Quantum Stability of the Phase Transition in Rigid QED

Rigid QED is a renormalizable generalization of Feynman's space-time action characterized by the addition of the curvature of the world line (rigidity). We have recently shown that a phase transition occurs in the leading approximation of the large N limit. The disordered phase essentially coincides with ordinary QED, while the ordered phase is a new theory. We have further shown that both phases of the quantum theory are free of ghosts and tachyons. In this letter, we study the first sub-leading quantum corrections leading to the renormalized mass gap equation. Our main result is that the phase transition does indeed survive these quantum fluctuations.Comment: PHYZZX, 9 pages, 3 Postscript figures, to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Dimensionless Coupling of Superstrings to Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and Scale Invariant Superstring Actions

We construct new superstring actions which are distinguished from standard superstrings by being space-time scale invariant. Like standard superstrings, they are also reparametrization invariant, space-time supersymmetric, and invariant under local scale transformations of the world sheet. We discuss scenarios in which these actions could play a significant role, in particular one which involves their coupling to supersymmetric gauge theories.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Renormalizability and Quantum Stability of the Phase Transition in Rigid String Coupled to Kalb-Ramond Fields II

Recently we have shown that a phase transition occurs in the leading approximation of the large N limit in rigid strings coupled to long range Kalb-Ramond interactions. The disordered phase is essentially the Nambu-Goto-Polyakov string theory while the ordered phase is a new theory. In this part II letter we study the first sub-leading quantum corrections we started in I. We derive the renormalized mass gap equation and obtain the renormalized critical line of the interacting theory. Our main and final result is that the phase transition does indeed survive quantum fluctuations.Comment: PHYZZX, 11 pages, 2 Postscript figure, to be published in Nucl.Phys.

Asymptotic Freedom in a String Model of High Temperature QCD

Recently we have shown that a phase transition occurs in the leading and sub-leading approximation of the large N limit in rigid strings coupled to long range Kalb-Ramond interactions. The disordered phase is essentially the Nambu-Goto-Polyakov string theory while the ordered phase is a new theory. In this letter we compute the free energy per unit length of the interacting rigid string at finite temperature. We show that the mass of the winding states solves that of QCD strings in the limit of high temperature. We obtain a precise identification of the QCD coupling constant and those of the interacting rigid string. The relation we obtain is $Ng_{QCD}^2=({4\pi^2(D-2)\over 3})^2{1\over 3\kappa}$ where $\kappa={Dt\alpha\over\pi\mu_{c}}$ is the ratio of the extrinsic curvature coupling constant t, the Kalb-Ramond coupling constant $\alpha$, and the critical string tension $\mu_{c}$. The running beta function of $\kappa$ reproduces correctly the asymptotic behaviour of QCD.Comment: PHYZZX, 10 page

Consumer purchasing decisions and welfare under country of origin. Labelling regulation

This study develops a theoretical framework of heterogeneous consumer preferences to examine the effect of voluntary and mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) on consumer purchasing decisions and welfare when consumers view COOL information as an attribute that differentiates products vertically and horizontally. Analytical results of both the vertically and horizontally differentiated product models show that the change from a no COOL to a mandatory COOL regime decreases (increases) the welfare of consumers with weak (strong) preference for COOL. A change from a no COOL to a voluntary COOL regime leads to an undisputed increase in consumer welfare which results from an increase in the welfare of consumers with strong preference for COOL, while the welfare of consumers with weak preference for COOL remains unchanged. A change from a voluntary to a mandatory COOL regime leads to a consumer welfare loss in the vertically differentiated product model and in the horizontally differentiated product model when product relocation is prohibitively costly. In both the above models, a switch from voluntary to mandatory COOL decreases the welfare of consumer with weak preference for COOL, while it keeps the welfare of consumers with strong preference for COOL unchanged. A change from a voluntary to a mandatory COOL regime in the horizontally differentiated product market when product relocation is possible leads to a decrease in the welfare of consumer with both weak and strong preference for COOL and to possible welfare gains for those consumers who place greater value in country of origin information under mandatory than under voluntary COOL.country of origin labeling, heterogeneous consumer preferences, vertical and horizontal product differentiation., Consumer/Household Economics,

Happiness and employee performance: the moderating role of employee spirituality and emotional wellness

While happiness is a primary goal in life, few studies have examined its effect on employee performance (EP). This study looks at the effect of employee happiness (EH) on the EP of public sector employees in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while examining the moderating role of their spiritual and emotional wellness (ESEW). Theory Y, Two-Factor Theory, and Job Characteristic Model were reviewed, as well as frameworks related to EP. Based on these theories and current literature, the study proposed that happiness positively affects the ESEW, impacting their performance. EH was operationalized to include seven sub-constructs: performance appraisal, promotion, rewards and recognition, income, workload, flexible working hours, workplace environment, and peer and supervisor support. Each was presumed to affect EP. In addition, ESEW is expected to moderate the effect of EH on EP. The population of this study was public servants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, for which a random sampling technique was deployed. The instrument of data collection was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated, and a pilot study conducted, prior to data collection. Data was collected from 334 respondents and examined using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0. Hypotheses were tested using Smart Partial Least Square (Smart PLS). Findings confirmed that EH has a significant effect on EP, as well as ESEW. ESEW did not have a significant effect on EP, but it moderated the effect of EH on EP. The study recommends that decision makers increase EH by appraising performance fairly and providing a competitive salary. It concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations and directions for future work

Relationships of Minimum Temperature and Growth Rate with Sex Expression of Papaya Plants (Carica papaya L.)

Papaya plants of the Solo variety, derived from seeds whose plants were bearing uniformly few carpellodic flowers and fruits, were planted at three levels of elevations at the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station farms at Honolulu , Oahu (1OO-foot elevation), at Kainaliu, Hawaii (1,500-foot elevation), and at Makawao, Maui (2,1OO-foot elevation). Significantly greater percentages of carpellodic flowers (types 2 and 3) were produced by plants at either Kainaliu or Makawao over plants at Honolulu. These differences associated with locality must be primarily the result of differences in minimum temperature, since day-lengths are essentially the same at all localities. The data and statistical analyses indicate that the percentage of carpellodic flowers is significantly correlated with minimum temperature and growth rate of the plants

Improving resource efficiency of container-instance clusters on clouds

Cloud computing providers such as Amazon and Google have recently begun offering container-instances, which provide an efficient route to application deployment within a lightweight, isolated and well-defined execution environment.Cloud providers currently offer Container Service Platforms (CSPs), which orchestrate containerised applications.Existing CSP frameworks do not offer any form of intelligent resource scheduling: applications are usually scheduled individually, rather than taking a holistic view of all registered applications and available resources in the cloud. This can result in increased execution times for applications, resource wastage through underutilised container-instances, and a reduction in the number of applications that can be deployed, given the available resources.The research presented in this paper aims to extend existing systems by adding a cloud-based Container Management Service (CMS) framework that offers increased deployment density, scalability and resource efficiency. CMS provides additional functionalities for orchestrating containerised applications by joint optimisation of sets of containerised applications, and resource pool in multiple (geographical distributed) cloud regions.We evaluated CMS on a cloud-based CSP i.e., Amazon EC2 Container Management Service (ECS) and conducted extensive experiments using sets of CPU and Memory intensive containerised applications against the direct deployment strategy of Amazon ECS. The results show that CMS achieves up to 25% higher cluster utilisation, and up to 70% reduction in execution times.Postprin