Infiniteness of Double Coset Collections in Algebraic Groups

Let $G$ be a linear algebraic group defined over an algebraically closed field. The double coset question addressed in this paper is the following: Given closed subgroups $X$ and $P$, is the double coset collection $X\backslash G/P$ finite or infinite? We limit ourselves to the case where $X$ is maximal rank and reductive and $P$ parabolic. This paper presents a criterion for infiniteness which involves only dimensions of centralizers of semisimple elements. This result is then applied to finish the classification of those $X$ which are spherical. Finally, excluding a case in $F_4$, we show that if $X\backslash G/P$ is finite then $X$ is spherical or the Levi factor of $P$ is spherical. This implies that it is rare for $X\backslash G/P$ to be finite. The primary method of proof is to descend to calculations at the finite group level and then to use elementary character theory.Comment: 24 page

Unipotent classes in the classical groups parameterized by subgroups

This paper describes how to use subgroups to parameterize unipotent classes in the classical algebraic group in characteristic 2. These results can be viewed as an extension of the Bala-Carter Theorem, and give a convenient way to compare unipotent classes in a group $G$ with unipotent classes of a subgroup $X$ where $G$ is exceptional and $X$ is a Levi subgroup of classical type.Comment: 14 pages. Minor changes and rewriting compared to version

Preliminary Gibbon Status Review for Lao PDR 2008

Provides a site directory for gibbon habitats and populations in Laos. Examines patterns of threats and conservation and documents the national conservation status and outlook for each species. Makes recommendations for urgent interventions

Evaluation of nonmetallic thermal protection materials for the manned space shuttle. Volume 1, task 1: Assessment of technical risks associated with utilization of nonmetallic thermal protection system

Technical problems of design and flight qualification of the proposed classes of surface insulation materials and leading edge materials were reviewed. A screening test plan, a preliminary design data test plan and a design data test plan were outlined. This program defined the apparent critical differences between the surface insulators and the leading edge materials, structuring specialized screening test plans for each of these two classes of materials. Unique testing techniques were shown to be important in evaluating the structural interaction aspects of the surface insulators and a separate task was defined to validate the test plan. In addition, a compilation was made of available information on proposed material (including metallic TPS), previous shuttle programs, pertinent test procedures, and other national programs of merit. This material was collected and summarized in an informally structured workbook

The gatekeeper: individual differences are key in the chain from perception to behaviour

A basic assumption in mainstream social cognition is that the path from perception to behaviour is often automatic and direct, as supported for example by several experimental studies showing that priming can lead directly to a congruent behaviour without any need of conscious awareness of the process. However, we argue that the priming of a goal or an object activates individual differences in automatic evaluations at the associative level that in turn are the key predictors of action (gatekeeper model). A study (n = 90) on the American stereotype is presented to support the model. The results show that individual differences of the American stereotype as assessed with the IAT predicts a relevant action (essay evaluation) but only under condition of priming. Broader implications for predictive validity of implicit measures are also discussed

Identifying key competences of industrial design and technology graduates in small and medium-sized enterprises

Industrial design graduates can be true ‘agents of change’ in manufacturing industry and nowhere is this potential more valuable than in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) where flexibility and speed of response are essential and which make up 94% of the UK economy. However, little research exists which examines the people - the initiators of change - in the light of emerging needs of SMEs in the UK. There is a huge potential amongst the SME sector to capitalise on industrial design graduates but for a number of reasons their skills and values are not fully exploited. With a growing higher education (HE) sector in design and related studies and a growing industrial base of SMEs there is an important need for research which would (i) help industrial design graduates secure employment in this significant element of the UK economy; (ii) assist HE with curricula development relevant to the needs of SMEs and (iii) help SMEs to harness the skills of industrial design graduates. This nine month project, which began in January 1999, seeks to address these points via a study of industrial design graduates employed by SMEs. 12 SMEs have been identified and each has employed, for a minimum of two years, a graduate from the Industrial Design and Technology BA/BSc programme offered by the Department of Design and Technology at Loughborough University. Particularly important to the research is the existence, manifestation and exploitation of 'competences'

Preserving Natural Science Collections: Chronicle of Our Environmental Heritage

This report recommends action in the areas outlined below. Strategies for implementation of each recommendation are presented in chapter three, Meeting the Challenge: Recommendations and Strategies. Stewardship of collections Public awareness Staffing, education, and training Technology transfer Conservation research Guidelines and standards of practic

L’Alouette gulgule Alauda gulgula au Laos : un oiseau rural menacé et passé inaperçu

Oriental Skylark Alauda gulgula was first found in Laos only in 1997 but was presumably overlooked historically. It has since been recorded from many sites on the Vientiane plain, four sites elsewhere on the Mekong plain, one mid-altitude grassy plateau and one mid-altitude airport. All sites are on level land. All known breeding areas have extensive rather sparse short- to mid-height grass during the midand late dry season, when (in contrast to sympatric passerines) the species breeds. Year-round observations at ten non-forest sites on the Vientiane plain found breeding at only two sites, both supporting extensive non-intensifi ed (single-crop) paddy rice close to permanent waterbodies; birds did not breed at two sites with dry-season irrigated rice, at two sites with single-crop rice but far from water, or at two sites with extensive Mekong channel bed exposed in the dry season. Elsewhere in Laos there are no records from extensive secondary hill dry grassland or natural grassland within deciduous dipterocarp forest. If the species is, across Laos, mainly using habitats as on the Vientiane plain, it faces severe national threats from ongoing agricultural intensificationL'Alouette gulgule Alauda gulgula au Laos: un oiseau rural menacé et passé inaperçu. -Cette alouette ne fut découverte au Laos qu'en 1997 mais était probablement restée inaperçue par le passé. Elle a depuis été notée en beaucoup d'endroits de la plaine de Vientiane, et dans quatre sites ailleurs dans la plaine du Mékong, sur un plateau herbeux et un aéroport de moyenne altitude. Toutes les localités sont en terrain plat. Toutes les zones de reproduction connues ont des étendues d'herbes clairsemées basses ou du moins peu hautes durant le milieu et la fin de la saison sèche quand, contrairement aux passereaux sympatriques, l'espèce niche. Des observations au long de l'année en dix sites non forestiers de la plaine de Ventiane n'ont révélé la reproduction qu'en deux de ces sites qui, tous les deux, présentaient des rizières (monoculture non intense) proches d'étendues d'eau permanentes. Ces alouettes ne nichèrent pas dans deux sites caractérisés par des rizières irriguées de saison sèche, ni dans deux autres avec une monoculture de riz loin de l'eau, ni dans encore deux autres où le lit du Mékong était largement exondé en saison sèche. Ailleurs au Laos il n'y a pas d'observations dans les vastes prairies sèches secondarisées des collines ni dans les prairies naturelles au milieu de la forêt décidue à Diptérocarpacées. Si, dans tout le Laos, l'espèce n'occupe que des habitats comme ceux de la plaine de Ventiane, elle se trouve soumise à de sévères menaces dues à l'intensification agricole qui a cours