Local polynomial convexity of the union of two totally real surfaces at their intersection

We consider the following question: Let $S_1$ and $S_2$ be two smooth, totally-real surfaces in $\mathbb{C}^2$ that contain the origin. If the union of their tangent planes is locally polynomially convex at the origin, then is $S_1 \cup S_2$ locally polynomially convex at the origin? If $T_0S_1 \cap T_0S_2=\{0\}$, then it is a folk result that the answer is yes. We discuss an obstruction to the presumed proof, and provide a different approach. When dimension of $T_0S_1 \cap T_0S_2$ over the field of real numbers is 1, we present a geometric condition under which no consistent answer to the above question exists. We then discuss conditions under which we can expect local polynomial convexity.Comment: 18 page

Community Workforce Provisions in Project Labor Agreements: A Tool for Building Middle-Class Careers

[Excerpt] Project Labor Agreements are comprehensive contracts between a construction client and a consortium of unions. They have been used in the construction industry for over 60 years to achieve uniform labor standards, stability and high quality for large construction projects, and are currently evolving to address broader social and community issues. Community Workforce Agreements are PLAs that contain social investment or targeted hiring provisions to create employment and career path opportunities for individuals from low income communities. Pioneering examples of CWAs included the Los Angeles Community College District PLA (signed in April of 2001), providing for 30 percent of local resident workforce (20 percent of which should be individuals from economically disadvantaged and at-risk populations); and the Port of Oakland (California) PLA (implemented from 2001 to 2008), setting goals for employment of disadvantaged populations and utilization of minority-owned businesses. The first agreements on the West Coast were developed in response to communities’ demands for increased opportunities in the construction industry. To address these demands Building Trades Councils began negotiating PLAs with local hiring provisions. Other successfully implemented CWAs in the West include the Los Angeles Unified School District PLA (2003) and the City of Los Angeles Public Works construction projects (2006). Studies by the Partnership for Working Families and by UCLA found that these CWAs resulted in increased employment and retention of local workers, middle-class career paths and poverty reduction in Los Angeles communities, and that they currently constitute “the basis on which the city can monitor and assess the number of local residents working on its projects.” This report profiles the wide range of PLA/CWA provisions that have been designed and implemented during the last 15 years to establish goals and structures that assist in the creation of new standards and the implementation of new and existing laws and regulations related to the labor and employment rights of low income communities, women, and minorities

Youth and Unions

[Excerpt] Following a suggestion from the Cornell ILR Labor Advisory Counsel in early 2009 Cornell ILR began studying the relationships between young workers and unions. Marlena Fontes, a Cornell student, worked with Cornell Extension Faculty Ken Margolies and others during the summer of 2009 on the study. The study is based on a literature review, survey research, observations and focus groups. The report provides a glimpse into the issues that are facing young people and unions and how unions are seeking to organize and involve young workers and members. The table on page 9 summarizes the survey research conducted by Ms. Fontes and two other Cornell summer Fellows

The ?2-cohomology of hyperplane complements

We compute the l^2-Betti numbers of the complement of any finite collection of affine hyperplanes in complex n-space. At most one of the l^2-Betti numbers is non-zero. <br/

Public Schooling in Southeastern Wisconsin

For the 23rd consecutive year, the Public Policy Forum has compiled and analyzed data from Southeastern Wisconsin's school districts in order to better inform policymakers and the public about progress-or lack thereof-on commonly utilized measures of academic achievement. This year's analysis of the 2008-09 academic year indicates cause for encouragement in some areas, but also cause for significant concern

Onward: How a Regional Temperance Magazine for Children Survived and Flourished in the Victorian Marketplace

This paper explores the purpose, use and content of nineteenth-century children’s temperance magazines by a case study of Onward (1869-1910, monthly), examining significant changes over a key forty-year period. Technological developments and the influence of competing publications led the magazine to transform its content, typography, format and size, decade by decade. What began as a regional title reached a national circulation of 250,000, and the changes implemented reveal its twin priorities of integration of readers into the Temperance movement, and the creation of a competitive "brand" of juvenile magazine

Symplectic symmetries of 4-manifolds

A study of symplectic actions of a finite group $G$ on smooth 4-manifolds is initiated. The central new idea is the use of $G$-equivariant Seiberg-Witten-Taubes theory in studying the structure of the fixed-point set of these symmetries. The main result in this paper is a complete description of the fixed-point set structure (and the action around it) of a symplectic cyclic action of prime order on a minimal symplectic 4-manifold with $c_1^2=0$. Comparison of this result with the case of locally linear topological actions is made. As an application of these considerations, the triviality of many such actions on a large class of 4-manifolds is established. In particular, we show the triviality of homologically trivial symplectic symmetries of a $K3$ surface (in analogy with holomorphic automorphisms). Various examples and comments illustrating our considerations are also included.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure, 1 appendix, publishe

Organising migrant workers in construction: experience from the North East of England

This report represents the conclusion of the first stage of the Northern TUC’s programme of activity designed to raise awareness amongst trade unions and elsewhere about the growing phenomenon of migrant labour. The free movement of individuals within the European Union is a cornerstone of the European social model. However, workers who are able to exercise their right to mobility should do so without fear and exploitation. Trade unions exist to protect and safeguard the rights of workers whatever their background and wherever their countr