Make \u27Em Laugh: Examining the Role of Humor in Dance

As a dancer, choreographer, and naturally sarcastic person, humor has always been a tool that I recognize and appreciate. I was specifically drawn to the role of humor in dance choreography and performance when I was responsible for creating my own dance works, and I realized the complexity behind making even the simplest joke in dance. This thesis explores humor, from its biological and psychological origins in our brains, to an evaluation of what constitutes “humor” (in past and present American society), to a discussion on how to create humor within dance using the traditionally defined elements of choreography. Contained in this discussion, I also review examples of different types of humor in dance, noting how each has achieved comedic success through different approaches. Finally, my research into this topic comes back to my own practical application, through an analysis of my choreography, and how I created (or attempted to create) comedy through movement

An Evaluation of a Supportive Mentoring Program for Teenagers At-Risk of Homelessness: Effects on Academic Performance and Psychosocial Functioning in a Pilot Study

This study investigates the impact of homelessness on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning and academic performance and explores the efficacy of mentoring programs as a potential intervention. This study aims to examine the potential of mentoring programs to improve the overall well-being of adolescents at risk of homelessness. Homelessness is often linked with negative outcomes in areas such as mental health, social functioning, and academic achievement. Therefore, this study seeks to understand whether mentoring programs can help mitigate these negative effects and promote positive outcomes in these areas. Quantitative assessments, utilizing pre-test and post-test measures, were employed to collect data from a sample of homeless adolescents, allowing for the evaluation of changes in outcomes over time. Participants’ psychosocial functioning, academic performance, and experiences with mentoring programs were assessed. Results revealed that adolescents experiencing homelessness exhibited higher psychosocial functioning and academic performance during the post-test following the implementation of the mentoring intervention. The study concludes that mentoring programs serve as a valuable intervention in addressing the negative consequences of homelessness on psychosocial functioning and academic performance among adolescents

Chaos, Complexity, and Random Matrices

Chaos and complexity entail an entropic and computational obstruction to describing a system, and thus are intrinsically difficult to characterize. In this paper, we consider time evolution by Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE) Hamiltonians and analytically compute out-of-time-ordered correlation functions (OTOCs) and frame potentials to quantify scrambling, Haar-randomness, and circuit complexity. While our random matrix analysis gives a qualitatively correct prediction of the late-time behavior of chaotic systems, we find unphysical behavior at early times including an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ scrambling time and the apparent breakdown of spatial and temporal locality. The salient feature of GUE Hamiltonians which gives us computational traction is the Haar-invariance of the ensemble, meaning that the ensemble-averaged dynamics look the same in any basis. Motivated by this property of the GUE, we introduce $k$-invariance as a precise definition of what it means for the dynamics of a quantum system to be described by random matrix theory. We envision that the dynamical onset of approximate $k$-invariance will be a useful tool for capturing the transition from early-time chaos, as seen by OTOCs, to late-time chaos, as seen by random matrix theory.Comment: 61 pages, 14 figures; v2: references added, typos fixe

Who Maketh the Clouds His Chariot: The Comparative Method and the Mythopoetical Motif of Cloud-Riding in Psalm 104 and the Epic of Baal

Alleging parallels between Scripture and other ancient Near Eastern texts has always been a matter of controversy. The controversy has resulted from criticism of the comparative method by those who accuse its users of being overly simplistic or reckless when applying their particular approaches to the texts. This recklessness has resulted in alleged connections that are now considered very loose, unjustified, and harmful to the context of Scripture. In order to avoid the dreaded parallelomania that has resulted from hasty conclusions in comparative studies, it is necessary to approach alleged comparative units in a more concrete fashion, synthesizing the best of past approaches and cautiously utilizing those approaches when arriving at conclusions. The comparative element under discussion in this paper is that of divine cloud-riding, and the texts under consideration are Psalm 104:3 and the Ugaritic Epic of Baal. Both the Hebrew Bible and the Ugaritic texts describe Yahweh/Baal as a rider of the clouds. The mythopoetical motif of cloud-riding can be seen in many ancient Near Eastern texts where a storm god races through the heavens on his or her angelic cloud-chariot. This is true also of portions of the Hebrew Bible that describe Yahweh as one who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind (Ps 104:3). Since Ugarit is, in literature, Israel\u27s most significant Canaanite neighbor, it becomes a matter of interest when Baal is called repeatedly the Rider of the Clouds in his respective texts. Is there a legitimate parallel between the Yahwistic motif of cloud-riding and the northern Canaanite expression Rider of the Clouds ? If so, what is to be made of this parallel and what were the psalmist\u27s intentions by including Baal-like language in his description of Yahweh

