San Francisco State University Digital Repository
Revisionary temporal experiences : how a recognition of tachpsychia in verse alters interpretation
Revisionary temporal experiences : how a recognition of tachpsychia in verse alters interpretation
Colonnese, Francesca Kathryn
The human mind experiences time as more flexible than suggested by today’s precisely
regulated clocks. Seeking to understand this troubled relationship with temporality, this
project examines representations of time in the verse of the Early Modem and Victorian
eras. In literature that predates the discovery of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and
the fMRI, science alone cannot serve as an explanatory refuge for the mind’s intrinsic
ability to bend time. Poetry offers a flexible space for the portrayal of alterations in
temporal perception. My particular focus is tachypsychia, a feeling of time slowing down,
often generated by traumatic events. Recognizing these experiences of temporal
strangeness as neurologically based, this paper will establish that tachypsychia is a
common human experience that was captured in poetic form before science ever
understood the phenomenon. Identifying this in canonical works from John Donne and
Alfred Lord Tennyson also fundamentally alters the interpretation of these poetic works.
Trade war with China
Trade war with China
Hamilton, Lee Richard
This is a Liberal-Peace argument that global free trade has been
beneficial world-wide. Trade with China has been to the mutual benefit of both the
United States and China. Pre-tariff data in the automotive sector from a variety of
official U.S. Government sources demonstrate the huge benefits of free trade. Recent
data that reflect the impact of tariffs shows its negative consequences. Tariffs are
nothing more than taxes and their use regarding trade with China has strained the
relations between the two countries. This study also responds to realist views that the
United States and China have problems that could result in a military confrontation.
International security is a product of military, economic and technological superiority,
where data shows that the United States is clearly ahead in all three categories. Though
a conflict could happen, it is not only not inevitable but highly unlikely.
Natural chimerism in the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum
Natural chimerism in the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum
Weinberg, Rachel Beth
Colonial, asexually reproducing organisms are typically treated as genetically homogenous entities composed of clonal units. However, processes such as fusion and somatic mutation may lead to the integration of multiple genetic lines in a single physiologically continuous organism. This state, known as chimerism, has been documented in a broad range of sessile modular taxa, including plants, fungi, slime molds, and colonial metazoans such as ascidians. In the invasive colonial ascidian Didemnum vexillum, naturally occurring chimerism has been documented from the presence of more than two alleles at microsatellite loci, however factors such as homozygosity and spatial separation of genets within a colony may mask chimerism using this detection method alone. In order to more accurately quantify the prevalence of chimerism in introduced D. vexillum populations, zooids were dissected from 35 colonies and individually genotyped. Both spatial and molecular masking of chimerism was found in a proportion of the chimeric colonies, indicating that the sampling strategy applied here has the potential to identify chimerism in D. vexillum colonies that appear monogeneic from single tissue samples. In Umpqua, Oregon, 70% of the colonies sampled were chimeric, which is the highest prevalence of chimerism reported in any D. vexillum population studied to date. In Half Moon Bay, 30% of the samples were chimeric, which is similar to the rates of chimerism previously estimated in this population using single tissue samples. The significant differences in chimerism between the two populations were not associated with significant differences in genetic diversity or inbreeding, as measured by expected and observed heterozygosity. Relatedness was significantly higher among genets within chimeric colonies than across genets in the population as a whole, providing evidence from two natural populations that chimerism in D. vexillum is genetically mediated. These results show that there may be extreme variation in chimerism prevalence across populations, providing a basis for future studies to investigate the causes of this variation and its potential role in facilitating the successful establishment of non-native species.
Examining authorship and identity through the player-avatar relationship in video games
Examining authorship and identity through the player-avatar relationship in video games
Vengco, Timurhan Ecarma
This thesis examines authorship and identity through the player’s relationship with the avatars of God of War III and The Last of Us. God of War III allegorizes a poststructural understanding of authorship, as the game forces the player to navigate a paradoxical position of power and powerlessness. The Last of Us highlights a poststructural understanding of identity development, as the player continuously develops and renegotiates their identity in relation to Joel, the most dominant figure in the narrative. Both games highlight how the player’s agency stems from their experience participating in the narrative while navigating the rules and limitations that structure the games.
