Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This is a qualitative study of how hand gestures take their particular forms. Participants performed actions such as playing with a whirlygig toy, then described this to someone who had not done it. In doing so, the speaker often made a series of gestures that were not only different from the original action but from each other. The specific gestural (symbolic) form of the gesture can be explained by its immediate communicative function, in this case, by what was given and what was new information in it at that moment. Parts of the action that had just been depicted but were still needed (i.e., given) became smaller, or “sloppier”, while the new feature being depicted was larger, clearer, or otherwise emphasized. Some earlier actions disappeared but had to be presupposed in order to understand the new information. These differences are analogous to the differences in given vs. new verbal information.

Publication Type: Student Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Let P be a set of n points in the plane. Draw all segments joining pairs of points in P. We are interested in the number of segment-intersections, or crossings, in such a drawing. For a fixed n, the problem of minimizing the number of crossings over all sets of n points in the plane is a famous unsolved problem in Combinatorial Geometry. We classify all sets of n points according to the sizes of their convex layers and consider the minimum number of crossings over sets within the same class. We present our best constructions providing general upper bounds for sets with two layers, and exact values for small n.

This research was sponsored by CURM.

Publication Type: Student Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: By exploring generalizations of the Sierpinski carpet, we will show how to construct a fractal of a given rational dimension between zero and two. We will also show computer generated examples of such fractals.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: An aging population ensures that elder care will continue to be an important and challenging issue for American families. This paper uses data from the Longitudinal Survey of Generations (LSOG) to explore whether adult children are willing to provide care to their aging parents. The longitudinal portion of the LSOG data (1971-1997) provides a historical snapshot of how gender-role beliefs, caregiving obligations, and family structures have changed over the past three decades. These analyses show that Americans have become far less traditional and more egalitarian in their attitudes toward the roles men and women fulfill in the family and society. However, an individual’s sense of responsibility to provide elder care has remained fairly stable across time. Does this mean that we can continue to count on the family as a primary provider of informal care to its elderly members? Using the most recent wave of cross-sectional data from the LSOG (1997), a series of regression analyses explores the characteristics that influence an individual’s willingness to provide care for an aging parent. We explore differences between men and women (i.e., sons and and daughters) as well as consider how one’s work/family obligations impact their willingness to provide such care. Caregiving is measured as both the perceived responsibility one feels to provide elder care, as well as the actual care one has provided to an aging parent. This study provides both a historically and culturally contextualized view of whether adult children will continue to provide care to their aging parents.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The EU and NATO both have acquired a vast experience in acting as security providers on the international stage in recent years. However, the responses to on-going international crises so far have been selective and certain areas of the world are still kept at distance from Brussels, with limited aid provided at best. One of the most striking examples of such an approach proved to be a humanitarian crisis in the Western province of Sudan, Darfur. The study of the EU and NATO responses to Darfur crisis puts ahead the following research questions: how far the EU and the Atlantic Alliance can go in crisis management, considering the modalities of the given crisis? How is the interaction between the organizations structured and whether it corresponds to the existing agreements between the two? What are the ways the capabilities of two organizations are distributed and how are their comparative advantages (if any) are used? Finally, what impact does the EU-NATO interaction have on the effectiveness of the given responses and what could be the implications for their future operations, autonomous and/or joint ones?The paper will first look at the modalities of the responses to Darfur crisis both the EU and NATO were elaborating and the ways their interaction was set. It will then analyze the implementation phase and, finally, focus on the limitations the responses to Darfur crisis reveal regarding the organizations’ capacities to act as international security providers.