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60 Inspirational Thanksgiving Quotes That Will Have You Expressing Gratitude All Year Round
Natalie Frank has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is Managing Editor for Novellas & Serials at LVP Publishers.
Thanksgiving Day is the annual national holiday in the U.S. and Canada originally celebrated to give thanks for the harvest. It now includes a celebration in honor of the variety of blessings received during the previous year. In the U.S., the Thanksgiving tradition began in 1621 with a feast shared by the colonists and the Wampanoag nation and it established a treaty between the two people.
As the country has become more urban with people living farther apart, Thanksgiving has turned into a time that families gather together. The holiday is filled with symbolic meaning, values and traditions. The holiday first associated with Pilgrims and Native Americans has come to represent intercultural peace, America's opportunity for immigrants, and the priority of home and family. These values are demonstrated in the following quotes that you can share at your own celebration gathering and which will inspire you to give thanks all year long.
Quotations About Thanksgiving and Being Thankful
"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse."
— Henry Van Dyke
"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."
— Oprah Winfrey
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, thank you, that would suffice."
— Meister Eckhart
"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day."
— Irv Kupcinet
"If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get."
— Frank A. Clark
"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action."
— W.J. Cameron
"Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."
— Margaret Cousins
"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot."
— Hansa Proverb
"Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way."
— Native American Saying
"Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
— William Arthur Ward
"Gratitude is a constant attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for life as it unfolds. Living in the moment, we are open to the abundance around us and within us. We express appreciation freely. We contemplate the richness of our life. In life's trials, we seek to understand, to accept, to learn. Gratitude is a continual celebration of life."
— Author Unknown
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
"What we're really talking about is a wonderful day when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
—Erma Bombeck
"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
— Melody Beattie
"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."
— D. Waitley
"I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual."
— Henry David Thoreau
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
— G.K. Chesterton
"I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate."
— Elbert Hubbard
"It's not the minutes spent at the table that put on weight, it's the seconds."
— Author Unknown
"If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share."
— W. Clement Stone
"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."
— Gerald Good
"Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey — until Thanksgiving."
— Mike Connolly
"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
— Marcel Proust
"None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy."
— Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart."
— Seneca
"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!"
— Henry Ward Beecher
"Cooking Tip: Wrap turkey leftovers in aluminum foil and throw them out."
— Nicole Hollander
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
— Thornton Wilder
"To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone."
— Reba Mcentire
"When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed."
— Maya Angelou
"It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.
— David Steindl-Rast
"Be thankful for what you have. Your life is someone else's fairy tale."
— Wale Ayeni
"Thankfulness is measured by the number of our words. Gratitude is measured by the nature of our actions."
— David O. McKay
"When you love what you have, you have everything you need."
— Anonymous
"You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out."
— Jay Leno
"Forever on Thanksgiving Day the heart will find the pathway home."
— Wilbur D. Nesbit
"Thanksgiving isn't just a day. It's a way we can live our lives every day."
— Katrina Mayer
"We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction."
— H.A. Ironside
"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count."
— Neal A. Maxwell
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
— John F. Kennedy
"There are only two ways to live your live. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other as is though everything is a miracle."
— Albert Einstein
"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
— William Arthur Ward
"After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."
— Oscar Wilde
"The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become."
— Robert Holden
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life."
— Melody Beattie
"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."
— Eckhart Tolle
"The struggle ends when gratitude begins."
— Neale Donald Walsh
"Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or the last time, then your time on earth will be filled with glory."
— Betty Smith
"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds."
—Theodore Roosevelt
"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving."
— W.T. Purkiser
"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."
— Frederick Keonig
"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."
— John Wooden
"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all."
— William Faulkner
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
— William Arthur Ward
"Thanksgiving—when the people who are the most thankful are the ones who didn't have to cook."
— Melanie White
"There's always something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Even if it's just not being a turkey."
— Unknown
"Thanksgiving, the day we set our clocks back ten pounds."
— Anonymous
© 2018 Natalie Frank
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 17, 2018:
Thanks for the comment, Linda. I'm glad you found the quotes interesting and inspirational. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 17, 2018:
I agree with you about Melodie Beattie, Dora. There are a lot of great quotes from her. Another favorite of mine that comes from her is, "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." Thanks for the comment. Have a happy Thanksgiving.
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 17, 2018:
Glad you enjoyed the article, Pamela. Thanks for stopping by and for reading. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 17, 2018:
Thanks, Heidi. Glad you enjoyed them. Happy Thanksgiving.
Dora Weithers from The Caribbean on November 16, 2018:
Melodie Beattie's is among my favorites; and many others have repeated it in other words. So many are worth memorizing. Thanks for the collection.
Linda Crampton from British Columbia, Canada on November 14, 2018:
Thank you for sharing some interesting and inspirational quotes, Natalie. Thanksgiving is a great time to express gratitude, and so is the rest of the year, as you say.
Pamela Oglesby from Sunny Florida on November 14, 2018:
I loved all the quotes, and Thanksgiving is such a good time to have that grateful, positive attitude. The Ralph Waldo Emerson was certainly one of my favorites,
Heidi Thorne from Chicago Area on November 14, 2018:
Lots of good ones! Thanks for sharing them and Happy Thanksgiving!
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 14, 2018:
Of all the Thanksgiving traditions it seems like you got one of the most popular, Liz (: Thanks for stopping by.
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 14, 2018:
An excellent thing to be thankful for, Bill. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Natalie Frank (author) from Chicago, IL on November 14, 2018:
Hi Flourish - Yes it is a great quote. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting.
Liz Westwood from UK on November 14, 2018:
Great list of quotes. We miss out on Thanksgiving in the UK although your black Friday deals have made it over here.
Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on November 14, 2018:
Twelve years ago I quit drinking and saved my life. I'm grateful every single day to be alive,my friend.
FlourishAnyway from USA on November 14, 2018:
I particularly appreciated Henry David Thoreau's quote— succinct and plain spoken.


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Literature reviews are important resources for scientists. They provide historical context for a field while offering opinions on its future trajectory. Creating them can provide inspiration for one's own research, as well as some practice in writing. But few scientists are trained in how to write a review — or in what constitutes an excellent one. Even picking the appropriate software to use can be an involved decision. So Nature asked editors and working scientists with well-cited reviews for their tips.
Read the article in full, and get top tips from Wenting Zhao, Bozhi Tian, Ankita Anirban, Yoojin Choi, Paula Martin-Gonzalez on the Nature Careers Website

subset: commoncrawl


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Fall 2021 Theatre Courses
All classes welcome students from every discipline.
TA 107 - Introduction to Costume Design & Fashion - ONLINE
(3hr / 3cr) Emphasizing the design process from concept and research to final garments, students will conduct visual and trend research, explore various methods of rendering and revision, and present a fully developed term design project suitable for inclusion in a portfolio.
- M3 (19364): Mo 6:00 - 8:50pm
TA 110 - Introduction to the Theatre - ONLINE
(3hr / 3cr) The application of analysis to concepts of lighting, costuming, scene design, and performance. At the end of the semester students participate in a short class production. [Flexible Core: Creative Expression]
- DE (19366): M/W 12:30 - 1:45pm (Dr. Janice Capuana)
- E (19419): M/W 2:00 - 3:15pm (Dr. Janice Capuana)
- O (19365) Th 10:45 - 12:00pm (Dr. M. Duffy)
TA 211 - Basic Acting - ONLINE
(4 hr / 3 cr) Fun and challenging. No one too inexperienced or too advanced to go back to the basics! Learn the craft of truthful acting with emphasis on scene analysis, spontaneity, and physical and vocal relaxation. Prepared scenes and improvisations.
- Section BC (19367): MoWe 12:00 - 1:50pm (Marion)
TA 215 - Studies in Theatre Practice - HYBRID
(3 cr) Learn about set construction, scenic painting, stage lighting, costuming, or other aspects of theatre without getting your hands dirty! Preq: Permission of instructor.
- Section tba 1 (19368): Acting Performance. See information on auditions.
- Section tba 2 - (19369): Backstage Technical Production Contact Prof. Tom Marion for permission to enroll.
TA 390 - Special Studies (African-American Theatre Performance History) - ONLINE
(3 hr / 3 cr) A stirring survey and analysis of the powerful yet little know names, events, and major influences of African-American theatrical playwrights, actors, designers, composers and producers that have and continue to brighten and prod the boundaries of the American stage.
