Adolescent Girls Economic Opportunities Study in Rwanda

This study aims to understand the economic barriers and constraints facing adolescent girls in Rwanda, as well as the opportunities for building assets, increasing empowerment, and tackling discriminatory institutions so that girls can better access and benefit from viable opportunities.It delivers a situational analysis with recommendations that inform the design of programmes for creating economic empowerment for adolescent girls

Attitudes towards 'Racial Mixing' in Colonial French-India

Actualmente Puducherry es como un coctel en términos de nacionalidades, lenguas, religiones y varios marcadores sociales. Esta situación es una consecuencia de la historia de la Unión de Territorios, en gran parte, influenciada por la herencia colonial. Este ensayo sirve de telón de fondo a la investigación que propongo realizar como tesis final del Máster en Antropología Social y Cultural, y se centra en la dinámica actual de exclusión e inclusión en contextos determinados en White Town, Puducherry. Con este ensayo me aproximaré a las diferentes actitudes que las colonias tenían hacia las poblaciones de 'razas-mixtas' en la India francesa.Present day Puducherry is a mixed pot in terms of nationalities, languages, religions and various social markers. The situation is a consequence of the Union Territory's history, largely influenced by Its colonial heritage. This essay acts as a backdrop to my proposed research project for the final thesis for the Master's in Social and Cultural Anthropology, which focuses on the current dynamic of Inclusion and Exclusion under certain contexts in White Town, Puducherry. This essay begins to study the different attitudes colonies had towards 'mixed-race' populations, primarily in French India

Searching for Supermassive Binary Black Holes and their Gravitational Waves

The recent discovery of gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO collaboration has opened a new observing window on the universe, but it is limited to the GWs in the frequency range of 10-1000 Hz. The main motivation of this thesis is to consider the possibility of detecting low frequency (nHz) GWs. In the pursuit of these waves, we need to understand their source of origin and build a detector with the required sensitivity. Low-frequency waves are expected as a result of coalescing binary supermassive black holes (SMBBHs). We hope to detect these waves in the near future using pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). Thus, this thesis can be divided into two parts: searching for SMBBHs and using pulsars for improving the sensitivity of PTAs. SMBBHs are expected to form as a result of galaxy mergers. However, despite numerous attempts, so far we have been able to and only a handful of these systems. This raises various questions about the merger rate, the timescale of a merging process, and the sensitivity and resolving power of the available instruments. 0402+379 is the most compact confirmed SMBBH, with two compact cores at a separation of 7.3 pc. We have studied this source at 5, 8, 15 and 22 GHz using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) over a timeline of 12 years. With some assumptions about the orbit, we measure the orbital period P ~ 28000 years and SMBBH mass M ~ 15 x 10^9 Solar Mass. A strong frequency-dependent core shift is evident, which we use to infer magnetic fields near the jet base. Subsequently, we search for more compact SMBBHs so that we can study their orbital motion within our lifetime. We select a sample of 18 sources from the VLBA imaging polarimetry survey based on their morphology and host galaxy properties. We also include NGC7674, which was recently claimed to be an SMBBH candidate. We observe these sources at multiple frequencies using the VLBA. PTAs consist of a large array of pulsars which are being used to detect the GWs. However, when the signal from a pulsar traverses the interstellar medium (ISM), its signal gets affected, contributing to PTA noise. In order to improve the sensitivity of PTAs, it is necessary to understand the properties of the ISM. The main effects of the ISM are dispersion, scattering, and scintillation. All these effects are strongly dependent on frequency such that they have a large impact at lower frequencies. Hence, in order to study these effects, we study a sample of eight pulsars at frequencies below 100 MHz using the Long Wavelength Array. This provides us with insights into the distribution of inhomogeneities in the ISM which we hope will help in improving the sensitivity of PTAs

Dance of Two Supermassive Binary Black Holes

Black holes exist in a various range of masses ranging from stellar mass (~ 10 Solar Mass) to Supermassive black holes (SMBHs, million to billion Solar Mass). It is expected that as the separation between the black holes decreases, emission of gravitational waves will grow stronger, which makes binary black holes one of the most promising sources for gravitational radiation detection. Gravitational waves from merging stellar-mass black holes have recently been discovered by LIGO; however, we are yet to detect them from binary SMBHs. These massive black holes reside at the heart of most of the galaxies and when two such galaxies collide, a binary formation takes place. However, the number of such confirmed systems is a handful. This raises questions such as how often do galaxies collide? Does a collision give rise to a binary system, and how quickly do these black holes merge after binary formation? Understanding these systems is important to understanding fundamental astrophysical problems ranging from galaxy evolution to active galactic nuclei to black hole growth. We know about one system where the two black holes are in the process of merging. The radio galaxy 0402+379 was discovered by Maness et al. (2004), to have two core components with flat spectra. With a projected separation of 7.3 pc, this system is the most compact supermassive binary black hole, which makes it one of the best candidates to study. We present the latest results from 12 years of observations to constrain the motion, orbit, and the mass of the compact sources

Structure, biology and chemistry of plumbago auriculata (plumbaginaceae).