Testimonios of undocumented students in higher education : A Critical Latina Feminist Phenomenology
Testimonios of undocumented students in higher education : A Critical Latina Feminist Phenomenology
Barrera, Ana Maria
This study of five undocumented Latina students focused on the lived experience of navigating higher educaTion in the context of the political climate in the United States. A Critical Latina Feminist Phenomenology lens gives voice to undocumented and describes the use of testimonio as a methodology to create a space for critical reflection, healing, and transformation. Two main trenzas (themes) collectively describe the phenomenon:
(a) identidades politicos (political identities) and (b) de comunidad (of the community) that when woven together create a nepantlera consciousness; a space where undocumented students use their voice for political agency to create change in their communities while navigating higher education.
Foreign powers and coercive trade in antiquity : a review of the Megarian Decree
Foreign powers and coercive trade in antiquity : a review of the Megarian Decree
Bodenchak, Mark Christian
Studies surrounding the Megarian decree and the role it played in the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War often claim that the decree was an economically focused law, with some form of geopolitical impact. Few scholars go further in detail to explain the inner workings of the decree as an economic sanction and how it might have brought about any result with Megara. This thesis examines the economy of both Megara and Athens in a framework provided by modem economic sanction theory. Through comparisons of their production, reliance on foreign trade and the level of their economic interdependence on each other, it posits the means through which the Megarian decree would have been an effective geoeconomic and geopolitical tool.
Stonemover
Stonemover
Carp, David
Pogchamp! an analysis of Twitch.tv and user intercommunications
Pogchamp! an analysis of Twitch.tv and user intercommunications
Werder, Brianna
Twitch.tv is a social media platform which originally marketed itself specifically for gamers but has more recently gained recognition as appealing to aspiring live streamers of all interests. Social media platforms have the tendency to strive to individualize their users and make them stand out from others. Twitch is different than other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter because its emphasis is on building communities and bringing together people who share common interests. Twitch’s success is recent years has had a great influence on video games and media culture, and it continues to be a leader in community-based streaming services. This thesis will look at the innovations in online technologies and language that have come as a result of Twitch as well as the significance of the culture and communities that have formed on the platform.
Narcissus, Baudelaire, and Foucault : a response to Pierre Hadot
Narcissus, Baudelaire, and Foucault : a response to Pierre Hadot
Henrick, James Lawrence
Pierre Hadot’s criticism that Michel Foucault advocates a modem day form of Dandyism
has animated much d'".cussion among modem ethical theorists. Yet, little research has
been done into the history of Dandyism and its importance to Hadot’s criticism. In order
to properly situate their disagreement, this thesis traces the history of Dandyism from
Beau Brummell to Charles Baudelaire, examining connections between Foucault’s
thought and this intellectual history. After demonstrating the reasonableness of Hadot’s
critique, this thesis examines Hadot’s own unstated philosophical assumptions, arguing
that his writing on the myth of Narcissus provides substantial evidence of his Perennialist
disposition. Finally, this thesis examines Richard Shusterman’s theory of somaesthetics
to argue that Shusterman’s pragmatic conception provides a better model that can
successfully incorporate both Hadot and Foucault’s ethical projects.
Iraqi women and U.S. occupation : decolonizing online resistance
Iraqi women and U.S. occupation : decolonizing online resistance
Thompson, Brianna Jo
In March 2003, the United States military invaded Iraq and altered the history, geography, and culture of the country forever. To justify this invasion, the Bush administration framed Iraqi women as citizens needing to be ‘saved’ from their government and people. During times of war, women are left to care for their nation through upholding family values, culture, and economic prosperity. However, because women take on the significant role of upholding a nation during war, they also experience the most violence. This research locates how female Iraqi citizens experienced and resisted the colonizing powers of the U.S. while upholding the culture and nation. This work decentralizes oppressive western rhetoric by honoring female Iraqi experiences. Utilizing a critique of vernacular discourse, I locate Iraqi women’s ability to affirm their culture while simultaneously opposing Eurocentric power structures through online discourse.
