On elliptic factors in real endoscopic transfer I

This paper is concerned with the structure of packets of representations and some refinements that are helpful in endoscopic transfer for real groups. It includes results on the structure and transfer of packets of limits of discrete series representations. It also reinterprets the Adams-Johnson transfer of certain nontempered representations via spectral analogues of the Langlands-Shelstad factors, thereby providing structure and transfer compatible with the associated transfer of orbital integrals. The results come from two simple tools introduced here. The first concerns a family of splittings of the algebraic group G under consideration; such a splitting is based on a fundamental maximal torus of G rather than a maximally split maximal torus. The second concerns a family of Levi groups attached to the dual data of a Langlands or an Arthur parameter for the group G. The introduced splittings provide explicit realizations of these Levi groups. The tools also apply to maps on stable conjugacy classes associated with the transfer of orbital integrals. In particular, they allow for a simpler version of the definitions of Kottwitz-Shelstad for twisted endoscopic transfer in certain critical cases. The paper prepares for spectral factors in twisted endoscopic transfer that are compatible in a certain sense with the standard factors discussed here. This compatibility is needed for Arthur's global theory. The twisted factors themselves will be defined in a separate paper.Comment: 48 pages, to appear in Progress in Mathematics, Volume 312, Birkha\"user. Also renumbering to match that of submitted versio

Dirac cohomology, elliptic representations and endoscopy

The first part (Sections 1-6) of this paper is a survey of some of the recent developments in the theory of Dirac cohomology, especially the relationship of Dirac cohomology with (g,K)-cohomology and nilpotent Lie algebra cohomology; the second part (Sections 7-12) is devoted to understanding the unitary elliptic representations and endoscopic transfer by using the techniques in Dirac cohomology. A few problems and conjectures are proposed for further investigations.Comment: This paper will appear in `Representations of Reductive Groups, in Honor of 60th Birthday of David Vogan', edited by M. Nervins and P. Trapa, published by Springe

Distinguished non-Archimedean representations

For a symmetric space (G,H), one is interested in understanding the vector space of H-invariant linear forms on a representation \pi of G. In particular an important question is whether or not the dimension of this space is bounded by one. We cover the known results for the pair (G=R_{E/F}GL(n),H=GL(n)), and then discuss the corresponding SL(n) case. In this paper, we show that (G=R_{E/F}SL(n),H=SL(n)) is a Gelfand pair when n is odd. When $n$ is even, the space of H-invariant forms on \pi can have dimension more than one even when \pi is supercuspidal. The latter work is joint with Dipendra Prasad

Addressing Retention in Youth Programs: A Survey for Understanding Families\u27 Experiences

Research on retention in the 4-H youth development program has consistently shown that one of the primary indicators for youths\u27 dropping out of 4-H is being a first-year member. Extension 4-H professionals from California, Idaho, Wyoming, and New Jersey formed a team to study this issue. Our team surveyed first-year members and their parents/guardians to better understand why youths were not reenrolling in 4-H after their first year. This article introduces the survey used to assess the first-year experience and intent to reenroll. We discuss the survey development process, survey testing, lessons learned, and conclusions related to its future use

Use of the Internet for health information by physicians for patient care in a teaching hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: The Internet is the world's largest network of information, communication and services. Although the Internet is widely used in medicine and has made significant impact in research, training and patient care, few studies had explored the extent to which Nigerian physicians use Internet resources for patient care. The objective of this study was to assess physicians' use of the Internet for health information for patient care. METHOD: 172 physicians at the University College hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria; completed a 31-item, anonymous, standardized questionnaire. The Epi-Info software was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents was 31.95 years (SD 4.94). Virtually all (98%) the respondents had used the Internet; 76% accessed it from cyber cafes. E-mail was the most commonly used Internet service (64%). Ninety percent of the respondents reported they had obtained information from the Internet for patient care; of this number, 76.2% had searched a database. The database most recently searched was MEDLINE/PubMed in 99% of cases. Only 7% of the respondents had ever searched the Cochrane Library. More than half (58.1%) perceived they had no confidence to download full-text articles from online sources such as the Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI). Multiple barriers to increased use of the Internet were identified including poor availability of broadband (fast connection speed) Internet access, lack of information searching skills, cost of access and information overload. CONCLUSION: Physicians' use of the Internet for health information for patient care was widespread but use of evidenced-based medicine resources such as Cochrane Library, Up-to-date and Clinical Evidence was minimal. Awareness and training in the use of EBM resources for patient care is needed. Introduction of EBM in the teaching curriculum will enhance the use of EBM resources by physicians for patient care

Describing knowledge encounters in healthcare: a mixed studies systematic review and development of a classification

This review was self-funded