How Many Democrats per Republican at UC-Berkeley and Stanford? Voter Registration Data Across 23 Academic Departments

Using the records of the seven San Francisco Bay Area counties that surround University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, we conducted a systematic and thorough study of the party registration of the Berkeley and Stanford faculty in 23 academic departments. The departments span the social sciences, humanities, hard sciences, math, law, journalism, engineering, medicine, and the business school. Of the total of 1497 individual names on the cumulative list, we obtained readings on 1005, or 67 percent. The findings support the “one-party campus” conjecture. For UC-Berkeley, we found an overall Democrat:Republican ratio of 9.9:1. For Stanford, we found an overall D:R ratio of 7.6:1. Moreover, the breakdown by faculty rank shows that Republicans are an “endangered species” on the two campuses. This article contains a link to the complete data (with individual identities redacted).academia; diversity; Democratic; Republican; voting; political parties

Assessing attitude revision in an online sample

Previous research on attitudes toward homosexuals utilized vignettes presented in a holistic fashion to participants (Batson, Floyd, Meyer, & Winner, 1999; Bassett et al., 2002; Mak & Tsang, 2008). In these vignettes, participants learned of a person’s sexual orientation and their sexual behavior. The present study implemented a methodological change which allows for a clearer understanding of a person’s attitudes toward a homosexual person and toward homosexuality. The vignettes that were administered holistically in previous studies were separated into two critical pieces – one detailing the sexual orientation of the target and the other detailing the sexual behavior of the target. The present study extended the findings of previous research by addressing three novel questions. First, what are people’s attitudes toward a person who revealed that they are either homosexual or heterosexual and are those attitudes affected by later learning that the person is promiscuous or celibate? Second, whether the content of a person’s religious beliefs affect these attitudes? Third, if people do revise their initial attitudes toward a homosexual person after learning that they are celibate? The data support the first hypothesis – participants did revise their attitudes after learning the target’s sexual behavior. The results also support the second hypothesis. Christian Orthodoxy did accentuate the effects of attitude revision. The third hypothesis was supported by the data – devout Christians liked a celibate person more than a promiscuous person regardless of the person’s sexual orientation

Seasonal activity in dwarf waterdogs (Necturus punctatus) : risk management or resource acquisition?

Predators can have non-consumptive effects (NCE) on prey populations in addition to normal consumptive effects. One of these NCE may be changes in patterns of behavior to reduce predation risk. Aquatic salamanders of the genus Necturus exhibit seasonal activity patterns, with observations of Necturus peaking during mid-winter. Predator avoidance has been suggested as an explanation for cool season activity; however, another hypothesis is that increased Necturus activity during winter is related to increased prey availability in leaf packs. To test the willingness of juvenile dwarf waterdogs to forfeit a foraging opportunity in the presence of different predation threats, I constructed three aquatic raceways. Three juvenile Necturus along with live blackworms (Lumbriculus varigaetus) were added to one of two chambers in each raceway. After foraging behavior by all Necturus was observed, I added either a Rana clamitans tadpole (non-predator control), an adult Necturus (gape-limited conspecific predator), or a crayfish (non-gape-limited predator) to the first chamber in each raceway. I removed the barrier detaining the juvenile waterdogs and recorded the distance of each from the treatment chamber every two minutes for a total of 14 min. I also sampled Necturus and macroinvertebrates monthly from leaf packs in the South Fork of the Edisto River near Windsor, SC. The purpose of this field study was to examine the relationship between waterdog abundance in leaf packs and the abundance of macroinvertebrate prey as an alternative hypothesis for seasonal activity. Treatment had no effect on waterdog behavior during lab trials. Necturus density was positively correlated with macroinvertebrate density and maximum stream discharge rate during the previous 30 days in partial correlation analyses, as well as with a maximum previous discharge/macroinvertebrate abundance interaction. My results suggest dwarf waterdogs may not be abandoning foraging areas during summer to avoid predators. Instead, increase in discharge rate may act as a cue to stimulate waterdogs to leave their summer refugia and move into leaf packs when prey density is at its peak

Rheological characteristics of aqueous wax emulsions used for the controlled release of pheromones as an alternative to the use of pesticides for insect pest management

