How Many Democrats per Republican at UC-Berkeley and Stanford? Voter Registration Data Across 23 Academic Departments

Using the records of the seven San Francisco Bay Area counties that surround University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, we conducted a systematic and thorough study of the party registration of the Berkeley and Stanford faculty in 23 academic departments. The departments span the social sciences, humanities, hard sciences, math, law, journalism, engineering, medicine, and the business school. Of the total of 1497 individual names on the cumulative list, we obtained readings on 1005, or 67 percent. The findings support the “one-party campus” conjecture. For UC-Berkeley, we found an overall Democrat:Republican ratio of 9.9:1. For Stanford, we found an overall D:R ratio of 7.6:1. Moreover, the breakdown by faculty rank shows that Republicans are an “endangered species” on the two campuses. This article contains a link to the complete data (with individual identities redacted).academia; diversity; Democratic; Republican; voting; political parties

Incarceration and support for children in fragile families

High US incarceration rates have motivated recent research on the negative effects of imprisonment on later employment, earnings, and family relationships. Given the high rates of fatherhood among men in jails and prisons, a large number of children are placed at considerable risk when a parent is incarcerated. This paper examines one dimension of the economic risk faced by children of incarcerated fathers: the reduction in the financial support that they receive. We use a population-based sample of urban children to examine the effects of incarceration on this support. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models indicate that men with incarceration histories are significantly less likely to contribute to their families and those that do contribute provide significantly less. These negative effects of incarceration on fathers' financial support are due not only to diminished performance in the labor market by formerly incarcerated men, but also to their increased likelihood to live apart from their children. Men contribute far less through child support (formal or informal) than they do when they share their earnings within their household, suggesting that the destabilizing effects of incarceration on family relationships place children at significant economic disadvantage

Application of magnetorheological dampers in motorcycle rear swing arm suspension

Magnetorheological (MR) fluid is a smart fluid containing ferrous particles that allow it to change its apparent viscosity in the presence of a magnetic field. Dampers consisting of MR fluids provide a means of active damping by using a current input to an electromagnet to control the damping properties. A swing arm suspension system is unique to two-wheeled vehicles, and links the rear wheel to the frame of the vehicle through a pivot. The swing arm also connects the rear suspension system to the frame. The goal of this study is to experimentally analyze the vibration mitigation capabilities of MR dampers in a (rear) swing arm suspension system in a motorcycle. A set of commercially available MR dampers is used in a fixture that has been developed to represent the rear swing arm system. The dampers are characterized and preliminary mathematical models have been developed to investigate the capability of the damping system. Multiple iterations of testing are performed on the shaker table to evaluate the performance of the damping system at different locations of the frame. Accelerometers are used for this evaluation, and the analysis of the acceleration data is performed in time domain as well as frequency domain. Results indicate that the mitigation in root mean square (RMS) acceleration ranges from 50 to 80% at varying levels of damping. Significant mitigation is observed at different locations of the fixture that correspond to the rider seat and the position of the foot pegs on a motorcycle. The semi-active behavior of the damper is a critical property that can be used to overcome the constraints of a traditional passive suspension system, where the stiffness and damping is tuned to provide enhanced ride comfort or improved handling. In a passive system, some compromise is necessary between the two competing requirements of ride comfort and handling. The MR damping system could be used to overcome this constraint by exercising direct control over the input current of the electromagnet. The results from this study indicate that an MR damping system would allow the swing arm suspension to adapt so as to provide improved ride comfort as well as enhanced handling

Determination of calcium, magnesium, and aluminum in red spruce (Picea rubens) foliage and surrounding soil from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Mount Mitchell State Park using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Red spruce (Picea rubens) trees are medium size conifers found in the Appalachian Mountains at high elevations (above 4500 ft.). Since the 1970’s, several reports indicate a decline of spruce-fir forests in the Southern Appalachian Mountains caused by acid deposition. Acid deposition leaches essential nutrients out of the soil, such as calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) cations, and increases the availability of toxic metals to plants, such as aluminum cations (Al3+). Investigation of acid deposition effects on red spruce forests was achieved by analyzing calcium, magnesium, and aluminum in foliage and soils of these forests. Samples were collected from various locations on the Blue Ridge Parkway (NC), within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC/TN) and Mt. Mitchell State Park (NC). Foliar and soil samples were collected from 30 red spruce trees (each consisted of 10 matures, 10 saplings, and 10 seedlings,) at each sample site. The concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and aluminum in the foliage and surrounding soils of red spruce trees were determined by using an acid digestion and cation exchange method, respectively. Foliar and soil samples were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Statistical (Student's t – test, analysis of variance, and linear regression analysis) and geospatial analysis were performed on the results. There was some correlation in nutrient or toxic metal concentrations found in the foliage or surrounding soils of red spruce trees with respect to elevation of red spruce forests located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. In spite of the proximity of coal burning power plants located in eastern Tennessee, the majority of western samples sites did not exhibit lower nutrient and higher toxic metal concentrations when compared to eastern sample sites. Inconclusive evidence suggested that soil pH did not influence the nutrient or toxic metal concentrations found in the foliage or surrounding soils of red spruce forests. When foliar nutrient or toxic metal concentrations from red spruce trees were investigated as a function of soil metal concentrations, the majority of the results did not follow the hypothesis that the concentration of nutrients or toxic metals found in the surrounding soils of red spruce trees would correlate with the quantity found within the red spruce tree's foliage. The majority of the results indicated that foliar or soil metal concentrations in mature red spruce, red spruce saplings, and red spruce seedlings were not significantly different. Soil calcium/aluminum molar ratios taken from red spruce trees located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains suggested that almost all sample sites are at high risk of adverse forests health effects. A comparison of previous studies of foliar calcium/aluminum ratios taken from red spruce saplings located at Clingman’s Dome, NC/TN suggested a possible improvement, since in the 1980's, in red spruce forest health. A comparison with previous studies, which spanned 40 years, at Richland Balsam, NC of foliar calcium and magnesium concentrations taken from saplings red spruce trees, suggested a possible improvement in red spruce health at that site since 1994

