in the expression of specific chaperones. Additionally, tau expression over time impairs the ability of the cell to participate in cellular defense mechanisms. Finally, the impact tau expression has on cellular defense is chaperone specific which may have important implications for designing therapeutic strategies for tauopathies.Neuroscience and Behavio