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Employment Effect of the Clean Air Act
Get PDFEmployment Effect of the Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act (CAA) was implemented in 1970 with the goal of controlling pollution on a national level to protect public health and general welfare. The CAA amendment in 1977 introduced attainment and non-attainment designations based on the level of pollution in individual counties across the country. Revisions in 1990 aimed to reduce threats from acid rain, urban air pollution, toxic air emissions and stratospheric ozone depletion and strengthened enforcement of regulations based on the original act and its previous amendment. While the Clean Air Act has had noticeable success in terms of air quality and human health, the economic implications have remained ambiguous. We assess the impact of the Clean Air Act on employment in the manufacturing sector in counties in New York. While some argue that environmental regulation destroys jobs, others, such as the hypothesis laid out by Michael Porter, argue that environmental regulation can improve a firm’s competitiveness. Using a difference-in-differences model, we find that being a polluter in a non-attainment county increases employment relative to a polluter in an attainment county or a non-polluter in a non-attainment county. These findings indicate that stricter environmental regulation for polluters in non-attainment counties actually increases employment, supporting Porter’s hypothesis that environmental regulation positively influences firms
The Monastery and the Minivan: Accessible Monastic Practices in the Tradition of the Desert Fathyers and Mothers
Get PDFThe purpose of this little reflection is to offer a humble sort of middle way; a series of contemplative monastic practices intended to be accessible to seekers from all walks of life who desire to move beyond a systematic “head knowledge” about God, and into the mystical heart-space of experience with God. Somewhere between the monastery and the minivan sits an elusive convergence of desert mother and world-weary father-of-four; of 2nd century monk and 30-something law clerk.
Through an exploration of the monastic practices of prayer, contemplation, and Sabbath rest, this project seeks to bridge the chasm of accessibility and offer a humble pathway to those who wish to know from experience what they have known intellectually. This pathway rests within the perennial tradition of the Church, and upon the shoulders of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of pre-Orthodox Alexandrian tradition, of medieval mystics such as Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Therese of Lisieux, as well as modern practitioners of contemplative practice to include Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating.Professor Rebecca Wrigh
Wilder Tower: A Novel
Get PDFAbstract only is available for this thesis.Wilder Tower tells the story of a young woman from the Southern aristocracy who goes to work in an all-male newsroom in 1979. Two fellow reporters strive to win her—a romantic poet born into the wrong century and a sexually voracious war veteran—both drawn to her vulnerability and latent passion. Complications ensue, violently disrupting the status quo, with tragic consequences. Two narrators present the newsroom drama: an impulsive male colleague obsessed with the Civil War, and an older woman with a lifetime of thwarted ambitions and bitter relationships. The novel’s events precisely follow the timeline of the Iran hostage crisis, 444 days that haunted the American psyche and still resonate today
The Association Between Fracking and Crime Rates in U.S. Counties
Get PDFThe natural gas boom in the United States had positive impacts on counties located above these critical shale layers. These positive impacts include potential increases in wages, decreases in unemployment rates, and increases in tax-paying citizens. However, alongside these positive impacts came reports in media outlets such as The New York Times of increases in crime rates. We examine the validity of these reports by estimating the effect of fracking on crime. Specifically, we compare property crime rates in every fracking county in the United States to their non-fracking neighboring counties, while also controlling for relevant factors. Using a difference-in-differences model, we find a significant effect of fracking on aggregate property crime rates across the United States.Aaron Elrod; Marc St. Pierr
The Effect of Spin On The Flight Path of A Baseball
Get PDFThis study is performed to show the effect of spin on the flight path of a baseball. Forces, such as the Magnus and drag, change the trajectory of any spinning object dramatically. Trajectories are also dependent on atmospheric pressure. Using MATLAB and Excel, a simulation will be used to show the different flight paths based on angular velocities, altitude, and release angles
Serving at the Eucharist, the Effect on Lay Leaders