Siegel’s epistemological theories and full dissociation of consciousness and attention
Siegel’s epistemological theories and full dissociation of consciousness and attention
Thomas, Michelle Elena
I will use empirical evidence to support the argument that there is a possible dissociation between processes of consciousness and processes of attention such that the two independent systems work in tandem and simultaneously. Secondly, if there is a dissociation between processes of consciousness and processes of attention, I maintain that having two completely independent systems would affect views on epistemology, rationality, and perception. One such robust epistemological theory is Susanna Siegel’s theories of perceptual experience and inference. I aim to show what the full dissociation of processes of consciousness and attention would mean for epistemological and perceptual theories using Siegel as an example. Siegel has a complete and thoroughly comprehensive epistemological theory. I am interested in applying a theory of full dissociation to her epistemological system. I contend that her theory, when viewed in relation to a full dissociation theory would indicate support for full dissociation or partial overlap.
Intrinsic motivation & intentions to be physically active : the role of high school coaches
Intrinsic motivation & intentions to be physically active : the role of high school coaches
Thomas, Kelly Ann
A primary goal of adolescent sport participation is to equip children with the competence and confidence to choose to participate in leisure physical activity as they transition into adulthood. Previous research on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has shown that autonomy-supportive coaching has a positive relationship with the development of intrinsic motivation. However, the literature does not provide information about how this motivation development translates to greater exercise adherence to physical activity later in life. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived autonomy support, basic needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and intention to be physically active among competitive high school athletes. METHOD: A sample of 37 high school athletes (majority white and female) completed a quantitative survey one time. RESULTS: Multiple regressions showed that motivation to experience (F (5,31) = 3.59,p=0.01) was significantly predicted by only team relatedness (P=.41,/?<0.05). Mean scores of the entire sample (N= 37) showed that intention to be physically active decreased as temporal distance increased. Hierarchical regression revealed that intrinsic motivation (P=.35,/?<0.05) and teammate relatedness (p=.35,/?<0.05) were the only significant predictors of intention. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that the teammate relatedness component of basic needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation are the only significant predictors of changes in intention, while coach autonomy support is not. It can be said that high school athletes that are most motivated by their experience, rather than their accomplishments and knowledge within their sport, and feel connected to their teammates are more likely to be physically active in college.
Nonlinear optical wave phenomena observed in defocusing m-cresol/nylon solutions
Nonlinear optical wave phenomena observed in defocusing m-cresol/nylon solutions
Smith, Valton Doyle, II
In this thesis, nonlinear optical wave phenomena are observed using a solution
consisting of m-cresol and nylon. The nonlinearity of this material is due to the thermooptic
effect, in which light absorption causes a change in the index of refraction - in this
case, a reduction in value. Because this change in index of refraction is proportional to the
intensity of the light, the nonlinear index of refraction can be modeled as a Kerr-type
nonlinearity. In this work, the degree of nonlinearity was quantified in terms of the Kerr
coefficient using the z-scan method. We found that this solution exhibited higher
nonlinearity as the nylon concentration was increased and that the degree of nonlinearity
was orders of magnitude larger than most other reported thermal materials.
This thesis also reports experimental results of spatial ID dark optical soliton
formation and interaction in this thermal solution. Dark solitons can exist in this material
because of its thermal nonlinear properties, which causes light to experience self-phase
modulation (SPM) resulting in a defocusing effect. We report the strongest attraction
between two ID dark soliton stripes to our knowledge when they were formed in proximity.
This attraction can be attributed to the nonlocal effect of thermal diffusion.
