Senior Theses & Projects

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    3D Imaging of Transparent Biological Specimens with Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy
    (2019) Veron Ferreira, Francisco; Ganapati, Vidya
    Imaging biological samples comes with a unique set of challenges. One of those challenges is accounting for the thickness of the samples, requiring us to use three-dimensional imaging techniques. Due to their low refractive index, light usually passes thought these biological samples. This allows us to get information from the samples in the form of light, through methods such as Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy (FPM) and phase-contrast microscopy. This opens a world of possibilities for different model and algorithm designs to tackle the problem of 3D imaging. In this work, we optimize over an implementation of Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy for a multislice forward model in order to obtain marginal gains in intensity and phase contrast that result in significant improvements to the outcome intensity and phase images.
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    À l’Intersection du spatial et du social : Une Étude de l’urbanisme colonial dans Paris et Alger
    (2022) Brown, Sophie; Robison, Christopher
    « Je comprends qu’on ait hésité devant ce projet radical » (82). Cette citation, tirée des Mémoires (1890) de Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891) sur la modernisation de Paris qu’il a exécutée, indique comment il se sentait au bord d’un projet qui consistait à construire une nouvelle rue pour connecter le quartier de l’Odéon et la Rue d’Enfer, en passant par le Palais du Luxembourg – une entreprise énorme pour faciliter une faculté élevée de déplacement. Le sujet d’une lutte politique compliquée depuis 1790, ce projet était certes nécessaire mais difficile à compléter à cause de sa taille et de son coût exorbitant. Son approbation en 1858 a donc été suivie par un débat que Haussmann a gagné (85). En fin de compte, la rue était complétée, mais cet extrait des Mémoires est représentatif du rôle que Haussmann – et son supérieur, Napoléon III (1808-1873) – a joué dans la modernisation de Paris, capitale de l’empire colonial français, un processus aujourd’hui appelé l’Haussmannisation, qui a commencé en 1852.
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    á/a and de/de In French and Spanish
    (1990) McHugh, Emily; Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-
    This thesis is a comparative analytical study of the prepositions a/a and de/de in French and Spanish respectively. I have chosen these prepositions due to their extensive semantic ranges and because they possess the greatest number of syntactic uses as compared with other prepositions. It is important to state that this thesis is by no means an exhaustive study of aid, nor does it attempt to be, however it should serve as a survey of the varying environments in which aid appear. Since spoken language serves as the most accurate representation of the current trend of language, the data I have chosen for analysis come from spoken language and reference is made to the written language solely for the purpose of making distinctions. The written language often reflects archaisms which might also be classified with elevated speech which stands in contrast to what is ordinarily said. The two main sections of the thesis are: 1) the historical background of the preposition, which will include its Greek influence into Latin, the two classes of prepositions, the function of the preposition, the debate over category identification, the Latin ancestors of aid, and various influences on preposition selection - the choice of a particular preposition over another and the amount of arbitrariness involved; and 2) the presentation of compiled data for analysis and discussion based on the system employed by Maria Luisa LOpez in her Problemas y Metodos en el Antilisis de Preposiciones . I will also pay special attention to idioms and to verbs which. have a pronominal and non-pronominal counterparts [e.g., se decider d/ decider de (Fr) & decidirse a / decidir (Sp)]. The Spanish personal accusative empty a will also be examined. At the end of the thesis I will present the statistical results of the questionnaire used to test data on informants and how these results contributed to my generalizations and provided ideas for future research.
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    An account of the morpho-phonology of English personal initialed nicknames: orthography enters the constraint hierarchy
    (2003) Smith, Susannah E.; Swingle, Kari
    This thesis will investigate the patterns of initialed-nicknaming in English. I shall claim that this process is another example of phonology depending on orthography. Nicknames have a very wide range of forms and derivations. Even dismissing those nicknames which are not formed from the subject's original name, we observe great diversity: Jonathans throughout the English-speaking world commonly go by Jack, John, Johnny, Jacko, Jackie, John-John, J, or J1. Initialed nicknames like J or JJ and their derivation and distribution will be the focus of this thesis, followed by a brief outlining of work to be done on these forms' treatment in Optimality Theory.
