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“Safety Blanket” - How Microsystems Shape Gender Identity Exploration Within a Racialized Macrosystem
No full textGender identity exploration is a critical developmental process, and its healthy development is vital for individuals’ overall positive mental health and well-being. However, identity development doesn’t happen in isolation: it unfolds within complex social environments that can either serve as protective factors or risks (Spencer, 1979) to exploration. This thesis examines how microsystems such as families and peers can serve as sources of support and/or challenge for gender-diverse college students, and how race and whiteness shape these experiences. It examines qualitative interviews of 12 gender-diverse participants and analyses them using thematic analysis, coding different types of support and challenges. It is revealed that peers- particularly queer friends with lived experience of gender exploration- are the most consistent sources of emotional support, providing affirmation and belonging. Parents and relatives, by contrast, often emerged as sites of challenge, marked by rejection, conditional acceptance, or silence, aligning with broader literature on parental rejection in trans and nonbinary populations. The study also highlights the macrosystem of whiteness and how it emerges as a privilege granting white gender-diverse folx relative ease and visibility in their gender exploration, while BIPOC participants faced compounded marginalization. These findings underscore the need for intersectional, culturally responsive support systems that validate both racial and gender identities, and they offer key insights for educators, clinicians, and policymakers who aim to foster safer spaces for gender-diverse youth
Instagram Shadowbans: Testing for Algorithmic Changes in Treatment of 'Political' Content
Get PDFSocial media platforms have turned to AI content moderation in response to increased scrutiny for the kind of content they circulate, especially due to major potential for social and political influence. Algorithmic reduction, colloquially known as ‘shadowbans,’ are favorable for platforms due to their opaqueness, which allows for evasion of responsibility and creates a Foucauldian relationship of platform power and creator discipline. As such, platforms intentionally manufacture opacity surrounding algorithmic reduction. Instagram in particular has recently announced changes in algorithmic content that has caused outrage about their approach to free expression, in part due to vague definitions. This work seeks to shed light on Instagram’s intentionally opaque policies. To do so, I define a ‘model drift’ test to measure change in the ability of a neural network model to predict post like counts. I compare model drift to drift in data in order to tease out algorithmic drift from behavioral drift. I find confirmation that the February 2024 policy change did likely result in algorithmic reduction of content from politicians. More interestingly, I find that pro-Palestine and Zionist content have similar rates of engagement, but only pro-Palestine content shows signs of algorithmic reduction, starting as soon as one week after October 7, 2023. This research serves as a proof of concept demonstrating that intentionally opaque algorithmic reduction can still be investigated. Future research to bring transparency to social media practices is essential for understanding otherwise opaque and guarded practices of algorithmic moderation
Millimeter-Wave Superconducting Qubit
Get PDFManipulating the electromagnetic spectrum at the single-photon level is fundamental for quantum experiments. In the visible and infrared ranges, this can be accomplished with atomic quantum emitters, and with superconducting qubits such control is extended to the microwave range (below 10 GHz). Meanwhile, the region between these two energy ranges presents an unexplored opportunity for innovation. We bridge this gap by scaling up a superconducting qubit to the millimeter-wave range (near 100 GHz). Working in this energy range greatly reduces sensitivity to thermal noise compared to microwave devices, enabling operation at significantly higher temperatures, up to 1 K. This has many advantages by removing the dependence on rare cubed He" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠒⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="cubed He" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠒⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-hidden="true"> cubed" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠒" aria-label="cubed" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠒"> Base" data-semantic-speech="" data-semantic-braille=""> Exponent" data-semantic-speech=" 3" data-semantic-braille="⠒" aria-label="Exponent 3" aria-braillelabel="⠒">3 He" data-semantic-braille="⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="He" aria-braillelabel="⠠⠓⠑">He for refrigeration, simplifying cryogenic systems, and providing orders-of-magnitude higher cooling power, lending the flexibility needed for novel quantum sensing and hybrid experiments. Using low-loss niobium trilayer junctions, we realize a qubit at 72 GHz cooled to 0.87 K using only to the fourth power He" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠲⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="to the fourth power He" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠲⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-hidden="true"> to the fourth power" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠲" aria-label="to the fourth power" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠲"> Base" data-semantic-speech="" data-semantic-braille=""> Exponent" data-semantic-speech=" 4" data-semantic-braille="⠲" aria-label="Exponent 4" aria-braillelabel="⠲">4 He" data-semantic-braille="⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="He" aria-braillelabel="⠠⠓⠑">He. We perform Rabi oscillations to establish control over the qubit state, and measure relaxation and dephasing times of 15.8 and 17.4 ns, respectively. This demonstration of a millimeter-wave quantum emitter offers exciting prospects for enhanced sensitivity thresholds in high-frequency photon detection, provides new options for quantum transduction and for scaling up and speeding up quantum computing, enables integration of quantum systems where cubed He" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠒⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="cubed He" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠒⠐⠠⠓⠑" aria-hidden="true"> cubed" data-semantic-braille="⠘⠒" aria-label="cubed" aria-braillelabel="⠘⠒"> Base" data-semantic-speech="" data-semantic-braille=""> Exponent" data-semantic-speech=" 3" data-semantic-braille="⠒" aria-label="Exponent 3" aria-braillelabel="⠒">3 He" data-semantic-braille="⠠⠓⠑" aria-label="He" aria-braillelabel="⠠⠓⠑">He refrigeration units are impractical, and, importantly, paves the way for quantum experiments exploring a novel energy range
Scapegoated Muslims: How Christian and Hindu Nationalists Racialize Religious Minorities
Get PDFThis investigation explores the global racialization of Muslims through comparisons between Christian and Hindu Nationalism. This is a discussion of their rhetoric and how it perpetuates, instigates and justifies violence; as well as how ethnocentric nationalism is rooted in colonialism. This paper takes a critical lens to describe how religious and racial identities were constructed in the 20th century, and discusses the current ramifications of these ideologies, especially in relation to social stratification in the United States and India. This will beg the question of whether the act of racialization inspires ethnic based populism in society. If so, how do political leaders like Trump and Modi inspire violence towards racialized Muslims? Racialization theory is vital to explore how this ideology materializes into social inequity. Furthermore, the comparison of these two specific ideologies will situate how broad and all encompassing racecraft is cross continentally because of the continued legacy of imperialism. The shared aspect of British colonialism in both cases has created two different movements that are similar, yet very unique in their own rights. This research is an especially pertinent conversation to have with both Donald Trump and Narendra Modi in office, both prominently labelled as Christian and Hindu Nationalists respectively. It is significant to analyze these status quo parties because their rhetoric can be easily dismissed by those who are more critical of systemic violence as immature ramblings, but it is when their propaganda goes unchecked that it is more easily spread. The decoding of dog whistles is a constant battle taken upon by academics to problematize what can easily be taken for granted. As our world has globalized, Hindu Nationalism has also taken its hold on the United States with the creation of HSS USA, serving as a threat to both American Indian Muslims and lower caste Indians in the United States. Ultimately, this investigation explores the global trends in Muslim racialization, situates the act in a shared history of colonialism, and raises awareness about the violence that is produced by ethno-nationalism
Wildfires: A Burning Threat Under Trump 2.0
No full textThe United States faces a wildfire crisis, which directly endangers large swaths of the country situated in fire-prone areas and indirectly impacts the rest of the nation through air pollution, travel disruptions, and supply chain interruptions. Wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and total area burned have all increased and are expected to further increase, due to climate change. As a result, insufficient and ineffective wildfire prevention and management policies could place the entire country at an even greater risk of fire. This paper evaluates the federal government’s historical wildfire prevention and management policies, as well as those under the second Trump administration. By interviewing a manager at the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Forest Service, the agency responsible for the majority of federal wildfire management operations, as well as reviewing policy papers, research reports, and news articles, I argue that the government’s historical wildfire management practices have been inadequate due to inconsistent policies, significant wildland firefighter attrition, poor exurban and rural planning, and limited funding. Moreover, I contend that the historical insufficiencies of the Forest Service’s wildfire policies are currently being exacerbated by the hiring freeze, mass layoffs, deferred resignation program, and (proposed) elimination of regional offices under the Trump administration. This analysis urgently recommends politicians and policymakers to halt the Trump administration’s efforts and instead increase investment in the Forest Service to prevent the mismanagement of wildfires, limit the frequency and severity of future wildfires, prevent brain drain in federal agencies, and preserve what remains of the Federal government’s reputation as a reputable employer and provider of public goods
Decreasing Risky Drinking Behaviors: Does Alcohol Response Feedback Improve Brief Intervention Outcomes?
