Fighting on Many Fronts: SEIU in Los Angeles

[Excerpt] The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a unique perspective on the issue of contracting out because it represents both public and private workers in industries which involve significant contract work. While some of the problems with contract work can be resolved when employees of contractors are unionized, there are many services which are most appropriately performed by governments. In addition, when work traditionally performed by public workers is contracted out, the motivation is generally to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits, cutting staff and reducing the quality of service. SEIU\u27s public employee locals continually see the problems caused for public workers and the general public by the privatization of public sector work

Commentary on "state tax revenue growth and volatility"

Taxation ; State finance ; Revenue

The Decision Making Strategies of Modern Matrons

Modern Matrons are at the vanguard of both care delivery and the NHS reforms and have an important role in the modernisation of, and future delivery of healthcare. An important contextual feature of their role and a concept that has been widely embraced by the National Health Service, is that of decentralized decision making. Unlike clinical decision making which has been extensively studied, there is little in the healthcare literature regarding leadership and management decision making or the concept of decentralised decision making. In order to maximise the effectiveness of the Modern Matron role, it is important that we gain a thorough understanding of how they make leadership and management decisions, the reality of the term decentralized decision making for them and an insight into their abilities and needs in regards to this essential skill

Analysis of Spin Polarization in Half-Metallic Heusler Alloys

Half-metals have recently gained great interest in the field of spintronics because their 100% spin polarization may make them an ideal current source for spintronic devices. This project examines four Heusler Alloys of the form Co2FexMn1−xSi that are expected to be half-metallic. Two magnetic properties of these alloys were examined, the Anisotropic Magnetoresistance (AMR) and the Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE). These properties have the potential to be used as simple and fast ways to identify materials as half-metallic or non-half-metallic. The results of these measurements were also used to examine the spin polarization and other properties of these materials

Risk Management (FIN/RMI 314) City as Classroom Project Report

The nature of risk management and the role of the risk manager in both profit and not-for-profit business and governmental organizations are explored in FIN/RMI 314 – Risk Management. A decision framework for risk management choices is developed. Consideration is given to how risk management techniques impact shareholder value with emphasis placed on cash flow management. Application of principles is reinforced through in- and out-of-class assignments. Financial management techniques are used to evaluate alternative methods of handling risk. Students are expected to become informed about current issues in risk management through subscriptions to and use of on-line resources. The students took on the role of risk manager to assess a local company, which is hypothetically being considered as a merger candidate. Working in groups, the students collected operational and financial data on their selected company and did a risk assessment. Students were required to create their own risk assessment tool which allowed them to evaluate the risks that most concerned them and those risks that offer an opportunity for growth. Students also assessed the firm’s efforts in achieving success financially, environmentally, and in their relationship with all stakeholders (triple bottom line)

Sabbath-keeping and Mental Health: The Influence of Weekly Sabbath-keeping on Stress, Anxiety and Well-being

The purpose of the current study is to explore the effectiveness of a psychoeducational Sabbath intervention. Using a multiple baseline design, subsets of participants were assigned the psychoeducational intervention at varying times and completed a series of mental health questionnaires before, during, and after the intervention to assess its benefits. After receiving the psychoeducational intervention, participants began a weekly Sabbath-keeping practice. This study added to the limited existing literature on Sabbath-keeping and health, specifically mental health, by assessing the impact on anxiety, stress, and well-being. Results of this study indicated a potential connection between the practice of Sabbath-keeping and positive impact on anxiety, stress, and well-being. Rises in reported anxiety and stress amongst adults in the United States call for more cost-effective ways to both prevent and alleviate a variety of symptoms related to psychological distress. Weekly Sabbath-keeping has the potential to meet the demand

A study of the remineralization of organic carbon in nearshore sediments using carbon isotopes