Subject to change

My work invites the viewer to experience the moment where the unfamiliar becomes familiar and when the expected becomes unexpected. I am curious about the way that our personal experiences affect how we process information and interact within a constructed environment. Patterns of recurring coincidences and the moment when information aligns are themes that I am continuously pondering. Exploring material, sensory, and spatial relationships in the studio, I contemplate the connections that develop between them. My studio practice begins by finding common threads between different pieces of information. The information used in my work comes from conversations, dreams, reading, and movies to name a few. I create a taxonomy of this information, materials, and visuals. I then transfer this list of information and materials onto paper and organize it into categories. The resulting subject matter becomes the basis of a large-scale drawing, which acts as a second opportunity to edit my ideas and recognize things spatially. Then I create the final work in the form of a sculpture or an installation. Reorganizing the information into a sculptural form allows me to extend into space the concepts taken from my lists. The final step in the process is rationalizing the surroundings by addressing the space around the work and its relationship to the drawings, sculpture, and installation. When selecting materials, I formally respond to color and gravitate towards recognizable materials that have a preexisting identity and intended use that is commonly understood. I aim to challenge that identity by altering the materials and placing them in unfamiliar surroundings that defy their purpose. Doing so allows the viewer to gain a perspective foothold in the work and encourages questioning and exploration of the uncanny. In this thesis, I will compare my process of creating personal taxonomies and the way that I process information to that of other thinkers and artists that I am conceptually and aesthetically align with. I will also consider how my sculptures and installations relate to the concept of the Surrealist object and Josef Albers's ideas of perception used in his classroom matière exercises. Surrealist objects inform my work because they challenge the vocabulary surrounding an object to broaden the scope of associations that the viewer makes with it. I share the goal of the surrealists in that these associations allow the viewers' minds to settle in the zone between the familiar and unfamiliar and creates space for the subconscious mind and the imagination. Josef Albers's matière exercises are based on the idea that a material’s visual language can change depending on its context. With this philosophy in mind, I am expanding this idea past a classroom exercise, and am utilizing this concept to make finished work

Implementing the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Community College Office Administration classroom a faculty learning community initiative

The community college enrolls over 40 percent of all higher education undergraduate students (Mullin, 2012). Recent calls for educational reform and demands for accountability within higher education have placed increasing pressure on community colleges to produce learning and increase student success. Professional development has become necessary to assist faculty in improving teaching practice. Faculty learning communities are a faculty development initiative that can contribute to changes in instruction that improve student learning. Those who engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) movement can help improve teaching and/or learning through systematic inquiry into student learning, application of findings to practice, dissemination of results, self-reflection, and peer-review (Cambridge, 2001). In addition, those who engage in the SoTL seek to improve teaching and learning in the classroom and advance the practice of teaching. This study implemented the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Office Administration Department of a large metropolitan area community college through the use of a faculty learning community. This mixed- methods case study captured qualitative data from faculty learning community members through dialogue, audio recordings and surveys. Student participants completed a pretest/post-test assignment through a skills assessment manager instructional technology tool and the results provided quantitative data for the study. The qualitative data were analyzed for common themes and the major findings were that class size and course-delivery method had little effect on student learning. Quantitative data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software and the findings showed that student learning was impacted through the use of the instructional technology implemented for the study

Beyond Boyer: SoTL in the Context of Interesting Scholarly Things

The positive effects of Ernest Boyer’s broader definition of scholarship have been attenuated by stress on published outcomes as indicators of all his scholarships, including the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). At universities outside the research university sector, we need to find ways to recognize and reward a wide variety of interesting scholarly things related to teaching that are not likely to meet the formal assessment criteria that have come to define the SoTL category of scholarship. The faculty’s scholarliness in teaching should be recognized and evaluated directly

Teacher Thinking About Students' Thinking

College teachers are frequently told that knowing the details of the cognitive psychological processes of their students will improve their teaching effectiveness. However, investigations of college teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning have yielded conceptions of teaching at a very general level. Most studies have resulted in conceptions that focus more on the teacher and teaching methods than on the learning processes of students. This paper argues for a more differentiated study of teacher thinking about student thinking that explores what teachers tacitly believe about their students' attention, memory, learning strategies and motivation. Potential implications of differences in how teachers may think about their students' cognitions are explored

Charting New Territories in Health Psychology:A reflection on the EHPS 2022 ‘Digital Divide’ hybrid roundtable by Chairs, Presenters, and Participants

This paper reflects on the roundtable session at the 36th annual conference of the European Health Psychology Society titled ‘Mind the digital divide: How to reduce socialinequalities in digital health promotion?’, chaired by Dr Laura M König and Dr Max JWestern. The session was intended to present contemporary evidence on the existence of a digital divide in health behaviour promotion via two brief presentations of recent evidence syntheses by Dr Eline Smit and Dr Max Western, followed by two short talks on potential underlying mechanisms of the digital divide by Professors Efrat Neter and Falko Sniehotta. Finally, we aimed to explore through a panel discussion and an audience workshop how we, the health psychology community, could focus our research on better understanding and addressing this phenomenon. In the following, we will discuss how the roundtable was implemented and which aspects were perceived to be most useful from the perspectives of the organising chairs, presentersand participants, to provide input for roundtable organisers at future conferences