Get PDFFor young adult heavy drinkers, higher sensitivity to alcohol’s stimulating and rewarding effects, and lower sensitivity to the sedative effects, predicts continued heavy drinking and future alcohol-related problems. Current alcohol brief intervention (BI) does not address this risk factor. This study assessed the efficacy of BI incorporating personalized alcohol response feedback from smartphone-based assessments of alcohol use and subjective responses during a natural environment drinking episode. Current heavy drinkers (N = 45; 7.8±3.5 past month binge episodes; aged 24.6±2.3 years) were randomized to either: smartphone-based assessments of alcohol use and subjective effects during a natural-environment drinking episode alone (CTL, n = 15), two standard BI sessions (BI-S, n = 10), or two BI sessions incorporating feedback from smartphone assessments of alcohol use and subjective effects during a natural-environment drinking episode (BI-ARF, n = 20). Intervention sessions (28.5±9.1 minutes) were administered via zoom. Drinking behaviors were assessed at baseline, 1- and 3-month follow-up. GEE analysis revealed that all groups showed significant reductions to past month drinking days, binge days, drinks per drinking day, maximum drinks per drinking day, and total drinks consumed (main effect of time, ps ≤ 0.001). However, there were no significant effects of group by time or group interactions (ps > 0.05), suggesting that all groups showed similar significant reductions to these behaviors. Additionally, in all groups, we saw larger reductions than typically seen following BI. To further understand the benefits of personalized alcohol response feedback, future research should be conducted with larger and more diverse samples, including a larger range of alcohol response phenotypes and desire to change drinking behaviors
The Same Fight Two Ways: An Investigation of Tactical Innovation in the Skies Over Vietnam
Get PDFUnder what conditions do professional militaries innovate their tactics in war? Is this a straightforward product of responding to losses in combat or are other factors involved? This paper develops credible hypotheses to answer this question. Specifically, this paper examines the contrasting approaches of the United States Navy and the United States Air Force to the air superiority problems they both faced during Operation Rolling Thunder in the skies over Vietnam in 1965-1968. Despite facing an identical threat over the same location and even flying the same airplane, the two services arrived at significantly different solutions to their initial struggles. On the one hand, the USAF made exclusively technical adjustments to what it viewed as a problem of underperforming equipment, resisting any doctrinal or training reforms. On the other hand, the USN was willing to confront its shortcomings, which it perceived as insufficient and ineffective training regimens leading to subpar aircrew performance. The results spoke for themselves: while the Air Force remained at a 2:1 kill ratio throughout the war, the Navy’s ratio jumped from 2:1 to 12:1. Drawing on primary sources, memoirs, histories, and declassified reports, this paper finds organizational flexibility, unbiased reflection, and inter-service rivalry to be key determinants of tactical innovational success. These findings offer lessons that can be applied to future conflicts and stress the importance of aligning technological advancements with the proper doctrinal innovations to construct the best force for victory in the future
The Price Sensitivity of the Demand for New Electric Vehicles in Washington State
No full textThis study examines price sensitivity and consumer preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) in Washington State in 2024 by building a discrete-choice demand model to capture consumers’ EV purchasing decisions. The findings show that price elasticity is smaller in magnitude when using transaction prices (mean of -0.87) compared to the estimate based on Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices (MSRPs), which yield a mean elasticity of -1.22. This suggests that MSRPs mostly lower than actual transaction prices may overestimate price elasticity. Transaction price is therefore preferred for demand-side subsidy design and for studying consumer preferences. Additionally, the results highlight the importance of using trim-level data, as aggregating to the model level introduces significant estimation bias. A counterfactual analysis further demonstrates that removing federal tax credits would substantially reduce EV sales, while shifting Washington State tax credits from being based on transaction prices to MSRPs would only shift sales across EV trims. These findings emphasize the need of EV tax credits to promote EV adoption and their impacts on consumers’ vehicle choices
Relationship between Housing Price and Divorce via an Unexpected Size-Based Policy Change
No full textThis paper studies the impact of housing wealth shocks on marital stability, focusing on divorce outcomes. Exploiting a natural experiment from China's 90-square-meter housing policy, I apply a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to identify causal effects of house wealth and divorce. Results show that positive housing shocks increase the likelihood of divorce, particularly among households with children and higher education levels. Event-study analyses reveal no significant shifts in non-housing consumption after divorce, suggesting that housing gains cushion the financial costs of separation. The findings complement traditional models of marriage as labor contracts by highlighting the role of asset appreciation
Spatial Spillovers and Technical Efficiency in U.S. Local Banks
No full textThis study examines whether technical efficiency in U.S. community banks is shaped by spatial spillovers and how these effects are conditioned by financial and institutional factors. Employing a two-stage empirical strategy, we first estimate bank-level efficiency scores using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), followed by bias-corrected truncated regressions within a spatial Simar and Wilson (2007) framework. As a robustness check, we replicate the main findings using a spatial Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) approach. The analysis draws on panel data from 4,936 community banks spanning 2015–2019. The results provide robust evidence of spatial interdependence: banks’ efficiency levels are significantly influenced by the characteristics of neighboring institutions, particularly in terms of capital structure, income diversification, and liquidity positions. Two primary mechanisms underpin these spillovers. First, relationship lending promotes the diffusion of soft information, amplifying local interbank linkages through social and informational embeddedness. Second, the magnitude and direction of spatial effects are heterogeneous, varying systematically with institutional contexts, especially across Federal Reserve Dis- tricts and data-driven spatial regimes. The overlap between regulatory jurisdictions and identified spatial clusters points to the relevance of localized supervision in shaping efficiency dynamics. By integrating spatial heterogeneity into the analysis of bank performance, the findings underscore the impor- tance of accounting for geographic structure in both academic modeling and policy design concerning community banking