Post-traditional Learners and the Transformation of Postsecondary Education: A Manifesto for College Leaders

Our traditional system of two- and four-year colleges and universities is not well-suited to educate post-traditional learners, writes Louis Soares. Postsecondary education leaders need to be challenged to embrace a future of innovation that may put their current institutional, instructional, and financial models at risk. This paper includes a brief primer on innovation, a profile of post-traditional learners, a look at the U.S. investment in postsecondary education and training, and concludes with three principles to "catalyze a manifesto for college leaders on how to proceed.

Expansion and uniform resonance free regions for convex cocompact hyperbolic surfaces

Let $X=\Gamma\backslash\mathbb{H}^2$ be a convex cocompact hyperbolic surface with critical exponent $\delta_\Gamma.$ For each family of finite regular covers $X_n=\Gamma_n\backslash\mathbb{H}^2$ of $X$ we let $\mathcal{G}_n$ be the family of Cayley graphs of the covering groups $G_n = \Gamma/\Gamma_n$ with respect to the Schottky generators of $\Gamma$. Motivated by the work of Brooks, Burger and Bourgain-Gamburd-Sarnak, we conjecture that the surfaces $X_n$ have a uniform resonance-free strip if and only if the graphs $\mathcal{G}_n$ form a family of expanders. Among other things, we prove a new upper bound for the number of resonances for covers of $X$ near the vertical line $\mathrm{Re}(s)=\delta_\Gamma$, allowing us to prove the conjecture when the groups $G_n$ are "strongly" quasirandom.Comment: 51 pages, 1 figur

Some results on resonances for hyperbolic surfaces

In this thesis we contribute to the spectral theory of hyperbolic surfaces. More concretely, we prove several results concerning the distibution of infinite-area hyperbolic surfaces. Most notable among them are a Weyl law and an improved fractal Weyl law for families of covers of Schottky surfaces, the existence of hyperbolic surfaces with arbitrarily small spectral gap, an equidistribution result for resonances for abelian coverings, and a fractal Weyl law of hyperbolic surfaces arising from Hecke triangle groups

The last 50.000 years in the neotropics (Southern Brazil) : evolution of vegetation and climate

In the "Lagoa Campestre" (lake) of Salitre (19°S, 46°46'W, 970 m elev.), there are plant taxa belonging to many ecological groups that are encountered nowhere else at this latitude. Frequent incursions of polar advections causing cooling and humidity, a cool and foggy climate in the middle of the depression and warmer temperatures on the surrounding slopes help to maintain all these groups within a fairly restricted area. Late Pleistocene-Holocene climatic change has had a considerable impact on the flora and vegetation of Salitre. The pollen record of the 6 m deep core LC3 shows how cold forest trees such as #Araucaria angustifolia and #Drimys brasiliensis, semi-deciduous forest, halophytic plants and peat bog started to develop on this site. The initial period, between c. 50,000 and 40,000 yr B.P., was an arid phase not recorded in any other neotropical lowland site. It was followed by a period of high moisture levels (40,000 to 27,000 yr B.P.) with a maximum estimated at c. 35,000 yr B.P. The Late Glacial maximum is missing because of a gap in sedimentation. Humidity gradually increased during the Late Pleistocene, between 16,000 and 11,000 yr B.P. The early Holocene, 9500 to 5000 yr B.P., is characterized by a more marked seasonal pattern and higher temperatures, reaching a maximum c. 5000 yr B.P. The spread of semi-deciduous forest between 4000 and 3000 yr B.P. attests to a return of humidity. Comparison with the Serra Negra section (19°S, 46°45'-46'W, 1170 m elev.) not far from Salitre confirms the high moisture rates recorded at c. 35-40,000 yr B.P. (although temperatures were cooler at the altitude of Serra Negra, as is attested by the presence of #Araucaria$ forest) and also confirms the strong impact of polar advections on the climate of Southeastern Brazil. (Résumé d'auteur