From a kinetic equation to a diffusion under an anomalous scaling

A linear Boltzmann equation is interpreted as the forward equation for the probability density of a Markov process (K(t), i(t), Y(t)), where (K(t), i(t)) is an autonomous reversible jump process, with waiting times between two jumps with finite expectation value but infinite variance, and Y(t) is an additive functional of K(t). We prove that under an anomalous rescaling Y converges in distribution to a two-dimensional Brownian motion. As a consequence, the appropriately rescaled solution of the Boltzmann equation converges to a diffusion equation

Strategies for successful telework: how effective employees manage work/home boundaries

Purpose: This paper aims to 1) identify strategies used by successful teleworkers to create and maintain boundaries between work and home, and 2) determine how these strategies relate to employee preferences for segmentation or integration of work and home. Design/methodology/approach: Forty in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with employees working from home either occasionally (occasional teleworkers), between 20-50% of the workweek (partial teleworkers), or the majority of the time (full teleworkers). Findings: Teleworkers use physical, temporal, behavioural and communicative strategies to recreate boundaries similar to those found in office environments. While teleworkers can generally develop strategies that align boundaries to their preferences for segmentation or integration, employees with greater job autonomy and control are better able to do so. Research limitations: A limitation of this research is its potential lack of generalizability to teleworkers in organizations with “always-on” cultures, who may experience greater pressure to allow work to permeate the home boundary. Practical implications: These findings can encourage organizations to proactively assess employee preferences for boundary permeability before entering a teleworking arrangement. The boundary management tactics identified can be used to provide teleworkers struggling to establish comfortable boundaries with tangible ideas to regulate interactions between home and work. Originality/value: This research makes a significant contribution to practitioner literature by applying a boundary management framework to the practice of teleworking, which is being adopted by organizations with increasing frequency

Asymptotics of the solutions of the stochastic lattice wave equation

We consider the long time limit theorems for the solutions of a discrete wave equation with a weak stochastic forcing. The multiplicative noise conserves the energy and the momentum. We obtain a time-inhomogeneous Ornstein-Uhlenbeck equation for the limit wave function that holds both for square integrable and statistically homogeneous initial data. The limit is understood in the point-wise sense in the former case, and in the weak sense in the latter. On the other hand, the weak limit for square integrable initial data is deterministic

Long time, large scale limit of the Wigner transform for a system of linear oscillators in one dimension

We consider the long time, large scale behavior of the Wigner transform W_\eps(t,x,k) of the wave function corresponding to a discrete wave equation on a 1-d integer lattice, with a weak multiplicative noise. This model has been introduced in Basile, Bernardin, and Olla to describe a system of interacting linear oscillators with a weak noise that conserves locally the kinetic energy and the momentum. The kinetic limit for the Wigner transform has been shown in Basile, Olla, and Spohn. In the present paper we prove that in the unpinned case there exists $\gamma_0>0$ such that for any $\gamma\in(0,\gamma_0]$ the weak limit of W_\eps(t/\eps^{3/2\gamma},x/\eps^{\gamma},k), as \eps\ll1, satisfies a one dimensional fractional heat equation $\partial_t W(t,x)=-\hat c(-\partial_x^2)^{3/4}W(t,x)$ with $\hat c>0$. In the pinned case an analogous result can be claimed for W_\eps(t/\eps^{2\gamma},x/\eps^{\gamma},k) but the limit satisfies then the usual heat equation

Quality and Effectiveness of Pre-Kindergarten Programs in Georgia: Parental Perspectives

A survey of parents whose children participate in Georgia's free prekindergarten, which assesses parents' perceptions of quality and effectiveness

Co-construction of a Data Collection Tool: A Case Study with Atikamekw Women

Gendered knowledge, roles and responsibilities in Indigenous cultures have historically been based on reciprocity and complementarity. By excluding Indigenous women from decision-making, colonial policies have reduced the knowledge base on which decisions are made. Indigenous women’s voices have also been largely excluded from research, and researchers have played a substantial role in their marginalization. It is within this context, and in a research decolonization effort, that we present a case study of the process of co-constructing a data collection tool with Atikamekw women. While preparing a research project on Indigenous women’s roles in the governance of land and natural resources, we worked with three Atikamekw women who gave particularly high importance to the process of obtaining participant consent. We designed the consent form together, so that it would address their concerns about trust, transparency, and community involvement throughout the research process. If research is to be decolonized, research tools should not be developed within university offices, but through meaningful collaboration with research participants

Chiral symmetry restoration, eigenvalue density of Dirac operator and axial U(1) anomaly at finite temperature

We reconsider constraints on the eigenvalue density of the Dirac operator in the chiral symmetric phase of 2 flavor QCD at finite temperature. To avoid possible ultra-violet(UV) divergences, we work on a lattice, employing the overlap Dirac operator, which ensures the exact "chiral" symmetry at finite lattice spacings. Studying multi-point correlation functions in various channels and taking their thermodynamical limit (and then taking the chiral limit), we obtain stronger constraints than those found in the previous studies: both the eigenvalue density at the origin and its first and second derivatives vanish in the chiral limit of 2 flavor QCD. In addition we show that the axial U(1) anomaly becomes invisible in susceptibilities of scalar and pseudo scalar mesons, suggesting that the 2nd order chiral phase transition with the O(4) scaling is not realized in 2 flavor QCD. Possible lattice artifacts when non-chiral lattice Dirac operator is employed are briefly discussed.Comment: 39 pages, 1 figure(2 eps files), a version published in PR

Finite size scaling of meson propagators with isospin chemical potential

We determine the volume and mass dependence of scalar and pseudoscalar two-point functions in N_f-flavour QCD, in the presence of an isospin chemical potential and at fixed gauge-field topology. We obtain these results at second order in the \epsilon-expansion of Chiral Perturbation Theory and evaluate all relevant zero-mode group integrals analytically. The virtue of working with a non-vanishing chemical potential is that it provides the correlation functions with a dependence on both the chiral condensate, \Sigma, and the pion decay constant, F, already at leading order. Our results may therefore be useful for improving the determination of these constants from lattice QCD calculations. As a side product, we rectify an earlier calculation of the O(\epsilon^2) finite-volume correction to the decay constant appearing in the partition function. We also compute a generalised partition function which is useful for evaluating U(N_f) group integrals

“The fur-lined rut”: telework and career ambition

In this chapter, we present a case study that explores the link between telework usage and career ambition within an organization where remote working is an embedded practice and used by a significant proportion of the workforce. First, this chapter will describe the organizational context for the case study as well as the qualitative and quantitative methods utilized. Next, qualitative and quantitative results detailing the impact of telework on career ambition will be presented. Last, a discussion of the findings, their implications for managers and suggestions as to how organizations might address the challenges associated with telework and career ambition will be presented