Private Choice, Public Impact: How the Choices of San Francisco Private School Families Impact the Public School System

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has worked toward increasing diversity in San Francisco schools, but predominately white families are still leaving public schools. Due to the significant number of families opting out of the public school system, the public education resource is depleting as funding relies on a per-pupil model. The issue of modern-day segregation exists because of the disproportionate access white middle to upper-middle-class families have to private education in contrast to those who rely on the public resource. To address this issue, my Capstone Project asks, what are the factors that lead San Francisco families to decide on private education instead of public? In this thesis, I show that the elements influencing the decision of families to opt for private schools include parental experience, specialized teaching, curriculum, community, the public-school enrollment process, and COVID-19 resource accommodations. Drawing on Pauline Lipman’s definition of the “right to the city”, the Capstone Project shows that the needs of private school families are disproportionately available to them in private schools because of being both white and middle to upper-middle class. As public-school funding relies on attendance numbers, it is critical to utilize the factors to draw more families from private to public schools. I suggest that the incorporation of the characteristics outlined by the private school families provides resources to those who rely on public schooling and could diversify the classroom

Productivity of U.S. casinos and casino hotels, 1997—2007

This paper evaluates the productivity of casinos and casino hotels in the USA in order to identify factors (both regulatory and managerial) that contribute to efficient operation. This paper uses data from the Economic Census (1997, 2002, and 2007) that captures employment, payroll, and revenue data for both commercial and Indian casinos. A portfolio of performance measures was used to describe casino and casino hotel performance aggregated at the state level. Results support the existence of economies of size and of scale, market influences, and productivity growth over time

Festival Mindfulness: Assessing the Relationship between Learning and Experience Outcomes

This study examines the effects of learning motivation on attendee experience through an application of Mindfulness theory. In this context, guests at a large annual festival in the Philadelphia area were surveyed on their overall experience and learning outcomes. Despite previous research to the contrary, this particular festival context did not lead to statistically significant differences between learning motivated and non-learning motivated attendees. These results may have been due to the lack of key setting factors, such as: interactive exhibits, multisensory media, building connections to visitors and novelty. This research has implications related to festival planning, marketing and creating greater attendee experiences

Exploring Unplanned/Impulsive Travel Decision Making

Travelers are often open to the possibility of spontaneous decisions and changing specific plans en route, because of personal impulsiveness, sensation seeking desire, certain travel contexts, new information obtained during the trip, diverse preferences of travel party member, or the occurrence of unexpected constraints. Many decisions about travel components, hence, may be made without prior planning. However, the study of unplanned or impulsive travel behavior has drawn little attention. This study tries to fill this gap in the literature. The results show that travelers who are male, who travel to visit family/friends, shop, or who are without past experience to the destinations make a majority of their decisions after arrival at the destination. Implications of the study’s results and recommendations for future research are discussed

Finding Destinations in Search Engine Results

It is generally understood that information about products and services is essential in creating consumers’ perceptions and expectations towards tourism experiences. One of the channels potential tourists rely on is word-of-mouth, whose importance increased sharply since the rise of websites that allow tourists to share their experiences (consumer generated content). In this study we explore this issue by examining the prominence of one type of user generated content, Wikipedia, in destination search results. It was found that Wikipedia articles appear near the top of the list of retrieved results in nearly all of the top search engines. Implications are made regarding the use of Wikipedia articles to promote the destination

Near-IR photodissociation of peroxy acetyl nitrate

Measurements of the C-H overtone transition strengths combined with estimates of the photodissociation cross sections for these transitions suggest that near-IR photodissociation of peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN) is less significant (Jnear−IR ~3×10^−8 s^−1 at noon) in the lower atmosphere than competing sinks resulting from unimolecular decomposition and ultraviolet photolysis. This is in contrast to the photochemical behavior of a related peroxy nitrate, pernitric acid (PNA), that undergoes rapid near-IR photolysis in the atmosphere with Jnear−IR ~10^−5 s^−1 at noon (Roehl et al., 2002). This difference is attributed to the larger binding energy and larger number of vibrational degrees of 10 freedom in PAN, which make 4[Greek nu]CH the lowest overtone excitation with a high photodissociation yield (as opposed to 2[Greek nu]OH in PNA)

