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Proton Pair Correlations And The Neutrinoless Double-β Decay Of 76Ge
No full textProton pair correlations relevant for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Ge-76 have been probed via the Ge-74,Ge-76(He-3,n) reactions at 16 MeV. No evidence for pairing vibrations in either nucleus is observed at sensitivity limits of similar to 6% and similar to 19% of the ground-state strength in Se-76 and Se-78, respectively. These results are relevant for the understanding of matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay. The lack of pairing vibrations is consistent with a simple BCS structure for the ground states of Ge-76 and Se-76, assumed in quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) models of the process
Francis Xavier: Understanding the Sixteenth-Century Missionary Through His Letters
No full textThrough an analysis of the letters of St. Francis Xavier, this research investigates his religious and political influence in Europe and Asia during the sixteenth century. Throughout his letters, Xavier’s zeal for the conversion of non-Christian souls was evident. He listened to confessions, gave communion, helped the sick die with dignity and had little time to rest. Even after long voyages, he often began praying with others and listening to confessions immediately. Furthermore, his religious influence on the people was coupled with a political influence. Throughout his missionary work he stayed in close contact with King John III of Portugal, writing him letters every three months. King John III trusted and supported Xavier, and often did what Xavier suggested. In 1544 Xavier sent twenty-four letters to the Fishery Coast in India, giving orders and advice to a fellow Jesuit on how to handle the warring tribes in the area. After the conflict was resolved, Xavier reportedly baptized 10,000 Indians. Lastly, the research notes Xavier’s observation of the Japanese. Initially he was excited about Japanese character and behavior, but when they were not interested in Christianity, his opinions turned sour. Xavier’s lack of sympathy toward Japanese practices and his expectations of quick conversions, along with the inability to translate properly, pushed many Japanese away from Christianit
Constancia de la Mora: Vida y obra de una heroína controvertida/ Constancia de la Mora: The Life and Work of a Controversial Hero
No full textPrior to the declaration of the Second Republic in 1931, Spain was a nation marked by social, cultural, and intellectual repression of women. The progressive Second Republic and the growing feminist movement introduced many reforms that improved the quality of life for the Spanish woman. Thus, when Franco and the nationalist forces threatened these newly gained freedoms with the initiation of the Civil War in 1936, many women dedicated themselves to fighting for the Republican cause. The majority of these women came from the working and middle classes. However, one of the most passionate – and unlikely – champions of the Republican cause came from an upper-class family: Constancia de la Mora. In contrast to her wealthy upbringing, de la Mora’s support for the cause of the working class of the Second Republic was highly controversial. During the Spanish Civil War, de la Mora served as the director of the Republican Foreign Press Office. In 1939, she moved to the United States to begin lobbying for the cause of the Spanish refugees. Later that year, to amplify those efforts, she published her perspective of the war and the refugee crisis in her autobiography, In Place of Splendor. Her work garnered attention for her cause, but it also stands out as one of the first autobiographies published by a Spanish woman. Although some have questioned the absolute truthfulness of the facts de la Mora reports in her book, her dedication to and actions on behalf of her people are undeniable. Today, in Spain and throughout the world, the concluding sentiment of her book continues to serve as a reminder of the essential nature of freedom: “¡Viva la República!
The Quiet Feminist: Feminist Themes in the Work of Erma Bombeck
No full textDuring her most productive years in the 1970s and ‘80s, humorist Erma Bombeck brought laughter to millions of readers across America with her newspaper columns, Good Morning America segments, and bestselling books. Although she is best remembered for her writing, Bombeck was also active in feminism. She served on the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women during the time of the Equal Rights Amendment of 1978 and, through her writing, encouraged women everywhere to follow their dreams, even if they felt “too old to change.” In spite of this, very little has been written on Bombeck as a feminist. Therefore this research hopes to analyze feminist themes, such as equal employment and commentary on idealized portrayals of motherhood, in her published books, and argue that through these themes Bombeck brought feminism to her mostly moderate Christian audience
A New Form of Struggle: Betty Ford and Breast Cancer in the 1970s
No full textIn the 1970s, the nature of how Americans perceived breast cancer changed. Instead of being a taboo topic, as it was previously, people began to discuss breast cancer and its various impacts openly. This is due in part to the role of First Lady Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald R. Ford, who went public about her diagnosis of breast cancer in 1974. While most research on Ford consists of her role in establishing the Betty Ford clinic for substance abuse or how her breast cancer discussions impacted the public, little has been written on how her role regarding breast cancer affected the doctor-patient relationship. This project analyzes First Lady Betty Ford’s 1974 public declaration of her breast cancer diagnosis and primary sources based on its response from both the scientific and public community provides insight into how Ford changed the relationship between the medical community and the public, and breast cancer awareness as a whole. Sources show that while Ford cannot be credited with the entire change in the doctor patient relationship, which was primarily based on the period as a whole, she helped the public realize that the way they needed to interact with doctors needed to change. She accomplished this through making the war on cancer an external struggle on a personal level, rather than on a national level. Furthermore, evidence shows that doctors, who were not connected intimately with the public, were not the ones to initiate that change. This project adds nuance to important themes in the history of science, such as the disconnect between patients and doctors, and doctor’s reluctance to include patient responses and attitudes in their practices
Quantitative Analysis of Cardiac Glycosides in Digitalis purpurea and Digitalis lanata with HPLC
