Study Abroad and Liminality: Examining U.S. American Undergraduate Risky Behavioral Choices Betwixt and Between Borders

This original research, conducted for a dissertation completed in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Public Administration, sought to investigate whether collegiate, traditionally aged, undergraduate student risky behavioral choices rose during the study abroad experience as compared to when in the home collegiate environment. After investigating the literature related to domestic risky behavior, collegiate study abroad, and the intersections of tourism, an opportunity to connect these phenomena materialized. The anthropological concept of liminality served as the theoretical perspective that anchored the construction of this research. This study was conducted using a post-positivist epistemology, a non-experimental design, and an original survey instrument created for this study to investigate the phenomenon at hand. Using statistical tests to analyze the dataset, this study resulted in nine major findings that have implications for public managers working as higher education administrators. For this study’s sample, students were found to have made riskier choices abroad as compared to while at home, especially if they engaged in significant alcohol-related risks prior to studying abroad. Liminal space played a positive role in identifying whether or not risky behavioral choices increased. The most novel finding connected both in that the contributing factors of experiencing liminal space in tandem with a pre-disposition for risky behaviors served as the most significant predictors of whether students will or will not take risks while studying abroad. Three recommendations for practice and seven future research opportunities emerged that may help to inform how this area of the research may continue to evolve

Study Abroad and Liminality: Examining U.S. American Collegiate Undergraduate Student Engagement in Risky Behaviors Betwixt and Between Borders

One of the most niche sub-arenas of public administration, higher education administration, involves preparing future leaders and scholars for global perspectives. This original research examined whether collegiate, traditionally-aged, undergraduate student risky behavioral choices rose during the study abroad experience as compared to when in the home collegiate environment. After investigating the literature an opportunity to connect the phenomena of domestic risky behavior, collegiate study abroad, and tourism materialized. The anthropological concept of liminality served as the theoretical perspective that anchored the construction of this research. This study was conducted using a post-positivist epistemology, a non-experimental design, and an original survey instrument created for this study. A single, mid-sized, public, regional university on the east coast of the United States served as the data collection origin site. Using statistical tests, this study resulted in nine major findings that have implications for public managers in higher education. In this study’s sample, students were found to have made riskier choices abroad as compared to while at home, especially if they engaged in significant alcohol-related risks prior to studying abroad. Liminal space played a positive role in identifying whether or not risky behavioral choices increased. The most novel finding connected both in that the contributing factors of experiencing liminal space in tandem with a pre-disposition for risky behaviors served as the most significant predictors of whether students will or will not take risks while studying abroad. Three recommendations for practice in higher education administration and international study abroad programs, and seven future research opportunities emerged that may help to inform how this area of the research may continue to evolve

Persistence and Memory in Patchwork Dynamics for Glassy Models

Slow dynamics in disordered materials prohibits direct simulation of their rich nonequilibrium behavior at large scales. "Patchwork dynamics" is introduced to mimic relaxation over a very broad range of time scales by equilibrating or optimizing directly on successive length scales. This dynamics is used to study coarsening and to replicate memory effects for spin glasses and random ferromagnets. It is also used to find, with high confidence, exact ground states in large or toroidal samples.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; reference correctio

Inferring the neutron star equation of state from binary inspiral waveforms

The properties of neutron star matter above nuclear density are not precisely known. Gravitational waves emitted from binary neutron stars during their late stages of inspiral and merger contain imprints of the neutron-star equation of state. Measuring departures from the point-particle limit of the late inspiral waveform allows one to measure properties of the equation of state via gravitational wave observations. This and a companion talk by J. S. Read reports a comparison of numerical waveforms from simulations of inspiraling neutron-star binaries, computed for equations of state with varying stiffness. We calculate the signal strength of the difference between waveforms for various commissioned and proposed interferometric gravitational wave detectors and show that observations at frequencies around 1 kHz will be able to measure a compactness parameter and constrain the possible neutron-star equations of state.Comment: Talk given at the 12th Marcel Grossman Meeting, Paris, France, 12-18 Jul 200

Tumbleweeds and airborne gravitational noise sources for LIGO

Gravitational-wave detectors are sensitive not only to astrophysical gravitational waves, but also to the fluctuating Newtonian gravitational forces of moving masses in the ground and air around the detector. This paper studies the gravitational effects of density perturbations in the atmosphere, and from massive airborne objects near the detector. These effects were previously considered by Saulson; in this paper I revisit these phenomena, considering transient atmospheric shocks, and the effects of sound waves or objects colliding with the ground or buildings around the test masses. I also consider temperature perturbations advected past the detector as a source of gravitational noise. I find that the gravitational noise background is below the expected noise floor even of advanced interferometric detectors, although only by an order of magnitude for temperature perturbations carried along turbulent streamlines. I also find that transient shockwaves in the atmosphere could potentially produce large spurious signals, with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds in an advanced interferometric detector. These signals could be vetoed by means of acoustic sensors outside of the buildings. Massive wind-borne objects such as tumbleweeds could also produce gravitational signals with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds if they collide with the interferometer buildings, so it may be necessary to build fences preventing such objects from approaching within about 30m of the test masses.Comment: 15 pages, 10 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX4.cls and epsfig.st