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville.Plumbago auriculata Lam. is endemic to South Africa and is often cultivated for its ornamental and medicinal uses throughout the world. Belonging to the family Plumbaginaceae this species contains specialized secretory structures on the leaves and calyces. This study focused on the micromorphological, chemical and biological aspects of the species. Micromorphological studies revealed the presence of salt glands on the adaxial and abaxial surface of leaves and two types of trichomes on the calyces. “Transefer cells” were reported for the first time in the genus. The secretory process of the salt glands was further enhanced by the presence of mitochondria, ribosomes, vacuoles, dictyosomes and rough endoplasmic reticulum cisternae. Histochemical and phytochemical studies revealed the presence of important secondary metabolites that possess many medicinal properties which were further analyzed by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MC) identifying the composition of compounds in the leaf and calyx extracts. A novel attempt at synthesizing silver nanoparticles proved leaf and calyx extracts to be efficient reducing and capping agents that further displayed good antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Biological studies revealed for the first time the presence of three variants of flower colour (white, pale blue and deep blue) and each colour had a characteristic sex-morph described as “Pin” or “Thrum.” Due to the “Pin” and “Thrum” scenario, plants are reported to be self-incompatible. However, the findings of this study suggested that plants were also self-compatibile. Graphical demonstration of calyx trichomes showed their involvement in insect entrapment often resulting in the death of the insect due to the struggle to free itself. This study concludes that P. auriculata is of good medicinal value and can contribute towards drug development and other medicinal uses in traditional markets as well as in the cosmetic and pharmacological industries. This species has striking morphological and biological features and possesses good value for future perspectives

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALTH NEEDS OF THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY IN MONTANA

Transgender individuals face a unique set of challenges in their day to day lives. While issues regarding stigma and discrimination are well documented in the literature, most of the information about transgender people has been gathered in urban settings. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore factors that influence quality of life and risk of infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C (HCV), Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) among transgender people living in Montana. A questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of the literature as well as a review of existing assessments. The questionnaire was reviewed by a panel of experts and pilot tested with a small sample of the transgender population. To recruit participants to complete the questionnaire, the link was posted on various websites that are frequented by transgender people. In addition, the questionnaire link was sent via email to individuals who are either transgender, or work in communities with transgender people. A descriptive analysis was used to describe various factors asked about on the questionnaire and an analytical cross-sectional approach was used to investigate the association between risk factors and specific health outcomes. One hundred and eleven individuals responded to the questionnaire. One person reported being HIV positive and no one reported being infected with HCV. The relatively small sample size makes it difficult to draw conclusion about rates of these two infections, although STD’s prevalence rates were high. High rates of suicide and mental health disorders were also found, in addition to stigma and discrimination experienced by our participants. Results from this study provided a first glimpse into the lives of transgender people living in Montana. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and other health care organizations used this information to create interventions that are tailored to the unique needs of this population

#digitalactivism: Examining #yesallwomen And Teaching Social Media Activism In Technical Communication

In May 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others near the University of California campus in Santa Barbara. A “hatred of women” was cited as the reason for his crimes. This incident inspired the hashtag movement #YesAllWomen on social media. Users shared examples of how although “not all men” engage in violent behaviors that Rodger exhibited, all women go through their lives fearing. This thesis uses a technofeminist framework to examine how the #YesAllWomen movement functioned as an online social movement on Twitter to encourage conversation as well as promote change. I also discuss how technical communication classrooms can implement social media movements as pedagogical tools through a social justice framework. Ultimately, I synthesize scholarship on technofeminism, circulation studies, and digital activist rhetorics to argue that analyzing digital activist rhetorics in specific hashtag movements can shape how we think about social media activism as well as how technical writing students can benefit from studying digital activism to effectively reach their intended—and unintended—audiences

Search for New Particles Decaying to Hadronic Jets in Proton-Proton Collision at s = 13 TeV

This thesis presents a search for new resonances decaying to pairs of jets in 37 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data was collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector. A new resonance search algorithm - SWiFt - was used to reduce the uncertainty in the data-driven estimate of the unknown backgrounds. SWiFt was utilized in a model-independent search, and also to perform model-dependent searches for excited quarks (q∗) and heavy gauge bosons (W ′). No evidence for new phenomena was observed, so 95% confidence-level upper limits were calculated on the production rates of q∗ and W′. Upper limits were also calculated for Gaussian models which represent first-order approximations for many theoretical models that predict new particles decaying to two jets.PHDPhysicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146070/1/ksekhon_1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146070/2/ksekhon_2.pd