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1986A study of the remineralization of organic carbon was conducted in the organic-rich sediments of Buzzards Bay, MA. Major processes affecting the carbon chemistry in sediments are reflected by changes in the stable carbon isotope ratios of dissolved inorganic carbon (ΣCO2) in sediment pore water. Six cores were collected seasonally over a period of two years. The following species were measured in the pore waters: ΣCO2, δ13C-ΣCO2, PO4, ΣH2S, Alk, DOC, and Ca. Measurements of pore water collected seasonally show large gradients with depth, which are larger in summer than in winter. The δ13C (PDB) of ΣCO2 varies from 1.3 o/oo in the bottom water to approximately -10 o/oo at 30 cm. During all seasons, there was a trend towards more negative values with depth in the upper 8 cm due to the remineralization of organic matter. There was a trend toward more positive values below 8 cm, most likely due to biological irrigation of sediments with bottom water. Below 16-20 cm, a negative gradient was re-established which indicates a return to remineralization as the main process affecting pore water chemistry. Using the ΣCO2 depth profile, it was estimated that 67-85 gC/m2 are oxidized annually and 5 gC/m2-yr are buried. The amount of carbon oxidized represented remineralization occurring within the sediments. This estimate indicated that approximately 20% of the annual primary productivity reached the sediments. The calculated remineralization rates varied seasonally with the high of 7.5 x 10-9 mol/L-sec observed in August 84 and the low (0.6 x 10-9) in December 83. The calculated remineralization rates were dependent on the amount of irrigation in the sediments; if the irrigation parameter is known to ±20%, then the remineralization rates are known to this certainty also. The amount of irrigation in the sediments was estimated using the results of a seasonal study of 222Rn/22R6a disequilibria at the same study site (Martin, 1985). Estimates of the annual remineralization in the sediments using solid-phase data indicated that the solid-phase profiles were not at steady-state concentrations. The isotopic signature of ΣCO2 was used as an indicator of the processes affecting ΣCO2 in pore water. During every month, the oxidation of organic carbon to CO2 provided over half of the carbon added to the ΣCO2 pool. However, in every month, the δ13C of ΣCO2 added to the pore water in the surface sediments was greater than -15 o/oo, significantly greater than the δ13C of solid-phase organic carbon in the sediments (-20.6 o/oo). The δ13C of ΣCO2 added to the pore water in the sediments deeper than 7 cm was between -20 and -21 o/oo, similar to the organic carbon in the sediments. Possible explanations of the 13C-enrichment observed in the surface sediments were: a) significant dissolution of CaC0, (δ13C = + 1.7 o/oo), b) the addition of significant amounts of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water, c) an isotopic difference between the carbon oxidized in the sediments and that remaining in the sediments. The effect of CaCO3 dissolution was quantified using measured dissolved Ca profiles and was not large enough to explain the observed isotopic enrichment. An additional source of 13C-enriched carbon was bottom water carbonate ion. In every month studied, there was a net flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water. The flux of pore water ΣCO2 to bottom water ranged from a minimum of 10 x 10-12 mol/cm2-sec in December 83 to a maximum of 50 x 10-12 mol/cm2-sec in August 84. However, because the pH of bottom water was about 8 while that of the pore water was less than or equal to 7, the relative proportion of the different species of inorganic carbon (H2CO*3, HCO-3, CO2-3 was very different in bottom water and pore water. Thus, while there was a net flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water, there was a flux of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water. Because bottom water ΣCO2 was more 13C-enriched than pore water ΣCO2, the transfer of bottom water carbonate ion to pore water was a source of 13C-enriched carbon to the pore water. If the δ13C of CO2 added to the pore water from the oxidation of organic carbon was -20.6 o/oo, then the flux of Co2-3 from bottom water to pore water must have been 10-30% of the total flux of ΣCO2 from pore water to bottom water. This is consistent with the amount calculated from the observed gradient in carbonate ion. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine whether the δ13C of CO2 produced from the oxidation of organic carbon (δ13C-OCox) was different from the δ13C of organic carbon in the sediments (δ13C-SOC). In the laboratory experiments, mud from the sampling site was incubated at a constant temperature. Three depths were studied (0-3, 10-15, and 20-25 cm). For the first study (IE1), sediment was stirred to homogenize it before packing into centrifuge tubes for incubation. For the second study (IE2), sediment was introduced directly into glass incubation tubes by subcoring. The second procedure greatly reduced disturbance to the sediment. Rates of CO2 production were calculated from the concentrations of ΣCO2 measured over up to 46 days. In both studies, the values of Rc in the deeper intervals were about 10% of the surface values. This was consistent with the field results, although the rates decreased more rapidly in the field. In all cases, the remineralization rates during the beginning of IE1 were much greater than those at the beginning of IE2. The sediment for IE1 was collected in February 84. The measured value of Rc in the surface sediment of the laboratory experiment (24 x 10-9 mol/L-sec) was much greater than the value of Rc observed in the field in another winter month, December 83 (.62 x 10-9). The sediment for IE2 was collected in August 85. The measured values of Rc in the surface sediment (6.6-12 x 10-9 mol/L-sec) were consistent with the field values from August 84 (7.5 x 10-9). The ΣCO2 results indicated that IE2 reproduced field conditions more accurately than IE1 did. The isotopic results from the experiments strongly suggested that δ13C-OCox in the surface sediments (-17.8 o/oo ± 1.9 o/oo) was greater than δ13C-SOC (-20.6 ± 0.2 o/oo). The magnitude of the observed fractionation was small enough that the observed values of δ13C-ΣCO2 in the pore waters could be explained by fractionated oxidation coupled with the diffusion of carbonate ion from bottom water to pore water. The observed fractionation was most likely due to the multiple sources of organic carbon to coastal sediments. A study of the natural levels of radiocarbon In these sediments indicated that the carbon preserved in the sediments is approximately 30% terrestrial while the rest is from phytoplankton.Financial support was provided by the Education Office of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program In Oceanography, by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to the Coastal Research Center, WHOI, and by the National Science foundation under grant NSF OCE83-15412

