The Lia Fund: An Adventure in Philanthropy

Randy Lia Weil made two highly unusual decisions about the $5 million she left to be donated after her death. The first was that she appointed 14 people she knew and trusted to select the organizations and individuals who would receive funding. Most of them were lifelong activists with decades of passionate dedication to environmental, cultural and social justice issues. The second unusual thing was that she left no instructions for how or to whom they should give her bequest. She trusted them to decide.This would prove to be an adventure and a discovery, and not without its challenges for the participants. Everyone sincerely wanted to be a responsible grantmaker and do what Randy would have wanted. But it was a complex journey to turn a group of passionate individuals into a group of effective funders. Before they could make any grants, they had to agree on their mission, vision, and values. They also had to decide how they would operate and make decisions in a way that honored Randy and the values that led her to choose them. It was a tall order.After spending a year planning to establish the Foundation, The Lia Fund awarded grants to 107 organizations from 2007 to 2013. Most of the grants ranged from$5,000 to $25,000. In total the Foundation gave away$5 million. This is the story of what The Lia Fund did, how they did it, and what they learned. It describes the impact of this type of grantmaking on some of the most important issues of our time. It also looks at what foundations and individual donors might learn from this adventure in philanthropy

Laboratory and theoretical studies of baroclinic processes

An understanding is being developed for processes which may be important in the atmosphere, and the definition and analysis of baroclinic experiments utilizing the geophysical fluid flow cells (GFFC) apparatus in microgravity space flights. Included are studies using numerical codes, theoretical models, and terrestrial laboratory experiments. The numerical modeling is performed in three stages: calculation of steady axisymmetric flow, calculation of fastest-growing linear eigenmodes, and nonlinear effects (first, wave-mean flow interactions, then wave-wave interactions). The code can accommodate cylindrical, spherical, or channel geometry. It uses finite differences in the vertical and meridional directions, and is spectral in the azimuthal. The theoretical work was mostly in the area of effects of topography upon the baroclinic instability problem. The laboratory experiments are performed in a cylindrical annulus which has a temperture gradient imposed upon the lower surface and an approximately isothermal outer wall, with the upper and inner surfaces being nominally thermally insulating

Which anthropometric and lower body power variables are predictive of professional and amateur playing status in male rugby union players?

The purpose of this study was to compare anthropometric and lower body power measurements between current professional and amateur male rugby union players. The present study also sought to determine which anthropometric and physical performance variables were predictive of playing standard. Thirty professional and 30 amateur RU players performed Wattbike 6 s maximal effort (WB6S) and countermovement (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ) assessments, anthropometric measures were also taken. Dependant variables recorded and analysed including: body mass, stature, Σ8 site skinfolds, WB6S absolute and relative peak power, CMJ and SJ average concentric force, jump height, peak velocity, time to peak force, rate of force development (RFD) and absolute and relative peak force and power. Professional players were heavier, taller and leaner than their amateur counterparts (p < 0.05). Professional players performed significantly better in all physical performance measures except CMJ and SJ time to peak force, CMJ RFD and SJ relative peak force. Variables which were predictive of playing standard were: Σ8 skinfolds, CMJ peak velocity and WB6S absolute and relative peak power (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that the current body of male professional RU players is anthropometrically and physically superior to their amateur counterparts, although not all variables assessed here were predictive of playing standard. Data presented here indicate that Σ8 skinfolds, WB6S absolute and relative power and CMJ peak velocity are predictive of playing standard, whereas other anthropometric and strength and power variables are not