The Cost of Worker Misclassification in New York State

[Excerpt] This study uses data based on audits performed by the NYS Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance Division during the four-year period 2002-2005. Audits were performed on firms in certain industries, and data was extrapolated statewide for these industries only, based on given employment information. Using general and specific audits conducted during the four year period 2002-2005, it is estimated that 39,587 New York employers (of about 400,732) in audited industries misclassified workers each year as independent contractors. Of these, approximately 5,880 employers, or 14.9%, were in the construction industry

Strings in Homogeneous Background Spacetimes

The string equations of motion for some homogeneous (Kantowski-Sachs, Bianchi I and Bianchi IX) background spacetimes are given, and solved explicitly in some simple cases. This is motivated by the recent developments in string cosmology, where it has been shown that, under certain circumstances, such spacetimes appear as string-vacua. Both tensile and null strings are considered. Generally, it is much simpler to solve for the null strings since then we deal with the null geodesic equations of General Relativity plus some additional constraints. We consider in detail an ansatz corresponding to circular strings, and we discuss the possibility of using an elliptic-shape string ansatz in the case of homogeneous (but anisotropic) backgrounds.Comment: 25 pages, REVTE

The Mixmaster Spacetime, Geroch's Transformation and Constants of Motion

We show that for $U(1)$-symmetric spacetimes on $S^3 \times R$ a constant of motion associated with the well known Geroch transformation, a functional $K[h_{ij},\pi^{ij}]$, quadratic in gravitational momenta, is strictly positive in an open subset of the set of all $U(1)$-symmetric initial data, and therefore not weakly zero. The Mixmaster initial data appear to be on the boundary of that set. We calculate the constant of motion perturbatively for the Mixmaster spacetime and find it to be proportional to the minisuperspace Hamiltonian to the first order in the Misner anisotropy variables, i.e. weakly zero. Assuming that $K$ is exactly zero for the Mixmaster spacetime, we show that Geroch's transformation, when applied to the Mixmaster spacetime, gives a new \mbox{$U(1)$-symmetric} solution of the vacuum Einstein equations, globally defined on \mbox{$S^2 \times S^1 \times R$},which is non-homogeneous and presumably exhibits Mixmaster-like complicated dynamical behavior.Comment: 25 pages, preprint YCTP-20-93, Revte

KSU Faculty Brass Recital

The Brass faculty of the KSU School of Music present their fall concert, with works by Booze, McKee, Atterburg, Williams, Handel, and Koetsier.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2314/thumbnail.jp

Wildland fire in ecosystems: Effects of fire on soil and water

This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on soils and water can assist land and fire managers with information on the physical, chemical, and biological effects of fire needed to successfully conduct ecosystem management, and effectively inform others about the role and impacts of wildland fire. Chapter topics include the soil resource, soil physical properties and fire, soil chemistry effects, soil biology responses, the hydrologic cycle and water resources, water quality, aquatic biology, fire effectson wetland and riparian systems, fire effects models, and watershed rehabilitation

Primordial nucleosynthesis with a varying fine structure constant: An improved estimate

We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider contributions arising from Coulomb barrier penetration, photon coupling to nuclear currents, and the electromagnetic components of nuclear masses. We find the primordial abundances to depend more weakly on alpha than previously estimated, by up to a factor of 2 in the case of ^7Li. We discuss the constraints on variations in alpha from the individual abundance measurements and the uncertainties affecting these constraints. While the present best measurements of primordial D/H, ^4He/H, and ^7Li/H may be reconciled pairwise by adjusting alpha and the universal baryon density, no value of alpha allows all three to be accommodated simultaneously without consideration of systematic error. The combination of measured abundances with observations of acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background favors no change in alpha within the uncertainties.Comment: Phys. Rev. D accepted version; minor changes in response to refere

Phenomenology of the Gowdy Universe on T3×RT^3 \times R

Numerical studies of the plane symmetric, vacuum Gowdy universe on $T^3 \times R$ yield strong support for the conjectured asymptotically velocity term dominated (AVTD) behavior of its evolution toward the singularity except, perhaps, at isolated spatial points. A generic solution is characterized by spiky features and apparent ``discontinuities'' in the wave amplitudes. It is shown that the nonlinear terms in the wave equations drive the system generically to the ``small velocity'' AVTD regime and that the spiky features are caused by the absence of these terms at isolated spatial points.Comment: 19 pages, 21 figures, uses Revtex, psfi