Psychological 'Conflict Mapping' in Bosnia & Hercegovina: Case Study, Critique and the Renegotiation Theory

Ye

Elko Field Theory and the Nature of Elko Darkness

We show that the Elko Lagrangian dark matter candidate is gauge-invariant under local gauge transformations and that non-abelian gauge invariance can be set up quite naturally. This leads naturally to Elko symmetry currents. These Elko symmetry currents can then be coupled with the symmetry currents of the Electroweak theory to form interaction Hamiltonian densities, thus providing a natural mechanism for Elko particles to interact directly with Standard Model matter in addition to the Higgs particle. This could have profound implications for the detection of Elko at the LHC. We also show that in a certain sense Elko fields are non-local even along the axis of locality. This may make direct detection of Elko difficult. We propose that Elko would therefore still seem dark to us, as far as direct detection efforts are concerned. We propose however, that the allowed gauge interactions between Elko and the electroweak sector of the Standard Model may result in the possibility of new experiments to be devised to look for Elko indirectly via studying the Standard Model particles that are involved in an Elko interaction. Such new experiments could complement existing ideas of developing experiments to detect the Elko particles based on their interaction with the Higgs particle

Homeownership is Still Out of Reach for Millions of Households

Homeownership has long been the leading source of household wealth in the U.S. However, the most recent housing crash stripped many Americans of much of their wealth, as home values plummeted and millions of homes went into foreclosure. These losses were especially painful for homeowners of color, who lost a greater share of wealth in the crash and have rebuilt their wealth more slowly in the recovery. Now, as the housing market recovers and interest rates remain low, many Americans find themselves without the savings or access to credit necessary to be able to purchase a home. Although homeownership is not the best option for every household, many Americans who could greatly benefit from it are still excluded

Social Support and Gender Effects on Academic Confidence in Foster Youth

Finding the predictors for academic success is critical for foster youth to become productive citizens as adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social support in the academic confidence of transitional foster youth. Because the literature suggests men and women benefit from social support differentially, I also examined gender as the moderating variable for social support and academic confidence. A sample of 82 foster youth (15-18 years old) from San Joaquin County\u27s Human Service Agency volunteered to participate. Participants were given the Student Perceived Availability of Social Support Questionnaire (SPASSQ) to assess their perceptions of the available social support from foster family, teachers, and peers. The Academic Efficacy Scale (AES) and the School Investment Inventory (SII) were used to assess academic confidence. Hierarchical and linear regression analyses and independent t-tests were conducted to examine the relationship between social support and academic confidence with gender as the moderating variable. Results were that overall social support positively predicted academic confidence, and this was particularly true for females when using AES. More specifically, the social support provided by foster parents was a strong predictor of academic confidence for girls. Teacher and peer support also had a positive impact on foster youths\u27 academic confidence. These data support the hypotheses that social support positively predicts academic confidence and that female foster youth benefit more from social support

Deformations of spacetime and internal symmetries

Algebraic deformations provide a systematic approach to generalizing the symmetries of a physical theory through the introduction of new fundamental constants. The applications of deformations of Lie algebras and Hopf algebras to both spacetime and internal symmetries are discussed. As a specific example we demonstrate how deforming the classical flavor group $SU(3)$ to the quantum group $SU_q(3)\equiv U_q(su(3))$ (a Hopf algebra) and taking into account electromagnetic mass splitting within isospin multiplets leads to new and exceptionally accurate baryon mass sum rules that agree perfectly with experimental data.Comment: 5th International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics, Crete, Greece, July 6-14, 201

Quantum fields, dark matter and non-standard Wigner classes

The Elko field of Ahluwalia and Grumiller is a quantum field for massive spin-1/2 particles. It has been suggested as a candidate for dark matter. We discuss our attempts to interpret the Elko field as a quantum field in the sense of Weinberg. Our work suggests that one should investigate quantum fields based on representations of the full Poincar\'e group which belong to one of the non-standard Wigner classes.Comment: 6 pages. Submitted to proceedings of Dark2009, Christchurch, New Zealand, January 200