Finally, we experimentally demonstrate the formation of spatial dispersive shock
waves using this highly nonlinear solution. By adjusting the input power of the laser beam,
we were able to observe different levels o f the shock formation and wave-breaking through
the same sample pathlength.
Ehrhart quasipolynomials of coxeter permutahedra
Ehrhart quasipolynomials of coxeter permutahedra
McWhirter, Jodi
The Ehrhart polynomial counts lattice points in a dilated lattice polytope. The
Ehrhart polynomials of permutahedra of types A, B, C, and D have been calculated
by Federico Ardila, Federico Castillo, and Michael Henley (2015). However, when a
type B permutahedron is shifted so that its center is the origin, it Decomes a halfintegral
polytope, and its Ehrhart quasipolynomial was previously unknown. The
same is true of odd-dimension type A permutahedra. We use signed graphs that
arise from the generating vectors of each permutahedron to determine which sets of
vectors are linearly independent and thus which form parallelepipeds that are a part
of a zonotopal decomposition, as well as wmch of these parallelepipeds stays on the
lattice when the permutahedron is shifted. This yields new approaches/formulas for
Ehrhaxt quasipolynomials for these rational permutahedra.
Working from the middle : a multidirectional approach to mangrove conservation
Working from the middle : a multidirectional approach to mangrove conservation
Mohan, Abigail Taylor
Mangrove ecosystems are at continued risk of degradation and deforestation through
anthropogenic activity. Mangroves once covered 75% of tropical coastlines, and only 30 -
50% of this habitat currently remains. These ecosystems provide important benefits for the
local communities, including supporting livelihoods and providing resources. Through the
long-term sequestration of carbon, mangroves are essential to global goals of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Although mangrove conservation and restoration are often
recognized community or government goals, the lack of data and resources can hamper
success. By analyzing approaches used across pilot conservation and restoration sites in
Madagascar and Ecuador, lessons learned can highlight successful approaches that can be
replicated and scaled up. This research analyzes how the influence of top-down
(government or policy driven) and bottom-up (community-led) approaches impacted
project outcomes. This case study comparison uses interviews with key experts, along with
the Driver. Pressure, State, Impact and Response framework, to better understand the role
national and local entities play in mangrove conservation and restoration. The most
effective approach considers the underlying drivers of mangrove loss and includes a
multidirectional approach to align government goals and community needs.
Queer new media
Queer new media
Menaker, Chase Alexander
At the dawn of the 1990s, queer as identity marker and political stance entered the
cultural lexicon amidst the dot com boom and a proliferation of digital technologies. In
what ways are these two events intertwined? Is it possible to queer digital media?
Conversely, now might digital media invigorate a queer praxis? Offering a brief
genealogy of both fields, I examine how a proximity to capital has ensconced queer
studies and commercial technologies in neoliberal rhetoric. By exposing this tendency, I
locate contingency as the driving animus behind the most salient aspects of queer theory
and through a close reading of the 2018 film Annihilation imagine the possibility of a
queer technology.
As is to
As is to
Downer, Jonathan Michael
The culmination of my experience at San Francisco State University ends with a
poem book titled AS IS TO. It is broken up into two sections. The first section, Sonrose
Paradox, is about a person whose name is always changing and how they are training to
become a militant ghost. They struggle to articulate the importance of their assignment to
join the Ghost Military because they have been stricken by a language infection that
renders their statements inscrutably nonsensical. Surprisingly, as the protagonist gets
more frustrated and esoteric, people find solace in their confusing language that seems
proverbial to them. By the end of the first section the evasively named protagonist
becomes the director of the Ghost Military and receives their final name: Foil-hat Father.
The second half of AS IS TO, Foil-hat Father, is set three generations after the first
section. It is a told from the perspective of the next Foil-hat Father. The new protagonist
doesn’t possess the language gifts of their predecessor so nobody believes that they are
the Foil-hat Father. The protagonist’s resentment towards the Father is what triggers their
esoteric language magick. Even though their faculties are now similar to the Father’s, the
protagonist has to be careful, they might be a victim of a time travelling ghost who
overtakes your mind and body through language.
