Professions, Organizations and Institutions: Tenure Systems in Colleges and Universities

A common strategy used by professions to support claims of workplace jurisdiction involves the institutionalization of professionally-endorsed formal structures, yet both theory and research suggest that ensuring the implementation of institutionalized structures after formal adoption can be problematic. This study investigates the influence of organizational characteristics on the implementation of one professionally-created institution in higher education organizations, tenure systems for faculty employment. Our results suggest that implementation of tenure systems is negatively affected by internal resource pressures, but positively affected by countervailing pressures from professionally-linked constituents. The results also suggest self-limiting aspects of the use of tenure systems

ILR Impact Brief - Faculty Tenure and the Gap between Policy and Practice

Almost all four-year institutions of higher education have adopted the tenure system as a formal policy for faculty employment. The degree to which tenure systems are actually implemented, however, depends on resource flows and institutional pressures. Fewer resource constraints (i.e., greater per-student revenues and larger endowments) increase the proportion of professors employed on tenure-track lines; likewise, a stronger research orientation positively affects the share of faculty in tenure-track slots. Colleges and universities that rely more heavily on tuition for revenues and those with larger numbers of accreditations (from professional and occupational associations) generally employ fewer tenure-track professors. Other variables also matter: Tenure is more prevalent at public, older, and more complex universities and colleges and is less widespread among institutions that enroll larger numbers of students and among those that include a medical school. And finally, the share of tenure-track faculty declines on campuses with a larger pool of graduate students who are available to teach

The 1980 solar maximum mission event listing

Information is contained on solar burst and transient activity observed by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) during 1980 pointed observations. Data from the following SMM experiments are included: (1) Gamma Ray Spectrometer, (2) Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer, (3) Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer, (4) Flat Crystal Spectrometer, (5) Bent Crystal Spectrometer, (6) Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter, and (7) Coronagraph/Polarimeter. Correlative optical, radio, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) x ray data are also presented. Where possible, bursts or transients observed in the various wavelengths were grouped into discrete flare events identified by unique event numbers. Each event carries a qualifier denoting the quality or completeness of the observations. Spacecraft pointing coordinates and flare site angular displacement values from Sun center are also included

A new constant-pressure molecular dynamics method for finite system

In this letter, by writing the volume as a function of coordinates of atoms, we present a new constant-pressure molecular dynamics method with parameters free. This method is specially appropriate for the finite system in which the periodic boundary condition does not exist. Simulations on the carbon nanotube and the Ni nanoparticle clearly demonstrate the validity of the method. By using this method, one can easily obtain the equation of states for the finite system under the external pressure.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Detection and Interpretation Of Long-Lived X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in the X-Class Solar Flare On 2013 May 14

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) seen in the time derivative of the GOES soft X-ray light curves are analyzed for the near-limb X3.2 event on 14 May 2013. The pulsations are apparent for a total of at least two hours from the impulsive phase to well into the decay phase, with a total of 163 distinct pulses evident to the naked eye. A wavelet analysis shows that the characteristic time scale of these pulsations increases systematically from $\sim$25 s at 01:10 UT, the time of the GOES peak, to $\sim$100 s at 02:00 UT. A second ridge in the wavelet power spectrum, most likely associated with flaring emission from a different active region, shows an increase from $\sim$40 s at 01:40 UT to $\sim$100 s at 03:10 UT. We assume that the QPP that produced the first ridge result from vertical kink-mode oscillations of the newly formed loops following magnetic reconnection in the coronal current sheet. This allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength as a function of altitude given the density, loop length, and QPP time scale as functions of time determined from the GOES light curves and RHESSI images. The calculated magnetic field strength of the newly formed loops ranges from about $\sim$500 G at an altitude of 24 Mm to a low value of $\sim$10 G at 60 Mm, in general agreement with the expected values at these altitudes. Fast sausage mode oscillations are also discussed and cannot be ruled out as an alternate mechanism for producing the QPP

