Non Homogeneous Stochastic Diffusion on a Junction

The purpose of this article is to give another proof on the existence of a diffusion on a junction, which has been already done by M.Freidlin and S-J.Sheu, in Diffusion processes on graphs, (2000). We generalize the result to time dependent and borel coefficients. Such a process can be seen as a couple (x, i) with x a one dimensional continuous diffusion whose coefficients depends on the edge i where it is located. We then provide an It{\^o}'s formula for this process. Finally, we give an estimate of the local time of the process at the junction point.Comment: Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Elsevier, In pres

Medium as King: Social Media & the Political Campaign

There is a growing need for a greater understanding of the intersection between great content, effective targeting and proper media usage in mediated communication and especially in American politics. As more campaigns move their efforts online in an attempt to reach a rapidly growing digital constituency, more content will continue to be less visible. The major quest for this study will be to challenge the long-standing idea that “content is king” which Bill Gates termed at the inception of the internet. A theoretical background of Marshall McLuhan and Kathleen Hall Jamieson will not only allow us to answer this question, but then will also allow for future researchers to build upon these concepts. This study will aim to demonstrate how the Ted Cruz presidential campaign of 2016, prior to his departure from the race, was an excellent example of the sweet spot in content creation, voter targeting and medium implementation

Queer Farmers: Sexuality and the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture

Intimate relationships are foundational to farm viability. Such relationships affect how farmers share tasks, earn income, and access land, yet the role of sexuality and heteronormativity in agriculture remains understudied. Furthermore, queers are largely ignored as potential farmers by the sustainable agriculture and LGBT movements. Through participant observation and interviews with 30 sustainable farmers of various genders and sexualities in New England, I document the lived experiences of queer sustainable farmers, an under-researched group, and examine whether sexuality and gender affects why they farm. Whereas the perception of rural heterosexism can discourage queer participation in agriculture, queer farmers faced less overt heterosexism than expected. However, they did experience heterosexism particular to sustainable agriculture, and confronting it jeopardized relationships important for economic and environmental sustainability and land access. Some were attracted to sustainable agriculture for reasons specific to gender, sexuality, and anti-consumerist values. I offer the sustainable agriculture movement a lens for observing how sexuality and heteronormativity are embedded in farmer recruitment, retention, and land acquisition

Angry Rats and Scaredy Cats: Lessons from Competing Cognitive Homologies

There have been several recent attempts to think about psychological kinds as homologies. Nevertheless, there are serious epistemic challenges for individuating homologous psychological kinds, or cognitive homologies. Some of these challenges are revealed when we look at competing claims of cognitive homology. This paper considers two competing homology claims that compare human anger with putative aggression systems of nonhuman animals. The competition between these hypotheses has been difficult to resolve in part because of what I call the boundary problem: boundaries between instances of psychological kinds (e.g., anger and fear) cannot be directly observed. Thus, there are distinctive difficulties for individuating psychological kinds across lineages. I draw four conclusions from this case study: First, recent evidence from the neuroscience of fear suggests that one of the proposed homologies involves a straightforward conflation of anger and fear. Second, this conflation arises because of the boundary problem. Third, there is an implicit constraint on the operational criteria that is easy to overlook in the psychological case. In this case, ignoring the constraint is part of the problem. Fourth, this is a clear case in which knowledge of homology cannot be accumulated piecemeal. Identifying homologs of human anger requires identifying homologs of fear