Spartan Daily, December 3, 1980

Volume 75, Issue 64https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6699/thumbnail.jp

Arms Races and Negotiations

A state which does not desire an arms race may nevertheless acquire new weapons if it believes another state will acquire them. If each state assigns some arbitrarily small probability to the event that the other state has a dominant strategy to acquire more weapons, then a multiplier effect appears, and the unique Bayesian Nash equilibrium involves an arms race with probability one. However, if the prior probability that a player is a dominant strategy type is sufficiently small, then there is an equilibrium of the cheap-talk extension of the arms race game where the probability of an arms race is close to zero.

The Winonan

https://openriver.winona.edu/thewinonan1980s/1045/thumbnail.jp

Video Games and Teen Violence: Is It Related?

A research study was conducted involving parents feedback on whether they felt video games were related to teen violence. Despite technologies efforts to promote computer and video games in a positive mode by focusing on forms such as developing important skills as concentration and problem-solving in children , the violent acts contained in these games are downplayed and basically defended by the makers of the games. Teen violence has escalated in the past several years with the school shootings being in the forefront. The mention of video games and lack of parental supervision has become the focus of this violent behavior, especially among male teenagers. The parents of four public middle schools were surveyed through the assistance of principals and PTA presidents completing a questionnaire pertaining to their thoughts on whether video games were considered violent and if there is an effect on teenagers, both male and female. Data collected supported the thought-process of video games containing violent behavior and this behavior being learned and acted out by those participating in these games. Lack of parental supervision was acknowledged despite parents recognizing the violent content of games. With the government now addressing the possibility of a connection between video games and teen violence, a much needed wake up-call for parents attention has emerged. Through more active parental involvement with children and the supervision of their activities, future problems of violence can possibly be recognized and addressed before the focus of attention is on the negative consequences of the youth of tomorrow

Revenge of the Nerds: Tech Masculinity and Digital Hegemony

Revenge of the Nerds provides a cultural history of the evolution of white nerd masculinities in American culture through interpretations of a wide variety of texts and representations using the methods of literary studies and American studies. The dissertation is organized around four overlapping stages of nerd masculinity based on changes in technology and their effects on culture, as well as white male nerds’ efforts to remain culturally relevant and gain the benefits of being close to hegemonic masculinity. The four nerd types are the computer nerd, the gamer, the gatekeeper nerd, and the maladaptive nerd which reflect the following movement through chronological development: the introduction of computers into the mainstream of American culture, the early years of video gaming culture, the nerds’ cultural power and influence as early adopters of the Internet and the white male nerds’ participation in a backlash against factors like social media which made gaming and Internet cultures more mainstream and diverse. Throughout these changes, white male nerds chased a promise they felt was implied by the adoption of “revenge of the nerds” as an American pop cultural myth, but the nerd identity was constructed in such a way that it would never be perceived as fully congruent with hegemonic American masculinity. Therefore, the identity was based on an insecurity about masculinity, which nerds tried to assuage by being especially aggressive in their pursuit and enforcement of American norms of masculinity

Spartan Daily, May 8, 1981

Volume 76, Issue 67https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6771/thumbnail.jp

From damsel in distress to active agent : female agency in children\u27s and young adult fiction.

This dissertation analyzes the different ways in which female characters in children’s and young adult fiction can claim agency. Using adaptation theory, feminist theory, and theories of agency and autonomy, this project examines how portrayals of female protagonists have changed to accept a multiplicity of strong females, and why we need these different kinds of characters within our culture. Working with the definition of agency as the choices one makes and the subsequent actions she takes, this dissertation examines how female characters from paradigm shifting texts claim agency. Each chapter uses a specific feminist lens to explore literary texts and their film adaptations in order to demonstrate shifting configurations of female agency. Adaptation is important because it creates new meaning through the creation of an adjacent, but distinct text of its own. Therefore female protagonists can claim agency in new and different ways in the film depictions. Each of the four chapters is a specific case study with close readings of specific texts in order to explore the different ways in which women claim agency. Chapter one breaks the Disney princesses into four groups, and uses Simone de Beauvoir’s concepts of dutiful daughter and independent woman, in order to examine how the princess characters have changed and gained agency over time. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s idea of the “angel” versus the “monster” is used in chapter two to examine how fairy tale reboot films allow both the princess and the villainess to both be more complex characters who claim agency. The women of the Harry Potter series are the focus of chapter three, as the chapter explores the varied roles women play and how these women create a postfeminist community. Chapter four looks at Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games series, and through a lens of ecofeminism, how she uses the land to her advantage both save her life and shame the government. The dissertation concludes with a brief look at other texts with more diverse characters, and how diversity needs to be another avenue of study in relation to female agency

Spartan Daily, March 4, 1982

Volume 78, Issue 20https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6862/thumbnail.jp

The Cowl - v.57 - n.17 - Apr. 29, 1993

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 57, Number 17 - April 29, 1993. 24 pages