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Should We Pool or Should We Nationalize? A Quantitative Assessment of the Role of Sovereignty in Brexit
Get PDFThe announcement of Brexit on June 23, 2016 shocked Europe as well as the greater global community. Political scientists continue to debate the causes of Brexit, but this paper argues that the debate over sovereignty, particularly the tension between national and pooled sovereignties, played a substantial role in the outcome of the referendum. This paper evaluates the extent to which the Brexit referendum was a rejection of pooled sovereignty and a reprioritization of national sovereignty. This paper conducts a discourse analysis on 4109 sources from the Leave and Remain campaigns, which were all assessed for the use of nineteen terms associated with national or pooled sovereignty. My data analysis indicates that the Leave campaign was representative of national sovereignty but the Remain campaign was not representative of pooled sovereignty. Therefore, I argue that Brexit was a signal to the British government to reclaim national sovereignty, but not necessarily a complete rejection of the EU system. These results highlight the unpredictable and even confusing nature of EU referendums as well as the persistent difficulties of synthesizing a national and European system of government and sense of identity
Golden Mountains: Pike\u27s Peak, Western Capitalism, and the Making of the Colorado State: 1858-1876
Get PDFExplores the nonlinear imposition of capitalist ideologies in Western systems, using the Pike\u27s Peak Gold Rush and development in Colorado from 1858-1876 as a case study
Estimating Heading from Optic Flow with Neural Networks
Get PDFHumans have a remarkable ability to estimate their direction of self-motion, or heading, based on visual input stimulus (optic flow). Machines, on the other hand, have a difficult time with this task, especially when flow is introduced that is inconsistent with the motion of the observer. For example, when moving objects enter the field of view, their motion provides inconsistent flow data which often disrupts heading estimates of current heading estimation models. We investigate the ability of neural networks to estimate heading from optic flow data and the limitations of these models when different variations of inconsistent flow are introduced. Since convolutional neural networks (CNNs), in particular, have been shown to be ideal for image and video analysis tasks, we focus our exploration on neural networks with convolutional architectures. We show that a simple CNN can be trained to effectively estimate heading from optic flow image data with human-like accuracy. We further investigate the advantages of using a convolutional recurrent neural network (RNN) as opposed to a simple CNN to estimate heading. Our findings suggest that the ability of an RNN to take into account the temporal dimension provides an advantage when it comes to several types of inconsistent flow data. These advantages may justify the added complexity and more costly training time of an RNN versus a CNN when it comes to estimating heading from Optic Flow
Visualizing the Range of Glaciers: Science, Art and Narrative
Get PDFGlaciers are sensitive indicators and data keepers of climatic change. The glaciers of the North Cascades, Washington, also have significant economic and cultural value as they are enmeshed in hydroelectricity generation, terrestrial and aquatic ecology, and human communities. My project approaches the current climate crisis by examining the past, present and future of the glaciers of the North Cascades through the two lenses of art and science. I review and contextualize the last century of glacier research in the North Cascades to identify patterns of glacier change and how this affects ecological and human communities. Overlaid upon my literature review, I examine the visual communication strategies of scientists. Maps, photography and innovative figures can all enhance our understanding of data and are of particular utility for communicating findings to the public. I devote the second chapter of this thesis to surveying the presence of glaciers in contemporary art and find that historically durable environmental narratives shape the creation and assimilation of glacier-focused art. Due to the swift rate of current glacier loss and the steps necessary to adaptation, the stakes of visualizing glacier loss are high. Images within both scientific and artistic contexts shape people’s understanding of climate change and their ability to engage in the issue. In the final section of this project, I present my own printmaking portfolio that responds to themes and gaps within the scientific and artistic fields and tells stories from my own experience on the glaciers of the North Cascades
COVID and the Classroom: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Special Education and Policy Implementation
Get PDFThis research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the learning of special education students and the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the United States. The importance of this research is reflected in the unprecedented and novel context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Never at any point in IDEA history have all special education students been simultaneously denied the services that are considered essential for their development and advancement. While some previous research has looked into how constraints such as natural disasters have impacted students, never has anything this drastic been studied. In this study, I found that the classroom alterations that special education students experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in compliance with safety guidelines were not conducive to their learning. Furthermore, the guidance offered from the federal level was overall low in specificity and mandatoriness, leading to high levels of discretion in how to alter practice. This led to high levels of variation across schools and many different interpretations of how to implement IDEA in the altered setting. Therefore, in drastic contextual changes, policymakers should consider enacting policy that allows for an appropriate amount of discretion while also ensuring that the necessary parts of the policy will be effectively implemented in the classroom
The Museum as a Mirror: Reinterpreting and Delinking American Landscape Art from Colonial Narratives
Get PDFArt museums have recently been looking at their existing collections with heightened scrutiny, revisiting their decision to display colonial works uncritically in their gallery spaces, and reconsidering the idea that there is such a thing as a unified art historical canon. These conversations regarding reinterpretation are necessary for all museums that choose to display art with problematic histories, as this information is owed to visitors -- especially within the settler colonial context. The Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine is one site where such collection and gallery “reinterpretation” has begun to be implemented and discussed. For example, in the museum’s Osher Gallery of the American West, there have been attempts to address American colonialism and its modern legacy. However, other galleries that perpetuate harmful ideologies, such as the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Gallery and its focus on landscapes of the American East (which were widely used as imperial tools) have undergone virtually no reintepretive work. Although the Colby College Museum of Art presents itself as an educational institution which seeks to expand the canon of American art, its reinterpretive efforts have fallen flat as they promote the harmful dissonance/resolution model of gallery construction and the unrealistic neutrality of settler-colonialism. In my paper, I argue that the Colby College Museum of Art must abandon these gallery models in favor of promoting community collaboration and shared authority with Indigenous communities, and embracing a more intentionally disruptive organization of the gallery space. I interrogate specific works of art and their placement in the Colby Museum to call attention to areas that must be readdressed. I then assert that reinterpretation is the first step in a necessary decolonial process that will lead to the dissolution of the settler state
The Colby Echo (October 14, 2021)
Get PDFPublished by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present
For the Love of Music: Yuri Lily Funahashi shares the gift of collaboration
Get PDFA virtuoso is quietly going about her business in the classrooms of the Bixler Art and Music Center. Yuri Lily Funahashi, accomplished chamber musician, assistant professor, and Music Department co-chair, is strengthening and inspiring her students’ relationship with music