Leadership traits and characteristics of elected California women political leaders

From the beginning of women\u27s entry into government and politics, namely the suffrage movement, the male lead political system did not embrace women\u27s involvement. While women have played an influential role in the political system, they were largely relegated to supporting roles. However, within the past century, women have become a stronger force in policy making and continue to shatter the stereotypes that have persisted through the years. The purpose of this study was to examine how specific leadership traits and characteristics have contributed to the career progress of 6 elected women who represent California constituents within the local, state, and federal levels of the U.S. legislative system. By exploring the leadership traits and characteristics of women political leaders, this research can (a) contribute to the scholarly studies of women political leaders, (b) provide information for women who aspire to serve in a political office, (c) offer an oral history and a rare personal perspective of current-day women political leaders, and (d) further the dialog regarding women\u27s participation in the political arena. This study used a qualitative design and an ethnographic research methodology to evaluate and elicit information on the shared experience of the elected women. The researcher used a purposive sampling strategy to select the participants who were women currently seated in elected positions at the local, state, and federal level of California government. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Each participant was videotaped and the transcripts of the videotape, along with the notes were the data source for the study. The information was analyzed and grouped by themes. The data yielded 7 themes the participants self reported as the key traits, skills, and characteristics that are important to their political success: (a) responsibility, (b) sociability, (c) relationships, (d) consensus building, (e) self-confidence, (f) cooperativeness, and (g) persistence. The video analysis produced results that showed participants\u27 nonverbal mannerisms were consistent with the themes they identified as important in their success

Thin-film flow in helically wound rectangular channels with small torsion

Laminar gravity-driven thin-film flow down a helically-wound channel of rectangular cross-section with small torsion in which the fluid depth is small is considered. Neglecting the entrance and exit regions we obtain the steady-state solution that is independent of position along the axis of the channel, so that the flow, which comprises a primary flow in the direction of the axis of the channel and a secondary flow in the cross-sectional plane, depends only on position in the two-dimensional cross-section of the channel. A thin-film approximation yields explicit expressions for the fluid velocity and pressure in terms of the free-surface shape, the latter satisfying a non-linear ordinary differential equation that has a simple exact solution in the special case of a channel of rectangular cross-section. The predictions of the thin-film model are shown to be in good agreement with much more computationally intensive solutions of the small-helix-torsion Navier–Stokes equations. The present work has particular relevance to spiral particle separators used in the mineral-processing industry. The validity of an assumption commonly used in modelling flow in spiral separators, namely that the flow in the outer region of the separator cross-section is described by a free vortex, is shown to depend on the problem parameters

Numerical analysis of the Iosipescu specimen for composite materials

A finite element analysis of the Iosipescu shear tests for unidirectional and cross-ply composites is presented. It is shown that an iterative analysis procedure must be used to model the fixture-specimen kinematics. The correction factors which are needed to compensate for the nonuniformity of stress distribution in calculating shear modulus are shown to be dependent on the material orthotropic ratio and the finite element loading models. Test section strain distributions representative of typical graphite-epoxy specimens are also presented

An ANOVA-Based GPS Multipath Detection Algorithm Using Multi-Channel Software Receivers

We present a statistical detection test for GPS multipath based on the one-way ANOVA method. Given an antenna array with a GPS software receiver in tracking mode, the signal from each channel is correlated with a reference signal in blocks of one CA code period. When the relative phase delay for the direct GPS signal is stripped off from each channel, the expected values of the correlates is the same for all of the channels only if no multipath is present. A one-way ANOVA test can then used to determine if multipath is present. An analysis of this method is presented which shows that the parameters affecting its detection performance can be grouped into three classes: the array size, the signal AOAs, and the processed multipath SNR. Receiver operating characteristic curves are given as a function of the processed multipath SNR for fixed array sizes. They show that good detection performance can be achieved under most operating conditions with less than 10 CA code periods of data. It is also shown that the detection performance of this method improves as the multipath time delay decreases. This suggests this method could be a useful tool in aiding multipath mitigation techniques whose ability to detect multipath typically degrades as the multipath time delay decreases

