Movies, Memory, and Millennials: How Modern Films Have Influenced the Holocaust

This thesis analyzes how modern Holocaust films affect what millennials know and learn about the Holocaust. In a world that is so technology driven, more and more millennials are turning to alternative methods of learning about a topic - this includes watching films. This thesis looks at how Holocaust films have changed since the late 1940s, and how films have grown less historically accurate. Overall, this thesis sees what millennials learn about the Holocaust through these films

Robert William Davidson (1904-1982)

Biographical entryBiography of Herron Alumni, Robert William Davidson, Indiana artist and sculptor and teacher at Skidmore College, New York

Effects of Patch Burning and Grazing Exotic-Grass Monocultures on Northern Bobwhite Habitat and Productivity

Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is an invasive, exotic grass that threatens biodiversity and wildlife habitat throughout the southwest. This is especially true for northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus). Bobwhite populations have decreased over the past century because of a loss in habitat and usable space. Use of exotic grass monocultures by quail tends to be limited to edges adjacent to woody plant communities. We evaluated if creating a mosaic of small prescribed burns followed by intense cattle grazing in exotic-grass monocultures will increase usable space for bobwhites and increase bobwhite abundance in La Salle County, Texas. We randomly assigned a patch burn-graze treatment to 2,200-ha pastures dominated by buffelgrass and randomly selected 2 experimental controls (grazing only) to 2,200-ha pastures. We burned patches totaling 25% of each pasture in January 2010 and allowed grazing after burned grass reached 15 cm in height. Grazing intensity (standing crop removal) was sampled in June and August 2010. Patch-burning and grazing resulted in more heterogeneity in standing crop of buffelgrass (P , 0.001). Bobwhites appeared to use exotic grass monocultures in burned patches with a greater abundance of native forbs and woody plants during the first year of study. Bobwhites avoided areas where there was no native vegetation, and their abundance was closely associated with brushy riparian areas (P 1⁄4 0.09). There were no differences (P . 0.05) in bobwhite abundance between treatment and control pastures. Severe drought during the first year of study may have affected the results

The Effects of Aeration on Phytoplankton Community Composition and Primary Production in Stormwater Detention Ponds near Myrtle Beach, SC

Stormwater detention ponds are a common approach to managing stormwater runoff in coastal South Carolina. While effective at preventing flooding, they can be sites of intense phytoplankton blooms that result from excess nutrients inputs. This can lead to water quality degradation within ponds from oxygen depletion, fish kills, health concerns from harmful algal blooms (HABs), and water quality deterioration in adjacent coastal waters when pond discharges. The most common management practice to rid the ponds of excess phytoplankton biomass is the addition of copper-based algaecides. While temporarily effective, these algaecides require regular re-application and lead to artificial cycles of productivity and decomposition within the ponds. The installation of water column aerators (fountains or bubblers) have been proposed as an alternative to control phytoplankton biomass by breaking down thermal stratification and oxygenating the bottom waters which could promote benthic nutrient sequestration and enhance denitrification. The use and effectiveness of aerators has never been researched in the shallow ponds typical of coastal South Carolina. For this thesis, a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design was used to quantify the effects of aeration on water quality in stormwater ponds near Myrtle Beach, SC. Sets of two ponds in two residential developments were sampled for nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, community composition, and rates of primary productivity over two years. Aerators were installed in one pond of each pair after the first year. We hypothesized that aeration would 1) increase bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations and thereby increase nutrient retention in sediments and enhance nitrification leading to reduction in water column nutrients and phytoplankton biomass; and 2) increased mixing would shift phytoplankton community composition from potentially harmful cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates towards a community dominated by diatoms. While aeration did enhance mixing and bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations, overall it had no significant effect on nutrient concentrations, rates of primary productivity, phytoplankton biomass or significantly alter phytoplankton community composition. This research has important implications for developing best management practices and improving coastal water quality in South Carolina as all of these ponds flow directly or indirectly into the coastal zone and are thus potential sources of both chemical and biological pollutants

The N400 as an Index of Racial Stereotype Accessibility

The current research examined the viability of the N400, an event-related potential (ERP) related to the detection of semantic incongruity, as an index of both stereotype accessibility and interracial prejudice. Participants’ EEG was recorded while they completed a sequential priming task, in which negative or positive, stereotypically black (African American) or white (Caucasian American) traits followed the presentation of either a black or white face acting as a prime. ERP examination focused on the N400, but additionally examined N100 and P200 reactivity. Replicating and extending previous N400 stereotype research, results indicated that the N400 can indeed function as an index of stereotype accessibility in an interracial domain, as greater N400 reactivity was elicited by trials in which the face prime was incongruent with the target trait than when primes and traits matched. Furthermore, N400 activity was moderated by participants’ self-reported explicit bias. More explicitly biased participants demonstrated greater N400 reactivity to stereotypically white traits following black faces than black traits following black faces. P200 activity was additionally associated with participants’ implicit biases, as more implicitly biased participants similarly demonstrated greater P200 reactivity to stereotypically white traits following black faces than black traits following black faces

A Comparison of Approaches to Pianoforte Technique in the Treatises of Lhevinne, Leimer, and Neuhaus