Get PDFUltimately, we as the church, and as a clergy of the church, hope to expand the Kingdom of God. One way to do so is to involve more people, more deeply in their church community. It is reasonable to think that if the people are more faithful in their Sunday attendance at church that they will be likely to participate more fully in the programs of the parish. Increased involvement in programs such as outreach and educational formation will in turn help them to deepen their relationship with God, and the Body of Christ. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect serving at the Eucharist has on lay leaders. Assuming it is a positive effect, how is lay leader service encouraged and/or supported at the parish level. The study first used a short on line survey of lay leaders and then structured interviews of six Episcopal Church rectors. The survey results support the hypothesis that serving at the Eucharist enhances the worship experience for lay leaders. However, the interviews demonstrated that there are very few routine, purposeful efforts on the part of clergy to encourage this type of lay leadership and very little in the way of feedback loops to assess the experience. Though additional research should be done, it seems clear that Episcopal clergy should be intentional in encouraging lay participation in leadership positions.The Reverend Canon James F. Turrell, Ph.D
Quantum Mechanics in Practice: Calculating the Ionization Energy of Helium
Get PDFQuantum mechanics is a phenomenal tool for modeling the physical world; its predictive power is unparalleled among other quantitative theories in physics. However, the mathematical formalism is a painfully abstract beast that requires considerably more effort than classical theories to extract useful answers in most cases. Here, we will present a method of approximating the quantum-mechanical state of the two nonrelativistic electrons in the ground state of Helium. An exact solution to this motion is unknown because obtaining it involves a PDE over a six-dimensional phase space. However, experience has shown that we can formulate a reasonable guess which converges to a fairly accurate approximation in only a few iterations
The Effects of County Characteristics on Per-Pupil Lottery Expenditure: Georgia
Get PDFIn 1993, the State of Georgia passed the Lottery for Education Act. This allowed Georgia to legalize gambling in the form of a lottery program and increase education expenditure with the profit earned from this program. In order to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of the lottery program, our research focuses on pre-kindergarten education funding at the county level. Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program is solely funded by the Georgia State Lottery. Therefore, this paper examines the effect of county characteristics on the average amount of lottery revenue spent per pre-k pupil. We use pooled cross-sectional data on county characteristics from all 159 counties. These county characteristics include average enrollment, income, unemployment rate, crime rate, percentage of non-white residents, as well as state and local government funding
Documenting Victims of War Crimes: Ethical Considerations
No full textBombs explode as children scamper to school. Political prisoners escape torture and seek the safety of allies. All the while, Bashar al-Assad holds a death grip on Syria in a last gasp attempt to hold on to power. In the middle of war, the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) has become a force of peace. Since the beginning of the Syrian Crisis, SETF has worked with dozens of Syrian civilians who have suffered at the hands of Bashar al-Assad. Although they are different, their stories remind us that they too are humans. In the spring of 2018, the SETF team made a trip to the Turkish-Syrian border. During the trip, the team visited with dozens of victims of war, hearing their stories and offering hope. Although never published, these stories have been a driving force of SETF’s mission; “to advocate in solidarity with the Syrian people to inform and educate the American public and its representatives about their suffering, while addressing the colossal humanitarian crisis and promoting the development of the Syrian civil society based on respect from human dignity and freedom.”1 With SETF’s mission in mind, this report aims to serve as a guide for the SETF team when conducting and publishing future interviews. Additionally, this report will address the most beneficial and ethical journalistic practices that will be used in SETF’s new website extension; “Voices from the Ground.” This extension will document the stories from the victims that SETF interviewed during their 2018 trip to the Turkish-Syrian border using a blog format.The blog serves as a symbol of SETF’s mission in action as its’ goal is to educate the American public by allowing them to hear the stories of victims of war. The hope is for an increase in awareness and a drive to take action in a way that is both ethical and concrete.Dr. Jessica Mecellem and Dr. Jim Peterma
The Effect of Presidential Political Affiliation on Economic Conditions in the U.S.
Get PDFThe goal of this research is to examine the effect of presidential political affiliation on economic conditions in the US. Previous studies focus extensively on the effect of political affiliation on the stock market. We take a step further and focus on the economy more broadly by estimating the effect on stock market performance, real GDP, and the unemployment rate. We find that under Republican administrations, the change in real GDP is on average 2.97% lower than under Democratic administrations. However, we find no significant evidence of a correlation between presidential political affiliation and the unemployment rate or stock market performance. Our findings support findings from previous research and are important in showing how general views on the strong effect of partisan politics on the economy might be overstated