The State of Working America

[Excerpt] Like its predecessors, this edition of The State of Working America digs deeply into a broad range of data to answer a basic question that headline numbers on gross domestic product, inflation, stock indices, productivity, and other metrics can\u27t wholly answer: How well has the American economy worked to provide acceptable growth in living standards for most households? According to the data, the short answer is, not well at all. The past 10 years have been a lost decade of wage and income growth for most American families. A quarter century of wage stagnation and slow income growth preceded this lost decade, largely because rising wage, income, and wealth inequality funneled the rewards of economic growth to the top. The sweep of the research in this book shows that these trends are the result of inadequate, wrong, or absent policy responses. Ample economic growth in the past three-and-a-half decades provided the potential to substantially raise living standards across the board, but economic policies frequently served the interests of those with the most wealth, income, and political power and prevented broad-based prosperity

Fostering Geometric Thinking

Fostering Geometric Thinking is a learning process that guides critical thinkers in the problem solving process. In the book, Fostering Geometric Thinking, by Mark Driscoll. Driscoll describes four different geometric habits of mind that are essential to Fostering Geometric Thinking

Composite-based additive manufacturing applications in the polymer injection molding cycle

“The experimental method utilized in this research was the application of composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) mold plates in the injection molding process. The mold plates comprised carbon fibers and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) matrix. Modifications were made to the mold plates post manufacturing in order to properly adapt to the rest of the injection molding die. A custom cooling system was engineered and integrated into the injection molding machine for the CBAM mold plates. The polymer processed in the injection molding cycle for this study was Lustran 348 acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The result of the trials conducted in this research demonstrated that polymer injection molding with CBAM mold plates was feasible and comparable to metal molds. However, adverse effects noted from using these parts made via the CBAM mold plates were rougher surface finishes and high adhesion between the polymer/tooling surface interface. In fact, the adhesion was so great that upon removal of the part from the mold, some regions of the PEEK matrix were torn from the tooling surface leaving a visibly unsmooth manifold behind. Further research and applications of CBAM mold plates could demonstrate promise in replacing the expensive, subtractive computer numerically controlled (CNC) metal mold plates for relatively small cycles”--Abstract, page iii

When He Could Not Sleep, He Worked in the Shed

The events that I describe in this written thesis are events that influenced the work that I made for my thesis exhibition. I also think of this as a piece. Ideally, I envision this work being read aloud- by me, in the presence of my work. But this is no longer possible. You will have to read it

Flexure Strength Enhancement Study in Geopolymer Mortar

This thesis includes the structural enhancement study on the flexible or semi-rigid design of geopolymer mortar (GPM) to address tensile cracking commonly found at the invert of reinforced concrete pipes. Concrete pipes are often subjected to harsh sewer conditions, which eventually spread to the reinforcement skeleton through the resulting cracks and corrode it to cause premature structural failure of the pipe. Therefore, this added flexibility to the pipes’ rigid material will not only serve to limit corrosion of the steel reinforcement within the pipes but will also aid in increasing the structural stability of the pipe in its entirety. The suggested material for this semi-rigid design is additionally beneficial due to its use of recycled ingredients. Class F fly ash accounts for most of the material’s mass while fibers (steel, polyvinyl alcohol ‘PVA,’ and nylon) are used for their contributions to the geopolymer mortar’s overall flexibility. An alkali solution (sodium hydroxide, NaOH and sodium silicate, Na2SiO3) defines the mixture’s aqueous solution. These inexpensive and mostly recycled materials can directly reduce costs for the piping industry while also reducing emissions caused by the creation of the clinker used in Portland Cement Concrete. By improving overall concrete pipe stability and tensile strength, prolonging the life cycles of steel reinforcement and using recyclable waste materials as base ingredients, the research outcome for semi-rigid pipes made by flexible GPM supports a financially and environmentally green shift in the future of pipe networking

NCAA Student Athlete Unionization: NLRB Punts on Northwestern University Football Team

