Renormalization Scheme Ambiguities in the Models with More than One Coupling

The process of renormalization to eliminate divergences arising in quantum field theory is not uniquely defined; one can always perform a finite renormalization, rendering finite perturbative results ambiguous. The consequences of making such finite renormalizations have been examined in the case of there being one or two couplings. In this paper we consider how finite renormalizations can affect more general models in which there are more than two couplings. In particular, we consider the Standard Model in which there are essentially five couplings. We show that in this model (when neglecting all mass parameters) if we use mass independent renormalization, then the renormalization group beta-functions are not unique beyond one loop order, that it is not in general possible to eliminate all terms beyond certain order for all these beta-functions, but that for a physical process all contributions beyond one loop order can be subsumed into the beta-functions

Maternal presenteeism: theorizing the importance for working mothers of 'being there' for their children beyond infancy

This study theorizes why full-time working women with partners and school-age children deploy talk of maximal irreplaceable maternal care. The concept of maternal presenteeism frames women's personal beliefs, perceptions, and ambitions as subject to normative pressures associated with intensive mothering and a postfeminist sensibility. The accounts of 20 women who combine motherhood of school-age children with full-time professional work are analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings show that even women in demanding careers with partners talk about seeking to be maximally visible to their children and construct forms of workplace flexibility as a matter of luck. By contrast, maternal irreplaceability was viewed as a matter of fate. Examples of resistance to maternal presenteeism served to highlight these normative assumptions and a conflation of ideologies within the accounts of some working mothers. Vestiges of “intensive mothering,” performative notions of “presenteeism” drawn from regimes of work, and a postfeminist sensibility can be identified in the intersubjective experience of some working mothers. A postfeminist sensibility explains why social practices consistent with forms of “intensive mothering” may persist beyond infant years, and yet get recast as choice

Extending the Vision of Distance Education to Learning via Virtually Being There and Beyond

Our vision of distance learning—learning via virtually being there—challenges educators and technology designers to go beyond the dominant distance education vision of learning via structured isolation. Our vision builds on the best of the technology-enhanced classroom and distance education. Interactions among participants are not only asynchronous but also synchronous, not only one-to-one and one-to-many but also few-to-many and many-to-many, not only about academics but also about the person, and not only consisting of written words but also voice and video. Learning materials and activities are prepared in advance and spontaneously, scheduled and unscheduled, and text-based as well as based on sound and images. Our belief is that most learners benefit from “being there” in a class and that “virtually being there” should provide that same benefit. Important features of our vision that are currently challenging to realize are related to technology limits on sharing all participants’ video, audio, and screens. These and other limitations, which may be beyond our ability to recognize at the moment, will be overcome when visionary educators and technology designers collaborate to develop solutions that fully engage participants in learning and take us beyond what has been envisioned to date

Predatory Business Practices: Automobile Financing

Poverty is an ever-growing problem affecting much of the country. People fall into financial holes and certain industries make sure that they stay there. Low-income individuals are targets for businesses that make their money by providing needed benefits now with an exorbitant cost later. Jacob S. Hacker, a political scientist at Yale, has said that low-income people are forced to live beyond their means by businesses that target them. According to a series in The Buffalo News, “The High Cost of Being Poor,” there are a number of unethical practices being perpetrated against low-income producing people

Introduction to the Ontology of Knowledge iss. 20211125

We can only know what determines us as being and by the fact that it determines us as being. Our knowledge is therefore logically limited to what determines us as being. Since representation is defined as the act that makes knowledge dicible, our representation is logically limited to what dynamically determines us as being. Our representation is included in our becoming. Nothing that we represent, no infinite, can exceed the mere necessity of our becoming. The world, my physical being and my consciousness are subsumed by the necessity of my becoming. We know nothing but “we become”  To the question "Is there anything else to know?" we can give no logical answer Summary: Reality is pure logical interdependence, immanent, formless, unspeakable. Logos is a principle of order in this interdependence. Individuation is the necessary asymptote of any instance of the Logos. Each knowing subject is Individuation, a mode of order among infinites of infinites of possible modes of order. Everything that appears to the subject as Existing participates in his Individuation. This convergence into Individuation defines a perspective that gives meaning. The subject is representation. It is in this representation that exist the subject, objects and laws of the world. Without subject there are no objects, no laws, no framework. The representation is not isomorphism but morphogenesis. The physical world and the Spirit have the same logical nature: they are categories of representation. The representation is animated because meaning is an Act. Representation is limited by a horizon of meaning. Below this horizon the subject represents the universe and itself. Beyond this horizon there is no prevailing space, time or form. The predicate expresses, below the horizon of meaning, a necessity whose source is beyond this horizon, unfathomable. The OK is neither materialism nor idealism and frees itself from any psychological preconceptions. The OK does not propose an "other reality" than that described by common sense or science, but another mode of representation. The OK is compatible with the current state of science, while offering new interpretive avenues. The OK differs from ontic structural realism (OSR) in various ways: Just like being, the relationship is representation, The knowing subject is present in any representation, the real is non-founded

Has the CSR engagement of electrical companies had an effect on their performance? A closer look at the environment

Even though electrical companies attain a top ranking in the publication of CSR reports, they are often accused of 'green‐washing' due to their bad environmental reputation. The current economic crisis is testing their real CSR commitment more than ever, especially when this goes beyond its economic consequences. Based on a worldwide sample of electrical companies, we are going to study why companies are being socially responsible. We wish to know if it is due to the impact on the firms' performance or whether there are other motives (legitimation, improving their reputation) that lead companies to carry out these practices. We will also consider if it changes across the kind of CSR action considered. The results show that there is an economic justification beyond the socially responsible behaviour of the electrical companies. Additionally, most kinds of CSR action (community, diversity, corporate governance, product responsibility) are also carried out looking for economic rewards. However, the CSR actions oriented to the environment are mainly motivated by their need to improve their image and reverse their negative impact

On the black-hole kink

By allowing the light cones to tip over on hypersurfaces according to the conservation laws of an one-kink in static, Schwarzschild black hole metric, we show that in the quantum regime there also exist instantons whose finite imaginary action gives the probability of occurrence of the kink metric corresponding to single chargeless, nonrotating black hole taking place in pairs, the holes of each pair being joined on an interior surface, beyond the horizon.Comment: 20 pages, LaTex, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

The UK economy [March 2006]

The world economy is still growing relatively strongly with a slight slowing in the US but as Japan has performed above expectations this has compensated for the US. Non-Japan Asia and China are also performing well. The Euro Area is showing signs that 2006 and 2007 will be better years as there are consistent signs of a pick-up in growth. The main risks to the world economy include imbalances in the world economy, high oil prices being sustained beyond the medium-term and significant second round effects on inflatio