Killed a Bird Today: The Emergence and Functionality of the Santeria Trickster, Eleggua

Recognizable by their cunning exploits and gray morality, tricksters can be found in mythology, folklore, and religions throughout the world. Two tricksters were familiar to the Yoruba people in West Africa, Ajapa and Eshu, and their stories and abilities provide insight to the functions fulfilled by trickster characters. Upon the introduction of Regla de Ocha (or Santeria) to Cuba following the transatlantic slave trade, a new figure emerges, known for his tricks and adaptability. Due to the West African influence in Santeria religious practices, the original roles and traits of Eshu and Ajapa are analyzed for comparison, but Eleggua, the Santeria trickster, has become his own entity. Through ethnographic observations, personal conversations, and a collection of various sources and manuals, this project explores Eleggua and the trickster presence in Cuba. Although his role as a trickster has changed throughout the past few centuries, Eleggua and the trickster identity persists in modern Cuba, visible in religious practices and secular exchanges

Reforming Peru’s Political Institutions : The Role of Good Governance Aid as a Driver of Change

Decades-long debates over the quality, quantity and purpose of development aid have led to a renewed emphasis on whether, and under what circumstances, aid is effective in achieving development outcomes. There is significant policy consensus that aid is most effective in environments with “good” governance, which the United Nations defines as processes of decision making and implementation that are effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and accountable and transparent. Aid donors fund numerous projects aimed at strengthening good governance in recipient countries, often through reforms of political institutions. Yet many aid donors fail to theorize about the process or mechanism through which good governance aid drives institutional change, and in doing so often ignore the impact that other drivers of change may have on the implicitly assumed direct causal relationship between aid and improved governance in political institutions. This thesis explores the role of aid in shifting institutions toward the ideal of good governance through an analysis that embeds this aid within a larger context that takes into account the role of other drivers of change. It compares good governance-related changes within Peru’s judicial institutions and Comptroller (Auditor) General over a 30-year period, from 1980-2010, examining the main actors and factors that drove or influenced changes in institutional accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency, asking how they drove these changes and overcame resistance to reforms. Building upon this within-case analysis, this thesis then compares across cases to develop conclusions about the necessary and sufficient conditions that resulted in positive good governance-related changes. It concludes with a discussion of the opportunities for, and limitations of, good governance aid as a driver of change in political institutions

Maximum thickness of a two-dimensional trapped Bose system

The trapped Bose system can be regarded as two-dimensional if the thermal fluctuation energy is less than the lowest energy in the perpendicular direction. Under this assumption, we derive an expression for the maximum thickness of an effective two-dimensional trapped Bose system.Comment: 1 pages, 0 figure

Acceptance test report for 241-SY-101 DACS software upgrade to test strategy, version 3.04

This Acceptance Test Report (ATR) will summarize the results of performing ATP-183 which tested the modifications to the DACS Test Strategy software

An optical lattice on an atom chip

Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser beam is retro-reflected using the atom chip surface as a high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate traps. We load thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling into the two-dimensional regime where the thermal energy is smaller than a quantum of transverse excitation. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Behavioral and Environmental Residential Risk Factors for Lyme Disease in the Southern Tier of New York

During the past 40 years, Lyme disease has emerged as the most widely reported vector-borne illness in the U.S., with the majority of cases occurring in the Northeastern United States. The pathogenic bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi relies on the deer tick, Ixodes scapularis, the primary enzootic vector responsible for the passage of the bacteria to humans. Behavioral risk factors for tick-borne diseases include those that increase the likelihood of being bit by a tick, including contact with vegetation, exposed skin, and spending time outdoors, all of which can occur within one’s residential yard. Risk factors within the assumed safety net of the home have not been extensively studied, nor has the effects of pet ownership, nor the presence of wild animals within the yard. During 2019-2020 we conducted 130 surveys of households in Broome and Chenango Counties, and performed tick drags in the rear yards of 102 of these homes. Risk factors included household members’ time spent in yard, type of outside activity, use of tick control methods, seasonal activity, and pet ownership, as well as specifics of the yard, including amount and type of vegetation and presence of wild animals. The household’s history of tick bites and infection were also recorded. A risk analysis is currently underway to determine which factors contribute to a higher risk of contracting tick-borne illnesses. This study is part of our ongoing effort to understand the threat of tick-borne diseases in peri-urban and urban settings within the Southern Tier of New York.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2022/1034/thumbnail.jp

Collapsing dynamics of attractive Bose-Einstein condensates

The self-similar collapse of 3D and quasi-2D atom condensates with negative scattering length is examined. 3D condensates are shown to blow up following the scenario of {\it weak collapse}: The inner core of the condensate diverges with an almost zero particle number, while its tail distribution spreads out to large distances with a constant density profile. For this case, the 3-body recombination arrests the collapse, but it weakly dissipates the atoms. The confining trap then reforms the condensate at later times. In contrast, 2D condensates undergo a {\it strong collapse}: The atoms stay mainly located at center and recombination sequentially absorbs a significant amount of particles.Comment: 4 pages, submitted for publicatio

Two-dimensional atom trapping in field-induced adiabatic potentials

We show how to create a novel two-dimensional trap for ultracold atoms from a conventional magnetic trap. We achieve this by utilizing rf-induced adiabatic potentials to enhance the trapping potential in one direction. We demonstrate the loading process and discuss the experimental conditions under which it might be possible to prepare a 2D Bose condensate. A scheme for the preparation of coherent matterwave bubbles is also discussed