Preservationism, or The Elephant in the Room: How Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Deceive Us into Establishing Religion

The overwhelming majority of support for bans on same-sex civil marriage has come from religious believers, and the so-called secular justifications for these bans are mere pretexts for religious beliefs that homosexuality, homosexuals, and same-sex couples are evil or sinful. Courts should take a hard look at the substantive justifications offered in support of same-sex marriage bans, bearing in mind that (1) these justifications are universally offered by religious believers but are infrequently offered by credentialed Secularists, and (2) they are the result of a studied use of pretextual, secular-sounding language to cloak a religiously-motivated bias against homosexuals and same-sex couples

Probing the structure of entanglement with entanglement moments

We introduce and define a set of functions on pure bipartite states called entanglement moments. Usual entanglement measures tell you if two systems are entangled, while entanglement moments tell you both if and how two systems are entangled. They are defined with respect to a measurement basis in one system (e.g., a measuring device), and output numbers describing how a system (e.g., a qubit) is entangled with that measurement basis. The moments utilize different distance measures on the Hilbert space of the measured system, and can be generalized to any N-dimensional Hilbert space. As an application, they can distinguish between projective and non-projective measurements. As a particular example, we take the Rabi model's eigenstates and calculate the entanglement moments as well as the full distribution of entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Non-analytic behavior of the Casimir force across a Lifshitz transition in a spin-orbit coupled material

We propose the Casimir effect as a general method to observe Lifshitz transitions in electron systems. The concept is demonstrated with a planar spin-orbit coupled semiconductor in a magnetic field. We calculate the Casimir force between two such semiconductors and between the semiconductor and a metal as a function of the Zeeman splitting in the semiconductor. The Zeeman field causes a Fermi pocket in the semiconductor to form or collapse by tuning the system through a topological Lifshitz transition. We find that the Casimir force experiences a kink at the transition point and noticeably different behaviors on either side of the transition. The simplest experimental realization of the proposed effect would involve a metal-coated sphere suspended from a micro-cantilever above a thin layer of InSb (or another semiconductor with large $g$-factor). Numerical estimates are provided and indicate that the effect is well within experimental reach.Comment: 5 pages + 6 page supplement; 5 figure

Tidal and nonequilibrium Casimir effects in free fall

In this work, we consider a Casimir apparatus that is put into free fall (e.g., falling into a black hole). Working in 1 + 1D, we find that two main effects occur: First, the Casimir energy density experiences a tidal effect where negative energy is pushed toward the plates and the resulting force experienced by the plates is increased. Second, the process of falling is inherently nonequilibrium and we treat it as such, demonstrating that the Casimir energy density moves back and forth between the plates after being “dropped,” with the force modulating in synchrony. In this way, the Casimir energy behaves as a classical liquid might, putting (negative) pressure on the walls as it moves about in its container. In particular, we consider this in the context of a black hole and the multiple vacua that can be achieved outside of the apparatus

Quantum interference phenomena in the Casimir effect

We propose a definitive test of whether plates involved in Casimir experiments should be modeled with ballistic or diffusive electrons--a prominent controversy highlighted by a number of conflicting experiments. The unambiguous test we propose is a measurement of the Casimir force between a disordered quasi-2D metallic plate and a three-dimensional metallic system at low temperatures, in which disorder-induced weak localization effects modify the well-known Drude result in an experimentally tunable way. We calculate the weak localization correction to the Casimir force as a function of magnetic field and temperature and demonstrate that the quantum interference suppression of the Casimir force is a strong, observable effect. The coexistence of weak localization suppression in electronic transport and Casimir pressure would lend credence to the Drude theory of the Casimir effect, while the lack of such correlation would indicate a fundamental problem with the existing theory. We also study mesoscopic disorder fluctuations in the Casimir effect and estimate the width of the distribution of Casmir energies due to disorder fluctuations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

QED out of matter

The Wilsonian renormalization group implies that an arbitrary four dimensional field theory with an ultraviolet cutoff is equivalent to a theory which is renormalizable by power counting at energy scales much below the cutoff. This applies to any theory including those with non-renormalizable interactions as long as we fine-tune the mass parameters. We analyze two simple models with current-current interactions but without elementary gauge fields from this viewpoint. We show how to tune the parameters of the models so that they become equivalent to QED at energies much below the cutoff.Comment: latex, 19 pages, 9 figure

The Relationship of Outdoor Recreation and Gardening With Depression Among Individuals With Disabilities

Activities involving natural environments have positive psychological impacts on participants. Both outdoor recreation and gardening have been shown to reduce feelings of depression. However, the effects of these activities on the depression levels of individuals with disabilities have not yet been studied. In order to better understand the relationship between these activities and depression among individuals with disabilities, two separate studies were conducted. The first study seeks to better understand the relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depression among Montana residents with disabilities using publicly available Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. It hypothesizes that depression would be negatively correlated with outdoor recreation participation and that individuals participating more frequently in outdoor recreation activities would have lower overall depression index scores. This study compares three outdoor recreation predictors (dichotomized participation, participation index score, and participation frequencies) to two depression dependents (dichotomized current major depression and raw depression index score). Results reveal that there is a negative relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depression, outdoor recreation participants had lower overall depression scores than non-participants, and lower depression scores were related to more frequent outdoor recreation participation. Respondents participating in outdoor recreation at least four times a week had the lowest mean depression score. The second study, also using BRFSS data, sought to identify the relationship between gardening and depression among Utah residents with disabilities. This study hypothesized that participation in gardening activities would be negatively correlated to depression. In order to test this hypothesis, this study compared the mean depression scores of five different gardening categories: non-gardeners, past gardeners, non-current gardeners, lifetime gardeners, and current gardeners. It likewise compared gardening status with depression scores to identify a linear relationship. Results reveal that there is a negative linear relationship between gardening and depression. Current gardeners and lifetime gardeners had significantly lower overall depression scores than non-gardeners

The relationship between the associated symptoms of first nation peoples\u27 historical losses and organizational commitment in the Canadian workplace

Researchers have found that minorities suffering from traumatic stress report increased levels of stress in the absence of supportive and committed work environments; however, a paucity of empirical research exists for First Nations Peoples (FNP). The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the nature of the relationship between FNP\u27s associated symptoms of historical loss, assessed by the Historical Loss and Associated Symptoms Scale, and organizational commitment, as measured by the Three Component Employee Commitment Survey. A total of 118 residential school survivors completed surveys. Correlation analysis was used to determine the significance of historical loss in relation to organizational commitment among survivors. Results showed an inverse relationship between affective commitment and associated symptoms of historical loss and between continuance commitment and associated symptoms. No statistically significant correlation was found between normative commitment and historical loss or associated symptoms. Findings can help inform targeted engagement, recruitment, and retention initiatives designed to accommodate FNP perspectives and experiences into organizational culture and systems. Implications for positive social change include better understanding of factors impacting career progression among FNP, such as organizational commitment. Results may also inform culturally safe interventions that help FNP to be successful