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    Acquiring a Common Dialect: The speech of military brats
    (2001) Tyson, Jennifer; Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-
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    Acquisition of Numerosity in One English-Spanish Bilingual Child: A Case Study
    (2021) Lepeska-True, Julian; Riestenberg, Kate
    This paper analyzes the development of numerosity in one English-Spanish bilingual two-year old. Using three of Wynn’s 1992 number experiments that have shaped the field of children’s number-learning, I compare my subject’s results to those found in Wynn’s original paper as well as studies that have since used her same methods, especially Wagner’s 2015 work with English-Spanish bilingual children. For this study, a series of sessions was conducted over a two-month span, and then another series of sessions happened after a two-month break. Between these two series, my subject showed a jump in ability that is common amongst children during the numerosity-learning process. At each of these stages, I explored whether my subject’s experience mirrored that of a typical number-learning process. Specifically, results of previous studies predicted that my subject would progress through specific stages in his number-learning process –– starting with being a one-knower, to a two-knower, to a three-knower, and eventually to a cardinal principle knower. Results of previous studies also suggested that my subject would learn his early numbers, one, two, and three, separately in each of his languages. Finally, it is expected that, once a child shows knowledge of the cardinal principle in one of his languages, he will jump to that same level of knowledge in his other language(s), “skipping” expected number-learning stages. I found that my subject generally mirrored these patterns, with some variation based on his age and specific number-learning process. Overall, this case study offers an opportunity to test whether results from previous group studies are replicated for one bilingual child as well as to gain more in-depth insights about this child’s acquisition of numerosity.
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    The Acquisition of Syntax: An Overview and a Case Study of L2 Japanese
    (2008) Black, Rebecca; Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-
    Is it possible to reset our intuitions about sentence structure when learning a new language? Many differences between languages, such as word order differences, are thought to arise from different parameter settings. The questions of whether, to what extent, and how learners of new languages can acquire the parameter settings of the new language are widely debated, with many competing theories advanced. After providing an overview of the Principles, and Parameters framework and its significance in the study of second language acquisition, I outline a Minimalist view of parameters and word order variations. I then turn to theories of second language acquisition, summarizing and discussing competing theories about the initial state, the process of parameter resetting (or lack thereof), and the final state. In the end I argue for a theory that incorporates transfer from the first language and the possibility of parameter resetting in some form. However, the precise process by which parameter resetting may take place in second language acquisition, and the differences from the process of first language acquisition, remain unclear; no falsifiable theory fits all the data convincingly. Finally, I present and analyze my own data collected from students of Japanese at Swarthmore College. I argue that my data shows evidence of first language transfer, as well as the influence of non-linguistic cognitive strategies in second language learning. I suggest some possibilities for future research to begin to address some of the remaining questions. In deepening our understanding of the process of learning new languages, we can both add to and refine our theories of syntax and neurolinguistics, and better equip ourselves to teach language effectively.
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    Adaptation of a Viking Boat
    (2021) Rich, Leia; Strachan, Megan; Everbach, Carr
    This project is focused on the simulation and adaptation of a Viking boat. Using the Danish Viking Museum’s open-source plans from the Gislinge Boat Project, we constructed a two-thirds scale of the boat and adapted the construction to fit budget and time constraints, as well as our personal skill levels. The finished adaptation was tested in Ware Pool and was able to support up to five people. The boat had a high Reynold’s number and low drag coefficient for two and five occupants, thus demonstrating the design of the boat results in good stability and speed. This project demonstrates how to adapt a boat from centuries ago using modern materials and methods, as well as giving more perspective on how well the boat functions.
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    Adverbs of Quantitication in Public Health Surveys
    (2019) Guadalupe, Jason; Fernald, Theodore B.; Huang, Shizhe
    This thesis examines the function of adverbs of quantification through a comparison of questions found in two public health surveys, the data collected from each survey, and the subsequent allocations of healthcare resources and focus on specific areas in the medical field. After examining the types of questions present in the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) survey and the US Household Food Security Scale Module (HFSSM), I conclude that each of the surveys utilizes adverbs of quantification differently in their questions. The ACE survey's main objective is to establish the psychological impacts of childhood trauma, so while the possible answers may be linguistically vague, the survey collects important data to inform mental health professionals about how to treat patients. The HFSSM establishes more specific possible answers to create a scale of food security that can be nationally applied and assist the US government in allocating resources to fight food insecurity. I argue that survey authors would benefit from focused, basic linguistics training or a linguistic advisor to help write questions that avoid presuppositions and implicit restrictions, and help researchers collect the most helpful data possible.
