On Minimal Surfaces and Their Representations

We consider the problem of representation of minimal surfaces in the euclidean space and provide a proof of Bernstein’s theorem. This pa- per serves as a concise and self-contained reference to the theory of minimal surfaces

UMass Amherst Sustainability Plan

This document is arranged in accordance with the guidelines specified in the Agency Sustainability Planning and Implementation Guide for the Massachusetts State Sustainability Program. The State Sustainability Program was established in July 2002 by Executive Order No. 438, which requires state agencies to “work diligently and expeditiously to develop and implement policies and procedures to promote environmentally sustainable practices.” The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA) is in the unique position to educate the next generation of the professional workforce in sustainable practices. The University feels that it is important for us to first have a firm understanding of sustainable development in the workplace in order to educate future inhabitants of the workforce. For this reason the University has embraced the idea of sustainability planning and has established this document to detail University information, long term goals, short term actions, management systems, and tracking progress

Determining the Optimal Work Breakdown Structure for Government Acquisition Contracts

The optimal level of Government Contract Work Breakdown Structure (G-CWBS) reporting for the purposes of Earned Value Management was inspected. The G-Score Metric was proposed, which can quantitatively grade a G-CWBS, based on a new method of calculating an Estimate At Completion (EAC) cost for each reported element. A random program generator created in R replicated the characteristics of DOD program artifacts retrieved from the Cost Analysis Data Enterprise (CADE) system. The generated artifacts were validated as a population, however validation at the demographic combination level using an artificial neural network was inconclusive. Comparative WBS forms were created for a sample of the generated programs, and used to populate a decision tree. Utility theory tools were applied using three utility perspectives, and optimal WBSs were identified. Results demonstrated that reporting at WBS level 3 is the most common optimal structure, however 75 of the time a different optimal structure exists

The Politics of Merit Selection

In this Article, I undertake an evaluation of a method of judicial selection known as merit selection. The merit system is distinctive from the other systems of judicial selection in the powerful role it accords lawyers. Proponents of the merit system contend that it is superior to the other forms of judicial selection -- elections or appointment by elected officials -- because lawyers are more likely to select judges on the basis of merit and less likely to select judges on the basis of politics (i.e., the personal ideological preferences of judicial candidates) than are voters or elected officials. But even if lawyers are better able to identify more intelligent or more qualified judges, it does not follow that they are less inclined to consider the political beliefs of judicial candidates. Lawyers are just as likely to be concerned -- if not more concerned -- with the decisional propensities of judicial candidates as are voters and elected officials. Moreover, insofar as a judge’s personal ideological preferences are correlated with his or her decisions, and insofar as those preferences are often more easily observed than his or her decisional propensities, lawyers are likely to accord those preferences just as much weight as voters or elected officials. That is, merit selection may not remove politics from judicial selection so much as it moves the politics of judicial selection into closer alignment with the ideological preferences of the bar. This movement could have consequences if the distribution of ideological preferences within the bar differs from the distribution among the public. Many people believe that lawyers as a group are, on average, more liberal than are members of the general public. If this is true, then one might expect that bar associations would select judges who are more liberal than those who would have been selected by the public or their elected representatives. Although far from conclusive, I collected data on the judicial nominations in two merit states, Tennessee and Missouri, and the data is consistent with this hypothesis

The End of Class Actions?

In this Article, I give a status report on the life expectancy of class action litigation following the Supreme Court\u27s decisions in Concepcion and American Express. These decisions permitted corporations to opt out of class action liability through the use of arbitration clauses, and many commentators, myself included, predicted that they would eventually lead us down a road where class actions against businesses would be all but eliminated. Enough time has now passed to make an assessment of whether these predictions are coming to fruition. I find that, although there is not yet solid evidence that businesses have flocked to class action waivers and that one big category of class action plaintiffs (shareholders) remain insulated from Concepcion and American Express altogether I still see every reason to believe that businesses will eventually be able to eliminate virtually all class actions that are brought against them, including those brought by shareholders

Proposed Reforms to Texas Judicial Selection: Panelist Remarks

I am going to set the stage by providing a little background about the various methods that States around the country use to select their judges. I am also going to remind us of many of the considerations that we like to think about when we are deciding which of these methods is best. And I am going to push upon you a new consideration that is sometimes not thought about in these discussions as well as share some data regarding this last consideration. But let’s start with some background about the selection methods. There are basically four different ways that States select their judges around the country. The original method in all of the States was political appointment. Almost all the States did the same thing the federal government did from the beginning. And while some of them did not have life tenure, all the States relied either on the legislature, the executive, or both to pick their judges. A handful of States still follow the political appointment method today