ON FORMAL DEGREES OF UNIPOTENT REPRESENTATIONS

Let G be a reductive p-adic group which splits over an unramified extension of the ground field. Hiraga, Ichino and Ikeda [24] conjectured that the formal degree of a square-integrable G-representation $\pi $ can be expressed in terms of the adjoint $\gamma $ -factor of the enhanced L-parameter of $\pi $ . A similar conjecture was posed for the Plancherel densities of tempered irreducible G-representations. We prove these conjectures for unipotent G-representations. We also derive explicit formulas for the involved adjoint $\gamma $ -factors.

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards Zika virus among healthcare workers in St. Kitts

Background Healthcare workers are usually the first responders during outbreaks and are instrumental in educating the populace about the prevention of different diseases and illnesses. The aim of this study was to assess the association between healthcare workers’ characteristics and knowledge, attitudes and practices toward Zika virus. Methods This was a cross-sectional study that collected data from healthcare workers at 3 medical facilities using a validated self-administered questionnaire between July 2017 – September 2017. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between sociodemographic and knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Results A total of 190 healthcare workers were analyzed. Of these, 60, 72.6 and 64.7% had good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good practices toward Zika virus, respectively. Healthcare workers without a formal degree were less likely to have good knowledge of Zika virus (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0:49; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.24–0.99) compared to those with a formal degree. Reduced odds for positive attitude towards Zika virus were observed in healthcare workers with low income as compared to those with high income (AOR = 0.31; 95% CI =0.13–0.75). Being younger than 40 years old was associated with poor Zika virus practices (AOR = 0:34; 95% CI = 0.15–0.79). Conclusions Significant association between healthcare workers’ sociodemographic characteristics and Zika virus knowledge, attitudes and practices were observed. Public health interventions that seek to increase Zika virus awareness should aim to train healthcare workers who are younger, without formal degree and those earning low income.

ON A CERTAIN LOCAL IDENTITY FOR LAPID–MAO'S CONJECTURE AND FORMAL DEGREE CONJECTURE : EVEN UNITARY GROUP CASE

Lapid and Mao formulated a conjecture on an explicit formula of Whittaker–Fourier coefficients of automorphic forms on quasi-split reductive groups and metaplectic groups as an analogue of the Ichino–Ikeda conjecture. They also showed that this conjecture is reduced to a certain local identity in the case of unitary groups. In this article, we study the even unitary-group case. Indeed, we prove this local identity over p-adic fields. Further, we prove an equivalence between this local identity and a refined formal degree conjecture over any local field of characteristic zero. As a consequence, we prove a refined formal degree conjecture over p-adic fields and get an explicit formula of Whittaker–Fourier coefficients under certain assumptions.

A History of Distance Education

Flash-forward to today’s world of instant-access in a technology driven society, where distance education has grown in viability and become a business. Whether provided via a traditional, land-based university or college to earn a formal degree, to complete professional development, or to seek additional certification, or by a for-profit organization or corporation to train their employees and advance their workers’ skills, people can access a well-developed range of educational services through distance education to better their lives and livelihoods regardless of the physical separation between themselves and the sponsoring institution. The main difference between distance education’s beginnings and today’s educational services is the medium used to conduct learning. The postal services may still be used as a secondary mode of communication and print is still a constant technologic tool, but the expanding success of distance education can be attributed to providing education that 1) spans great distances between citizens and educational institutions, both geographically and socio-economically; 2) quenches the thirst for education; and 3) utilizes the rapid advancement of technology (Casey, 2008).