TBA (50191) Special Studies Seminar III


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Azerbaijan has agreed to allocate additional USD 575 million loan to a Georgian state-owned company to complete construction of a railway section, which will link Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia, Ramaz Nikolaishvili, the Georgian minister for regional development and infrastructure, said on May 19.
Nikolaishvili, who was in Baku this week meeting with the Azerbaijani leadership, said, that 80% of the works on the new railway would be completed this year and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway would become operational in 2012.
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey launched the railway project in 2007. The project envisages rehabilitation of existing railway section from Marabda in Shida Kartli region to Akhalkalaki, a town in Samtskhe-Javakheti region; plus construction of a new, 30-km long railway section from Akhalkalaki to Kartsakhi at the Turkish border. On the Turkish side, a new 68-km long railway section will be contracted from the town of Kars to the Georgian border. In addition a new railway station will be constructed in Akhalkalaki as part of the project.
In 2007 Azerbaijan agreed to lend USD 200 million to Georgia to finance construction and rehabilitation of its portion of the railway.


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Martin Library to hold job fair on Wednesday
Gary Haber
Martin Library will host a job fair on Wednesday.
Fourteen employers are scheduled to appear at the event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the library,159 E. Market St.
The companies scheduled to appear include staffing agencies and other businesses. The list includes Aerotek, Bear Staffing Services, Integrity Staffing Solutions, Kelly Services, Manpower, Miller Brothers Staffing Solutions and The Performance Group.
Also, System One will be hiring people for warehouse positions at Church & Dwight.
SMX will be hiring workers for Amazon's fulfillment centers in Lewisberry and Carlisle.
Those planning to attend the event should bring multiple copies of their resume and be prepared for on-site interviews .


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Dear Rachel,
I'm a college sophomore. About a year ago, through Chabad on Campus, I started learning what it means to be Jewish. Up until then, I was Jewish in name only, and even that with a small "j." Little by little, I started going to Jewish events and taking on observance.
I have three good friends I found in freshman year, and we're a real foursome. One day, we decided to go ice-skating and I wore a jean skirt so as not to call attention to the fact that I was wearing a skirt. Well, turns out the place didn't allow jeans, even skirts. One of my friends offered to lend me a pair of pants she had in her car, but I refused. When I said they could go without me, they offered to go out to eat instead. But then, I wouldn't go to our usual cafe, having just taken on kashrut. I suggested the kosher pizzeria; we went there, but they weren't thrilled with it or with me. They basically implied that I had ruined the evening with my religious craziness, that I wasn't the same person anymore. I said wearing skirts and eating kosher doesn't make you a different person.
They've been cool to me ever since, and I suspect that they've been going out to have fun without me. I could use some advice.
Hurt and Confused
Dear Brave and Deep,
College is a place where we do a lot of changing, the least of which is academic. Independent for the first time and surrounded by all kinds of social opportunities, many students explore who they are and who they want to be.
It's wonderful that you decided to explore what being Jewish with a capital "J" means. Taking it slowly is the right way to go and means that you are doing so thoughtfully. However, people around you may not see it that way. They think you aren't the same person anymore because they are judging by superficial changes like what you wear and what you eat.
On the other hand, your friends do have a point when they claim that you are not the same person anymore because your belief system is changing. Every mitzvah you do changes who you are inside, spiritually and emotionally. That's what mitzvahs are supposed to do, and because you're doing so gradually, you may not notice it.
I understand that you want to keep your friendships. Here are a few suggestions that might make the transition easier while not stressing your social life too much.
- When planning to go out with your old group of friends, clarify your limitations beforehand. You don't have to offer lengthy explanations, just that being a religious Jew means you can't do X or Y. Find activities that you can all enjoy without putting yourself in a compromising situation.
- Have a mentor to confer with regarding what's OK and what isn't so you're not being too stringent or too lenient.
- Don't be afraid to explain your actions. Your friends may be feeling confused and excluded, and afraid that they're going to lose you. For example, you can explain that the same way that the ice-skating rink has a dress code, so does Judaism. Explain without preaching or sounding self-righteous. This will also help you clarify Judaism in your own mind, and as a bonus, you might end up teaching something to your friends as well.
- Feel secure in your choices and that will come across to others. It's a wonderful new world that you are exploring. Enjoy your new discoveries.
- As you participate more in the Jewish activities on campus, you will make new, like-minded friends who are on the same journey as you. You will feel comfortable sharing your new experiences with them, and your social circle will widen.
- What about your old friends? You don't have to give them up, and many of them will respect your journey and adapt to the new you. But when we change, especially in such an intrinsic way, we may have to bid farewell to parts of our past, and that may include some of the people who live there. While you can certainly work to maintain your old relationships, it shouldn't reach the point where you feel uncomfortable so as to hang on to them. Let them go gracefully, holding on to the warm memories while embracing the new you ... and you won't end up skating on thin ice.
Wishing you much success!


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Batman: Arkham City
Developer: Rocksteady Studios | Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive | Release Date: 2011 | Genre: 3rd Person Action / Adventure | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Amazon
After finally showing the world what can be done with a licensed title, in the form of Arkham Asylum, the pressure was on Rocksteady Studios to deliver once more. With the bar already set impossibly high, this could not have been an easy task. Instead of taking the easy route and just delivering more of the same, however, they went out of their way to make Arkham City worthy of the breathless anticipation that it generated.
Set a few months after the events of the first game, the slums in central Gotham have been cordoned off and turned into a super prison. All the asylum inmates and Blackgate prisoners have been dumped inside to fend for themselves. Overseeing the whole project is Dr. Hugo Strange who, through Tyger Security, a private military firm, ensures that no-one gets in or out. Strange knows the identity of Batman and abuses his power to throw Bruce Wayne into the prison. The situation looks bleak, but with Alfred and Oracle assisting him from the outside, Batman is determined to find out what is really going on.
The story for Arkham City was penned by Paul Dini, who is a veteran Batman comic writer and it reminded me a lot of the "No Man's Land" arc that was popular in the comic books a few years back. Moving the action from the confines of the asylum to the open city streets is very exciting and immediately makes you feel more like the Caped Crusader out on patrol. While the city is large, don't expect any Grand Theft Auto levels of open world freedom. Instead, the city serves more as a hub that links all the indoor locations together. Two-Face, Penguin, The Joker and a bunch of other foes have all staked out their claim in the city and there are quite a few wildcards running loose as well. This means that you can dip in and out of side missions as you please while following the overarching plot. The various villain hideouts also add some variety as they are styled to match the personality of the inhabitants.
The gameplay is still a mixture of stealth and combat, with Batman picking off foes from the shadows before wading in with flailing fists and feet to clear out the rest. You still only have one button for attacking and one for countering but the free-flow combat is as smooth as ever. Batman can now counter multiple enemies at the same time and your foes will also come at you in larger numbers. Batman will gain access to all the old gadgets as well as some new ones like the smoke pellets which can aid in escape or enable you to take on armed foes under cover. There are a lot more variety amongst enemies as well and it's easy to see who the henchmen follow purely by looking at their attire. It's not just bad guys that were thrown into Arkham either. Political prisoners, hostages, medical personnel and even undercover cops can also be encountered. As you swoop and glide around the city you'll pick up chatter that can direct you to where you are needed most.
Since a lot of people played the first game almost exclusively with "Detective" vision on, thereby missing out on all the visual splendor, things have been changed somewhat. This mode is still useful to spot clues and enemies but not for navigation. This forces you to only activate it when absolutely necessary. You'll make good use of it to track down a sharpshooter by following the path a bullet took on the way to its target or to analyze evidence found at crime scenes. The game features plenty of cameos by the likes of Deadshot and The Mad Hatter, which clearly demonstrates that it was created by fans that understand the value of the license.
Visually, the game looks good and once again makes use of the Unreal Engine 3 to power everything. The look and feel of the city is spot on and each scene looks like a comic book panel that has been brought to life. Batman is able to swoop and glide over the city like a large predator stalking its prey in the dark, snowy streets. You still can't use any vehicles but traversing the city by zipline or gliding is quick enough. You'll be visiting a lot of building interiors, like the museum, police station and wood mill during your quest as well as a mysterious underground section that reminded me a lot of Bioshock. Apart from some minor camera issues, the visuals are top notch throughout.
