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Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and the Polarization of Laser Light
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). This experiment uses a 790 nm diode laser to drive transitions in rubidium atoms. The D1 line of Rubidium was used, which involves the transitions from the 5S1/2 and 5P1/2 hyperfine states. This experiment investigates the effect of the quality of polarization on EIT. Careful techniques were used to improve the quality of the polarization of the laser light
The Effects of Language and Geography on Immigrant Employment and Wages in the United States
Get PDFImmigration is almost always a topic debated when the economy is discussed. While some believe immigrants help the economy, others argue that they take jobs away from U.S. citizens. This thesis uses a sample size of over 1,800,000 people from the 2017 American Community Survey to analyze the effects of immigrant wages and employment in the United States using independent variables such as citizenship status, English-language ability, place of birth, and immigration year. The results indicate that American-born citizens are more likely to be employed but earn less than naturalized citizens and noncitizens. They also show that the longer an immigrant is in the U.S., the more money they earn. Similarly, English proficiency plays a large role, as those with higher English skills are more likely to be employed and earn more
An Economic Analysis of The Pink Tax
Get PDFThe “Pink Tax” broadly refers to firm pricing strategies and/or government policies that raise transactional costs (usually higher taxes or higher prices) for women. Conversations about the Pink Tax have been steadily growing over the past several decades; people have conflicting views on its existence, causes, and implications, to the point that there are substantive questions regarding its validity. More research is needed to determine where exactly the Pink Tax comes from and what are its true effects. For those who argue that the Pink Tax exists and is detrimental to females, a leading explanation for the transmission mechanism is through the propagation of gender socialization trough marketing strategies. Due to the lack of government data that allow for direct measurement of the Pink Tax, this study provides an analysis of consumers’ exposure to marketing. Specifically, this study correlates gender, age, race, marital status, and marijuana use (to proxy for preferences for certain types of behavior) with marketing exposure, to offer support for the claim that the Pink Tax benefits from this transmission mechanism. The findings demonstrate there is a strong inverse relationship between education and marketing exposure, measured by hours spent watching television in a week as a teenager
Cross-Level Trade-Offs: An Integrative Model of Trait Investment in \u3cem\u3eCallosobruchus maculatus\u3c/em\u3e
No full textLife-history theory aims to understand how different environments result in differential investment in fitness associated traits. While previous research has demonstrated trade-offs between traits from the same phenotypic level (e.g. two morphological traits), many studies show positive or no correlation between pairs of costly traits. One hypothesis that may explain the inconsistency of trade-offs in the literature is that trade-offs may occur across phenotypic levels (e.g. morphology versus behavior). In turn, this study aims to identify the presence of cross-level trade-offs in the bean beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. In this experiment, copulatory behaviors and morphology were analyzed for both males and females. While trade-offs were reported between copulatory behaviors and morphology for both males and females, traits, subjected to trade-offs, only covaried when analyzing cross-level relationships. This study is the first to report the novel finding that trade-offs may be the result of cross-level investment
Political Ideology and Mental Illness Stigma
Get PDFMental health stigma exists in a wide variety of contexts, including politics. This study aimed to determine whether political conservatives stigmatized mental illness more than political liberals. To address this issue, I analyzed data from the General Social Survey (GSS), which surveyed thousands of participants throughout the U.S. on many topics, including mental health attitudes. I hypothesized that political conservatives would express more negative attitudes toward people with mental illness compared to liberals. I found that political ideology did predict stigmatization of people with mental illness overall, but not when separate analyses were conducted for specific mental disorders. An important implication of these findings is that that political conservatives who endorse discrimination of people with mental illness may themselves avoid seeking help for psychological problems
Explaining Dissent: A Comparative Study on How Political Culture and Socialization Account for Disparate Levels of Political Violence in Protest
Get PDFConventional theory suggests that the level of political violence a state experiences in protest directly correlates to the government structure of the state; this school of thought expects liberal democracies to be relatively peaceful while authoritarian states are expected to have high levels of violence. This study aims to counter this belief and instead explores the relationship that socialization and the political culture of a state have on political violence. Using comparative analyses of four case studies – looking at Iran, the United States, France, and Russia within these cases – my research tests models created for this thesis that allow for observations to be made about political violence. My results indicate that neither socialization, political culture, nor the government structure of a state can be solely linked to the level of political violence in a state. Rather, it is a combination of all these elements and much more
Ant Recruitment to Salt Along Chicago’s Urban Gradient
Get PDFSodium is vital for maintaining osmotic balance, muscle activity, and nervous system function in many organisms. The availability of sodium can drastically impact populations within ecosystems. Salt content from human foods and salt from winter road treatments could increase Na+ availability. I hypothesize that Na+ availability is more limited when moving away from Chicago. I baited ants along two 50km transects extending West and North from downtown Chicago. Transects contained 10 evenly spaced forested sites. Baits were equally split between H20, 20% sugar, and 1% salt concentration. Thirteen ant species were collected, but only three species recruited to salt baits. There is no relationship between ant recruitment to salt and distance from Chicago. It is possible that proximity to roads is the more important variable in determining salt availability. Thus, the urban gradient may not matter due to the spatial scale in which ants live
Returning Classical Virtue to Modern Civil Discourse
Get PDFModern citizens generally find it impossible to come to shared conclusions about moral disagreements in civil discourse. In this paper, I support MacIntyre’s thesis that the breakdown of moral dialogue is due to Enlightenment ethicists’ failure to rationally ground morality in any objective standard following their rejection of Aristotelian virtue ethics. As a result, public demonstrations of wrath against fellow citizens are common in our civil discourse because our virtuous conduct is less important than our irreconcilable ideological goals. I argue that returning to virtue is necessary and that virtues can be recognized initially by adherence to Aristotle’s standard of the Mean. I consider three virtues of the good citizen: wit, patience, and hope, and show that these virtues cannot be expressed under our currently preferred methods of civil discourse. An alternative approach is needed, one that looks more like citizens engaged in a ‘barn-raising’ and less like a ‘war.