I give at the office: A review of workplace giving research, theory, and practice

Workplace giving is a widely used philanthropic tool. Although it may have great unmet potential, it is also facing a number of challenges, including competition from informal crowdfunding campaigns. In the face of such challenges, we take stock of the extant research to better understand the value and future of workplace giving, emphasizing employee actions and preferences in our review. Workplace giving studies can also augment knowledge about contextual giving or bounded settings for exploring basic philanthropic questions (e.g., donor control or gift elasticity). We use a three‐part conceptual framework to synthesize and discuss research on individual workplace giving in the context of broader giving behaviors. We address what researchers know, do not know, and need to know on the topic of workplace giving

Examining the Efficiency of the U.S. Courts of Appeals: Pathologies and Prescriptions

Until recently (e.g., Lindquist 2007), few studies have examined the factors that might affect aspects of judicial efficiency, including the time it takes a court to decide a case. In our analysis of a sample o f U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions from 1971-1996, we examine a variety of potential causes of inefficiency, or pathologies, before suggesting a series of prescriptions. 1 Both authors equally contributed to this manuscript. The authors would like to thank Reese Manceaux for his assistance in merging a variety of seemingly incompatible databases, as well as Nicole Arnold for her assistance in collecting data.judicial efficiency, Courts of Appeals, litigation

On the Unification of Gauge Symmetries in Theories with Dynamical Symmetry Breaking

We analyze approaches to the partial or complete unification of gauge symmetries in theories with dynamical symmetry breaking. Several types of models are considered, including those that (i) involve sufficient unification to quantize electric charge, (ii) attempt to unify the three standard-model gauge interactions in a simple Lie group that forms a direct product with an extended technicolor group, and, most ambitiously, (iii) attempt to unify the standard-model gauge interactions with (extended) technicolor in a simple Lie group.Comment: 24 pages, ReVTe

Implications of Dynamical Generation of Standard-Model Fermion Masses

We point out that if quark and lepton masses arise dynamically, then in a wide class of theories the corresponding running masses $m_{f_j}(p)$ exhibit the power-law decay $m_{f_j}(p) \propto \Lambda_j^2/p^2$ for Euclidean momenta $p >> \Lambda_j$, where $f_j$ is a fermion of generation $j$, and $\Lambda_j$ is the maximal scale relevant for the origin of $m_{f_j}$. We estimate resultant changes in precision electroweak quantities and compare with current data. It is found that this data allows the presence of such corrections. We also note that this power-law decay renders primitively divergent fermion mass corrections finite.Comment: 4 pages, late

Correlated noise in networks of gravitational-wave detectors: subtraction and mitigation

One of the key science goals of advanced gravitational-wave detectors is to observe a stochastic gravitational-wave background. However, recent work demonstrates that correlated magnetic fields from Schumann resonances can produce correlated strain noise over global distances, potentially limiting the sensitivity of stochastic background searches with advanced detectors. In this paper, we estimate the correlated noise budget for the worldwide Advanced LIGO network and conclude that correlated noise may affect upcoming measurements. We investigate the possibility of a Wiener filtering scheme to subtract correlated noise from Advanced LIGO searches, and estimate the required specifications. We also consider the possibility that residual correlated noise remains following subtraction, and we devise an optimal strategy for measuring astronomical parameters in the presence of correlated noise. Using this new formalism, we estimate the loss of sensitivity for a broadband, isotropic stochastic background search using 1 yr of LIGO data at design sensitivity. Given our current noise budget, the uncertainty with which LIGO can estimate energy density will likely increase by a factor of ~4--if it is impossible to achieve significant subtraction. Additionally, narrowband cross-correlation searches may be severely affected at low frequencies f < 45 Hz without effective subtraction.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Till Fabric

Till fabric was noticed as early as 1859. Several geologists described it in the latter part of the nineteenth century. However, the concept of a fabric in till was not generally accepted until 1932 when Konrad Richter noted a preferred orientation of till particles in Northern Germany. He supported his findings with statistical data. Comprehensive studies were published by W. C. Krumbein and especially C. D. Holmes a few years later. Extensive work on the subject was conducted by several geologists in the 1950’s. Till fabric is classified as macrofabric and microfabric. The latter is further classified as (1) microfoliation, (2) coarse fragment orientation, and (3) veining. Several methods used in collecting and measuring the orientation of the particles are discussed. In most cases the particles are reoriented in the laboratory. The data may be plotted either on a “rose diagram” or the conventional “petrofabric diagram.” The former allows only the azimuths of the particle axes to be plotted while both the azimuths and dips may be plotted on the latter. The long axes of till particles is commonly oriented parallel to the direction of glacier flow. However, several geologists have found a transverse orientation of these axes. The shape, roundness, and amount of axial dip of the particle determines its orientation. Several theories as to the genesis of till fabric are discussed. It is concluded that the theory which is proposed by Holmes is the most acceptable. Parallel orientation of the long axis is believed to be due to a sliding movement of the particle and the transverse orientation to a rotating movement

Extended Technicolor Models with Two ETC Groups

We construct extended technicolor (ETC) models that can produce the large splitting between the masses of the $t$ and $b$ quarks without necessarily excessive contributions to the $\rho$ parameter or to neutral flavor-changing processes. These models make use of two different ETC gauge groups, such that left- and right-handed components of charge $Q=2/3$ quarks transform under the same ETC group, while left- and right-handed components of charge -1/3 quarks and charged leptons transform under different ETC groups. The models thereby suppress the masses $m_b$ and $m_\tau$ relative to $m_t$, and $m_s$ and $m_\mu$ relative to $m_c$ because the masses of the $Q=-1/3$ quarks and charged leptons require mixing between the two ETC groups, while the masses of the $Q=2/3$ quarks do not. A related source of the differences between these mass splittings is the effect of the two hierarchies of breaking scales of the two ETC groups. We analyze a particular model of this type in some detail. Although we find that this model tends to suppress the masses of the first two generations of down-type quarks and charged leptons too much, it gives useful insights into the properties of theories with more than one ETC group.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure