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Understanding and Attacking The Gender Wage Gap With Specificity
No full textThis paper sets out to express and assess ideas surrounding the gender wage gap and related legislation that are present in a broad range of literature. The opening section will represent the current status quo for measuring the wage gap, as well as outline the current legislation (The Paycheck Fairness Act), that seeks to resolve the remaining gap. A focus on economic papers, as well as samples from other pertinent fields, will allow for theories, on what causes the wage gap and how to diminish its existence, to be defined and evaluated. The theories discussed will consist of forms of discrimination (devaluation and queuing), the tax on wage for motherhood and family building, and, finally, cognitive differences between men and women that may cause differences in pay. Following, the theory section will be a representation of alternative policies that may better address the wage gap, trailed by further thoughts on how effective these policies may be. The suggested alternative policies have to do with a modification to the Paycheck Fairness Act’s (PFA’s) lack of floodgates with respect to damage and punitive compensation, as well as a solution to the large motherhood tax identified in the prior section. A personally crafted policy will then be proposed, that aims to attack the proportionately larger and stagnated gender wage gap at the top end of the wage distribution. Finally, the paper concludes that the PFA, while it may be sufficient to cut into the pay gap, is not the most efficient nor targeted solution. The legislation is a bandage and does little to address the issue’s genesis
Evaluating the Efficacy of the Paycheck Fairness Act of the 118th Congress in Eliminating the Sex Wage Gap
No full textThis paper analyzes whether or not the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) of the 118th Congress would eliminate the sex wage gap. The PFA seeks to eliminate sex-based wage discrimination in the hopes of reducing the sex wage gap. A stronger version of older equal pay policy, the PFA would place the burden of proof on the firm in discrimination lawsuits. I find little empirical support for the efficacy of the PFA in achieving its goal and show that Aigner and Cain’s model would predict the PFA to widen the sex wage gap
The Role of VgrG-Associated Effectors in T6SS Structural Assembly, Firing and Interbacterial Competition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
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Painting Punctum
No full textIn my work, I examine aspects of nostalgia, the longing for an imagined homeland, through the gaze of the child self. Using my own childhood photos as references for my paintings, I aim to make this profoundly personal desire relatable. In these photos, my child-self sits sullen-faced and offers a handful of crumpled flowers to their photographer (and, as photo becomes painting, to every viewer). I chose these references to examine the ways the inner self is not always reflected by the outer both in terms of emotional and gender expression, the gaze of the child, and the relationship between past and present self. My intent is not to tell my viewers what to think or feel about nostalgic desire but rather to cause them to think and feel. I connect this to essayist Roland Barthes’ definition of “punctum”: a “certain capacity to prick ones’ emotions,” one which is unexpected and does not follow a recognizable visual or symbolic system
The impact of heatwaves on temperature-dependent sex determination mechanisms in Trachemys scripta elegans
No full textThe Mathematics of Compressed Sensing
No full textIn this paper, we introduce the simple case of compressed sensing. Compressed sensing involves the acquisition of sparse signals and the reconstruction of said signal with relatively little sampling. The concept pulls from a wide variety of applied mathematical fields such as linear algebra, approximation theory, optimization, and probability. In order to show how we can recover this sparse signal with fewer samples, we will explore the mathematical framework that makes compressed sensing possible. This will be accomplished through various examples and proofs that highlight key properties
The Effects of Immersiveness on the Restorative Impact of Nature Exposure
No full textA robust body of literature demonstrates that nature films can help individuals recover from stress and cognitive overload, but no study has examined whether more immersive mediums, such as virtual reality, are more effective than equivalent two-dimensional films. This study explores the effect of immersiveness on affective, cognitive, and physiological restoration, employing a three-condition experimental design: 2D, standard VR (visual and auditory input), and enhanced VR (additional olfactory and haptic input) versions of the same nature film. We anticipated that more immersive conditions would be more restorative. The findings indicate that all versions of the film reduced negative affect and state anxiety and improved focus on a cognitive task. However, positive affect was not enhanced, physiological arousal increased during the film, and most analyses of immersiveness were not significant. We propose that immersiveness can enhance restoration, but the current study is underpowered to identify these effects. This research contributes to our understanding of how digital nature can be utilized for mental health benefits, underscoring the need for further investigation into the specific components of immersiveness that contribute to restoration
Quenching Radiationless Relaxation: Towards Understanding and Controlling the Charge Processes that Lead to Efficient Organic Solar Cells
No full textSolar panel technology is one of the most promising forms of renewable energy. While solar panels are typically made with inorganic materials, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have significantly improved in the last few years and pose exciting opportunities for harnessing solar energy. The efficiency of OPVs rests in part on their ability to collect free charges (i.e. holes and electrons) generated in the organic polymer active layer by the absorption of light. Charge collection is limited by the recombination of free charges, in particular non-radiative recombination. The first half of my comps focuses on the basics of OPV structure and free charge generation. In the second half, it dives into primary research focused on understanding the charge transfer dynamics at play and decreasing non-radiative recombination through alterations of the organic polymers present in the active layer
