17504 research outputs found
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Mapping Hokkaido: An Accessibility Focused Public Archaeology View of Ainu Space and Japanese Maps
No full text“What has become of our bodies?”: Butoh as a Mobilizer of Healing, Cultural History, and Dance Accessibility
No full textThis paper serves to answer the critical question: How can butoh act as a mobilizer for healing, cultural history, and dance accessibility? First, butoh is tentatively defined and an account of the history of butoh is given by reviewing the selection of literature. Historical considerations including the role of the modern dance movement in conjunction with butoh’s development, a brief overview of relevant Japanese history, the founders and practitioners of butoh, its notable characteristics, and its function as a safe space for queer and disabled artists affirm a baseline for inquiry. These ideas are then developed through interviews with queer, chronically ill, and disabled dancers as well as modern butoh practitioners who shed light on their identities and philosophies. Additional insights from my experiences studying abroad in Japan are used to further establish the cross-section of Japanese culture as butoh travels internationally and becomes intertwined with other cultures. Finally, a detailed overview of my experience as a queer, disabled dancer developing an original butoh piece is archived with the process, questions, and reflections of the process
Who\u27s Coming? : An Analysis of External Variables Affecting Sexual Satisfaction & Orgasm in Sexually Active Adults
No full textThis study examined the relationships between body checking behaviors and sexually active adults’ expectation to orgasm, as well as the frequency in which they report reaching orgasm with a partner. This study also considered the potential mediating role sexual communication self-efficacy has, both on expectation to orgasm and self-reported frequency of reaching orgasm. Participants (n = 102; 60.8% women) completed an online survey with measures of these constructs. The study’s results indicate that individuals who report expecting to reach orgasm more frequently also report achieving orgasm more often, compared to those who do not have such expectations. In a mediation analysis, sexual communication self-efficacy was not found to play a mediating role between body checking behaviors, expectation to orgasm, and orgasm frequency. These results, while unsupportive of the study’s hypotheses, emphasize the need for further research in the field of human sexuality, regarding body checking behaviors
Proving Prime Number Theorem and Its Relationship to the Riemann Zeta Function
No full textOne of the groundbreaking results of 19th century mathematics is the prime number theorem. It states the amount of primes less than a number x, denoted π(x), behaves similarly to the function x / log x as x increases. The exact nature of this relationship is that of what is referred to asymptotic equivalence. The goal is to prove this result using modern methods arising from Newman and his Tauberian Theorem. Presented is an indirect approach, that makes use of the observed dependence of the Prime Number Theorem on particular properties of simpler, more approachable functions. Following this proof, there is discussion and exploration on the relationship of the Riemann zeta function and the Prime Number Theorem. As we find, the value of this zeta function is dependent on π(x). Further, the prime counting function can be given an explicit, algebraic definition using the Riemann zeta and its cousins. Throughout both of these discussions, extra care is taken to address the underlying principles of analysis that are often taken for granted
Under Observation, We Act Less Free : A Study of Surveillance-Based Contemporary Installations in the United States
No full textReaching for Soft Mangoes: A Collection of Poems on the Exploration of Puerto Rican Identity Through Generations
No full textComparing Cases of Illegal Mining and Conflict Mineral Extraction in Different Post-Colonial States: Brazil, Venezuela, Ghana, The Democratic Republic of the Congo
No full textThis study aims to analyze the relationship between illegal mining, conflict mineral extraction, and state governance in post-colonial contexts. Understanding this relationship is essential for any successful intervention against illegal mining or conflict mineral extraction. Through the case studies of Brazil, Ghana, Venezuela, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it illustrates how colonial legacies shape complex dynamics among ethnic and socio-economic groups regarding land rights and usage in relation to mineral extraction. There is a large body of scholarship and discussion surrounding conflict minerals in the DRC, this study is unique in relating that case with cases of illegal mining in other countries. It presents a framework to view these case studies on a spectrum that compares the strength of a state to the presence of conflict in its artisanal mineral extraction. This study investigates how the strength of state institutions influences the mining of conflict minerals. The study aims to clarify the various factors, such as ethnic identity, governmental regulation, and economic conditions, that contribute to the formation and operation of illegal mining regimes
In Balance with This Life, This Death: An Analysis of the Evil of Death and the Ways in Which Death Leads to Meaning
No full textIn Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard draws attention to the difference between death as an objective fact and death as something to be subjectively understood. This process of understanding what it means to die is at the center of my project. I argue that a critical confrontation with our mortality plays a substantial role in achieving a meaningful human life. This project has two central goals: first, to properly understand death, and second, to investigate the role that a proper understanding of death plays in meaning through death’s influence on authenticity. I open with a discussion of the metaphysical aspects of death, arguing that death is a comparative harm because of what it deprives us of, inspired by Bernard Williams’ arguments. When death is understood in this way, we are given reason to confront our mortality because death, as a comparative harm, maintains influence on our lives; this influence is missing when death is understood as being value neutral. Because comparative harms inhabit a middle-ground, we are able to avoid the misleading dichotomy in terms of a response to death wherein there are only two appropriate reactions: profound fear or complete disregard. The evil of death, then, connects to meaning qua meaning as the fact that death is an evil prompts a confrontation with it. This confrontation pushes us towards authenticity in a way similar to Heidegger’s jolt, helping us realize what things are meaningful for us. Meaning on a conceptual level is understood here as a project of justification, and the applied notion of meaning follows Susan Wolf’s fitting fulfillment view. I then use Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich to complement my arguments for how confrontations with our mortality elicit authenticity and how authenticity is connected to meaning, leading to the conclusion that living a meaningful human life is done in part through a critical confrontation with our mortality.