The first game used the authentic Batman voice actors to set the correct tone and Arkham City is no exception. Kevin Conroy returns as the voice of the Dark Knight, but it is Mark Hamill, as the Joker that once again steals the show. Harley Quinn has a new voice actress, but she does a good job and most people won't even notice the difference. The ordinary street thugs are also very chatty and you'll hear their conversations wherever you are in the city. It can sometimes become a little annoying to hear the same repeated sound clips for the umpteenth time, but overall the voices and sound effects are great. It goes without saying that the music is awesome as well and truly captures the Batman sound.
If you pick this game up on PC or get a new copy on console, you'll find that it comes with a DLC code for Catwoman. She has her own set of story missions that run parallel to Batman and playing as her makes for a nice change of pace. Instead of gliding or zip lining all over the place, Catwoman uses her whip and razor sharp claws to traverse the city. While not as strong as Batman, she is very agile and can hold her own in a fight against the many groups of foes. She can also crawl upside down on certain ceilings, making her a very stealthy character. Her "Thief" vision enables her to spot enemies through walls and other obstructions and while she doesn't have as much gadgets as Batman, she does have a few tricks up her sleeve.
The game offers a lot of value for money as it packs quite a bit of content. Finishing the main storyline shouldn't take too long, but this is just a fraction of what is on offer. The Riddler trophies are back, but now actually require a bit of brainpower to collect instead of just smashing down walls. There are also special "Augmented Reality Training" missions to trigger which will allow you to get to grips with Batman's gliding abilities. Then there's the myriad of side missions involving Bane, Victor Zsaz and others I don't want to name to prevent spoilers. A new Game+ mode also opens up after completion allowing you to really test your skills.
Rocksteady Studios have done the impossible and created a game that surpasses the already incredible original title. Whether they will be able to achieve this feat a third time remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, we can't wait to find out.
*Review originally published in 2011.


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Two doctors stand in front stacks of PPE, in a warehouse packed with boxes of support from around the world. They are two of many health care professionals in Papua New Guinea for whom these boxes are a great relief – enabling them to provide life-saving care without placing themselves at risk.
"We are facing a situation where many of our staff are not attending to work because of fear" says Dr Edward Waramin, Manager for the National Department of Health's Population and Family Health Service Branch. "We hope that by providing this PPE our workers will feel safe attending their health facilities."
Though this has become a common photo op recently, Dr Edward and UNFPA's Dr Titilola Duro-Aina are excited for this recent shipment of supplies to be distributed to their peers across the country. These provisions will be delivered to Family Support Centres and health workers providing maternity care services in COVID-19 impacted provinces, including Western, NCD, East New Britain, Lae, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Milne Bay and Bougainville.
Despite hundreds of thousands of pieces of PPE being delivered to PNG health care providers since March, there are many health service providers across the country in need of protective equipment. For those providers who have received PPE, the disposable masks, gloves, and gowns must frequently be replenished. Without these provisions, some centres may face staff shortages or even closure.
And it is not just providers who shy away from health centres when there is a shortage of protective equipment. "We see that a lot of those who need maternal health services, family planning services, and GBV services are not turning up at the health facilities because they don't have PPE," said Dr Titi. "That is why this is so important."
As a family planning and maternal health expert with experience training heath care workers in many countries across the world, and a mother of three herself, Dr Titi understands the safety concerns of Papaua New Guinea's remote health workers and mothers. "Our clients, our mothers, are scared. When they see service providers are not fully protected, they feel unsafe."
Globally, 70% of healthcare workers are women, including nurses and midwives. Together with expectant mothers delaying visits for fear of contracting COVID, insufficient PPE for maternal health and family planning centres disproportionately impacts women.
This hand over from UNFPA included hand sanitizer, goggles, KN95 masks, gowns, gloves and dignity kit supplies. The dignity kits provide essential menstrual hygiene supplies for women in need at a time when these supplies may be increasingly difficult to access.
"We've been very privileged to have UNFPA on board," said Dr Edward. "They have been very supportive for a long time now, especially for our maternal health programs."
With this latest batch of PPE, it is hoped that health care workers are confident they can care for their communities and mothers are reassured that they can access safe maternity care when they need it most. Previous shipments of PPE have already been distributed to health providers in North Fly District, Western Province, as part of the UN Secretary General's Multi-Partner Trust Fund for COVID-19. The fund has enabled UNFPA, together with IOM and UNICEF, to support the region's most vulnerable communities.
This most recent supply of PPE was made possible through UNFPA core resources and the EU funded Spotlight Initiative.


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A History of Social Impact Analysis
The Social Impact Statement is the main written work that students must complete when carrying out a Social Impact Analysis exercise for a "real-world" client.
The idea for the Social Impact Statement originated with Ben Shneiderman's 1990 address [33] to the Computers and Society special interest group of the Association for Computing Machinery. Shneiderman proposed a model based on the environmental impact statement that would enable software designers to investigate the social impact of the systems they designed in time to incorporate changes in those systems as they are built.
Over the next few years, this idea became the basis for a teaching tool in systems design courses and social and ethical issues in computing courses.[18], [34]
Students Need to See Issues in Real World Problems
The idea for including a Social Impact Analysis exercise in a class on social and ethical issues in computing came from a desire to have students see these issues as real problems that they will have to face in their careers.
With some guidance from the instructor, students will have a chance to locate these problems within the complexity of the technical issues of the system. SIA provides students with the skills of locating these issues and thinking carefully about their ethical import [22], [18].
Three Basic Tools for Investigating
Students are trained in three basic tools to use in investigating the social context within which a system is used:
- Interviewing
- Field Observation
- Day in the Life Scenarios
Students are also guided by the instructor in identifying the stakeholders and ethical issues that are relevant for their particular implementation. In doing this, they use the framework from ImpactCS as a prompt in analyzing the ethical issues relevant at various social levels in the implementation.
Students Prepare a Professional Level Report for Clients
Students search the literature based on the situation (e.g. medical systems, computer supported cooperative work, computer-aided manufacturing, etc.) and on the ethical issues they have identified as relevant. Students prepare a report for their client that includes:
- an executive summary
- a description of the system (physical, logical, procedural, and social)
- an analysis of the ethical issues (stakeholders, principles, risks, etc.)
- recommendations for actions, with analysis of the possible outcomes
- a reader's guide to literature that will help the clients understand the issues in more depth
- an appendix that describes the methods they used to collect their data and prepare their analysis.
This list covers almost all of the curriculum knowledge units in the ImpactCS recommended curriculum. It does not mention the experience students receive in thinking about the technical design of the computing systems they encounter, or the overlapping benefits this experience will have in helping them to understand issues in Computer-Human Interaction or Systems Design.
By the time students have finished this process they have:
- made a report both to the class and to the client
- gained skills in acting in a professional manner toward real clients
- learned to identify and analyze ethical issues
- designed and negotiated alternative courses of action
- gained an understanding of the social context in which a computer system is used
- communicated their understanding of these issues both orally and in writing.
What is a socio-technical system?
You have divined by now that a socio-technical system is a mixture of people and technology. It is, in fact, a much more complex mixture. Below, we outline many of the items that may be found in an STS. In the notes, we will make the case that many of the individual items of a socio-technical system are difficult to distinguish from each other because of their close inter-relationships.
Socio-technical systems include:
- Hardware Mainframes, workstations, peripheral, connecting networks. This is the classic meaning of technology. It is hard to imagine a socio-technical system without some hardware component (though we welcome suggestions). In our above examples, the hardware is the microcomputers and their connecting wires, hubs, routers, etc.
- Software Operating systems, utilities, application programs, specialized code. It is getting increasingly hard to tell the difference between software and hardware, but we expect that software is likely to be an integral part of any socio-technical system. Software (and by implication, hardware too) often incorporates social rules and organizational procedures as part of its design (e.g. optimize these parameters, ask for these data, store the data in these formats, etc.). Thus, software can serve as a stand-in for some of the factors listed below, and the incorporation of social rules into the technology can make these rules harder to see and harder to change. In the examples above, much of the software is likely to change from the emergency room to the elementary school. The software that does not change (e.g. the operating system) may have been designed more with one socio-technical system in mind (e.g. Unix was designed with an academic socio-technical system in mind). The re-use of this software in a different socio-technical system may cause problems of mismatch.