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    Affirmations From “Home”: The Role of Relational Counterspaces in the Success of Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates in STEM
    (2022) Edziah, Amy-Ann; Smulyan, Lisa; Vollmer, Amy Cheng
    Why Study Persistence and Attrition in Underrepresented Minorities in College Biology? When I took my first steps on campus as a freshman, I had no intention of majoring in education at all. I had never seriously considered education as a field of study or as a career I could pursue, but as a product of an inner-city public school system, the aspect of education I had always been attuned to was the inequity in the experiences of students like myself compared to the students of the suburban public schools and the private schools, many of whom would be my classmates in college. When I got to my first STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) course at Swarthmore, it was glaringly obvious that I would spend the next 4 years being “one of the only” in more ways than one. As a Black, non-male, low-income student of biology, I naturally found myself asking why there were so few people who shared my identities in the courses and the department as a whole. As I processed hearing many of my Black femme peers express that the intro biology courses had killed their joy for the subject and watching some drop the courses and change their academic trajectories, I also found myself balancing my own love for the subject and the reality that, honestly speaking, biology at Swarthmore was not treating me well. It felt like I was always struggling—struggling to understand, struggling to be seen, and ultimately failing to see the justification of my struggle. We could all agree, my friends and I, that things were harder than they should be and we weren’t to blame. My decision to pursue biology and education was born of my desire to approach what was clearly a systemic issue from a critical pedagogical perspective. What was it about the structure, the content, the landscape of college biology, Swarthmore biology in particular, that made so many underrepresented students feel the same way?
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    African American Language Styles in Afrocentric Schools
    (2004) Josephs, Keisha M.; Harrison, K. David
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    The Aggregation and Liquid Crystal Properties of Bordeaux Dye
    (2007) Tomasik, Michelle; Collings, Peter J., 1947-
    This paper explores the liquid crystal and aggregation properties of Bordeaux Dye along with a more general theory of aggregation. Common properties of chromonic liquid crystal systems have been expounded upon and re-evaluated. X-ray data were used to find the aggregate's cross-sectional area, which was compared to that of a single molecule to show that the structure of the aggregates is more complicated than a single-molecule stack. Theoretical aggregate size calculations show that it is important to account for the rotational partition function term, and these aggregate size distributions, along with a simple function found by exploring exciton theory, allow us to analyze the absorption coefficient verses concentration data to find the stacking free energy. A phase diagram for this molecule has also been produced and is compared to those of other chromonic systems.
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    Aggregation of Benzopurpurin 4B
    (2009) McKitterick, Chris
    Benzopurpurin 4B (BPP) is a textile dye that has been studied in the Liquid Crystal Laboratory at Swarthmore College over the last two years. Previous investigations have utilized the commercially available impure material. One of the goals of this study was to use a purified sample of BPP to establish a phase diagram. The impurity was previously determined to be salt, and so purification was achieved through dialysis. Once purified, the liquid crystal transition of different concentrations of BPP in water was examined by monitoring the optical retardation of the sample as the temperature was increased from below room temperature to up to 95°C. The other portion of the work involved determining the dependence of the absorption coefficient on concentration and imaging the aggregates in the system with a confocal microscope. Absorption coefficient measurements were taken on very dilute samples of BPP using a spectrophotometer. The phase diagram produced showed that the liquid crystal phase forms at much lower concentrations than in other chromonic systems. This suggests that the aggregates of BPP may form differently than those of most other chromonic liquid crystals. The absorption spectrum showed a smooth development with concentration, indicative of a gradual and continuous aggregation process as is characteristic of chromonic liquid crystals. Images taken with the confocal microscope over several weeks suggest that the aggregation process occurs very slowly. Using these images, the length of BPP aggregates was estimated to be between 3 and 5 microns initially, but after a longer period of time the aggregates reached lengths over 10 microns. The diameter of the aggregates was estimated to be no greater than 140 nanometers. A more precise measurement could not be achieved since the aggregate diameter lies well below the resolution of the confocal microscope.