'You Can't Have it All French, All at Once': French Language Rights, Bilingualism, and Political Community in Saskatchewan, 1870-1990

This study is about the place of French and French speakers in the Saskatchewan political community. Beginning with the political foundations of western Canada in 1870, it argues that exclusion of the French language and francophone culture became central to how Saskatchewan understood itself politically. Saskatchewan was to be part of a new British-Canadian nation which left behind the problems of language, religion, and culture plaguing central Canada. English would be the province's only official language. Over the next century this understanding of the Saskatchewan political community was reinforced during key moments of provincial history. Whenever there was a crisis of state legitimacy or a threat to the cultural definition of the region -- the founding of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan (1870 and 1905 respectively), the First World War and the interwar years (1914 to 1931), and the rise of the new West (1968 to 1990), the English-speaking character of Western Canada was reinforced by successive provincial governments and their citizens, while the French language and francophone culture were cast as alien to the region's cultural character. From the beginning, however, this vision of Saskatchewan was threatened by proponents of a bilingual and bicultural Canada. These political leaders and activists believed equality of francophones and anglophones to be part of western Canadian history and an important value for the Saskatchewan political community. The battle over official bilingualism and language rights between 1968 and 1990 provides new insights into how Saskatchewan understood itself and its history. Although after 1968 it was no longer fashionable for Canada to define itself as principally British, bilingualism remained a problematic notion for the provincial political community. New provincial cultural policies after 1968 led to a pitched battle involving politics of memory. Saskatchewan francophones insisted that Saskatchewan declare itself bilingual because the Fransaskois had opened and helped found western Canada, while Saskatchewan governments insisted that multiculturalism was the real (hi)story of the West. Faced with increasing Fransaskois activism and the choice of making French an official language in the province during these years, both New Democratic Party and Progressive Conservative governments chose not to do so, arguing that such a move had no historical, political, or demographic justification. By 1990 the battle over bilingualism was largely over. The Fransaskois left their mark on the modern Saskatchewan political community by scoring key victories in certain areas, but also by surviving bitter defeats in others

Methods of extracting antigens from the enteric bacteria

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThis investigation was conducted in order to determine the most efficient manner in which the "enteric bacteria" could be released for testing by the Ouchterlony technic. These results may prove useful in comparing the agar-gel precipitation technic with the usual agglutination technic for the typing of enteric bacteria. The organisms used were S. typhosa, strain Ty2; S. typhosa, strain 0-901; Sh. flexneri, type lb; Sh. flexneri, type 3; E. coli; Proteus species; and S. paratyphi B. Six different types of antigenic extract were prepared from these organisms when agar-grown. These extracts were saline, heated saline, trypsin, trichloroacetic acid, alumina, and sonic extracts. Concentrations of the antigenic extracts ranged from 0.1 to 50 mg/ml. Aging of the antigenic extracts for periods of up to and including three weeks was tried. Whole cultures, either living or after killing with phenol, merthiolate, formalin or heat, were tested. Antisera were prepared by immunizing rabbits with saline suspensions of acetone-dried organisms [TRUNCATED