The “Honor” of LU’s Honors Program

Kristen Christoperson recounts her experience of being an Honors student at Liberty Universit

Losing Ground: Income and Poverty in Upstate New York, 1980-2000

Over the past several decades, Upstate New York has transitioned from a stable middle-income region to one with serious income and economic problems. In 1969, per capita personal income (PCPI) in Upstate exceeded that of the United States, but by 2000, it trailed the national average by 11 percent. These lagging incomes likely contribute to the substantial out-migration of mobile residents from the area—especially in the mid-1990s—which in turn is threatening economic growth. At the same time, many of those who stay increasingly lack the resources to pay for goods and services that other U.S. residents enjoy, further exacerbating economic stagnation in the region. Both of these trends—population decline and economic malaise—are the subjects of other recent reports in this series

The magnitude of the non-adiabatic pressure in the cosmic fluid

Understanding the non-adiabatic pressure, or relative entropy, perturbation is crucial for studies of early-universe vorticity and Cosmic Microwave Background observations. We calculate the evolution of the linear non-adiabatic pressure perturbation from radiation domination to late times, numerically solving the linear governing equations for a wide range of wavenumbers. Using adiabatic initial conditions consistent with WMAP seven year data, we find nevertheless that the non-adiabatic pressure perturbation is non-zero and grows at early times, peaking around the epoch of matter/radiation equality and decaying in matter domination. At early times or large redshifts (z=10,000) its power spectrum peaks at a comoving wavenumber k~0.2h/Mpc, while at late times (z=500) it peaks at k~0.02 h/Mpc.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Replaced with version accepted by MNRAS. One figure removed, added some discussio

Tweeting For a Better World

Recognizing the need to build the social media capacity of nonprofits, the Rita Allen Foundation began a pilot project last spring, engaging the expertise and assistance of The Bridgespan Group, to help six grantees plan effective social media strategies. We and these six smaller-sized nonprofits (on average $1.8 million in annual revenue) worked together to determine if and how social media could advance each organization's mission, to develop implementation plans and measurement systems, and to collectively identify and address social media challenges