Magnetic trapping of an ultracold (^87)Rb -(^133)Cs atomic mixture

This thesis reports on the realisation and characterisation of a magnetically trapped ultracold atomic mixture of (^87)Rb and (^133)Cs in the F = 1, m(_F) = -1 and F = 3, m(_F) = - 3 hyperfine states respectively. A compact two-species double magneto-optical trapping (MOT) apparatus is constructed in which a pyramid MOT acts to provide an independent flux of both atomic species for capture in the ultra-high vacuum science region of the apparatus. For the two-species science MOT in which this atom flux is captured, interspecies light assisted inelastic collisions are found to be a highly significant loss mechanism. A novel optical pressure spatial displacement technique is developed to minimise such losses, allowing near independent simultaneous loading of up to ~ 8 x 10(^8) (^87)Rb and ~ 3 x 10(^8) (^133)Cs atoms into an Ioffe-Pritchard 'baseball' magnetic trap at magnetic biasfields of 166.70(6) and 165.50(6) G respectively. At the loaded 87Rb and 133Cs atom number densities of 1.78(6) x 10(^9) and 2.53(6) X 10(^9) cm-3 respectively the magnetic trap lifetime of each atomic species is shown to be 100(10) s and independent of the presence of the second atomic species. Radio-frequency evaporative cooling trajectories for (^87)Rb and (^133)Cs of 129 s duration are separately optimised under single species magnetic trap operation to achieve phase-space densities of 6(1) x 10(^-7) and 3(1) X 10(^-4) respectively at temperatures of 7.6(1) μK and 520(10) nK.(^133)Cs Feshbach resonances at 118.06(8) and 133.4(1) G are characterised through the measurement of magnetic field dependent losses at the increased phase-space density. Implementation of simultaneous evaporative cooling following the single species trajectories is found to be ineffective below ~10 μK due to the increased thermal load imposed upon the (^133)Cs atoms as the(^87)Rb single species elastic collision cross section approaches the low energy limit. Following simultaneous evaporation to ~ 15 μK thermalisation of the mixtures axial and radial temperature components suggests a (^87)Rb-(^133)Cs interspecies elastic collision rate 3(1) and 7(1) times greater than the calculated single species (^133)Cs and (^87)Rb elastic collision rates respectively. An interspecies Feshbach resonance search is undertaken by measuring the number of atoms of each species remaining in the magnetic trap as a function of applied magnetic field following simultaneous evaporation. The absence of magnetic field dependent losses in conjunction with analysis of the measurement sensitivity demonstrates that no interspecies Feshbach resonances wider than 1 G with two-body inelastic collision rate constants greater than 5 X 10(^-10) cm(^3) s(^-1) are present over the magnetic field range 166 < B < 370 G in the trapped states. The sensitivity of this measurement is found to be highly dependent upon the magnetic field induced differential gravitational sag of the mixtures components