No full textCardiac glycosides have a successful track record in the treatment of heart failure. The glycosides digoxin and digitoxin are extracted from the plant species Digitalis purpurea and Digitalis lanata and increase cardiac function and circulation. These glycosides act by binding cellular membranes and inhibiting the Na+/K+ pump. There is a substantial body of knowledge surrounding blood serum levels of these compounds but little is known about their concentrations in Digitalis and the factors that affect these concentrations. The purpose of this work was to establish an optimized protocol for quantification of both digoxin and digitoxin within Digitalis. The compounds were extracted from leaf samples with water and methanol and characterized by HPLC at a wavelength of 220 nm using a three part mobile phase consisting of 10% acetonitrile, 60% methanol, and 30% water. Future work involves cultivation of Digitalis species under various conditions to determine the factors that affect digoxin and digitoxin concentration and in vivo testing of these compounds
Characterization of a Magnetic Coil and Magnetic Force Microscopy of NiFe Thin Films
No full textMagnetic thin films are widely used in the storage and reading of computer data. Electrochemical deposition is an effective way of creating these films. The purpose of this project is to electrodeposit permalloy (NiFe) films on gold-plated silicon wafers and characterize them through multiple analytical techniques. The structure and composition of these deposits were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The magnetic domains of the films were then analyzed using Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM). Preliminary results suggest that the size of magnetic domains of the depositions decreases over time. A magnetic coil was also characterized so that it can be used in the future for MFM imaging in applied magnetic field. The coil was able to produce a magnetic field of 0.00352T±0.00007T at a distance of 1cm away when driven with a constant current of 0.3A
Electromagnetic Dispersion in Periodic Structures
No full textPhotonic crystals are electromagnetic structures that affect the propagation of microwaves, clearly demonstrating nonlinear, band gap dispersion in the band theory of solids. Motivated partly by the development of an advanced physics lab in dispersion, we have compared the dispersion of microwaves in photonic crystals to the dispersion of electrons in semiconducting crystals. The transmission lines were fabricated to achieve periodicity with alternating widths of adjacent copper segments using photolithography. Three identical dispersion diagrams were constructed using different sets of values: the S-parameters measured by the vector network analyzer (V.N.A.), the S-parameters simulated using finite element analysis software, and the delay values measured by the V.N.A. All three methods showed close agreement in the dispersion with a band gap at the Brillioun zone edge. The values from the network analyzer were then used to examine the group velocity of the wave near the band gap. Near the edges of the band gap, the group velocity approached zero; inside the band gap, the evanescent waves tunneled through the crystal with superluminal group velocities. Periodic transmission lines with defects were also constructed; the defects engineered into the photonic crystals produced donor and acceptor states in the band gap. These results indicate that the microwave transmission lines successfully modeled the dispersion from band gaps in photonic crystals
Automatic vs. Controlled Processing of Metaphors: An ERP Study
No full textThe study examined automatic versus controlled processing of metaphor and divided visual field (DVF) presentation. Past research has shown that the right hemisphere processes broader semantic connections in language such as metaphors (Beeman, 2005). A negative-going event related potential (ERP) component 400 ms after the stimulus (N400) was presented was examined. When presenting certain figurative stimuli in either visual field the different hemispheres should have varying N400 peaks. We examined these components in sixteen right-handed, native English speaking undergraduates to compare results with a future study to be done with right hemisphere stroke patients and people with autism. We used a controlled stimulus set of 300 sentences that was divided into three figurativeness conditions (literal, metaphor and anomalous) (Cardillo et al., 2010) and counterbalanced to present the final word of each sentence to the left or right visual field. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was a between subjects factor that included long (1500 ms) and short (200 ms) SOA. Participants had to indicate after reading each sentence if they believed the sentence made sense. Electroencephalographic recordings at 16 electrode sites were used to assess the N400 amplitude, from 425 to 525 ms, post-stimulus which indicated the ERPs across the scalp in response to the presentation of the final word. Participants also completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient and the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 & Wheelwright et al., 2006) for future comparison to the autistic subjects. A 3 (figurativeness: metaphor, literal, anomalous) x 2 (DVF: left, right) x 16 (electrodes sites) x 2 (SOA: long, short) mixed ANOVA revealed that short SOA elicited a larger N400 than long SOA which was marginally significant, F(1, 14)= 4.0, p= .065. Findings demonstrate some evidence that automatic processing (short SOA) elicits a larger N400 area under the curve than controlled processing (long SOA)
Acoustic Correlates of Speaker Variation in Children Ages 8 -12
No full textListeners use perceptual and acoustic cues to identify speaker ethnicity and gender of adults from purely auditory information at better than chance levels (Lass et. al., 1979; Walton & Orlikoff, 1994). Is this true only for adult speakers? Perception of vowels is important to speaker identification as voice quality characteristics are more readily accessible in vocalic production than in the production of consonant phonemes. Vowels are acoustically specified based on their formant frequency patterns (Peterson & Barney, 1952). Hillenbrand et al. (1995) published target acoustic descriptions including temporal measurements, dialectal screening, and outcome differentiation for European American women, men, and “children” aged 10-12. Fundamental frequency (F0)—the characteristic resonance of the vocal tract—gradually lowers beginning with the onset of puberty, influencing the phonological space which could produce differences across gender, especially for the 11 and 12-year-olds. Results provide evidence to support a developmental progression with respect to age as well as significant findings for spectral parameters across gender