Throughout the history of piano playing as an art form, various performers, teachers, and theorists have written treatises as a means of conveying their thoughts on interpretation, education, and technique. As the Romantic tradition of pianism peaked in the early- to mid-20th century, three particular treatises were written that continue to have a major impact upon pianistic thought. These were Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing by Josef Lhevinne, Piano Technique by Karl Leimer, and The Art of Piano Playing by Heinrich Neuhaus. Each of these treatises was influential at the time of its publication, and each has remained in publication since. This is primarily due to the notability of each of the individual authors. In their own unique ways, Lhevinne, Leimer, and Neuhaus were leading pianistic figures of their time. While considerable study has been dedicated to these figures and their respective treatises, there has been relatively little crosscomparison, particularly regarding their thoughts on piano technique. This study is designed to address this paucity of research, and aims to serve as a guide for performers and teachers who wish to more deeply understand the technical thoughts of these three crucial figures. This dissertation consists of six chapters and a bibliography. Chapter one provides an overview of the historical context of these treatises, and also contains the purpose and need for the study, limitations, related literature, and methodology. Chapter two focuses upon the respective authors’ thoughts on the larger mechanisms of piano playing, including the upper arm and forearm, as well as general considerations regarding posture. Chapter three addresses the wrist. Chapter four addresses the hands and fingers. Chapter five focuses upon the mental component of piano technique, including the more esoteric thoughts of the three authors. Chapter six offers deeper comparisons between the treatises, as well as a conclusion and suggestions for further research

Within-person variability in men's facial width-to-height ratio

Background. In recent years, researchers have investigated the relationship between facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR) and a variety of threat and dominance behaviours. The majority of methods involved measuring FWHR from 2D photographs of faces. However, individuals can vary dramatically in their appearance across images, which poses an obvious problem for reliable FWHR measurement. Methods. I compared the effect sizes due to the differences between images taken with unconstrained camera parameters (Studies 1 and 2) or varied facial expressions (Study 3) to the effect size due to identity, i.e., the differences between people. In Study 1, images of Hollywood actors were collected from film screenshots, providing the least amount of experimental control. In Study 2, controlled photographs, which only varied in focal length and distance to camera, were analysed. In Study 3, images of different facial expressions, taken in controlled conditions, were measured. Results. Analyses revealed that simply varying the focal length and distance between the camera and face had a relatively small effect on FWHR, and therefore may prove less of a problem if uncontrolled in study designs. In contrast, when all camera parameters (including the camera itself) are allowed to vary, the effect size due to identity was greater than the effect of image selection, but the ranking of the identities was significantly altered by the particular image used. Finally, I found significant changes to FWHR when people posed with four of seven emotional expressions in comparison with neutral, and the effect size due to expression was larger than differences due to identity. Discussion. The results of these three studies demonstrate that even when head pose is limited to forward facing, changes to the camera parameters and a person's facial expression have sizable effects on FWHR measurement. Therefore, analysing images that fail to constrain some of these variables can lead to noisy and unreliable results, but also relationships caused by previously unconsidered confounds

Do facial first impressions reflect a shared social reality?

This work was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award to CS [DE 190101043], the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders [CE110001021], and an ARC Discovery Award [DP170104602]. The funding sources had no influence on the research.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin

Perceived femininity and masculinity contribute independently to facial impressions

In person perception research, femininity and masculinity are regularly conceived as 2 ends of 1 bipolar dimension. This unidimensional understanding permeates work on facial impressions, gender diagnosticity, and perceptions of LGBTQ individuals, but it is perhaps most prominent in evolutionary work suggesting that sexually dimorphic facial features (which vary along a female–male continuum) correspond directly with subjective ratings of femininity and masculinity, which in turn predict ratings of traits such as attractiveness. In this paper, we analyze 2 large face databases (the Chicago and Bogazici Face Databases) to demonstrate that femininity and masculinity are distinct dimensions in person perception. We also evaluate key theoretical assumptions surrounding femininity and masculinity in evolutionary theories of face perception. We find that sexually dimorphic features weakly correlate with each other and typically explain just 10–20% of variance in subjective ratings of femininity and masculinity. Femininity and masculinity each explain unique variance in trait ratings of attractiveness, dominance, trustworthiness, and threat. Femininity and masculinity also interact to explain unique variance in these traits, revealing facial androgyny as a novel phenomenon. We propose a new theoretical model explaining the link between biology, facial features, perceived femininity and masculinity, and trait ratings. Our findings broadly suggest that concepts that are "opposites" semantically cannot necessarily be assumed to be psychological opposites

Consensus Enables Accurate Social Judgments

Ubiquitous to theories of social perception is an assumed relationship between an attribute’s (e.g., intelligence) “signal” and judgment accuracy, with accuracy impossible without the presence and consensual use of signal. Yet this foundational assumption remains untested. Our investigation focused on consensus (quantified using intraclass correlations, ICCs), which should suggest signal availability, according to theories of accurate social perception. Study 1 confirmed that judgments of different social attributes exhibit different degrees of consensus. Study 2 specifically tested the consensus → accuracy link, anticipating that social judgments with higher consensus (target ICCs) would show greater judgment accuracy. Using 497,780 judgments of 3,847 targets from 4,162 participants across 45 data sets testing a broad variety of social judgments, we found that consensus moderated the relationship between targets’ self-report and participants’ judgments: Judgment accuracy was higher when consensus was higher. Results show the first empirical support for a foundational assumption of theories of social perception