- Physical surroundings. Buildings also influence and embody social rules, and their design can effect the ways that a technology is used. The manager's office that is protected by a secretary's office is one example; the large office suite with no walls is another. The physical environment of the military supplier and the elementary school are likely to be quite different, and some security issues may be handled by this physical environment rather than by the technology. Moving a technology that assumes one physical environment into a different environment one may cause mismatch problems.
- People Individuals, groups, roles (support, training, management, line personnel, engineer, etc.), agencies. Note that we list here not just people (e.g. Mr. Jones) but roles (Mr. Jones, head of quality assurance), groups (Management staff in Quality Assurance) and agencies (The Department of Defense). In addition to his role as head of quality assurance, Mr. Jones may also have other roles (e.g. a teacher, a professional electrical engineer, etc.). The person in charge of the microcomputers in our example above may have very different roles in the different socio-technical systems, and these different roles will bring with them different responsibilities and ethical issues. Software and hardware designed assuming the kind of support one would find in a university environment may not match well with an elementary school or emergency room environment.
- Procedures both official and actual, management models, reporting relationships, documentation requirements, data flow, rules & norms. Procedures describe the way things are done in an organization (or at least the official line regarding how they ought to be done). Both the official rules and their actual implementation are important in understanding a socio-technical system. In addition, there are norms about how things are done that allow organizations to work. These norms may not be specified (indeed, it might be counter-productive to specify them). But those who understand them know how to, for instance, make complaints, get a questionable part passed, and find answers to technical questions. Procedures are prime candidates to be encoded in software design.
- Laws and regulations. These also are procedures like those above, but they carry special societal sanctions if the violators are caught. They might be laws regarding the protection of privacy, or regulations about the testing of chips in military use. These societal laws and regulations might be in conflict with internal procedures and rules. For instance, some companies have implicit expectations that employees will share (and probably copy) commercial software. Obviously these illegal expectations cannot be made explicit, but they can be made known.
- Data and data structures. What data are collected, how they are archived, to whom they are made available, and the formats in which they are stored are all decisions that go into the design of a socio-technical system. Data archiving in an emergency room it will be quite different from that in an insurance company, and will be subject to different ethical issues too.
Socio-Technical Systems change over time
So far, we have been talking about differences between different socio-technical systems. In this section we address the changes that can occur over time within any particular socio-technical system.
An STS is configurable in all its elements, and this allows for change over time. By configurable, we mean that particular items in an STS can change over time, and that even among those items the configuration of one element may change. For instance, the particular mix of hardware and software within an elementary school's computing lab may change as the school gets access to the internet, or as more teachers begin to use the lab for their classes. But this change might also be reflected in changes in procedure (e.g. rules about access to certain sites) and people (someone may need to take the role of censor in approving or disproving sites) and data (downloaded software, music, cookies, etc. on the machines hard drives).
Change in an STS has a trajectory.
As the above example indicates, the change from a stand-alone computer lab to a lab connected to the internet may produce a coordinated set of changes within the socio-technical system. This coordinated series of changes in an STS is called a trajectory. These changes can occur at the level of the STS itself, as in the internet example, or they can occur at the level of the individual parts of the system. For example, a different (but overlapping) socio-technical system supports the rapid evolution of microcomputers and their regular obsolescence. Elementary schools that do not keep up with this trajectory of the hardware in their system will find themselves quickly beset with problems.
These trajectories are most influenced by those with social power.
Since these trajectories are coordinated, who coordinates them? Research by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists in social informatics has led to the conclusion that trajectories are most influenced by and usually support those with social power. A few minutes reflection will make this statement seem self-evident. Social power if measured by money, influence, and other forces available to actors to help them influence change in a way that is in line with their goals. So, saying that trajectories are most influenced by those with social power is saying, in essence, that those with social power have power to influence trajectories. Not too surprising.
But the point is more than this. Trajectories usually support the status quo—those who already have power in a system. These are the individuals who get most influence in the construction of the technical specification of a technology, who pay for its implementation, and who guide its use so that it serves their purposes.
There is still an ongoing debate among those who study such things about whether social power always wins in the contest to influence technological trajectories. There is, for instance, clear evidence that struggle groups, groups with much less political power than governments, have been able to effectively use computing technology (specifically the internet) to augment their power. On the other hand, many repressive governments use technology in finely crafted ways to control the information their populations may access.
Research on the use of technology in organizations has not supported earlier claims that the technology itself will produce a "leveling effect" in organizations (ref to Attwell & Rule). The idea, appealing at first, was that since technology enables easy communication among all levels of an organization, it will have the inevitable effect of "flattening out" the hierarchy in organizations that adopt it. By and large, this has not turned out to be true. Organizations can adopt computing technology with the intent of flattening their hierarchy, and it will help do this. But organizations can adopt computing technology with the intent of strengthening the hierarchy (by, for example, installing keystroke level work monitoring on all computers). Again, it is the socio-technical system that produces the effects and structures the ethical problems, rather than the technology alone.
Trajectories are not value neutral.
A moment's reflection should lead you to the conclusion that trajectories are rarely value-neutral. Trajectories have consequences and these consequences may be good or ill (or good AND ill) for any of the stakeholders in a socio-technical system. This is why ethical reflection should be a part of thinking about socio-technical systems.
Socio-technical systems and our ethical cases
Why should we use the language and approach of socio-technical system in analyzing our cases? There are really two questions here:
- What does socio-technical analysis add to the standard software engineering approach? Standard software engineering approaches certainly focus on hardware, software, and procedures and rules that should be incorporated into the software. To the extent that they concentrate on people and roles, they are mostly interested in the explicit interaction a person has with the technology and on the place in the hierarchy the person occupies as a result of their role. The concentration here is most clearly on the visible and the documented. A socio-technical analysis adds to this picture those aspects of work that are implicit, not documented, and based in informal political systems and actual (rather than ideal or documented) work practices. For the purpose of designing systems, a socio-technical analysis adds to standard concerns of efficiency concerns about skill development and social context. For the purpose of ethical analysis, a socio-technical analysis adds a concern for discovering the hidden practices and possible undocumented effects of a technological implementation.
- How does socio-technical system analysis differ from standard analysis in ethics? Standard stakeholder analysis in ethics spends most of its time looking (surprise) for stakeholders. This is really only one element of what we have identified as a complex socio-technical system. Procedures, physical surroundings, laws, data and data structures, etc. all interact to structure the particular ethical issues that will be relevant to a particular socio-technical system. Thus, a socio-technical analysis provides a more comprehensive and system oriented approach to identifying ethical issues in a particular implementation of technology.
About Social Impact Statements
The idea for a social impact statement originated with Ben Shneiderman's 1990 address to the Computers and Society special interest group of the Association for Computing Machinery. He proposed a model based on the environmental impact statement that would enable software designers to find out the social impact of the systems they design in time to incorporate changes in those systems as they are built.
Since then the SIS has caught on as a fine teaching tool at several institutions across the country. Faculty at the Unversity of Maryland, George Washington University, and the University of Texas at Austin have all used variations on this approach to help students understand the impact of the software systems they design.
Why include SIS in the Curriculum?
The idea for including an SIS in a class on social and ethical issues in computing came from a desire to have students see ethical and social issues as real problems that they might have to face in their careers. By identifying these problems in real systems–with some guidance from the instructor–they will have a chance to locate them within the complexity of the technical issues of the system.
This exercise provides students with the skills of locating these issues and thinking carefully about them, and the luxury of having the time to do so. The social impact statement is designed as a class project, to be done by teams of students, looking at real computing systems on or near campus.
These skills could be taken out of the classroom and profitably applied to systems design, and in fact this class project is designed precisely because many authors believe these skills will be useful in system design. But this description limits itself to the use of the SIS as a teaching tool.
The Scope Of The Project
As the major project paper for the Technology and Society class, students at St. Olaf College were asked to do a social impact statement on a real system on campus. With a little telephone work, the students found 12 systems on campus with faculty or staff who were willing to help them understand the systems they had in their charge.
The students called the faculty or staff in charge of these systems the students' "clients" and students were encouraged to deal with them in the professional manner that such a relationship suggested.
Some examples of the systems include: Computer Assisted Instruction or CAI programs in the medical school, the card access system to the dorms, cafeteria, and library, the database maintained by the health office, the modem pool, the campus public information system, and an emergency room patient intake system.
The list of relevant issues for any client's system was generated from the topic space suggested by the ImpactCS report on teaching social and ethical issues in computing [19]. This list provides a good starting place for matching social and ethical issues with the concrete aspects of the system under study. The list is obviously not comprehensive, but does serve a useful function in beginning an inquiry.