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    Aggregation Properties of the Chromonic Liquid Crystal Benzopurpurin 4B
    (2007) Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel; Collings, Peter J., 1947-
    Unlike solids, which have both positional and orientation order, and liquids, which have no molecular organization, liquid crystals have have a degree of orientation order while still flowing like liquids. This unusual combination of properties makes them especially useful in technological applications. In certain lyotropic liquid crystals, molecular aggregates forming in solution orient along the same axis rather than individual molecules themselves. We studied this aggregation process in the chromonic liquid crystal Benzopurpurin 4B (BPP), a textile dye. In order to study the process of aggregation, we used dynamic light scattering on a range of different solutions to determine aggregate size and shape, the concentration needed for aggregate formation, and their response when heated. Results indicate that large anisotropic aggregates form in solution starting in the 0.11-0.12 wt% concentration range, but then grow in size as the concentration is increased. This type of aggregation behavior differs from other chromonic liquid crystals in that aggregation only begins above a certain concentration. On the other hand, amphiphillic aggregates, which also form only above certain concentration, do not grow in size. Therefore, BPP behaves differently than both more typical chromonic aggregates and amphiphillic systems. Since BPP comes with several different salt impurities, we developed a purification process using dialysis to obtain solutions of pure BPP. By reintroducing sodium salts in known concentrations and making phase measurements at different temperatures, we determined the salt effects on the formation of aggregates. Results for BPP paralelled a similar study [12] on disodium chromogylcate, with the addition of salt increasing the temperatures at which the liquid crystal phase can exist. Given the differences in aggregation behavior between these two compounds, these findings contribute to a more general understanding of how salt effects chromonic aggregation.
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    Aglab Khazad: The Secret Language of Tolkien's Dwarves
    (2015) Amram, Tess; Fernald, Theodore B.
    J. R. R. Tolkien, best known for his epic works of high fantasy fiction, is also famous for his experimentation in constructed languages. By far his most complex and best-represented languages are those he assigned to his Elves. However, there are snippets from many other constructed languages in his works, all with varying levels of detail and analysis. One such language is Khuzdul, the language of Tolkien's Dwarves. It is poorly represented in Tolkien's works and writings, as the Dwarves kept it secret, barely using it around non-Dwarvish characters and even less frequently providing translations. What data exists, however, provides the basis for a larger language, known as Neo-Khuzdul, used in Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth film trilogies. This paper will provide a linguistic analysis of Neo-Khuzdul and, by extension, Khuzdul itself. I will first provide an overview of what data exists in both sources, text and film, with a brief analysis of each. Then I will provide more in-depth analysis of Neo-Khuzdul in several linguistic areas: I will start with a morphological analysis, looking at both NONCONCATENATIVE MORPHOLOGY, or the way words are formed and given meaning through internal structure, and CONCATENATIVE MORPHOLOGY, or prefixes and suffixes; next, I will look at the syntactic structure of the language; and finally, I will analyze the phonological system of the language and propose several phonetic changes drawn from the data. I will end with a sociolinguistic discussion of what we can glean of Dwarvish culture from its use of language. Overall, I hope this paper will be of interest to linguists, those interested in constructed languages, and those interested in learning more about Tolkien's literary world.
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    Akan vowel harmony
    (2004) O'Keefe, Michael; Harrison, K. David
    Akan, a Ghanaian language in the Kwa subbranch of the Niger-Congo family~ exhibits a robust system of vmvel harmony for tongue root position. Much of the research on Akan has also posited the existence of a system for rounding harmony as well. In this thesis, I argue that both systems are well-attested and highly consistent. First, I demonstrate that it is possible to produce a coherent, consistent description of Akan vowel harmony. I then examine the pa tterns of harmony and demonstrate that it is easily understood when its different domains - stems, prefixes, and suffixes - are examined independently. Based on this information, it is possible to demonstrate that tongue root harmony applies universally, while rounding harmony occurs directional! y. After fully describing the harmony system, I take a preliminary look at an Optimality Theory account. I compare and contrast Stem Control and Agreement theory, as proposed by Bakovic (2003), andAligrunent theory, as modeled by Akinlabi (1997). On evaluation of the data, I demonstrate that Alignment explains a larger portion of the Akan data, but that Stem Control has some interesting implications for dealing with "irregular" forms. This thesis is organized as follows: In chapter 1, I give a general overview of work on Akan phonology and, on Akan orthography and vowels. In chapter 2, I give a systematic, organized description of the vowel harmony system based on the published literature. In chapter 3, I expand on this framework using data coLee ted from speakers, Chapter 4 prese; Optimality Theoretic approaches to VC)wel harmony, Chapter 5 evaluates the effe, the theories with respect to Akan data.
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    Alternative Actuators for Braille Devices
    (2014) Mubvuma, Tinashe Harry; Molter, Lynne
    Affordable Braille actuators were designed, STL printed and tested for functionality, for the purpose of creating full page refreshable Braille display and stand-alone Braille devices such as calculators. Mechanical actuators with a cam-and-follower assembly were found to be suitable for this project; and a non-scientific calculator was designed to implement these actuators. The calculator built for this project is controlled by an Arduino board, has a five character display-grid, 19 input buttons and a linear positioning system to traverse solenoids through the cam-and-follower arrays for activating the Braille pins.
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