Autism and Computer Assisted Learning

Autism is a learning and social disorder that has seen increased diagnosis within school-age populations. As educators grapple with overwhelmed and understaffed classrooms, finding ways to address the educational needs of this particular population can be very challenging. However, technology may serve to create alternative “virtual” world opportunities and thus, begin to expand learning possibilities for these students

U.S. Variations in Child Health System Performance: A State Scorecard

Ranks state child health systems on thirteen measurements of five dimensions: access, quality, costs, equity, and potential to lead healthy lives. Highlights variations, regional patterns, and correlations between indicators and with demographic factors

Visual detection of point source targets

Visual detection of point source targets in simulated star field backgroun

Title Seven Ate Nine? Extending Bostock\u27s Meaning of Sex from Title VII to Title IX

(Excerpt) When JayCee Cooper walked out onto the platform at a women’s powerlifting competition for the first time, “everything else fell away: her years-long internal struggle over her gender identity, her decision to leave men’s sports when she began transitioning, her doubts that she would ever feel safe if she returned to competitions.” Powerlifting was JayCee’s way of feeling empowered in her own life, but after signing up for more competitions, she was told she could no longer compete because of a discriminatory policy that barred transgender women. Transgender athletes play sports for the same reasons as anyone else, including improvements to physical and mental health. Yet, they face additional obstacles of hostility and exclusion that their cisgender counterparts have never dealt with. While discrimination happens in all areas of a transgender person’s life, there has been recent legal progress barring such discrimination in the workplace. In June 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Bostock v. Clayton County, which broadened Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Thus, the Court broadened Title VII’s interpretation of the phrase “on the basis of . . . sex” to protect transgender individuals. However, the Court expressly stated that its decision was limited to employment discrimination and declined to address whether this definition of “sex” would apply to other areas, such as student-athletics. This Note argues that Bostock’s interpretation of “sex” should be extended to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program receiving federal funding. Additionally, this Note sets forth the constitutionality of various exclusionary policies, under different levels of scrutiny, by balancing the inclusion of transgender student-athletes with the underlying purpose of Title IX

Death with Dignity: Proposed Amendments to the California Natural Death Act

Most laws passed by the state legislature affect our lives, but at least this one, the California Natural Death Act, affects our death. For the most part today, gone is the ability to take that last breath before death in a warm, quiet bed at home surrounded by loved ones; that scene has been replaced by hospital rooms or long-term care facilities in which tubes, wires and electronic equipment of medical wizardry help prolong lives with icy indifference. In an attempt to lend more humanity and dignity to the dying process, this Comment advocates that the California legislature amend the Natural Death Act to clarify ambiguous language and to allow non-terminal, as well as terminal, patients to benefit from the statute. In addition, this Comment proposes that the legislature broaden the Act to permit physician aid-in-dying under certain limited conditions and upon patient request

Magnetic Trapping of Rubidium en Route to Bose-Einstein Condensate Formation Using an Atom Chip Based Trap

Over the past 30 years Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC) have become core experimental phenomena for atomic physics research, and in more recent years the invention of the microfabricated `atom chips’ has led to more robust and compact ultracold-atom traps. Most notably the Cold Atom Lab (CAL) on the International Space Station (ISS) is based on these atom chips. The Lundblad Lab at Bates College in partnership with NASA and JPL has been in the process of building a similar atom trap to serve as a testbed for experiments on the ISS. Over the past several years significant progress has been made towards the realization of a BEC using an atom chip. This thesis is a continuation of this work. It explores the theoretical and experimental progress made in transitioning a laser-cooled cloud of rubidium from a magneto-optical trap to a pure magnetic trap. It also begins to explore the process of transitioning from the magnetic trap to the atom chip and the cooling processes that will result in the realization of a BEC