In addition to using this list to identify issues, students were also acquainted with Collins and Miller's Paramedic method [9] that begins with a comprehensive listing of the stakeholders involved in any ethical decision. Armed with a list of stakeholders for a system and a list of possible social and ethical issues, students can usually generate a quite plausible and comprehensive set of concerns with which to begin their inquiry.
Some of the systems were quite complex, and suggested more social and ethical issues than could be dealt with in a single class project. The campus public information system, for instance, brought up issues of privacy, reliability, property rights, the use of power, honesty, and a host of other issues associated with networks.
Students needed to quickly focus on one or two of these issues in order to make any headway in such a large topic space. One of the criteria used to help narrow the scope of an issue was a quick look at which issues had been given the most attention by the clients. Students were then encouraged to concentrate on those issues their clients had not considered.
Other methods also exist for paring the list of issues to consider. For instance one can investigate only those issues that seem the most dangerous, or those in which the client is most interested, or those that it would be the easiest to investigate. Of course the criteria one might use in a class project (e.g. can it be finished by novices in a few months?) will differ at times from those one would use in industry.
Goals Of The SIS
There are several goals of an SIS, and they flow from the practical nature of the undertaking. An SIS is not an attempt at publishable social science research, or a theoretical deconstruction of the meanings inherent in a computer system (though it may borrow from both of these approaches). It is a tool to allow students (and hopefully systems designers) to locate and deal practically with the social and ethical implications of the technology with which they are working.
A primary goal is to provide surprises about how the system works and the consequences of its operation, information that is not included in the standard story of how the system works. Safety engineers call these latent errors [31], because they lie unnoticed in a system until an accident or critical incident arises.
The idea of latent errors need not apply to only safety issues. It can apply as well to issues of equal access, privacy, property rights, quality of life, or any area where hidden or unnoticed aspects of the system can pose ethical challenges. Thus, the methods used to produce an SIS must be apt for uncovering these surprises–simply reading the specification sheets will not do.
In addition, the practitioner doing an SIS must be aware of the political issues involved in pointing out surprises to designers, managers, and operators of a system. Even if it is your job to do so, one must be politic in pointing out oversights to people you will need to trust to implement fixes.
A secondary, but still important, goal is to give the clients some practice in thinking about the ethical and social aspects of their own system. In a way, the process of thinking about the issues is as important as the product [37]. Even an extended inquiry into a system cannot be sure of turning up all the issues (or even the most important ones).
Sensitizing the designers, managers, and operators of a system to the social and ethical issues, and giving concrete examples of potential difficulties in the system, may make them more aware of the issues and more likely to detect other issues when they arise.
One way of doing this sensitizing is to provide clients with a document that will be useful in future modifications of the system, and that will point them to the literature describing the particular problems they face.
Creating the Social Impact Statement
The SIS class project is based on library and empirical research, presented in class, and revised in the final documents.
In their library research, students are asked to locate discussions of the likely ethical and social issues associated with their client's system. As an entry to the literature, they should use whatever references their clients suggest, selections from the set of readings for the course [7], and other references that the instructor or other faculty members provide. They may expand on this reference base using standard bibliographic tools.
One purpose of the literature search is to help students compile a set of readings to recommend to their clients, but it is also helpful to prepare them for the kinds of issues they will be dealing with in the empirical stage of their projects.
Students are asked to use 3 different empirical techniques to locate and analyze the ethical and social issues:
- Interviews with Principle Informants
- Field observation of the system in use
- Construction of day-in-the-life scenarios
The purpose of using different techniques is both to triangulate on issues and to attempt to uncover hidden inconsistencies or oversights that might be unquestioned if only one technique was used.
Interviews with Principle Informants
Students are given practice in taking an expert's verbal description of a system and unpacking it to determine the criteria the expert was using to describe the system. They are also given practice in constructing an interview protocol that led logically from basic issues to critical functions of the system. In addition, the ethical issues inherent in doing interviews (e.g. confidentiality, respect, informed consent) can be discussed.
Groups can be asked to do at least 3 and no more than 7 interviews. Some groups may conduct follow-up interviews. They are asked to interview the designers and managers of the system, but also to include, where possible, lower level operators and clients of the system (and other important stakeholders in the system).
These multiple views of the system can help piece together a more complex picture of the social and ethical concerns than a view from only one perspective.
Field Observation.
Give students practice in designing coding systems and taking field notes for careful, real time observation of the system in use [see 11 & 14 for suggestions]. The purpose of these observations is to allow students to get a better feel for the chaos and complexity of actual system use–as opposed to the description elicited in the interviews.
Groups are asked to do at least 3-5 hours of real-time observation. For some groups (e.g. the modem pool, the card access system) on-line activity reports might already been collected, and these may be used as a part of the field observation. Ask students to be respectful of people's privacy, but to also attempt to get as wide and varied a set of observations as time will allow.
Day-In-The-Life Scenarios
This technique, taken from human-computer interaction methods [13], involves taking the data from observations and interviews and using it to construct a "story-line" of a unit of the system over a unit of time.
This could consist in tracking the actions of a person over a day (or over a reboot cycle), or tracking of a piece of personal data from its collection to its purge from ../teaching_with_cases/ttreferencesthe system. If the units tracked, and the time over which they are tracked, are chosen carefully, they can point out critical information that may be overlooked in interviews or observations.
The day-in-the-life scenario is a less structured method of what is called "task analysis" in HCI circles [1]. Other task analysis methods (e.g. construction of task frequency tables) would be useful in some projects, but the primary purpose here is to acquaint students with a flexible method to illuminate gaps in their knowledge.
Careful construction of these scenarios allows students to see gaps in the story provided by their current data (e.g. what happens during shift changes?).
The combination of these three methods allows for cross-checking among the various stories offered by each method, and helps to promote a more comprehensive view of the use and operation of the system, and of the procedures associated with system use and operation.
If one were to do an SIS as part of a system design, it might be either more or less comprehensive than the/se, depending on the time, resources available, and the importance of the social and ethical issues involved.
Part of class discussion can center on how to make these difficult choices while still producing a product on time and within budget. These discussions will be more lively after students have some experience with their analysis and thus some idea of the importance of the issues they uncovered and the difficulty involved in the analysis.
Creating the SIS Report
The final Social Impact Statement report consists of 6 sections:
- Executive Summary
- Description of the System
- Analysis of the Results
- Recommendations
- Reader's Guide
- Methodological Appendix
Students are encouraged to focus on the client as the report's audience, and to produce a report they feel will be helpful to the client. Because this project will often be the first one of its kind that students are asked to create, we offer some tips for heading off difficulties and sharing reports with clients.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is a page or two summary of the report. It should include a description of the report and of the system, a discussion of the significant issues discovered, and a list of the top recommendations highlighted on the page. Each of these should be keyed to page numbers in the longer report. The idea is to provide a summary that an executive can read in 5 to 10 minutes to get the basic information about the report. Summarizing information in this way is in itself a useful skill for computer science students to learn.
Description of the System
This description should include the physical, logical, procedural, and social elements of the system. The physical structure includes the machines and other hardware involved, the networks, and the physical facilities in which the system is housed (e.g. the offices). The logical structure includes the data structures and software structures involved in the system.
The procedural elements of the system include the ways in which data is gathered, collated, stored, backed up, and reported. They also include procedures for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the system, and any other relevant organizational procedures (e.g. those related to privacy protection or safety). The social elements of the system include a description of personnel and their relationships to each other and to other relevant stakeholders.
Analysis of the Results.
This section includes a discussion of those concrete aspects of the system that lead to specific concerns. These many include any single aspect of the system or interactions between aspects of the system (e.g. procedures that assume technical maintenance even though personnel are not trained). Patterns of use, patterns of oversight or error checking, specific hardware or software concerns, or specific organizational procedures are all candidates for inclusion in this section. The analysis of these specific concerns should highlight the specific risks associated with them, the probability of those risks occurring, and the likely harm or ethical concerns associated with those risks. Finally, the concrete advantages of resolving the specific concerns should be described.
