Drowning in White Whine

“What are some examples of white privilege?” my professor asked. I felt an audible tension in the class as this was asked. This is a tricky subject, especially when you’re talking to a class full of mostly white, privileged people (myself included). [excerpt

A Targeted Existence

Over the summer, I visited a friend from Gettysburg who was having a party. The party was fun for the first half, and I was having a good time, so I decided to stay the night instead of walk in the dark to the bus. This is what parents and educators and older sisters and women everywhere had taught me: stay with people you know; clutch your keys in your hand; don’t walk alone. I was staying with my friend from school; I was safe. [excerpt

Object to Your Affection

Recently a guy in one of my classes defended objectification of women on the grounds that if he cares for a girl, he will treat her like he treats his most treasured objects; he used his coat as an example. He said that he loved his coat, he wouldn’t let it touch the ground, and he took great care of it; he would do the same for any girl he cared about, for “his girl.” [excerpt

Your Masculinity Does Not Make You My Judge and Jury

For me, Springfest 2016 began with the purchasing of a pack of cigarettes. A bad decision, surely, but not surprising for a weekend that is usually filled with them. Before walking over to a party with my friends that weekend, I tucked the cigarettes securely in the back pocket of my shorts. The scene that unfolded as I walked into my friend’s apartment was a typical one: a rush of people, dim lighting, and loud, pulsing music. I tried to walk through the crowd quickly, waving and shouting a quick “hey” to friends here and there as I passed by. Suddenly, I felt someone take something out of my back pocket. I panicked at first, fearing it was my phone, and then felt a flash of shame as I realized it was actually my pack of cigarettes. [excerpt

Is Citizenship Still Relevant? State Sovereignty, Migration, and Sanctuary Cities in a Globalizing World

This paper argues that sanctuary cities and sanctuary policies in the United States are a manifestation of the conflicts resulting from processes of globalization, which have changed traditional notions of citizenship, state sovereignty, and state security, as well as fostered a cultural backlash and identity politics within the U.S

Constraining cosmological parameters with the clustering properties of galaxy clusters in optical and X-ray bands

(abridged) We use a theoretical model to predict the clustering properties of galaxy clusters. Our technique accounts for past light-cone effects on the observed clustering and follows the non-linear evolution of the dark matter correlation function and cluster bias factor. A linear treatment of redshift-space distortions is also included. We perform a maximum-likelihood analysis by comparing the theoretical predictions to a set of observational data, both in the optical (APM and EDCC catalogues) and X-ray band (RASS1 Bright Sample, BCS, XBACs, REFLEX). In the framework of CDM models, we compute the constraints on cosmological parameters. Our results show that X-ray data are more powerful than optical ones, allowing smaller regions in the parameter space. We find that the clustering properties of clusters are almost independent of the matter density parameter and of the presence of a cosmological constant, while they appear to be strongly dependent on the shape parameter. Using the X-ray data only, we obtain Gamma~0.1 and 0.4<sigma_8<1.1 for the Einstein-de Sitter model, while 0.14<Gamma<0.22 and 0.6<sigma_8<1.3 for open and flat models with Omega_0m=0.3. Finally, we use our model to make predictions on the correlation length of galaxy clusters expected in future surveys. In particular, we show the results for an optical catalogue with characteristics similar to the EIS project and for a very deep X-ray catalogue with the characteristics of the XMM/LSS survey. We find that clusters at high redshifts are expected to have larger a correlation length than local ones.Comment: 15 pages, Latex using MN style. Revised version accepted for publication in MNRA

Light-front model of the kaon electromagnetic current

The electromagnetic form factor is extracted from both components of the electromagnetic current: J(plus) and J(minus) with a pseudo-scalar coupling of the quarks to the kaon. In the case of J(plus) there is no pair term contribution in the Drell-Yan frame. However, J(minus) component of the electromagnetic current the pair term contribution is different from zero and is necessary include it to preserve the rotational symmetry of the current.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, uses World Scientific style file. To be published by World Scientific in the proceedings of the "VIII International Workshop on Hadron Physics,(HADRONS 2002)", Bento Goncalves, RS, Brazi

The Battle of Malaya: The Japanese Invasion of Malaya as a Case Study for the Re-Evaluation of Imperial Japanese Army Intelligence Effectiveness During World War II

The present assessment of Japanese intelligence operations during World War II is based almost entirely upon the work of Western researchers. The view presented is one of complete incompetence by the West. Little attention has been paid to any successes the Japanese intelligence organizations achieved. In fact, the majority of Anglo-American historians have instead focused on the errors and unpreparedness of the Allies as the cause of their early failures. This view is completely dismissive of Japanese intelligence efforts. The majority of the research does not take into account the extensive preparations and training the Japanese intelligence organizations and military undertook in the lead up to World War II. This information calls into question the assertion that Allied failures were the primary provenance of the early Japanese successes. This study focuses on the Japanese intelligence efforts from 1930 to 1942. It will analyze the events leading up to and the Invasion of Malaya. This was a pivotal event at the opening of World War II, and was a decisive Japanese victory. Previously, the success of Japanese forces during this, and other, event has been credited to failures in Allied intelligence and preparedness. Western sources at large have claimed that Japanese intelligence as a whole was faulty. This project will argue that in fact Japanese intelligence units were highly skilled and contributed greatly to Japanese successes. It was as a result of severe organizational deficiencies and failures that appeared in the latter half of the war that Japan eventually would fall behind in the intelligence war

Light storage protocols in Tm:YAG

We present two quantum memory protocols for solids: A stopped light approach based on spectral hole burning and the storage in an atomic frequency comb. These procedures are well adapted to the rare-earth ion doped crystals. We carefully clarify the critical steps of both. On one side, we show that the slowing-down due to hole-burning is sufficient to produce a complete mapping of field into the atomic system. On the other side, we explain the storage and retrieval mechanism of the Atomic Frequency Comb protocol. This two important stages are implemented experimentally in Tm$^{3+}$- doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet crystal