Comment on ``Dispersion-Independent High-Visibility Quantum Interference ... "

We show in this Comment that the interpretation of experimental data as well as the theory presented in Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)] are incorrect and discuss why such a scheme cannot be used to "recover" high-visibility quantum interference.Comment: Comment on Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)], 2nd revision, To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. April, (2001

Magnon-photon coupling in the noncollinear magnetic insulator Cu 2 OSeO 3

Anticrossing behavior between magnons in the noncollinear chiral magnet Cu2OSeO3 and a two-mode X-band microwave resonator was studied in the temperature range 5–100 K. In the field-induced ferrimagnetic phase, we observed a strong-coupling regime between magnons and two microwave cavity modes with a cooperativity reaching 3600. In the conical phase, cavity modes are dispersively coupled to a fundamental helimagnon mode, and we demonstrate that the magnetic phase diagram of Cu2OSeO3 can be reconstructed from the measurements of the cavity resonance frequency. In the helical phase, a hybridized state of a higher-order helimagnon mode and a cavity mode—a helimagnon polariton—was found. Our results reveal a class of magnetic systems where strong coupling of microwave photons to nontrivial spin textures can be observed

Chemical Abundance Gradients in the Star-Forming Ring Galaxies

Ring waves of star formation, propagating outwardly in the galactic disks, leave chemical abundance gradients in their wakes. We show that the relative [Fe/O] abundance gradients in ring galaxies can be used as a tool for determining the role of the SNIa explosions in their chemical enrichment. We consider two mechanisms which can create outwardly propagating star forming rings in a purely gaseous disk -- a self-induced wave and a density wave, and demonstrate that the radial distribution of the relative [Fe/O] abundance gradients does not depend on the particular mechanism of the wave formation or on the parameters of the star-forming process. We show that the [Fe/O] profile is determined by the velocity of the wave, initial mass function, and the initial chemical composition of the star-forming gas. If the role of SNIa explosions is negligible in the chemical enrichment, the ratio [Fe/O] remains constant throughout the galactic disk with a steep gradient at the wave front. If SNIa stars are important in the production of cosmic iron, the [Fe/O] ratio has gradient in the wake of the star-forming wave with the value depending on the frequency of SNIa explosions.Comment: Uses aas2pp4.sty and epsfig.sty, 7 pages including one figure To appear in Astrophysical Journa

Landscape-scale variation in forest structure and biomass along an elevation gradient in the Atlantic Forest of the Serra do Mar, Brazil.

Landscape-scale quantification of forest structure, disturbance patterns and biomass distribution can improve our understanding of the environmental controls on the functioning of forested ecosystems. Assessing the detailed structure of the complex tropical forest canopy is a challenging task, especially in areas of steep topography where field access is limited. We used airborne lidar (light detection and ranging) data to describe the landscape-scale variation in canopy structure and gap distribution in a 1000-ha area along an elevation gradient from 0 to 1200m in the Atlantic Forest of the Serra do Mar in southeast Brazil. Mean canopy heights (MCHs) were greatest (21-22m) at intermediate elevations (200-700m) in the submontane forest where terrain slope was also the steepest (~40º). Canopy gap fraction was highest (~30%) and MCH lowest (~16m) in the montane forest areas (900-1100m) on flatter sites atop the plateau (~24º slopes). We used forest inventory data from nine 1-ha permanent field plots (PFPs) within the study area to assess aboveground biomass (AGB) stocks and changes. We established regression models based on lidar-derived canopy structure and field-based biometry data, and used these to extrapolate AGB predictions across the landscape. Comparing canopy height and disturbance distributions in the PFPs with the distributions across the broader landscape, we found that submontane PFPs showed closer correspondence with their surrounding areas, while montane PFPs consistently overestimated landscape-scale canopy height (thus AGB pools) and underestimated gap fraction (therefore AGB changes)