This section should contain a set of recommendations that address each specific concern mentioned in the previous section. There should be at least two action options for each specific concern, and those options should be evaluated in terms of the client's goals and the ethical or social concerns involved. In most cases the client's goals will be multiple. For example, maintaining accurate records, guarding privacy, and minimizing cost. The effect of each option on this suite of goals should be noted. The options recommended should be carefully constructed to avoid simple black-and-white choices (e.g. safeguard privacy vs disregard privacy) and to emphasize the best available options for dealing with the issue. Technical fixes (e.g. use a different backup method) should be included as options, but should not be the only options listed. For instance, procedural changes or personnel training could also be recommended.
Reader's Guide
This should be a prose introduction to the most balanced and readable discussions of the issues that confront the client. It should include at least one item (e.g. a reader or an advanced article) that will serve as a window to further literature. This section can be organized as an annotated bibliography or as a prose review with references.
Methodological Appendix
This section should contain a rationale for the particular methods chosen, and a detailed and concrete description of those methods. The individual interviews should be noted (those privacy issues here are important) as should the specific questions asked in the interviews and any changes made in the interviews to meet needs. The description of the field observation should include a description of, and a rationale for, the observation sites and times. It should also include a description of the significant events looked for, a description of the significant events discovered, and a list of any changes made in the observation protocol made to meet needs. The description of the day-in-the-life scenarios should include a rationale for the choice of those particular perspectives and time frames, a description of the information from which they were compiled (e.g. interviews, manuals, etc.), and finally, the detailed scenarios themselves.
Heading Off Difficulties
Some students have difficulty getting started on these large projects, so it is recommended that you include interim deadline dates. Useful deadlines might be initial contacts, initial literature searches, protocols for interviews and observations, and a first draft of the report.
The interview and observation protocol deadlines are useful because the instructor can use them to make sure the data gathering is well organized and ethically thoughtful. It takes time for students to get used to the difficulty of these issues, and they will need the entire term available to them to gather the information needed, and to collect the data needed to clarify questions that arise late in the process.
Students try to have their data collection done by at least 3/4 of the way through the term. During the write-up phase, they will almost certainly want to go back for some follow-up interviews or observations, and it is good to have some time in which to do these.
Since these are often large projects, students could work in groups to complete them. However, it is reasonable to ask that every student be involved in every phase of the project (e.g. literature search, data collection, analysis, and write-up).
One way to deal with the perennial issue of unequal group participation is to ask students to rate each other (and themselves) on scales for effort, reliability, and quality of contribution. These ratings can then be averaged into each student's grade. Students who loaf can be pointed out and have their grade altered in this way. It is also useful for the instructor to reserve a "vote" in the rating, in case the entire group colludes in giving each other high (or low) ratings.
Sharing Reports with Clients
There is both a pedagogical and ethical issue involved in determining whether to share with clients the reports students have generated. This is most intense with those sub-par reports that might convince clients that they have no real difficulties to face in their systems. On the one hand a good report can be quite helpful to a client, and it is motivating for students to know that their reports will actually be used by their clients. On the other hand, a poor report might do more damage than good.
One way to resolve this issue is for the instructor to have a meeting with the client after they have read the report, and for the instructor to point out both the strengths and weakness of the report. If time permits, the client's reaction to the report could even be used as part of the students' grade.


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On Gravitational Entropy of de Sitter Universe
The paper deals with the calculation of the gravitational entropy in the context of teleparallel gravity for de Sitter space-time. In such a theory it is possible to define gravitational energy and pressure; thus we use those expressions to construct the gravitational entropy. We use the temperature as a function of the cosmological constant and write the first law of thermodynamics from which we obtain the entropy. In the limit we find that the entropy is proportional to volume, for a specific temperature's choice; we find that as well. We also identify a phase transition in de Sitter space-time by analyzing the specific heat.
1. Introduction
The idea of black hole thermodynamics started with the pioneering works of Bekenstein and Hawking [1, 2]. It was noted that the area of the event horizon behaves as an entropy. Together with such discovery it was also noted that it has a specific temperature. Thus it radiates and evaporates leading to a loss of the information inside the black hole, which apparently violates the second law of thermodynamics. It was the so-called information paradox [3]. Dolan has pointed out that such study was incomplete without the term in the first law of thermodynamics [4]. However the concept of gravitational pressure is difficult to establish as the very idea of gravitational energy. The matter of the definition of gravitational energy has a long story and yet it is a very controversial theme. The main approaches in this subject are Komar integrals [5], ADM formalism [6], and quasi-local expressions [7, 8]. In opposition to general relativity, in teleparallel gravity those quantities can be well defined.
Teleparallel Equivalent to General Relativity (TEGR) is an alternative theory of gravitation constructed out in terms of the tetrad field on Weitzenböck geometry. It was first proposed by Einstein in an attempt to derive a unified field theory [9]. Later it was revived with a paper entitled "New General Relativity" [10]; since then a lot of improvement has been made in the understanding of gravitational energy and the role of torsion [11, 12]. In the context of TEGR it is possible to define an expression for gravitational energy which is invariant under coordinates transformation and dependent on the reference frame. Those features are present in the special theory of relativity and there is no physical reason to abandon such ideas once one has dealt with a gravitational theory. Using the field equations of TEGR, it is possible to define an expression for the gravitational pressure. Therefore a natural extension is to define an expression for the gravitational entropy. The advantage of this procedure is defining an entropy in terms of purely thermodynamical quantities such as energy and pressure. This will be our main goal in this paper, for de Sitter Universe. This Universe model is important because it describes an expanding empty space. Thus it is possible to shed light on the vacuum energy and cosmological inflationary models.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we present the main ideas of teleparallel gravity. From field equation we derive the total energy and pressure. In Section 3, we calculate such quantities for de Sitter Universe, and then we use the first law of thermodynamics to get the gravitational entropy. To achieve such aim, we have interpreted the temperature of the system as a function of the cosmological constant. Finally we present our concluding remarks in Section 4.
Notation. Space-time indices and indices run from 0 to 3. Time and space indices are indicated according to . The tetrad field is denoted by and the determinant of the tetrad field is represented by . In addition we adopt units where , unless otherwise stated.
2. Teleparallel Equivalent to General Relativity (TEGR)
Teleparallel gravity is a theory entirely equivalent to general relativity; however it is formulated in the framework of Weitzenböck geometry rather than in terms of Riemann geometry. Weitzenböck geometry is endowed with the Cartan connection [13], given by , where is the tetrad field; thus the torsion tensor can be calculated in terms of this field bySuch a geometry keeps a relation to a Riemannian manifold; for instance, we note the Cartan connection and Christoffel () symbols are related by a mathematical identity, which readswhereis the contortion tensor. The tetrad field, which is the dynamical variable of the theory, is obtained from the metric tensor. Thus Weitzenböck geometry is less restrictive than Riemann geometry; for each metric tensor it is possible to construct an infinite number of tetrad fields. This apparent arbitrary behavior is amended once we recall the interpretation of the tetrad field. The component is associated with the four-velocity of the observer; then for each reference frame there exists only one tetrad field. In fact we have to make use of the acceleration tensor to completely settle the state of an observer [14], since it could be in rotation as well as in translation.
If one tries to construct the curvature from the Cartan connection, he/she will find out that it vanishes identically. Hence the Weitzenböck geometry is described by a vanishing curvature and the presence of torsion. The Riemann geometry, as is well known, has vanishing torsion and a nonvanishing curvature tensor. Therefore making use of identity (2) to construct the scalar curvature, it leads to where is the determinant of the tetrad field, , and is the scalar curvature constructed out in terms of such a field. It should be noted that the metric tensor alone does not establish a geometry. From the above identity, we see that it is possible to construct a tetrad field adapted to a specific reference frame which induces, for the same metric tensor, both a curvature in Riemannian manifold and torsion in a Weitzenböck geometry. By means of the very same above identity, it is possible to find the counterpart of Hilbert-Einstein Lagrangian density for teleparallel gravity; thus, up to a total divergence (which plays no role in the field equations), it readswhere and stands for the Lagrangian density for the matter fields. This Lagrangian density can be rewritten aswhere
The field equations can be derived from Lagrangian (6) using a variational derivative with respect to ; they readwhere . The field equations may be rewritten aswhere andIn view of the antisymmetry property , it follows thatSuch equation leads to the following continuity equation: Therefore we identify as the gravitational energy-momentum tensor [15, 16].
