Vassar College Digital Library

Vassar Scholarship

Vassar Scholarship, the institutional repository formerly known as Digital Window, reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community.  It provides access to a variety of collections, including senior theses and projects across a wide range of disciplines.

Built for speed: strain in the cartilaginous vertebral columns of sharks

Publication Date
2014-February-01
Document Type
Document Type
Abstract

In most bony fishes vertebral column strain during locomotion is almost exclusively in the intervertebral joints, and when these joints move there is the potential to store and release strain energy. Since cartilaginous fishes have poorly mineralized vertebral centra, we...

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Convergence among the U.S. states: Absolute, conditional, or club?

Publication Date
2003-October-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This paper attempts to ascertain which of the convergence hypotheses – absolute, conditional, or club – best describes the economic development of the U.S. states since 1950. We use regression tree analysis to identify convergence clubs among the states and...

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From Nature Sanctuary to "National Dump": A Walk through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Publication Date
2013-January-01
Document Type
Document Type
Abstract

This paper is inspired by the literal intersection of two walking bodies, the hiker and the migrant, in the "Most Dangerous Park In America." In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, located on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, while the National...

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Miss Samoa: Navigating Gender, Politics, and Culture in the National Pageant

Publication Date
2014-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Access Level
Abstract

As a national pageant, Miss Samoa operates as a performative space where notions of gender, politics, and culture are negotiated and transformed. In this thesis, I examine how these concepts operate on an individual, local, and transnational level. Plus, the...

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