Foreword

It is my honor to open this 10th anniversary issue of the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies. Reader, please appreciate just what an oddity that is in the world of student-run journals. The problem with student (and thus editorial staff) turnover is very real. The typical student journal lasts only a few issues before consistency in publishing begins to wane. The fact that the IMW Journal has remained afloat and regularly publishing for a decade is a monumental accomplishment for the program in Religious Studies at Utah State University and the staff of the journal. My congratulations

Modelling of quasi-optical arrays

A model for analyzing quasi-optical grid amplifiers based on a finite-element electromagnetic simulator is presented. This model is deduced from the simulation of the whole unit cell and takes into account mutual coupling effects. By using this model, the gain of a 10×10 grid amplifier has been accurately predicted. To further test the validity of the model three passive structures with different loads have been fabricated and tested using a new focused-beam network analyzer that we developed

Personality and Social Framing in Privacy Decision-Making: A Study on Cookie Acceptance

Despite their best intentions, people struggle with the realities of privacy protection and will often sacrifice privacy for convenience in their online activities. Individuals show systematic, personality dependent differences in their privacy decision making, which makes it interesting for those who seek to design ‘nudges’ designed to manipulate privacy behaviors. We explore such effects in a cookie decision task. Two hundred and ninety participants were given an incidental website review task that masked the true aim of the study. At the task outset, they were asked whether they wanted to accept a cookie in a message that either contained a social framing ’nudge’ (they were told that either a majority or a minority of users like themselves had accepted the cookie) or contained no information about social norms (control). At the end of the task, participants were asked to complete a range of personality assessments (impulsivity, risk-taking, willingness to self-disclose and sociability). We found social framing to be an effective behavioral nudge, reducing cookie acceptance in the minority social norm condition. Further, we found personality effects such that those scoring highly on risk taking and impulsivity were significantly more likely to accept the cookie. Finally, we found that the application of a social nudge could attenuate the personality effects of impulsivity and risk-taking. We explore the implications for those working in the privacy by-design space

Invisible design: exploring insights and ideas through ambiguous film scenarios

Invisible Design is a technique for generating insights and ideas with workshop participants in the early stages of concept development. It involves the creation of ambiguous films in which characters discuss a technology that is not directly shown. The technique builds on previous work in HCI on scenarios, persona, theatre, film and ambiguity. The Invisible Design approach is illustrated with three examples from unrelated projects; Biometric Daemon, Panini and Smart Money. The paper presents a qualitative analysis of data from a series of workshops where these Invisible Designs were discussed. The analysis outlines responses to the films in terms of; existing problems, concerns with imagined technologies and design speculation. It is argued that Invisible Design can help to create a space for critical and creative dialogue during participatory concept development

Giant magnetoresistance in granular cobalt copper thin films prepared by pulsed laser ablation deposition

Giant magnetoresistance of up to 9.5% in 1.5 T at 14 K has been observed in Co19Cu81, thin films prepared by pulsed laser ablation deposition from rotated, split targets. The as-grown films show a small GMR effect but this may be enhanced by a factor of 4 by appropriate annealing. The volume ratio of material in the target is found to be reproduced in the film. Measurements of the remanence and initial susceptibility of the films indicate a distribution of energy barriers to the rotation of the magnetic moments of the cobalt particles and also the presence of inter-particle interactions. The choice of operating parameters to control these effects and thus optimise the GMR is discussed

Inverted Fluorescence Microscope

Team F13 is composed of Trevor Blythe, Spencer Hann, Matthew Pfeiffer, and Thomas Eggenberger. We are all majoring in mechanical engineering and in our final year of study here at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. This project is a continuation of a 2019-2020 senior project. The previous team designed and built a functioning inverted fluorescence microscope (IFM) from scratch. This device was created as a lab tool for undergraduate students to be able to perform experiments on microfluidic devices constructed in Cal Poly’s Microfabrication Laboratory. Although substantially functional, several design constraints had not yet been met. Our team has improved microscope robustness and functionality for practical undergraduate lab use. To do this, we set overarching goals including decreasing microscope footprint, increasing the accuracy of microscope positional repeatability, and improving user-friendliness. Within this Final Design Review report, the full design, manufacturing, and testing processes of this project are explicitly detailed, as well as project logistics, future suggestions, and project management

Institutional Critique: A Rhetorical Methodology for Change

We offer institutional critique as an activist methodology for changing institutions. Since institutions are rhetorical entities, rhetoric can be deployed to change them. In its effort to counter oppressive institutional structures, the field of rhetoric and composition has focused its attention chiefly on the composition classroom, on the department of English, and on disciplinary forms of critique. Our focus shifts the scene of action and argument to professional writing and to public discourse, using spatial methods adapted from postmodern geography and critical theory

Spin polarized transport current in n-type co-doped ZnO thin films measured by Andreev spectroscopy

We use point contact Andreev reflection measurements to determine the spin polarization of the transport current in pulse laser deposited thin films of ZnO with 1% Al and with and without 2%Mn. Only films with Mn are ferromagnetic and show spin polarization of the transport current of up to 55 $\pm$ 0.5% at 4.2 K, in sharp contrast to measurements of the nonmagnetic films without Mn where the polarization is consistent with zero. Our results imply strongly that ferromagnetism in these Al doped ZnO films requires the presence of Mn.Comment: Published versio