Then, as usual, the total energy-momentum vector is defined by [17]where is a volume of the three-dimensional space. It is important to note that the above expression is invariant under coordinate transformations and it transforms like a 4-vector under Lorentz transformations. The energy-momentum flux is given by the time derivative of (13); thus by means of (12) we find
If we assume a vacuum solution, for example, a vanishing energy-momentum tensor of matter fields, then we havewhich is the gravitational energy-momentum flux [18]. Using field equations (9), the total energy-momentum flux readsNow let us restrict our attention to the spatial part of the energy-momentum flux, that is, the momentum flux; we have wherewe note that the momentum flux is precisely the force; hence, since is an element of area, we see that represents the pressure, along the direction, over an element of area oriented along the direction [16]. It should be noted that all definitions presented in this section follow exclusively from field equations (9).
We point out that general relativity and teleparallel gravity are equivalent only concerning dynamical features. This means that both theories will predict the same behavior of a test particle around a mass distribution. In other words both of them will agree in the classical experimental tests such as Mercury's perihelion deviation and the bending of light. However predictions concerning the gravitational field features are strictly different, such as gravitational energy, momentum, and angular momentum. For instance, there is no analogous tensor in general relativity equivalent to the gravitational energy-momentum tensor in (10). The main reason for this is that some of the tensorial quantities in teleparallel gravity are analogous to connections in Riemannian geometry which gives rise to pseudo-tensors describing gravitational energy and momentum. Particularly there is no tensorial form, in Riemannian geometry, of on Weitzenböck geometry. The problem of defining gravitational energy in general relativity is a long-standing one; as a consequence any thermodynamical attempt to define a gravitational entropy would be plagued by the same problems. On the other hand such a quantity is natural in teleparallel gravity; thus our approach has several advantages. In Table 1, we chart the features of general relativity and teleparallel gravity.
We stress out that the definition of entropy in general relativity is not of general validity since it demands the existence of matter as in the black hole context. It is possible to force both definitions to agree at some point by the choice of temperature; however it seems an arbitrary procedure.
3. The Gravitational Entropy for de Sitter Space-Time
The de Sitter space-time is defined by the following line element:where and is the cosmological constant. Such a space-time works as a model of an expanding Universe; thus many inflationary models of the early Universe make use of this feature [19–21].
Let us choose the following tetrad field adapted to a stationary reference frame: where and its determinant is . It is worth recalling some ideas on how to choose the tetrad field. It is well known that for a given metric tensor there exist an infinity number of possible tetrads. On the other hand given a world line of an observer the tetrad field can be transported along such a curve; in particular the component of the tetrad field remains tangent to the curve. Thus it is possible to associate such a component with the 4-velocity of the observer. Hence the tetrad field is adapted to a reference frame. Mashhoon generalized such a concept in [22, 23]; there the absolute derivative of the tetrad field is defined as where is the acceleration tensor. The component defines the tangential acceleration while establishes the rotational acceleration.
The nonvanishing components of the torsion tensor areIn order to calculate the gravitational energy and pressure we need the components ; thus after some algebraic manipulation we find that the nonvanishing ones areHence, substituting the above components into (13) for , it is possible to find the total energy and it readswhere is the radius of a spherical 3-dimensional hypersurface of integration. In addition we have made the identification . It should be noted that such expression already appeared in [24].
Similarly the radial pressure can be constructed from the components which is given in terms of the components in (23). Thus after some simple calculations, we findThen we construct a radial , which is denoted by ; by means of the relation it yieldsThe radial pressure is given byand therefore, we obtain
Once the energy and pressure are given, we can turn our attention to the entropy itself. It is a thermodynamical potential linked to the variation of energy and volume; that is,where is the temperature (considered constant a priori) and is the entropy. The change in the volume is realized through the variation of ; thus , once we perform an integration over the and variables. The total energy also changes with the variation of . In this system we have two parameters and the cosmological constant: the first one is linked to the volume while the second one has to play the role of a temperature. As a consequence we suppose the temperature could be given by an arbitrary function of the cosmological constant, . Therefore the energy will vary with the change of the temperature. Then the first law of thermodynamics simply reads then the gravitational entropy is given bywhich yields
In Figure 1 we plotted the entropy as a function of . We normalized the horizon radius, ; thus the choice of temperature as dependent on the cosmological constant will not affect the entropy. We see a divergence when the space reaches the horizon volume which is an expected behavior.
Next we will analyze how the entropy can depend on the horizon area and two remarkable choices for the temperature. The first one is the well-known temperature of de Sitter space-time, and the second one is based on an attempt to obtain a gravitational entropy independent of the temperature.
3.1. Entropy and Horizon Area
If one assumes the Hawking area dependence for the entropy then it is possible to analyze the consequences of this fact in the context of teleparallel gravity as performed in [25]; however in this subsection we are interested in obtaining such a dependence assuming the existence of a gravitational energy and pressure. We point out that, to obtain the entropy, one should consider it as a thermodynamical potential which depends on the energy and the volume; thus the temperature should be constant. For instance, if we intend to obtain the heat capacity then we should consider the energy as the potential; only then can the temperature change.
If we use (31) together with the expressions of energy and pressure, then it yields Since we getHence in order to obtain , where is the horizon area, the algebraic equation must be satisfied for which is not true. Therefore the entropy is not necessarily a quarter of the horizon area. On the other hand the entropy can be proportional only to the spatial area. This is achieved by finding a solution for the above equation. For instance, with the choice , we find .
In [26] an entropy is constructed for de Sitter space-time. We point out that the procedure adopted in such a reference is an attempt to identify the term which seems to be missing in gravitational thermodynamics as discussed by Dolan [4]. In order to perform such an aim it is usual to assume the Hawking entropy and as a consequence obtain the other terms in the first law of thermodynamics. In this paper we follow the opposite path; we use the gravitational pressure defined in the framework of teleparallel gravity to find the entropy. In this sense it is mandatory to have a satisfactory definition of gravitational energy which can also be found in teleparallel gravity.
Thus in our opinion the Hawking entropy is a nonthermodynamical expression, since it is defined in a context where some trouble to define gravitational energy and pressure is observed. Clearly the dependency of the entropy on the horizon area is an important theoretical insight in this problem. In fact it has been used to propose an analog of Higgs mechanism in cosmology [27], where the de Sitter space plays an important role. In [28] the authors deal with a statistic mechanics approach of de Sitter entropy which is proportional to horizon area. In such cases the problem of composing the full thermodynamical picture with energy, pressure, and entropy is a serious obstacle. Hence, once there is no experimental evidence to support the Hawking expression, our expression should be considered as a candidate to represent the gravitational entropy.
3.2. de Sitter Temperature
In this subsection we will use the temperature of de Sitter space-time which is defined as [29, 30]. If we analyze the gravitational entropy in the regime where , then we will have where is the 3D volume.
Now let us allow the temperature to change. With such a procedure we are interested in the specific heat at constant volume . Thuswhere keeping a constant volume means having a constant , since . Therefore we havethis quantity gives the information on how the gravitational energy changes on the variation of the cosmological constant. It should be noted that specific heat goes to zero when the temperature vanishes. At this point we can see a discontinuity in the specific heat which, by the way, establishes a phase transition of the first order between thermodynamical states defined by , , , and , as is well known. Thus the critical temperature is given by Thus we see that the older the Universe is the easier it is to expect a phase transition since the critical temperature will be smaller with the Universe's expansion.
3.3. Temperature as the Cosmological Constant
In this subsection we will take the cosmological constant as the temperature, , where is a dimensional constant. Thus we use this in expression (33) and, in the limit , it yields which is proportional to the volume rather than the area as obtained in [2] in the context of black holes. It should be noted that, in this limit, , since de Sitter Universe is in expansion. We see that such a choice, at a proper limit, leads to an entropy independent of the temperature. Hereafter we will make .
The specific heat at constant volume , using this temperature, is given byit should be noted that when . In this context the critical temperature is given bythus a phase transition during inflation era could have happened since the space-time experimented such a great expansion then. In this sense a rapid expansion could be driving a phase transition in the primordial Universe.