Normativity and non-conceptual content
Normativity and non-conceptual content
Dubreuil, Micah Jacobson
In Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind, Wilfrid Sellars argues that ostensible
perceptions (veridical seeings and non-veridical lookings) share not only a common
propositional content but also a common descriptive content. In characterizing this sense
content as neither conceptual nor purely causal, Sellars identifies a pressure point
between his inferentialism and his critique of the empiricist Myth o f the Given. To
resolve this tension, I argue that the Sellarsian position can and should appeal to a non*
conceptual normativity—a set of minimal or proto-norms that governs both sense
impressions and non-conceptual content more broadly construed. The resulting picture is
a hybrid notion of descriptively locating specific sensory states while normatively
ascribing these states to be responsible to proto-intentional norms derived from
teleologically-structured activities. This account distinguishes non-conceptual
representational states from mere physical differential responsiveness, while also
allowing the relevant ongoing teleological projects of animals in the space of reasons to
be shaped by conceptually normative activity.
Landscapes of belonging : white possession and settler subjectivity in Mashpee, Massachusetts
Landscapes of belonging : white possession and settler subjectivity in Mashpee, Massachusetts
D’Andrea, Erika Christine
Mashpee, Massachusetts is unique amongst coastal areas in New England. This is
due to the fact that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe retained partial sovereignty and
land-use rights in Mashpee from the pre-colonial era to the mid-20th century.
Beginning in the 1950s, however, developers took interest in Mashpee and
transformed the landscape into recreational-residential resorts, attracting an influx
of new white residents. In 1976, the Mashpee Tribe filed suit for the return of their
land, to the widely publicized outrage of the town’s white newcomers. How did the
1976 land suit reinforce the settler colonial logic that links whiteness and property?
How are geographies o f belonging, comfort, and leisure formed on this land? In this
thesis, I use this case study to explore how white subjectivities materialize through
ideologies of US exceptionalism, Indigenous assimilation, and property ownership.
"Nation as family" and the causes of gender-based violence in modern Armenia
"Nation as family" and the causes of gender-based violence in modern Armenia
Pirinjian, Lori
In the setting of post-Soviet Armenia, members of the nation live as if they were
members of one united family. Grandmothers giving advice to young mothers on the
streets, older men ridiculing women for smoking in public, and young men openly
making fun of one another for wearing shorts and sandals are all common occurrences
between strangers in the streets of Yerevan (Shirinian 2018, 49). The family is one of the
only institutions that remained stable in Armenia throughout the Soviet Union. The
Armenian kinship network continues to be the centralizing factor of the overarching
Armenian identity (Platz 2005, 30). In a "nation as family" framework (Abrahamian
2006), all members of the nation are expected to take on the roles of different members of
the family in the way that they interact with all members of the nation. Women are meant
to bear children and raise a family while men are afforded the right to have jobs and other
freedoms (Ishkanian 2007, 494). These roles are unchanging, and have resulted in a
power dynamic that unquestioningly favors men. Evidence in the favoring of men exists
through Armenian women's consistent subjugation to widespread and regularized
gender-based violence. In Armenia today, one in four Armenian women is a victim of
domestic violence (Jilozian 2016, 14).
In this thesis project, I will argue that this "nation as family" framework clarifies how
contemporary Armenians explain gender norms that have resulted in the widespread
normalization of gender-based violence in Armenia today. I will contend that the
Armenian culture's commitment to the "nation as family" and the "Armenian family" as
irreplaceable parts of Armenian identity creates the perception of an indestructible unit,
and that any threat to this identity is met with great fear and disdain. In order to
demonstrate this, I will rely heavily on the widespread fear that has surrounded
Armenia's recently passed domestic violence law.