Faith in Action: Using Interfaith Coalitions to Support Voluntary Caregiving Efforts

Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Faith in Action gives small grants to programs that provide informal care for those with chronic physical or mental disabilities. Program services are provided by volunteers, and programs are supported by coalitions involving diverse religious congregations and community-based agencies. This report presents findings from a national survey of 787 Faith in Action programs funded during the 1990s; it highlights their organizational practices, successes and challenges. It also outlines the practices linked with program survival, which include hiring directors with experience in key areas, implementing volunteer training and at least quarterly supervision, involving collaborators in fundraising and volunteer recruitment, and providing diverse services

Graded Fock--like representations for a system of algebraically interacting paraparticles

We will present an algebra describing a mixed paraparticle model, known in the bibliography as "The Relative Parabose Set (\textsc{Rpbs})". Focusing in the special case of a single parabosonic and a single parafermionic degree of freedom $P_{BF}^{(1,1)}$, we will study a class of Fock--like representations of this algebra, dependent on a positive integer parameter p (a kind of generalized parastatistics order). Mathematical properties of the Fock--like modules will be investigated for all values of p and constructions such as ladder operators, irreducibility (for the carrier spaces) and Klein group gradings (for both the carrier spaces and the algebra itself) will be established.Comment: 4 pages, 1 ref. updated with respect to the journ. versio

Policy Platforms, Campaign Spending and Voter Participation

We model electoral competition between two parties in a winner-take-all election. Parties choose strategically first their platforms and then their campaign spending under aggregate uncertainty about voters' preferences. We use the model to examine why campaign spending in the United States has increased at the same time that politics has become more polarized. We find that the popular explanation ­ better targeting of campaign spending ­ is not a likely explanation. While better targeting does lead to greater spending, it leads to less polarization. Instead we argue that the likely explanation is that voters references have become more volatile. This will both raise campaign spending and increase polarization. At the same time it is consistent with the observation that voters have become less committed to the two parties.Non Voting Paradox, Electoral Plataforms, Turnout

Voting Leaders and Voting Participation

We model electoral competition between two parties in a winner take all election. Parties choose strategically first their platforms and then their campain spending under aggregate uncertainty about voters' preferences. In the unique Nash equilibrium larger elections are characterized by a higher participation rate. Moreover, no matter what the voters' preferences are, parties spend exactly the same amounts for their campain in equilibrium. Platforms converge to the center (median voter) and spending increases as the uncertainty over voters' preferences decreases.Voter's Paradox, Aggregate Uncertainty.

Digital Realities and Academic Research

There\u27s a change occurring in the delivery of scientific content. The development and application of virtual reality and augmented reality is changing research in nearly every field, from the life sciences to engineering. As a result, scholarly content is also changing its direction from print centric to fully submersed digital. Historically, scientific content has been simple text and figures. To create higher quality, more intuitive and engaging content, scholarly communication has witnessed a shift to video and, most recently, researchers have begun to include data to create next generation content types that supplement and enrich their works. Scholarly communication will continue this trend, requiring the delivery of content that is more innovative and interactive. However, in a world where the PDF has dominated the industry for years, new skills and technologies will be needed to ensure reader use and engagement remain stable as the information services industry shifts to accommodate new forms of content and articles enhanced by virtual and augmented reality. Implementing and delivering on augmented or virtual reality supplemental material, and supporting them with the necessary tools for engagement, is no easy task. For as much as interest, discussion and innovation are occurring-as with all disruptive entrants-questions will need to be answered, issues addressed, and best practices established so that publisher, author and end-user can benefit from the results of deeper content engagement. For publishers who work directly with scholars and researchers, this pivot means they must re-examine the needs of their customers, understand what they need delivered, where they expect to find that information, and how they want to interact with it. This will require publishers to update their current infrastructures, submission practices and guidelines, as well as develop or license software to keep pace and meet the needs of their authors and readers. This session will help to define the challenges and strengths related to digital realities, data, and the role researchers play in shaping mixed content types in a more data drive, digital environment. Discussion includes: What are some of the pros and cons associated with data and digital reality research? How are these different content types being used as supplemental material and will they be shifting to be seen as a more integral part of the scholarly record? In the future, what role will libraries play in this shift in providing users what they want, and in a format conducive to their work and research

On the dual interpretation of zero-curvature Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models

Two possible interpretations of FRW cosmologies (perfect fluid or dissipative fluid)are considered as consecutive phases of the system. Necessary conditions are found, for the transition from perfect fluid to dissipative regime to occur, bringing out the conspicuous role played by a particular state of the system (the ''critical point '').Comment: 13 pages Latex, to appear in Class.Quantum Gra