4. Conclusion
In this paper we have obtained the gravitational entropy for de Sitter space-time in the framework of teleparallel gravity. Such a result was obtained by purely thermodynamical quantities; that is, using concepts such as energy and pressure that can be defined in TEGR, we have derived an expression for the entropy. To obtain this we have used the first law of thermodynamics in which the temperature is a function of the cosmological constant. We have assumed that because we have only two parameters in this system, the radius of the hypersurface of integration, , which dictates how the volume varies, and the cosmological constant, . We investigated the entropy in the limit for two definitions of temperature: the first one was the well-known de Sitter temperature and the second one was the very cosmological constant. We have obtained that the entropy is proportional solely to the 3D volume, with this last temperature's choice, yet the entropy always increases in this case; for example, . Then we have relaxed the condition to obtain the specific heat at constant volume for each case. If we have chosen the temperature as constant then, in the limit , it would be impossible to establish a specific heat. We have found that the specific heat goes to zero in the limit in the first case and that it goes to a constant, proportional to the 3D volume, in the second case, in the same limit. By the analysis of the specific heat we conclude that the de Sitter Universe performed a phase transition at some point of its evolution. The entropy also diverges with a critical temperature which corroborates such an idea of phase transition. We note that in both cases the critical temperatures lead to the same critical cosmological constant which is . We also showed that the entropy, defined in teleparallel gravity, is not necessarily equal to the area of the event horizon. It is not the case of Hawking expression which is constructed out in the context of general relativity where one cannot deal with meaningful expressions of gravitational energy and pressure. The choice to calculate the entropy of a de Sitter space-time was guided by two reasons. The first one is that the most accepted expression of entropy is based on nonthermodynamical approach in which the physical meaning relies on matter fields. Thus analyzing an expanding empty space we could shed light on the very nature of gravitational field. The second reason is that it is believed that any quantum gravity theory should break the Lorentz invariance [31]. We speculate that in constructing an effective theory of gravitation, in order to quantize it, the torsion tensor will self-interact with the geometry of space-time which could be interpreted as a mean field representing the spin of the matter distribution.
Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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text:
Memories of a Polish Wisconsin Christmas
Editor's note: This story originally appeared in Highlights for Children magazine. The author, Patricia (Pehowski) Wolfe of Stevens Point, received writing assistance from her daughter, June Czarnezki.
POLONIA - On our family farm and home, we had no electricity or indoor plumbing, but neither did most of our neighbors in the central Wisconsin area called PoIonia. Many people of Polish descent lived there. Times were tough then, but we were fortunate.
Our potato farm provided most of our food, and our house had a wraparound porch, four bedrooms, and an attic big enough to play house in. We had two player pianos, although when the pumps broke in one of them, Daddy chopped it up for firewood. I remember crying hard that day.
In late 1945, my sister Elaine was born in the downstairs bedroom. Candles didn't provide enough light, so the doctor turned on his automobile's headlights and pointed them through the bedroom window. Afterward, Daddy announced that despite the costs, we would have electricity. He knew a man who could get the job done before Christmas.
Getting ready
The Polish people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. The celebration is called the Wigilia (vee-GEE-lee-ah). At daybreak, Daddy went into the woods to cut down a pine tree. After breakfast, Ma scrubbed the kids in a metal tub in the kitchen. I was the oldest, almost 6, so I bathed before my 4-year-old sister, Phyllis. After we finished, my 1-year-old brother, Kenny, took a bath in the same water.
After our baths, we decorated the tree with delicate glass and foil ornaments, strung popcorn, and candied cherries. Since we now had electricity, Daddy placed bubble lights on the tree. Filled with colorful oil, the tiny glass tubes bubbled when heated.
Our grandmother, whom we called Busia (Boo-sha), Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Alphonse and his wife, Frances, would be our guests for the Wigilia.
When evening came, Ma arranged snacks of walnuts, creamed herring, and even a bowl of oranges. We watched for the headlights of Uncle Alphonse's truck through the big bay window. But when we saw headlights, they were not from his truck. Confused, we watched as an unfamiliar group of people scrambled out of a vehicle and knocked on our door. They were wearing reindeer costumes and deer antlers.
Once in the house, one "reindeer" started dancing while another played lively polkas on his concertina (an instrument similar to an accordion). The dancing reindeer threw hard candies and peanuts all over our dining-room table. Another reindeer played a harmonica. Phyllis, Kenny and I started dancing, and baby Elaine started crying. We were laughing so hard that we didn't notice Uncle Alphonse and Aunt Frances walking in the back door.
One reindeer wanted Ma to drop money into a tin cup. Ma laughed, shrugged, and to our surprise, dropped in a quarter. With money in the cup, the reindeer left, shouting "dzigkujg" (jenn-Koo-yeh) and "Boiego Narodzenth," which mean "thank you" and "Merry Christmas." When we were older, we found out that the reindeer were our farming neighbors.
The family celebrates
Now that the family was all together, the children were allowed to open presents. Phyllis and I received paper doll cutouts, and Kenny unwrapped a toy airplane. Baby Elaine got plenty of kisses.
At 9 sharp, we gathered around the table. First, Daddy broke off the first piece of oplatek (oh-PWAH-tek), wafer-thin bread, and passed the rest to a family member. Each person broke off a piece. We said a prayer holding our piece of the bread, and when it ended we ate our bread in unison.
Now the feast could begin. We ate three types of meat from our farm: chicken, ham and a Polish sausage called kielbasa (keel-BAH-sah). There was steaming rye bread and mashed potatoes with onion bits dripping with sweet butter. For dessert, we had date bars and fruitcake.
After dinner, the adults played cards. When they didn't want us to hear their jokes, they whispered in Polish. (At school, we were encouraged to speak only in English.)
As midnight neared, Daddy kept with tradition. He set up the old sleigh and readied the horses. Ma placed heated bricks in blankets under our feet. With a snort from the horses, we were off, listening to the jingle of bells and the occasional howls of coyotes in the night wind. Soon the spire of the Catholic church would rise in the distance and we would end the Wigilia with midnight Mass.
Copyright © Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.


text:
The Eucharist is the 'source and summit of the Christian life,' and yet far too many Catholics believe it is merely a symbol rather than what it really is – the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
Recently on The Inner Life®, Father Dennis Cooney discussed the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and how we can understand the roots of this supreme gift. Fr. Dennis said:
"One of the things we really need to do, in order to appreciate the miracle of the Eucharist – and it is an ongoing miracle – is to recapture the Jewish roots of the Eucharist.
Remember that it's at the Last Supper, a Passover meal, that Jesus institutes the sacrament of His sacrifice and also His Real Presence. Now, here's the thing. A good, devout Jew, when he participates in the Passover meal, doesn't just simply remember a distant past event. But he believes that the God who instituted the Passover and the whole Exodus makes Himself present, re-presents Himself at that Passover supper.
Therefore, you are with the Israelites as they're being liberated from Egypt. You are with the Israelites as they celebrate the Passover meal on the night of their liberation. You are with the Lord, because He transcends time, He transcends space, and He makes Himself present in the celebration of the Passover.
That's the context for our understanding the Mass as a memorial. I think many people, when they hear the word memorial, think of a dead and past event that we re-present or make present again through our memory. No, it's just the opposite.
It's God who makes the event – Christ's sacrifice on the Cross – present to us here and now. Because He is, of course, in eternity and He is not contained by time. He can make His eternal offering and sacrifice present to us at every and any moment in time.
He's present to us, first of all, in His priests, whom He ordained at that Last Supper. 'Do this in memory of Me.' In other words, repeat what I have just done. And we have done that down through the ages.
But then also, He Himself is our Passover Lamb. He is the Lamb who was sacrificed for our sake and for our redemption. And that's why He says in the words of institution, 'This is My Body, given for you. This is My Blood, shed for you.' These are not mere empty symbols or metaphors. These are the realities that Jesus makes present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and in the gift of the Eucharist.
The Jews understood the Passover as a living memorial. Not simply a commemoration and remembrance of a past event, but a living, present reality. They were renewing the covenant right here and now in the Passover meal. And that's the context for understanding how Christ Himself renews His covenant relationship with us, with the Church in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in the Eucharist.
But we do have to remember that it is, at least initially, counter-intuitive. [In John chapter 6] when Jesus says, 'You must eat My flesh and drink My blood,' or at Mass when we see what looks simply like bread or what simply looks like wine and believe that is truly Christ present to us right here and right now. It's counter-intuitive.
That's why St. Thomas Aquinas says that the only sense that we are to trust with regard to the Eucharist is the sense of hearing. Because through that sense we receive His word. And His word reveals the reality of what we are receiving and participating in at Holy Mass and in the sacrament of the Eucharist."
Listen to the full conversation below:
The Inner Life airs weekdays at 12:00 p.m. Eastern/9:00 a.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio®.