Exact and approximate results for deposition and annihilation processes on graphs

We consider random sequential adsorption processes where the initially empty sites of a graph are irreversibly occupied, in random order, either by monomers which block neighboring sites, or by dimers. We also consider a process where initially occupied sites annihilate their neighbors at random times. We verify that these processes are well defined on infinite graphs, and derive forward equations governing joint vacancy/occupation probabilities. Using these, we derive exact formulae for occupation probabilities and pair correlations in Bethe lattices. For the blocking and annihilation processes we also prove positive correlations between sites an even distance apart, and for blocking we derive rigorous lower bounds for the site occupation probability in lattices, including a lower bound of 1/3 for Z^2. We also give normal approximation results for the number of occupied sites in a large finite graph.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051604000000765 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Essays in Behavioral Public Economics

This dissertation focuses on the behavioral economics of individual decision making and consists of three separate essays. In Chapter 1, I use a laboratory experiment to compare three popular point-of-sale solicitation methods: a fixed donation request (yes or no to a randomly assigned amount); a rounding request (yes or no to an endogenous amount); and an open-ended solicitation. Further, I examine the effects of providing (limited) information on the charity. In Chapter 2, I study key aspects of fundraising campaigns that utilize goals or provision points that must be met in order to provide a good or service. I use a laboratory experiment to comparecampaigns characterized by a final goal only, an intermediate goal and a known final goal, and a third setting where the final goal is known only if the intermediate goal is reached. Across these three settings, I vary whether an individual’s payoff from reaching a goal is uncertain or certain, which is intended to capture the effects of providing vague or precise information on the good or service to be provided. In Chapter 3, I examine the effects of officer-involved fatalities, including officer-involved shootings, on domestic violence reporting. I conduct this analysis using county and zip code level data to understand how concentrated any effects of policeviolence may be. Using within-county variation, I test whether the number of domestic violence reports decreases in the week after a fatal officer-involved encounter

Hidden Struggles: Black women\u27s activism and black masculinity

Julia Sudbury looks at the complexity and the differences between the lives of black women and those of black men

Improved solar cell contacting techniques Final report

Aluminum, nickel, and copper contacted solar cells using ion beam sputterin

Indian Space Dreams

This feature-length documentary is an ethnographic practice-research project about representation, place and identity. The geographical context for this practice was the southern-most tip of Mumbai where, at a space research centre, astrophysicists were designing and building instruments for India’s first astronomical satellite. In the West, the dominant discourse questions whether space research can be justified in a developing country with high levels of poverty. So when one of the space scientists invited me to film his science class with the children in the slum next door to the Space Research Centre, this presented an opportunity to explore this juxtaposition and contrast. The film intercuts these two worlds, separated by a wall, to question notions of outer space above and spaces here on earth

Illuminations

Illuminations is a vocal piece for mezzo-soprano and electronics. It incorporates elements of ambient and noise music. Relying on texts by Arthur Rimbaud and drawing inspiration from composers such as Debussy and Arvo Pärt, it is an attempt to blend tradition with contemporary practices and aesthetics

(Re)constructing Multiracial Blackness: Women\u27s activism, difference and collective identity in Britain

This article analyses the (re)construction of black identity as a multiracial signifier shared by African, Asian and Caribbean women in Britain, from the framework of recent social movement theory. The collective identity approach calls attention to naming as a strategic element of collective action, but has overlooked the experiences of black women at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression. A focus on the process of constructing black womanhood allows us to move beyond static and unidimensional notions of identity to question how and why gendered racialized boundaries are created and maintained. I argue that multiracial blackness should be viewed as an oppositional identity, strategically invoked by black women activists in order to mobilize collective action. Drawing on everyday theorizing by black women, the article examines the shift from the policing of authenticity claims, to a more open and fluid collectivity, and suggests that explicit interrogations of identity are a prerequisite for effective and sustainable alliances between divers movement participants