Essays on the Impacts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

This dissertation consists of three chapters, each of which provides causal evidence on the impacts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in a distinct, policy-relevant area. The first chapter provides evidence of SNAP’s effects on the food retail industry. I combine data on SNAP participation, industry-specific retailer outcomes, and state SNAP expansions from 1998 to 2016. To address the endogeneity of SNAP participation, I employ a novel simulated eligibility instrumental variables framework exploiting variation in state SNAP eligibility expansions. I find that higher SNAP participation leads firms to operate more stores in industries where benefits are typically accepted, especially smaller general stores – a category dominated by dollar and discount stores. The second chapter provides evidence of SNAP’s effects on Medicaid enrollment and spending. I combine state-level information on SNAP eligibility expansions, SNAP participation, and Medicaid enrollment and spending from 1999 to 2012. I summarize diverse SNAP eligibility expansions through a novel simulated eligibility measure. I find that SNAP expansions increase Medicaid enrollment and decrease Medicaid spending per enrollee, suggesting that SNAP participation lowers barriers to enrollment in Medicaid for groups who cost lower on average to cover. The third chapter provides evidence of SNAP’s effects on mortality during its introduction in the “War on Poverty” era. SNAP was introduced as the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on a county-by-county basis from 1961 to 1975. I combine county-level information on the timing of FSP introduction with death counts from 1969 to 1978. I estimate the impacts of the FSP’s introduction on various mortality rates over time, including the overall mortality rate, population subgroup-specific rates, and cause-specific rates. I find that, among a subsample of high-poverty counties where the program’s introduction is likely to have a larger impact, the FSP reduced mortality over time. This effect was largely driven by reductions in the black, male, and age 0-19 mortality rates

SOMEWHERE by Paloma Vidal

Translated from the Portuguese by Jordan B. Jones

Mental Health & Drugs; A Map of the Mind

The practice of physical medicine underwent a sea change at the turn of the 20th century, but the management of mental disorders stayed much the same as it had been since Rome. New names have been coined for disorders, and synthetic drugs are advertised as a solution to every problem, but the causes are still largely unknown and, although spontaneous remission can occur, there are no cures. This review of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment from Rome to the 21st century offers a rationale to support the classic (and still current) classification of disorders. It offers a method of distinguishing the major kinds of disorders and suggests when the prescription of psychoactive drugs may—or may not—be appropriate

Stationary components of HeI in strong magnetic fields - a tool to identify magnetic DB white dwarfs

In only three of the 61 known magnetic white dwarfs helium has been identified unambiguously while about 20% of all non-magnetic stars of this class are known to contain HeI or HeII. Until recently, data for HeI data were available only for magnetic fields below 20MG. This changed with the publication of extensive data by the group in Heidelberg. The corresponding calculations have now been completed for the energetically lowest five states of singlet and triplet symmetry for the subspaces with |m| <= 3; selected calculations have been performed for even higher excitations. In strongly magnetized white dwarfs only line components are visible whose wavelengths vary slowly with respect to the magnetic field, particularly stationary components which have a wavelength minimum or maximum in the range of the magnetic fields strengths on the stellar surface. In view of the many ongoing surveys finding white dwarfs we want to provide the astronomical community with a tool to identify helium in white dwarfs for fields up to 5.3GG. To this end we present all calculated helium line components whose wavelengths in the UV, optical, and near IR vary slowly enough with respect to the field strength to produce visible absorption features. We also list all stationary line components in this spectral range. Finally, we find series of minima and maxima which occur as a result of series of extremal transitions to increasingly higher excitations. We estimated the limits for 8 series which can possibly give rise to additional absorption in white dwarf spectra; one strong absorption feature in GD229 which is yet unexplained by stationary components is very close to two estimated series limits.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysic