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Quantum Decoherence and the Problems it Solves
No full textQuantum mechanics has proved to be a tremendously successful theory of the behavior of atoms, subatomic particles, and molecules. However, the theory seems to yield some predictions which disagree dramatically with observations. It appears to imply that cats can be simultaneously alive and dead and that molecules which we empirically know to be stable should oscillate between different states over time. Decoherence is the process by which a quantum system loses its ability to exhibit interference effects as a result of interactions with an external environment. Considering such interactions allows us to explain many of our classical intuitions about the way the world behaves from just the laws of quantum mechanics, and offers solutions to some apparently paradoxical results of quantum mechanics. The process of decoherence is so rapid for macroscopic objects that “macroscopic interference” experiments are rendered impossible to carry out in practice, explaining the absence of interference effects in classical mechanics. This paper focuses on how modeling environmental interactions can solve specific problems which arise when treating non-isolated systems with quantum mechanics, and what the process of decoherence implies for real-world interference experiments
Choosing Living & Care Arrangements: Informal Care Receipt and the Decision to Enter a Nursing Home
No full textTo keep care costs low for America\u27s increasing elderly population, some policymakers have suggested policies that incentivize the provision of informal care to reduce nursing home entry. This analysis considers the impact of receiving care from children on the probability of nursing home entry using a random effects recursive bivariate probit model and panel data from the 2006 - 2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. On average, receiving help from a child decreases the probability of nursing entry by 9.26 percentage points (relative to a mean prevalence of 12.2%). However, econometric issues limit high levels of confidence in the accuracy of these estimates
The Effects of Parenting Styles on Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review
No full textParenting styles can affect the social behaviors, cognitive processes, and achievement strategies of children and adolescents (Spera, 2005). The most common categorization of parenting styles is Baumrind’s typology, which includes authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and neglectful styles (Baumrind, 1966; 1971; 1978). These parenting styles have implications for many outcomes, including children’s academic achievement. (Pinquart, 2016; 2018). Understanding the relationship between parenting styles and academic performance can be useful for developing academic policies and exploring reasons for why some children outperform others. This systematic review analyzes 19 research papers on the effects of parenting styles on academic achievement, and assesses the validity of the measures used. It also considers the cross-cultural implications of the research and draws conclusions based on the general trends in the literature. This systematic review identifies inconsistencies in the measures of parenting styles and measures of academic achievement and provides suggestions for future work
Environmental Art: Reflections of America\u27s Ecological Consciousness
No full textThroughout history, humans have always sought to represent and interact with nature through art. Even as humans\u27 relationship with the environment has changed dramatically over the past few centuries, a deep appreciation for nature’s aesthetic qualities and a fascination with the natural world have remained a constant trend in art from all different cultures and artistic traditions.
Our research seeks to explore art’s influences on American environmental consciousness over time. By investigating four significant art periods that engage with environmental themes, we demonstrate how environmental art has captured Americans’ relationships with nature at different points throughout history. To expose the underlying themes art analysis can reveal, we focus on four historical moments: the Romantic American landscape movement of the mid-1800s led by Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School of painting, the Earthworks movement of the late 1960s-mid 1970s exemplified by Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Indigenous contribution to the global Contemporary art movement with emphasis on a renowned Minnesota Indigenous artist Julie Buffalohead, and Indigenous environmental justice protest art emerging from the #noDAPL protests. Although separated by large gaps in time, these four movements are key transitional periods in America’s history that overlap with important changes in broader sociocultural trends including the connection of arts and social justice, changing artistic styles and norms, and rising environmental concerns.
Our research illuminates a progression in artistic portrayals of nature from an entity largely separate and distinct from humans to a landscape in which humans are influential and integrated, how art became gradually less privatized and more accessible to all, and how the impact of artists expanded beyond just the art world to take on large-scale cultural, political, and environmental issues — findings that suggest that today, art is more crucial to confronting these problems than ever before
Do dogs have an evolved and inherent advantage for social thinking? A test of cooperation between dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and humans (Homo sapiens)
No full textAre domesticated dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) capable of cooperative thinking? This question was investigated by tapping dogs’ understanding of a need for a social partner to complete a cooperative task. We hypothesized that, when owners interrupted their participation on a cooperative task, dogs would show a realization of their need by soliciting the owner through approach, touch, or vocalizations. A total of 13 dyadic pairs of domesticated dogs and their owners were presented a simple, cooperative task known as the loose-string apparatus. Once the dog and the owner were able to coordinate their behavior to open the apparatus, the owner stopped their own behavior in one of four experimentally scripted ways: near the apparatus and facing the dog but not contributing; near the apparatus and facing away from the dog; distanced from the apparatus but facing the dog; distanced from the apparatus and facing away from the dog. The dogs solicited at a significant rate to owners who distanced themselves from the apparatus and to owners who faced away from the dogs and the apparatus. The results of this study suggest that dogs do consider the attentional status of a social other when attempting a cooperative task, but are constrained by their ability to differentiate between attending to them and responding in the task
The Cross-Dresser\u27s Dilemma: The Reader as the Answer to Literature\u27s (Im)mobility Problem
No full textGeochemistry, U/Pb ages, and Hf isotope analyses of plutons in Southeastern Alaska: Implications for the Resurrection plate debate and associated magmatism
No full textThe Sanak-Baranof belt (SBB) extends for over 2,000 km along the southern Alaskan coastline and the plutons systematically young from 63 Ma in the west to 47 Ma in the east. On Yakobi and Chichagof Islands in Southeast Alaska, these plutons intrude the Sitka Graywacke that is correlated with the Late Cretaceous Valdez group of the Chugach-Prince William terrane (CPW). The intrusion into these forearc accretionary wedge sediments, in conjunction with the presence of ophiolite complexes in the CPW, has led many to invoke the subduction of a spreading ridge. However, the location of the spreading ridge and the latitude for the formation and accretion of the CPW terrane are debated. On Yakobi and Chichagof Islands and in Glacier Bay National Park, several mapped igneous bodies, gabbroic to granitic in composition, are analyzed in this study. Petrographic mineral identification, bulk rock geochemistry, uranium-lead dating, and hafnium isotopes suggest that six of the ten plutons dated in this study are part of the SBB, including two plutons on the Yakutat Block. These plutons include the Granite Islands pluton (52.3 ± 0.5 Ma), Mirror Harbor pluton (51.6 ± 0.5 Ma), Lost Cove pluton (51.5 ± 0.4 Ma), Yakobi Island pluton (50.7 ± 0.5 Ma), Graves Harbor pluton (48.3 ± 0.5 Ma), Desolation Valley pluton (48.7 ± 0.4 Ma), and the Grand Plateau Glacier pluton (48.9 ± 0.4). Two non-SBB plutons, the Squid Bay and Lituya Glacier plutons, yielded ages of 42.4 ± 0.4 and 39.3 ± 0.4 Ma, respectively. A large pluton-sized body in the Yakutat mélange, informally named the Mt. Fairweather megaclast, yielded a Jurassic age (194.4 ± 1.7 Ma)
Detecting Diseases: Three Remarkable Biosensors
No full textSensing the presence or absence of disease is the foundation upon which modern medicine is built. However, this process is often complicated; requiring specialized technicians, time, and resource-intensive assays. Much of Dr. Shana Kelley\u27s work has focused on streamlining this process. Here, we present three biosensors used to simplify the detection of mitochondrial disease, metastasizing cancer, and HIV. Join us to learn more about how fluorescence, magnetism, and electrochemistry are used to make diagnostic measurements