Dean's Seminar Series
Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/21015
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Item Shakespeare and the Question(Indiana University South Bend, 2019-03) Chaney, Joseph R. (Joseph Raymond)Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" speech (a soliloquy, really) comes, in a certain sense, out of nowhere. It is strange and unusual in several ways. At the same time, because it begins with the most familiar line in Shakespeare's plays, we have the sense that we already know what it means. In this talk I will slow down our reading of this famous passage in order to pay attention to the significance of the phrasing in the context of early modern thought. This attention and questioning will defamiliarize our experience of Shakespeare's most memorable line, rendering it readable as a radical break of historical significance. Although in general we have no clear conception of why the line is important, we feel that it is; and I'll try to explain why we do and why it is.Item The Role of Urban Landscapes in Conservation Ecology(Indiana University South Bend, 2019-02-15) Marr, DeborahWhether a plant is native or non-native has dramatic effects on the animals and microbes that can survive in a particular area. Native plants refer to those that originated in the place where found (not introduced by humans) and non-native plants refer to those that have been introduced by humans to an area outside of its original range. The specificity of these species interactions is largely due to the unique chemistry of each plant species and the evolution of the species involved in the interaction. I will share several research projects that we have done with undergraduates exploring plant-insect and plant-fungal interactions. I will connect this research to ongoing campus projects including the campus wetland restoration and the roles that urban landscapes have in supporting biodiversity, and improving air and water quality.Item The Effects of State Delinquent Tax Collection Outsourcing on Administrative Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Procedural Fairness(Indiana University South Bend, 2019-01-18) Sungkyu, JangSince the 1980s, state governments have been using private debt collection agencies as facilitators and expediters in the delinquent tax collection process. The use of private collection agencies incorporates administrative effectiveness, efficiency, and procedural fairness, which can lead to an increase in revenues without affecting either the tax base or rate while protecting taxpayers. Using state-level panel data for the years 2000 to 2011, the administrative effectiveness outcome is that private collectors do not reduce the aggregate delinquent tax inventory, but the administrative efficiency outcome is that private collectors reduce collection cost. For procedural fairness, private collectors have a positive effect on the number of tax appeals filed in a state tax department with a Republican governor; however, they decrease the number of tax appeals filed with an outside-independent tax appeal agency.Item Bernstein Polynomial Model--Redefining Nonparametric Statistics and Nonparametric Models(Indiana University South Bend, 2018-10-19) Guan, ZhongTraditionally statisticians thought that nonparametrically estimating quantities such as density function needs no model specification, i.e., a nonparametric density model simply means any nonnegative function f(x) with integral equal to one. However, in this case for any x with f(x)>0, the information for f(x) is zero (see Bickel, et.al. 1998). Ibragimov and Hasminskii (1982) also showed that no such nonparametric model even with some smoothness assumptions for which this information is positive. Therefore such ``nonparametric model'' is not useful and not even a model because it specifies almost nothing. Therefore, properly reducing the infinite dimensional parameter to a finite dimensional one is necessary. A working finite dimensional nonparametric density model is also necessary to apply the maximum likelihood method which, as well known, usually gives the most efficient estimate. Bernstein polynomial model (Guan, 2016, 2017) is the first such approximate finite dimensional nonparametric model. Using this model, we can obtain density estimate that enjoys an almost parametric rate of convergence and is much better than the traditional kernel density estimate.Item Early French Environmentalists(Indiana University South Bend, 2016-10-21) Nilsen, MichelineFrance is usually considered to have responded to environmental concerns later than other European countries. However, forest and water management was a primary concerns for the pre-Revolutionary monarchy. After the Revolution, a School of Forestry was founded in 1824 and a post-Napoleonic forest code promulgated in 1827. A number of figures active during the Paris Commune of 1871 and in France’s colonial territorial management published environment-related writings. After World War II, two naturalists were active participants in the work of an international community of scientists striving to bring environmental matters to the foreground. This work eventually led to the creation of a Ministry of the Environment in 1971, and the development of a Green political faction. Although France’s environmental thinking developed differently from that of Anglo-Saxon countries, a steady track record of environmental thinking reveals a country conscious of man’s impact on an ecologically compromised planet.Item Is Cannabis Preventative Medicine? The Impact of Marijuana Use on Physical Health.(Indiana University South Bend, 2018-04-20) Clark, Thomas M.Cannabis appears to have been one of the first domesticated plants, appearing with humans at the dawn of Western civilization. It is currently illegal in Indiana and at the federal level, but many states have legalized medical use and a growing list of states have legalized adult use for any purpose. In this emerging legal environment, one of the main concerns of potential medical and recreational users is the long-term health impact of Cannabis use. My research has revealed that evidence for a net increase in rates of premature death from any cause due to Cannabis use is weak. Instead, moderate, adult Cannabis use reduces the risk of premature death and disability from multiple causes. Health benefits of moderate Cannabis use include reduced rates of obesity and cancer, reduced use of more harmful pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, and alcohol, and protection of the brain from trauma, neurodegenerative diseases, and neurotoxins. A theory explaining the physiological mechanisms leading to the observed reduction in obesity rates Cannabis users will be proposed and supported. Finally, the origins of prohibition as a weapon of white supremacy, and its contribution to mass incarceration and voter disenfranchisement, will be explored.