Heterogeneous uptake of the C1 to C4 organic acids on a swelling clay mineral

Mineral aerosol is of interest due to its physiochemical impacts on the Earth's atmosphere. However, adsorbed organics could influence the chemical and physical properties of atmospheric mineral particles and alter their impact on the biosphere and climate. In this work, the heterogeneous uptake of a series of small organic acids on the swelling clay, Na-montmorillonite, was studied at 212 K as a function of relative humidity (RH), organic acid pressure and clay mass. A high vacuum chamber equipped with a quadrupole mass spectrometer and a transmission Fourier transform infrared spectrometer was used to detect the gas and condensed phases, respectively. Our results show that while the initial uptake efficiency was found to be independent of organic acid pressure, it increased linearly with increasing clay mass. Thus, the small masses studied allow access to the entire surface area of the clay sample with minimal effects due to surface saturation. Additionally, results from this study show that the initial uptake efficiency for butanoic (butyric) acid on the clay increases by an order of magnitude as the RH is raised from 0% to 45% RH at 212 K while the initial uptake efficiency of formic, acetic and propanoic (propionic) acids increases only slightly at higher humidities. However, the initial uptake efficiency decreases significantly in a short amount of time due to surface saturation effects. Thus, although the initial uptake efficiencies are appropriate for initial times, the fact that the uptake efficiency will decrease over time as the surface saturates should be considered in atmospheric models. Surface saturation results in sub-monolayer coverage of organic acid on montmorillonite under dry conditions and relevant organic acid pressures that increases with increasing humidity for all organic acids studied. Additionally, the presence of large organic acids may slightly enhance the water content of the clay above 45% RH. Our results indicate that heterogeneous uptake of organic acids on swelling clay minerals provides an important irreversible heterogeneous sink for these species

Solar Flare Element Abundances from the Solar Assembly for X-rays (SAX) on MESSENGER

X-ray spectra in the range $1.5-8.5$~keV have been analyzed for 526 large flares detected with the Solar Assembly for X-rays (SAX) on the Mercury {\em MESSENGER} spacecraft between 2007 and 2013. For each flare, the temperature and emission measure of the emitting plasma were determined from the spectrum of the continuum. In addition, with the SAX energy resolution of 0.6 keV (FWHM) at 6~keV, the intensities of the clearly resolved Fe-line complex at 6.7~keV and the Ca-line complex at 3.9~keV were determined, along with those of unresolved line complexes from S, Si, and Ar at lower energies. Comparisons of these line intensities with theoretical spectra allow the abundances of these elements relative to hydrogen to be derived, with uncertainties due to instrument calibration and the unknown temperature distribution of the emitting plasma. While significant deviations are found for the abundances of Fe and Ca from flare to flare, the abundances averaged over all flares are found to be enhanced over photospheric values by factors of $1.66 \pm 0.34$ (Fe), $3.89~\pm~0.76$ (Ca), $1.23~\pm~0.45$ (S), $1.64~\pm~0.66$ (Si), and $2.48~\pm~0.90$ (Ar). These factors differ from previous reported values for Fe and Si at least. They suggest a more complex relation of abundance enhancement with the first ionization potential (FIP) of the element than previously considered, with the possibility that fractionation occurs in flares for elements with a FIP of less than $\sim$7~eV rather than $\sim10$~eV.Comment: Accepted for publication, Ap

The hard X-ray burst spectrometer event listing 1980-1987

This event listing is a comprehensive reference for the Hard X-ray bursts detected with the Hard X-ray Burst Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission from the time of launch 14 February 1980 to December 1987. Over 8600 X-ray events were detected in the energy range from 30 to approx. 600 keV with the vast majority being solar flares. The listing includes the start time, peak time, duration and peak rate of each event

Partisan Asymmetries in Online Political Activity

We examine partisan differences in the behavior, communication patterns and social interactions of more than 18,000 politically-active Twitter users to produce evidence that points to changing levels of partisan engagement with the American online political landscape. Analysis of a network defined by the communication activity of these users in proximity to the 2010 midterm congressional elections reveals a highly segregated, well clustered partisan community structure. Using cluster membership as a high-fidelity (87% accuracy) proxy for political affiliation, we characterize a wide range of differences in the behavior, communication and social connectivity of left- and right-leaning Twitter users. We find that in contrast to the online political dynamics of the 2008 campaign, right-leaning Twitter users exhibit greater levels of political activity, a more tightly interconnected social structure, and a communication network topology that facilitates the rapid and broad dissemination of political information.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 6 table

The Role of a Hot Gas Environment on the Evolution of Galaxies

Most spiral galaxies are found in galaxy groups with low velocity dispersions; most E/S0 galaxies are found in galaxy groups with relatively high velocity dispersions. The mass of the hot gas we can observe in the E/S0 groups via their thermal X-ray emission is, on average, as much as the baryonic mass of the galaxies in these groups. By comparison, galaxy clusters have as much or more hot gas than stellar mass. Hot gas in S-rich groups, however, is of low enough temperature for its X-ray emission to suffer heavy absorption due to Galactic HI and related observational effects, and hence is hard to detect. We postulate that such lower temperature hot gas does exist in low velocity dispersion, S-rich groups, and explore the consequences of this assumption. For a wide range of metallicity and density, hot gas in S-rich groups can cool in far less than a Hubble time. If such gas exists and can cool, especially when interacting with HI in existing galaxies, then it can help link together a number of disparate observations, both Galactic and extragalactic, that are otherwise difficult to understand.Comment: 16 pages with one figure. ApJ Letters, in pres