Identifying the Burdens and Opportunities for Tribes and Communities in Federal Facility Cleanup Activities: Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix For Tribal and Community Decision-Makers

The cleanup of this country's federal facilities can affect a wide range of tribal and community interests and concerns. The technologies now in use, or being proposed by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other federal agencies can affect tribal treaty protected fishing, hunting and other rights, affect air and water quality thereby requiring the tribe to bear the burden of increased environmental regulation. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management developed a tribal and community decision-maker's Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix that will permit tribes and communities to array technical information about environmental remediation technologies against a backdrop of tribal and community environmental, health and safety, cultural, religious, treaty and other concerns and interests. Ultimately, the matrix will allow tribes and communities to assess the impact of proposed technologies on the wide range of tribal and community interests and will promote more informed participation in federal facility cleanup activities

Gravitational Wave Bursts from Collisions of Primordial Black Holes in Clusters

The rate of gravitational wave bursts from the mergers of massive primordial black holes in clusters is calculated. Such clusters of black holes can be formed through phase transitions in the early Universe. The central black holes in clusters can serve as the seeds of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. The expected burst detection rate by the LISA gravitational wave detector is estimated.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Spatial Degrees of Freedom in Everett Quantum Mechanics

Stapp claims that, when spatial degrees of freedom are taken into account, Everett quantum mechanics is ambiguous due to a "core basis problem." To examine an aspect of this claim I generalize the ideal measurement model to include translational degrees of freedom for both the measured system and the measuring apparatus. Analysis of this generalized model using the Everett interpretation in the Heisenberg picture shows that it makes unambiguous predictions for the possible results of measurements and their respective probabilities. The presence of translational degrees of freedom for the measuring apparatus affects the probabilities of measurement outcomes in the same way that a mixed state for the measured system would. Examination of a measurement scenario involving several observers illustrates the consistency of the model with perceived spatial localization of the measuring apparatus.Comment: 34 pp., no figs. Introduction, discussion revised. Material tangential to main point remove

Polar orbit electrostatic charging of objects in shuttle wake

A survey of DMSP data has uncovered several cases where precipitating auroral electron fluxes are both sufficiently intense and energetic to charge spacecraft materials such as teflon to very large potentials in the absence of ambient ion currents. Analytical bounds are provided which show that these measured environments can cause surface potentials in excess of several hundred volts to develop on objects in the orbiter wake for particular vehicle orientations

Perspectives of Title IX Pioneers: Equity, Equality and Need

The purpose of the study was to analyze the perspectives of Title IX trailblazers noting changes over a 40-year span as identified by participating Mountain West Conference athletic departments. Questions posed to participants focused on Title IX’s impact on participants, their personal contributions to gender equity, and how athletic departments have committed to gender equity over the past 40 years by supporting opportunities for women in athletics. Participants were recruited directly by their respective MWC school, and agreed to be videotaped for a MWC production shared publicly and submitted for a national competition. Video recordings were transcribed and analyzed. From the transcripts a coding system was developed to identify themes and concepts. Coding was undertaken through comparative analysis and in line with the two part process identified by Charmaz (2006). The data were evaluated using the theoretical framework of distributive justice to view women’s experiences in intercollegiate athletics over the 40 year period of Title IX implementation (Mahony & Pastore, 1998). This theoretical grounding was used to illuminate ways in which resource decisions are made which often disadvantage women, and to examine the perceptions of fairness based on equity, equality and need (Mahony & Pastore, 1998) within athletic departments. The integration of the distributive justice framework in the data analysis illuminates the power differentials as well as the challenges women have faced in intercollegiate athletics directly attributable to Title IX. Analysis of the videos compiled revealed three primary themes, 1) Eras / generational differences, 2) Fighting for resources, and 3) Leadership and life skills development, along with several subthemes. Discussion of key themes and the resulting implications are presented.Citation: Rubin, L.M., & Lough, N. (2015). Perspectives of title IX pioneers: Equity, equality and need. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 8, 109-130. doi:10.1123/jis.2014-0114