In short, I argue that confronting our mortality, which relies on a proper understanding of death’s value, is something that we should do because there exists a relationship among how we relate to our mortality, which is necessarily based in our understanding of death’s value, how we relate to ourselves, either authentically or inauthentically, and how we relate to others. Investigating these relationships brings out the connections of our mortality with both authenticity and meaning while simultaneously demonstrating the centrality of interpersonal relationships in a meaningful human life
Taking Bows and Batting Zero: An Inquiry into Mothers\u27 Selfhood as Represented in Narrative and Film
No full textTo examine the paradox resulting from conflicting duties of motherhood and parenthood respectively, this project aims to isolate parenthood as a genderless ideal for the purpose of understanding how the socially constructed ideal of motherhood is erroneous. The first portion of my project will establish the intellectual discourse and terminology that will be pertinent to my film analysis by providing a background in Christine M. Korsgaard’s philosophical theories of the self, agency, and identity. In my analysis of the 2010 film, Black Swan, an initial understanding of how dual personhood is self-destructive, as well as how patriarchy tends to enforce these radical dualities as not only achievable but masterable when they are, in fact, not, will provide an initial premise for my argument that healthy identity must not interfere with the well-being of the self, nor should it be so singular that it leads to conflation of the self with a singular practical identity. In my analysis of Lady Bird (2017), I will lay out an initial understanding of how this expectation for dual personhood exists in a portrait of a mother, leading to tension and dysfunction within the family unit. I will also emphasize the importance of mutual participation in partnered parenthood, while highlighting how the gender arrangements which normalize unilateral care make allowances for women to suffer from the dual-edged sword of progress in gender-equality. In my analysis of Gypsy: a Musical Fable (1959) as well as the memoir it was based off of, Gypsy: a Memoir (1957), I will present the argument that narrative representations of subjective experience have the capacity to universalize private experience and be used as a social tool for philosophical inquiry and experimentation. This meta-critical acknowledgement of not only the fallibility of human memory but also the more basic flawed nature of language relieves us as readers of concerns regarding truth claims by permitting us to treat testimony and fiction as akin to thought experimentation
Norm or Conform? An Analysis of the Social Determinants of Tip Amounts
No full textFollowing the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have adopted new technology that prompt for tips during transactions. Consumers have become increasingly displeased with this increase in tipping prompts, as many complain they feel pressure to tip when they previously would have never been expected to leave a tip. This perceived pressure to tip motivated my study of how the presence of others can impact tipping behavior. Observation has been demonstrated to possibly impact an individual’s decision-making process; therefore, I hypothesized that observation will increase average tip amounts due to the heightened incentives of acting generously when observed. To further understand my hypothesis, I evaluated many studies exploring decision-making, social pressure, and determinants of tip amounts. I also analyzed my hypothesis theoretically, utilizing a utility function allowing for evaluation of various tipping scenarios. Finally, I distributed a survey to College of Wooster students, faculty, and staff allowing me to analyze changes in tipping behavior based on the presence of others. The analysis of the collected data yielded conflicting evidence for my hypothesis. However, my research provides important recommendations for future research of the social determinants of tip amounts as well as why future research will be important for policymakers and business owners alike