Cis-cis and trans-perp HOONO: Action spectroscopy and isomerization kinetics

The weakly bound HOONO product of the OH + NO_2 + M reaction is studied using the vibrational predissociation that follows excitation of the first OH overtone (2nu1). We observe formation of both cis-cis and trans-perp conformers of HOONO. The trans-perp HOONO 2nu1 band is observed under thermal (223–238 K) conditions at 6971 cm^(–1). We assign the previously published (warmer temperature) HOONO spectrum to the 2nu1 band at 6365 cm^(–1) and 2nu1-containing combination bands of the cis-cis conformer of HOONO. The band shape of the trans-perp HOONO spectrum is in excellent agreement with the predicted rotational contour based on previous experimental and theoretical results, but the apparent origin of the cis-cis HOONO spectrum at 6365 cm^(–1) is featureless and significantly broader, suggesting more rapid intramolecular vibrational redistribution or predissociation in the latter isomer. The thermally less stable trans-perp HOONO isomerizes rapidly to cis-cis HOONO with an experimentally determined lifetime of 39 ms at 233 K at 13 hPa (in a buffer gas of predominantly Ar). The temperature dependence of the trans-perp HOONO lifetime in the range 223–238 K yields an isomerization barrier of 33±12 kJ/mol. New ab initio calculations of the structure and vibrational mode frequencies of the transition state perp-perp HOONO are performed using the coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] model, using a correlation consistent polarized triple zeta basis set (cc-pVTZ). The energetics of cis-cis, trans-perp, and perp-perp HOONO are also calculated at this level [CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ] and with a quadruple zeta basis set using the structure determined at the triple zeta basis set [CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ//CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ]. These calculations predict that the anti form of perp-perp HOONO has an energy of DeltaE0 = 42.4 kJ/mol above trans-perp HOONO, corresponding to an activation enthalpy of DeltaH298[double-dagger]0 = 41.1 kJ/mol. These results are in good agreement with statistical simulations based on a model developed by Golden, Barker, and Lohr. The simulated isomerization rates match the observed decay rates when modeled with a trans-perp to cis-cis HOONO isomerization barrier of 40.8 kJ/mol and a strong collision model. The quantum yield of cis-cis HOONO dissociation to OH and NO2 is also calculated as a function of photon excitation energy in the range 3500–7500 cm^(–1), assuming D0 = 83 kJ/mol. The quantum yield is predicted to vary from 0.15 to 1 over the observed spectrum at 298 K, leading to band intensities in the action spectrum that are highly temperature dependent; however, the observed relative band strengths in the cis-cis HOONO spectrum do not change substantially with temperature over the range 193–273 K. Semiempirical calculations of the oscillator strengths for 2nu1(cis-cis HOONO) and 2nu1(trans-perp HOONO) are performed using (1) a one-dimensional anharmonic model and (2) a Morse oscillator model for the OH stretch, and ab initio dipole moment functions calculated using Becke, Lee, Yang, and Parr density functional theory (B3LYP), Møller-Plesset pertubation theory truncated at the second and third order (MP2 and MP3), and quadratic configuration interaction theory using single and double excitations (QCISD). The QCISD level calculated ratio of 2nu1 oscillator strengths of trans-perp to cis-cis HOONO is 3.7:1. The observed intensities indicate that the concentration of trans-perp HOONO early in the OH + NO2 reaction is significantly greater than predicted by a Boltzmann distribution, consistent with statistical predictions of high initial yields of trans-perp HOONO from the OH + NO_2 + M reaction. In the atmosphere, trans-perp HOONO will isomerize nearly instantaneously to cis-cis HOONO. Loss of HOONO via photodissociation in the near-IR limits the lifetime of cis-cis HOONO during daylight to less than 45 h, other loss mechanisms will reduce the lifetime further

Impacts of Traffic Reductions Associated With COVID-19 on Southern California Air Quality

On 19 March 2020, California put in place Stay‐At‐Home orders to reduce the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2. As a result, decreases up to 50% in traffic occurred across the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). We report that, compared to the 19 March to 30 June period of the last 5 years, the 2020 concentrations of PM_(2.5) and NO_x showed an overall reduction across the basin. O₃ concentrations decreased in the western part of the basin and generally increased in the downwind areas. The NO_x decline in 2020 (approximately 27% basin‐wide) is in addition to ongoing declines over the last two decades (on average 4% less than the −6.8% per year afternoon NO₂ concentration decrease) and provides insight into how air quality may respond over the next few years of continued vehicular reductions. The modest changes in O₃ suggests additional mitigation will be necessary to comply with air quality standards