Most pesticides produce some risk of harm to the environment because pesticides are designed to kill or adversely affect living organisms (US EPA, 2010). It is desirable that alternate, safer forms of pest control be developed. One alternative is the controlled release of pest insect sex pheromones to produce a mating disruption effect (Ahmed et al., 1993; Atterholt, 1996). Aqueous paraffin wax emulsions have shown much promise as formulations for this controlled release when applied to tree bark or foliage (Atterholt et al., 1996; Rice et al., 1997; Atterholt et al., 1998; Atterholt et al., 1999; Meissner et al., 2000; de Lame, 2003). Soy wax has recently become of interest in pheromone formulations because it is renewable, biodegradable, commercially available, and acceptable for organic farming (Behle, 2008). Emulsions exhibit complex flow behavior which can be studied using rheometry (Macosko, 1994; Mezger, 2006). Rheometry refers to experimental techniques to determine the fundamental relationships between force and deformation in materials (Macosko, 1994). The rheological properties of emulsions are very important for production, storage, and application of these formulations (Mezger, 2006). In this project the flow and viscoelastic properties of aqueous 30% paraffin wax and soy wax emulsions were investigated using three different emulsifiers: sorbitan monostearate (Span 60®), triethanolamine (TEA) stearate, and a 50%-50% mixture of both. Span 60® has already been used to make effective emulsions for the controlled release of pheromones, and it is food safe (Atterholt et al., 1996; Rice et al., 1997; Atterholt et al., 1998; Atterholt et al., 1999; Meissner et al., 2000; de Lame, 2003). TEA stearate is widely used to make nontoxic wax emulsions in the cosmetics industry (Wilkinson, 1940). The investigations were carried out in both the rotational and oscillatory modes of a parallel-plate rheometer. The flow curves at three different temperatures (15 °C, 25 °C and 35 °C) of each emulsion were fitted with the Herschel-Bulkley model with the yield points determined using the one tangent method. The resulting equations can predict flow behavior at different conditions (Mezger, 2006). The emulsions were also tested using a temperature sweep at low shear from 15 °C to 50 °C to investigate temperature dependent changes. The viscoelastic properties were investigated using oscillatory shear tests and expressed in terms of elastic modulus and loss modulus. This gives information about time-dependant behavior like storage and the elastic character of the formulations which were found to be weak gels (Mezger, 2006). The Span 60® emulsions displayed faux shear-thickening behavior due to droplet subdivision while the other emulsions generally displayed shear-thinning behavior. Each emulsion approaches an infinite shear viscosity. The yield points and other flow parameters for the emulsions varied with temperature, depending on the formulation in question. All soy wax emulsions showed an increase in viscosity between 45 °C and 50 °C while the paraffin wax emulsions did not. Every emulsion showed long-term and short-term stability (Mezger, 2006)

Group covers with a specified pairwise intersection

A collection of subgroups whose union is equal to the whole group is known as a group cover. Various types of group covers have been explored in recent years. In this work, we define a new type of cover, an equal L-intersection cover, which is specified by the size and pairwise intersection of the subgroups involved. We demonstrate that this cover is in fact distinct from previous classes of group covers. Further, we give tests to determine whether or not a finite group has this type of cover. These tests are implemented in the computational algebra program GAP to find new instances of equal L-intersection covers. These examples lead to interesting questions and conjectures

Communicating with patients with disorders of consciousness by translating thoughts into light

we intend to show, for the first time, that fNIRS can be used to reliably communicate with disorders of consciousness patients. There are many practical challenges to resolve (which are common to both fNIRS and EEG) such as involuntary movements by the patient, variability in consciousness itself, physical distortion in the head (such as from trauma) and a person\u27s limited ability to perform repetitive mental tasks. We will focus on patients who have already demonstrated by fMRI that they can perform motor imagery activation and plan to study up to 20 such patients over the course of a year.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1026/thumbnail.jp

Jacob Siler’s Letter to Governor Reid, December 1, 1854

This document is a letter written by Jacob Siler, a former Agent of the State1 (1839-40) working within North Carolina and nearby states, and sent to North Carolina Governor David Settle Reid. In the letter, Siler lists the different expenses and services which he performed for the government and for which he is requesting payment. A significant portion of the listed services involve the taking and cancelling of bonds, which can vary in their use purpose but are generally documents issued when an entity borrows or lends money to another. This transcription and its attendant annotations, explanatory material, and bibliography were prepared by students in ENGL 618: Research Methods in English, the required gateway class for the MA in English at Western Carolina University

Neurocognitive, genetic and environmental risk factors of learning disorders in children

Our research has already uncovered a range of behavioural and neural factors that can differentiate between children whose development is impaired and those whose development is progressing typically. Intriguingly, our recent findings have also suggested that multiple learning disorders are often present in children with general cognitive difficulties like autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. However, a common feature of research in this area is that of a ‘distinct syndrome’ approach, only studying childhood disabilities separately.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanprojectsummaries/1013/thumbnail.jp

Jacob Siler’s Letter to William H. Thomas, December 22, 1854

This manuscript is a letter written by Jacob Siler, a former Agent of the State (1839-40) working within North Carolina and nearby states and sent to William Holland Thomas. In the letter Jacob Siler is requesting payment for services which he performed for the State. Of note is Siler’s mention of counterfeit money, which proliferated in eighteenth and nineteenth century America. This transcription and its attendant annotations, explanatory material, and bibliography were prepared by students in ENGL 618: Research Methods in English, the required gateway class for the MA in English at Western Carolina University

Temporal stability of soil moisture and radar backscatter observed by the advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)

The high spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture is the result of atmospheric forcing and redistribution processes related to terrain, soil, and vegetation characteristics. Despite this high variability, many field studies have shown that in the temporal domain soil moisture measured at specific locations is correlated to the mean soil moisture content over an area. Since the measurements taken by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instruments are very sensitive to soil moisture it is hypothesized that the temporally stable soil moisture patterns are reflected in the radar backscatter measurements. To verify this hypothesis 73 Wide Swath (WS) images have been acquired by the ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) over the REMEDHUS soil moisture network located in the Duero basin, Spain. It is found that a time-invariant linear relationship is well suited for relating local scale (pixel) and regional scale (50 km) backscatter. The observed linear model coefficients can be estimated by considering the scattering properties of the terrain and vegetation and the soil moisture scaling properties. For both linear model coefficients, the relative error between observed and modelled values is less than 5 % and the coefficient of determination (R-2) is 86 %. The results are of relevance for interpreting and downscaling coarse resolution soil moisture data retrieved from active (METOP ASCAT) and passive (SMOS, AMSR-E) instruments