A Seat at the Table? Racial/Ethnic & Gender Diversity on Corporate, Hospital, Education, Cultural & State Boards

As part of its larger Diversity Initiative, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston has undertaken a number of projects. The first was a public opinion survey conducted around the time of the November 2006 elections. The report, Transformation and Taking Stock: A Summary of Selected Findings from the McCormack Graduate School Diversity Survey, included a comprehensive look at race relations in the Commonwealth at a time of significant transition—demographically and politically. This report was followed by A Benchmark Report on Diversity in State and Local Government, which focused on the percentage of positions filled by gubernatorial appointment to selected senior-level positions in government (and on selected boards and commissions) a well as on elected and appointed positions in ten cities and towns in Greater Boston. This new study rounds out this series on diversity on governing bodies filled through appointments. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, however, researchers at the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy undertook a comprehensive study of who sits on the boards of directors/trustees of the top corporations, hospitals, higher education institutions (both private and public) and a sample of major cultural institutions. These are important decision-making positions and we are pleased to share our findings on the racial and gender diversity—or lack thereof—on these for-profit and not-for-profit boards

R-modes in the ocean of a magnetic neutron star

We study the dynamics of r-modes in the ocean of a magnetic neutron star. We modeled the star's ocean with a spherical rotating thin shell and assumed that the magnetic field symmetry axis is not aligned to the shell's spin axis. In the magnetohydrodynamic approximation, we calculate the frequency of $\ell=m$ r-modes in the shell of an incompressible fluid. Different r-modes with $\ell$ and $\ell\pm2$ are coupled by the {\it inclined} magnetic field. Kinematical secular effects for the motion of a fluid element in the shell undergoing $\ell=m=2$ r-mode are studied. The magnetic corrected drift velocity of a given fluid element undergoing the $\ell=m$ r-mode oscillations is obtained. The magnetic field increases the magnitude of the fluid drift produced by the r-mode drift velocity, the high-$\ell$ modes in the ocean fluid will damp faster than the low-$\ell$ ones.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, to appear in ApJ, v574 n2 August 1, 2002 issu

Polarization: The Tea Party Movement's Effect on Congressional Roll Call Voting

The Tea Party movement is the most recent example of a faction rising from within an American political party. It rose unexpectedly, and it is hard to predict where it will end. It is important to get inside the heads of incumbent Congressmen to see how they deal with events like the rise of a faction within a two party system. This study analyzes roll call voting ideology scores of both Democrat and Republican incumbents to see just how the presence of the Tea Party caused a change from the 111th Congress to the 112th Congress. I find that the presence of the Tea Party seems to have a positive influence on roll call voting ideology, effectively pushing the parties further apart on the traditional liberal-conservative spectrum of ideology. Due to low sample sizes, this unfortunately cannot be said with statistical certainty. It is clear by the end that the Tea Party, as a faction attempting to change the status quo, further separated the two parties. This was due to the Republican Party’s need to assume the movement to ensure they remained Republicans. In a sort of reactionary force, the Democratic Party has been able to become more liberal in the face of extreme opponents and still retain the median voter all Representatives seek

Influence of Compost Amendment on Shear Properties of Topsoils Used in Highway Slopes

Erosion of highway slopes is of the utmost importance because it can lead to a decreased quality of the soil underneath, reduced water quality, and exacerbated air quality. Current highway slopes are implemented using compacted inorganic topsoil or occasionally by placing a layer of compost above the existing topsoil layer. The single topsoil layer can be susceptible to erosion but, if blended with compost materials, may potentially yield vegetation that reinforces the strength of the soil. The potential implementation of compost-amended topsoil on highway slopes is a sustainable practice due to larger amounts of compost use in construction but requires additional research to evaluate the geotechnical properties of these systems. A research study was undertaken to evaluate the changes in shear strength of topsoil upon amending with two common composts. Four mixtures were prepared at varying percentages of composts and one topsoil. Direct shear tests were performed on pure topsoil, composts, and the blends. Shape properties of the materials were defined using digital image analysis. The results indicate that the drained friction angle increased from 360 to 440, and the angularity increased from 2608 to 3127 due to addition of the compost material. The shape parameters of Form 2D, flatness, sphericity, elongation, angularity, and texture were compared with the respective friction angles; angularity and Form 2D were found to have the greatest correlation displaying high R^2 values ranging from 0.816 to 0.940, regardless of compost type.National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participatio

Remarks on the stability of the Navier-Stokes equations supplemented with stress-free boundary conditions

The purpose of this note is to analyze the long term stability of the Navier-Stokes equations supplemented with the Coriolis force and the stress-free boundary condition. It is shown that, if the flow domain is axisymmetric, spurious stability behaviors can occur depending whether the Coriolis force is active or not

General Relativistic Rossby-Haurwitz waves of a slowly and differentially rotating fluid shell

We show that, at first order in the angular velocity, the general relativistic description of Rossby-Haurwitz waves (the analogues of r-waves on a thin shell) can be obtained from the corresponding Newtonian one after a coordinate transformation. As an application, we show that the results recently obtained by Rezzolla and Yoshida (2001) in the analysis of Newtonian Rossby-Haurwitz waves of a slowly and differentially rotating, fluid shell apply also in General Relativity, at first order in the angular velocity.Comment: 4 pages. Comment to Class. Quantum Grav. 18(2001)L8

The dynamics of the radiative envelope of rapidly rotating stars. I. A spherical Boussinesq model

Context: The observations of rapidly rotating stars are increasingly detailed and precise thanks to interferometry and asteroseismology; two-dimensional models taking into account the hydrodynamics of these stars are very much needed. Aims: A model for studying the dynamics of baroclinic stellar envelope is presented. Methods: This models treats the stellar fluid at the Boussinesq approximation and assumes that it is contained in a rigid spherical domain. The temperature field along with the rotation of the system generate the baroclinic flow. Results: We manage to give an analytical solution to the asymptotic problem at small Ekman and Prandtl numbers. We show that, provided the Brunt-Vaisala frequency profile is smooth enough, differential rotation of a stably stratified envelope takes the form a fast rotating pole and a slow equator while it is the opposite in a convective envelope. We also show that at low Prandtl numbers and without $\mu$-barriers, the jump in viscosity at the core-envelope boundary generates a shear layer staying along the tangential cylinder of the core. Its role in mixing processes is discussed. Conclusions: Such a model provides an interesting tool for investigating the fluid dynamics of rotating stars in particular for the study of the various instabilities affecting baroclinic flows or, even more, of a dynamo effect.Comment: 17 pages, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Bistability in the Complex Ginzburg-Landau Equation with Drift

Properties of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with drift are studied focusing on the Benjamin-Feir stable regime. On a finite interval with Neumann boundary conditions the equation exhibits bistability between a spatially uniform time-periodic state and a variety of nonuniform states with complex time dependence. The origin of this behavior is identified and contrasted with the bistable behavior present with periodic boundary conditions and no drift