5,791 research outputs found
A Critical Assessment of SPU’s Urban Plunge: A Proposal for the John Perkins Center
This paper is written as an organizational report on the Urban Plunge Program for consideration by the John Perkins Center at Seattle Pacific University. I review Urban Plunge offering a critique and recommendations for re-imagining the program in its future development. I argue that the program needs to be clearly defined as an educational program, grounded in a conceptual framework, given a clarified and expanded mission, and guided by informed curriculum. Beyond critique, I create a proposal for programmatic content and organization to meet these identified needs
Anisotropic evolution of D-dimensional FRW spacetime
We examine the time evolution of the D=d+4 dimensional Einstein field
equations subjected to a flat Robertson-Walker metric where the 3D and
higher-dimensional scale factors are allowed to evolve at different rates. We
find the exact solution to these equations for a single fluid component, which
yields two limiting regimes offering the 3D scale factor as a function of the
time. The fluid regime solution closely mimics that described by 4D FRW
cosmology, offering a late-time behavior for the 3D scale factor after becoming
valid in the early universe, and can give rise to a late-time accelerated
expansion driven by vacuum energy. This is shown to be preceded by an earlier
volume regime solution, which offers a very early-time epoch of accelerated
expansion for a radiation-dominated universe for d=1. The time scales
describing these phenomena, including the transition from volume to fluid
regime, are shown to fall within a small fraction of the first second when the
fundamental constants of the theory are aligned with the Planck time. This
model potentially offers a higher-dimensional alternative to scalar-field
inflationary theory and a consistent cosmological theory, yielding a unified
description of early- and late-time accelerated expansions via a 5D spacetime
scenario.Comment: Title changed from "A possible higher-dimensional alternative to
scalar-field inflationary theory". Several new results have been added
including a predicted lower- and upper-bound on the time scales marking the
end of an early-time inflationary epoch and the beginning of an FRW epoch for
d=
Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation: Concepts, Prospects, and Challenges
Evaluates the first year of the Wallace Foundation's Community Partnerships for Cultural Participation Initiative, which funded nine community foundations working to increase participation in the arts and culture in their communities
Diversity-induced resonance in a system of globally coupled linear oscillators
The purpose of this paper to analyze in some detail the arguably simplest
case of diversity-induced reseonance: that of a system of globally-coupled
linear oscillators subjected to a periodic forcing. Diversity appears as the
parameters characterizing each oscillator, namely its mass, internal frequency
and damping coefficient are drawn from a probability distribution. The main
ingredients for the diversity-induced-resonance phenomenon are present in this
system as the oscillators display a variability in the individual responses but
are induced, by the coupling, to synchronize their responses. A steady state
solution for this model is obtained. We also determine the conditions under
which it is possible to find a resonance effect.Comment: Reported at the XI International Workshop "Instabilities and
Nonequilibrium Structures" Vina del Mar (Chile
Cold Positrons from Decaying Dark Matter
Many models of dark matter contain more than one new particle beyond those in
the Standard Model. Often heavier particles decay into the lightest dark matter
particle as the Universe evolves. Here we explore the possibilities that arise
if one of the products in a (Heavy Particle) (Dark Matter) decay
is a positron, and the lifetime is shorter than the age of the Universe. The
positrons cool down by scattering off the cosmic microwave background and
eventually annihilate when they fall into Galactic potential wells. The
resulting 511 keV flux not only places constraints on this class of models but
might even be consistent with that observed by the INTEGRAL satellite.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure
From everyday conversation to political action: Talking austerity in online ‘third spaces’
Taking forward a new agenda for online political deliberation – the study of everyday political talk in non-political, online ‘third spaces’ – this article examines the dynamics of political talk across three general interest UK-based online forums. The quantitative analysis found that discussions about austerity were just as likely to emerge from non-political discussions as they were ones that began as ‘political’, demonstrating the links people made between everyday experiences and public policy. Our qualitative analysis represents the first real attempt to analyse political actions within third spaces, with some striking outcomes. Over half of all political discussions led to at least one political action (with significant variation between forums). The findings demonstrate that while such third spaces remain concerned with the preoccupations of everyday life, they can and do perform a role of mobilizing agent towards political participation
Faking like a woman? Towards an interpretative theorization of sexual pleasure.
This article explores the possibility of developing a feminist approach to gendered and sexual embodiment which is rooted in the pragmatist/interactionist tradition derived from G.H. Mead, but which in turn develops this perspective by inflecting it through more recent feminist thinking. In so doing we seek to rebalance some of the rather abstract work on gender and embodiment by focusing on an instance of 'heterosexual' everyday/night life - the production of the female orgasm. Through engaging with feminist and interactionist work, we develop an approach to embodied sexual pleasure that emphasizes the sociality of sexual practices and of reflexive sexual selves. We argue that sexual practices and experiences must be understood in social context, taking account of the situatedness of sex as well as wider socio-cultural processes the production of sexual desire and sexual pleasure (or their non-production) always entails interpretive, interactional processes
Lieb Mode in a Quasi One-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensate of Atoms
We calculate the dispersion relation associated with a solitary wave in a
quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms confined in a harmonic,
cylindrical trap in the limit of weak and strong interactions. In both cases,
the dispersion relation is linear for long wavelength excitations and
terminates at the point where the group velocity vanishes. We also calculate
the dispersion relation of sound waves in both limits of weak and strong
coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps figures, RevTe
- …