On the Frohman Kania-Bartoszynska ideal

The Frohman Kania-Bartoszynska ideal is an invariant associated to a 3-manifold with boundary and a prime p >3. We give some estimates of this ideal. We also calculate this invariant for some 3-manifolds constructed by doing surgery on a knot in the complement of another knot.Comment: 7pages, 1 figur

Quantum invariants of periodic three-manifolds

Let p be an odd prime and r be relatively prime to p. Let G be a finite p-group. Suppose an oriented 3-manifold M-tilde has a free G-action with orbit space M. We consider certain Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev SU(2) invariants w_r(M). We will give a fomula for w_r(M) in terms of the defect of M-tilde --> M and the number of elements in G. We also give a version of this result if M and M-tilde contain framed links or colored fat graphs. We give similar formulas for non-free actions which hold for a specified finite set of values for r.Comment: 19 pages. Published copy, also available at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTMon2/paper9.abs.htm

The Doctrine of Collateral Estoppel in Parole Revocation

In recent years courts have shown more recognition of the rights of parolees and probationers. Spurred by a Supreme Court decision that certain due process protections were applicable to parole revocation procedures, revocation hearings are now providing parolees and probationers some of the procedural protections available to criminal defendants at trial. Policy considerations have dictated, however, that the protections available at revocation hearings must fall far short of conferring upon the accused the full panoply of rights due a defendant at trial. As a result of the Supreme Court\u27s emphasis on the difference between revocation hearings and criminal proceedings, lower courts have held that some constitutional protections available to defendants at trial do not apply at revocation hearings. Thus, the exclusionary rule has been held inapplicable to revocation hearings. This is in contrast to a recent district court decision, Standlee v. Rhay, where it was held that because of the punitive nature of a revocation hearing, it should be treated in some respects as equivalent to a criminal proceeding. These contrasting results are not as inconsistent as they may seem at first glance, but may be harmonized, to some extent, through an analysis of the principles underlying the respective doctrines. Although revocation hearings often present both exclusionary rule and collateral estoppel problems, these are essentially distinct legal concepts

Next Generation SHRM Research: From Covariation to Causation

[Excerpt] In response to the longstanding and repeated criticisms that HR does not add value to organizations, the past 10 years has seen a burgeoning of research attempting to demonstrate that progressive HR practices result in higher organizational performance. Huselid’s (1995)groundbreaking study demonstrated that a set of HR practices he referred to as High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) were related to accounting profits and market value of firms. Since then, a number of studies have shown similar positive relationships between HR practices and various measures of firm performance. While the studies comprising what I refer to as “first generation SHRM research” have added to what is becoming a more convincing body of evidence of the positive relationship between HR and performance, this body tends to lack sufficient data to demonstrate that the relationship is actually causal in the sense that HR practices, when instituted, lead to higher performance. This next generation of SHRM research will begin (and, in fact has begun) to focus on designing more rigorous tests of the hypothesis that employing progressive HRM systems actually results in higher organizational performance. This generation of research will focus on two aspects: demonstrating the HRM value chain, and proving causality as opposed to merely covariation

Skein theory and Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev Invariants of links in lens spaces

We study the behavior of the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev SU(2) invariants of links in L(p,q) as a function of the level r-2. They are given by 1 over the square root of r times one of p Laurent polynomials evaluated at e to the 2 pi i divided by 4pr. The congruence class of r modulo p determines which polynomial is applicable. If p is zero modulo four, the meridian of L(p,q) is non-trivial in the skein module but has trivial Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev SU(2) invariants. On the other hand, we show that one may recover the element in the Kauffman bracket skein module of L(p,q) represented by a link from the collection of the WRT invariants at all levels if p is a prime or twice an odd prime. By a more delicate argument, this is also shown to be true for p=9.Comment: Much of the paper has been rewritten and simplified. The only if part of theorem 2 is new. AMS-TeX, 10 page

Theoretical and Empirical Challenges in Studying: The HR Practice - Firm Performance Relationship

Over the past 10 years a plethora of research has been conducted seeking to establish a relationship between human resource (HR) practices and firm performance. While this research has demonstrated promising results, a significant number of problems exist. This paper seeks to identify the theoretical and empirical challenges facing researchers who wish to further establish the impact of HR practices on firm performance. We conclude with some recommendations for future research in this area that might more accurately assess this relationship in ways that will be useful for both researchers and practitioners

The Postmodern Paradox: How the Christian Scholar has Both Declined and Thrived as a Result of Postmodernism’s Influence in Higher Education

The Christian scholar faces an interesting paradox concerning postmodernism’s influence in higher education (Edlin, 2009). One of the key components of the modernism paradigm was the ability for humans to reason (Pells, 2007). Universities were based largely on a model in which young adults were expected to first acquire knowledge, principles, and skills, and then later apply that which was learned to their career ambitions, citizenship, or professional development (Willis, 1995). But in the 1960s and 1970s, higher education began to face increasing social pressure as the ideas of modernism associated with knowledge acquisition, power, and authority came under scrutiny and were replaced with plurality and skepticism (Maranto, Redding, & Hess, 2009). This trend largely grew out of the ideas of French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard and his work The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Cary, 1999). Postmodernism has declared Christian scholarship null and void. Conversely, it has unintentionally reignited the quest to understand the spiritual nature of mankind and the world. Thus, Christian scholars have an opportunity to re-engage in a dialogue that had appeared to be closing (Martini, 2008). Ultimately, the Christian scholar must be grounded in an understanding of Biblical principles and open to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit if in fact they are to carry forth the great task of protecting the Truth with which they have been entrusted (2 Timothy 1:14) and they must not shy away from the conversation

An application of TQFT to modular representation theory

For p>3 a prime, and g>2 an integer, we use Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) to study a family of p-1 highest weight modules L_p(lambda) for the symplectic group Sp(2g,K) where K is an algebraically closed field of characteristic p. This permits explicit formulae for the dimension and the formal character of L_p(lambda) for these highest weights.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures. v2: Lemma 3.1 and Appendix A adde