Motivations for Staying in Vacation Rentals and Evaluation of Experience

Persons attending the 2015 Outside Lands Music and Art Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco had a range of lodging options. One of relatively new lodging options available was staying at non-commercial residences with a fee, also known as “vacation rentals.” Vacation rentals (VR), where a tourist rents a room or entire house from a private individual for a short term stay, are booming, especially at online booking sites, such as Air BNB. There are over a million rentals listed on Air BNB and its growth has been stunning (Weed 2015). Mayock (2015) found that vacation rentals are competing directly with traditional hotel, motels and resorts. Identifying the characteristics of the vacation rental industry has been the most frequent type of study. However, little research on vacation rental users has been published. Geron (2013) suggested travelers staying in VRs desire to stay with a local, in a neighborhood and with a local who can give tips on the area. Legrand, Meier and Sloan (2015) determined four VR travelers were motivated primarily by the potential for saving money, but their small sample size limits its validity. Additional information on the users of vacation rentals is needed to determine if they are different from traditional lodging users. A comparison of VR users and non-users visiting the same destination is needed to verify if VR users are unique. In this study persons who attended the 2015 Outside Lands Music Festival and did and did not stay at a VR in San Francisco were surveyed to determine their age, education, household income, residence location, type of lodging used. Those respondents who rented a VR were sent a follow-up survey to gather information about the types of VR units rented, motivations for renting, and their evaluation of the vacation VR experience. VR users and non-users had similar averages, 28.5 years and 28.3 years and nearly the same education levels. Findings from the follow-up VR user survey showed 93% of the bookings were made through Air BNB. Survey respondents spent an average of 3.3 nights in a VR during the three day event. 65% of VR users lived in California outside the San Francisco Bay area. 60.3% rented an entire house or apartment, versus 39.7% who rented a private or shared room. 72.9% indicated the primary reason for staying at a VR versus a hotel was cost savings. However, the VR was conveniently located near the event or transportation to it (40.7%); preference to stay in a home versus a commercial property (39.2%); the personality of the VR neighborhood (39.0%); and more space for their group (32.2%) were also frequently mentioned. 23.7% of VR users indicated that a reason for staying at a VR was they could not find an available motel/motel in the city. Nearly 71% of respondents indicated they felt about the same level of safety in the VR as they do in a hotel/motel. The primary reasons for feeling unsafe were: Lack of parking nearby and need to walk long distances to park; the neighborhood felt unsafe; they felt vulnerable to attack; weird or creepy people in the building; the building was not well lighted and it was difficult to find their way around; their room was not secure from intruders; and the building was not well maintained. Findings suggest there is little demographic difference between VR users and non-users at this event. The types of VR rentals, reasons for staying in them, and their evaluation of the VR experience are provided. Additional research is needed to determine if these results are similar in other locations and for other types of travelers

Realizing the 2-Associahedron

The associahedron has appeared in numerous contexts throughout the field of mathematics. By representing the associahedron as a poset of tubings, Michael Carr and Satyan L. Devadoss were able to create a gener- alized version of the associahedron in the graph-associahedron. We seek to create an alternative generalization of the associahedron by considering a particle-collision model. By extending this model to what we dub the 2- associahedron, we seek to further understand the space of generalizations of the associahedron

Development and Testing of a Model and Method for Assessing Effectiveness of Tourism Promotional Literature

New models are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of tourism promotional materials, especially that provide insight into causal processes. These types of models seem to be helpful in explaining the influence of promotional material on intent to visit. Findings also suggest that CVG\u27s influence was to reinforce intentions to visit

Internationalization in Canadian Higher Education: Experiences of International Students in a Master’s Program

The purpose of this study was to understand the preferences and experiences of international students in a Canadian master’s degree program. We collected data from 38 students in the program through a survey questionnaire, which asked research participants these questions: Why did they leave their own countries for education? Why did they select Canada? Did they plan to stay in Canada after graduation? The questionnaire also asked participants to indicate whether they agreed with 26 positive statements about the program. In addition, participants were invited to make comments about the program. Participants thought Canada had quality education and a safe environment, and most participants believed that they had a positive experience of undertaking graduate studies in Canada. Over half of them indicated that they plan to stay in Canada upon graduation. Based on the findings, we made recommendations on how to improve the program

Understanding Coastal Tourists\u27 Behavioral Intentions toward Nature-based Experiences

Ecotourism is a viable alternative to mass tourism in promoting a sustainable tourism industry. Ecotourism evolved from tourism providers who began to focus their services on educating tourists about the natural environmental and promoting conservation efforts. Past studies have shown that ecotourism programs have the ability to change tourists’ environmental attitudes and behaviors. Prior research has investigated that interpretation in the form of educating tourists about the natural environment through hands on experiences can result in a deeper appreciation for nature. However, research has yet to examine environmental attitudes and behaviors of tourists from a gender perspective and more research should investigate the effect of interpretative programs on coastal communities. The present study used Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior as the framework to examine tourists’ attitudes, intention to act, and behaviors as a result of engaging in an eco-tour in Half Moon Bay, California. The study revealed that environmental attitudes differed between gender and that participants in eco-tours express the demand side of interpretation, where positive environmental preferences led to positive environmental behavior when introduced to environmental education