The NCAA has established a system through which universities profit tremendously from the athletic careers of student athletes, yet athletes\u27 scholarships do not cover the full cost of attendance., With no guarantee of scholarship retention, young men and women commit long hours to athletic programs, risking both bodily injury and career aspirations. For years, nothing was done to improve conditions for student athletes. Recently, however, both current and former student athletes have begun campaigning for expanded student athletes\u27 rights. In 2013, the Northwestern University football team sought to unionize to gain collective bargaining rights and secure safer and more favorable conditions for student athletes. This Comment initially discusses, the current student athlete unionization movement, which has been led by Kain Colter and Ramogi Huma since 2013. Next, this Comment examines the path of the movement, which began with discussions and protests and moved to the National Labor Relations Board\u27s Chicago Regional Office. After providing a description of the fallout resulting from a Regional decision in the Northwestern University football team\u27s favor, this Comment analyzes the National Labor Relations Board\u27s refusal to assert jurisdiction in the case, preventing the team from unionizing and gaining collective bargaining rights. This Comment then evaluates the options remaining for student athletes who wish to unionize. Finally, this Comment recommends that Colter and Huma end their current bid to unionize, due to the beneficial reforms that have been made in the NCAA since the movement began

DAIRY GRAZING FINANCES IN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN, 1999

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate possible outcomes and problems of merging farm data sets from multiple states in order to build a statistically sound body of financial information that will help individual farmers analyze their own situations. This paper is in support of a grant titled "Regional/Multi-State Interpretation of Small Farm Financial Data" recently funded by USDA - IFAFS - Farm Efficiency and Profitability. Financial data sets came from dairy farms using management intensive grazing (MIG) strategies during 1999. There were 12 farms from Michigan and 19 farms from Wisconsin. Finpack and Finansum were used to process the data from all farms. Definitions and formulas are not given in this paper as they can be found in Finpack users' guides and manuals. The averages for all 31 farms are given in Tables 1 through 10 plus Figures 1 and 2. The averages for farms with less than 70 milk cows are given in Tables 11 through 20. Averages for farms with over 70 cows are in Tables 21 through 30. Towards the end of the paper is a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the data set and what should be considered as more states' data are merged into the grant project. The last page, Table 32, gives some income and expense categories on a per cow basis which may be useful in doing an individual farm comparative analysis.Agricultural Finance, Livestock Production/Industries,

New media and journalism: implications for autonomous practice within traditional constraints

This is a study of news production by eight major news organisations in the UK and Canada. Through observation of daily routines and semi-structured interviews, 124 journalists were included in the final sample. The overall aim of this research was to explore the interrelationships between new technologies, the potential autonomy accessible by journalists and the structure of constraints under which they operate. The news marketplace has become congested while audiences have fragmented and public news-producing behaviours have soared, facilitated through the ubiquity of new media. These developments were crucial to the analysis of mainstream news production within a media environment that has left news organisations struggling to retain audiences and their own credibility. New technologies adopted by news organisations have altered routines both within newsrooms and out in the field. News values have shifted towards ‘live’ coverage while workflow has been improved and convergence become the norm. At the same time, new media available within the public realm – including the internet, online publishing tools and advanced mobile phone technologies – are also available to individual journalists. However, it is those journalists already familiar with technology who are more likely to incorporate them into their own daily routines, along with the wider range of sources now available within the information producing strata of society. Research findings relate to the specific locations in the news production process at which new technologies, journalistic autonomy and constraining factors have the most impact. For this purpose, a model was developed along with an autonomy-constraint ratio. Key findings are that the transmission phase of news production presents the least amount of autonomy for journalists while the newsgathering phase offers the greatest amount of autonomy. Due to the temporal and theoretical limits of previous research frameworks, an autonomy-centred approach is proposed as a means of complementing the existing constraints-based approaches that have tended to dominate news production studies

Successional Processes in the Benthic Invertebrate Communities at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary

While the process of community development has been studied in terrestrial habitats since the turn of the 20th century, similar information is not as readily available in marine systems. Understanding patterns of community development is essential to predicting recovery potential and to designing effective marine protected areas. In the South Atlantic Bight, invertebrate communities on hard substrata can differ significantly from one rocky outcrop to another, but the factors driving these differences are not well understood. I documented the initial development of the benthic invertebrate community at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) to address the prediction that this system does not demonstrate a predictable pattern of succession. This prediction was investigated by tracking community development on natural substrate plots (30 x 30 cm) that were cleared of benthic organisms each summer between 2010 and 2015, and in each case were allowed to recover for one year. Comparisons of species richness, diversity, and percent cover showed that one year was not sufficient for the plots to recover to their original composition. While plots cleared in different years did exhibit similar patterns of species richness and diversity after one year of recovery, closer inspection revealed that the particular species present was not consistent across years. In addition, the percent cover varied from year to year. These results indicate that succession models do not apply to the sessile benthic invertebrate community of GRNMS