Star formation in the giant HII regions of M101

The molecular components of three giant HII regions (NGC 5461, NGC 5462, NGC 5471) in the galaxy M101 are investigated with new observations from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the NRAO 12-meter, and the Owens Valley millimeter array. Of the three HII regions, only NGC 5461 had previously been detected in CO emission. We calculate preliminary values for the molecular mass of the GMCs in NGC 5461 by assuming a CO-to-H_2 factor (X factor) and then compare these values with the virial masses. We conclude that the data in this paper demonstrate for the first time that the value of X may decrease in regions with intense star formation. The molecular mass for the association of clouds in NGC 5461 is approximately 3x10^7 Mo and is accompanied by 1-2 times as much atomic mass. The observed CO emission in NGC 5461 is an order of magnitude stronger than in NGC 5462, while it was not possible to detect molecular gas toward NGC 5471 with the JCMT. An even larger ratio of atomic to molecular gas in NGC 5471 was observed, which might be attributed to efficient conversion of molecular to atomic gas. The masses of the individual clouds in NGC 5461, which are gravitationally bound, cover a range of (2-8) x 10^5 Mo, comparable with the masses of Galactic giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Higher star forming efficiencies, and not massive clouds, appear to be the prerequisite for the formation of the large number of stars whose radiation is required to produce the giant HII regions in M101.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Folding of small disulfide-rich proteins : clarifying the puzzle

Premi a l'excel·lència investigadora. Àmbit de les Ciències Experimentals. 2008The process by which small proteins fold to their native conformations has been intensively studied over the last few decades. In this field, the particular chemistry of disulfide bond formation has facilitated the characterization of the oxidative folding of numerous small, disulfide-rich proteins with results that illustrate a high diversity of folding mechanisms, differing in the heterogeneity and disulfide pairing nativeness of their intermediates. In this review, we combine information on the folding of different protein models together with the recent structural determinations of major intermediates to provide new molecular clues in oxidative folding. Also, we turn to analyze the role of disulfide bonds in misfolding and protein aggregation and their implications in amyloidosis and conformational diseases

Hormone replacement treatment choices in complete androgen insensitivity syndrome: an audit of an adult clinic

OBJECTIVE: To review the treatment choices of women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) at a single tertiary centre. DESIGN: Retrospective review. PATIENTS: Women with CAIS identified from our database. RESULTS: The study group comprised 141 women with CAIS. Eleven percent (16/141) of women had gonads in situ, 3 of whom were under workup for gonadectomy. The age of gonadectomy in the remainder 125 women was 17 (0.1-53) years. The most common form of HRT was oral oestrogen or transdermal oestrogen in 80% (113/141). 13/141 (9%) women used vaginal oestrogens alone or together with other forms of HRT. Testosterone preparations had been used by 17% (24/141) of women and were currently used in 10% (14/141). Of those who had used testosterone, 42% (10/24) had chosen not to continue after a therapeutic trial. CONCLUSIONS: In a clinic offering individualised multidisciplinary care for women with CAIS, we found that the majority of women chose oestrogen-based treatment while a significant minority used testosterone

Data analysis strategies for the detection of gravitational waves in non-Gaussian noise

In order to analyze data produced by the kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors that will begin operation early next century, one needs to develop robust statistical tools capable of extracting weak signals from the detector noise. This noise will likely have non-stationary and non-Gaussian components. To facilitate the construction of robust detection techniques, I present a simple two-component noise model that consists of a background of Gaussian noise as well as stochastic noise bursts. The optimal detection statistic obtained for such a noise model incorporates a natural veto which suppresses spurious events that would be caused by the noise bursts. When two detectors are present, I show that the optimal statistic for the non-Gaussian noise model can be approximated by a simple coincidence detection strategy. For simulated detector noise containing noise bursts, I compare the operating characteristics of (i) a locally optimal detection statistic (which has nearly-optimal behavior for small signal amplitudes) for the non-Gaussian noise model, (ii) a standard coincidence-style detection strategy, and (iii) the optimal statistic for Gaussian noise.Comment: 5 pages RevTeX, 4 figure

Learning about compact binary merger: the interplay between numerical relativity and gravitational-wave astronomy

Activities in data analysis and numerical simulation of gravitational waves have to date largely proceeded independently. In this work we study how waveforms obtained from numerical simulations could be effectively used within the data analysis effort to search for gravitational waves from black hole binaries. We propose measures to quantify the accuracy of numerical waveforms for the purpose of data analysis and study how sensitive the analysis is to errors in the waveforms. We estimate that ~100 templates (and ~10 simulations with different mass ratios) are needed to detect waves from non-spinning binary black holes with total masses in the range 100 Msun < M < 400 Msun using initial LIGO. Of course, many more simulation runs will be needed to confirm that the correct physics is captured in the numerical evolutions. From this perspective, we also discuss sources of systematic errors in numerical waveform extraction and provide order of magnitude estimates for the computational cost of simulations that could be used to estimate the cost of parameter space surveys. Finally, we discuss what information from near-future numerical simulations of compact binary systems would be most useful for enhancing the detectability of such events with contemporary gravitational wave detectors and emphasize the role of numerical simulations for the interpretation of eventual gravitational-wave observations.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure