The Long Road to Being an IS Professional: A Newcomer Perspective

The dot-com boom in the late 1990s attracted vast numbers of undergraduate students into the field of Information Systems (IS) with the promise of being the next “big thing”. As the dot-com bubble deflated amidst the general slowdown in the global economy, the outlook of these batches of students had been changing dramatically over the years due to the long “gestation” period (frequently 4 years) in the tertiary educational arena. Coupled with the perennial shifts in the nature of critical IS knowledge and skills, the current situation presents a unique, valuable and close-up opportunity for studying the evolving identity of the IS professional. This research employs symbolic interactionism as the informing theoretical perspective for examining newcomer socialization processes in an ethnographic study, in which the researchers were immersed in the education environment of a university. We adopt a longitudinal form of analysis by examining three major role transitions along the road to being an IS professional, starting from his/her formative years as an (initially earnest) undergraduate student. Our findings regarding the evolving outlook of these students indicate that they initially attached certain symbols to being an IS professional. Interestingly, some of these symbols got sedimented over time while others exhibited relatively less permanence. More importantly, the evolving symbolism was enacted into various job-seeking actions towards the end of the long university education process

Low-energy Spectra of the t-J-Type Models Studied by Variational Approach

We discuss recent progress of understanding the phenomena observed in high Tc cuprates by studying the d-wave resonating-valence-bond (d-RVB) based trial wave functions for the 2-dimensional t-J-type models. Treat exactly the strong correlation between electrons by numerical approach, we examine the evolution of ground states described by different variational wave functions and properties of the quasi-hole and -particle excitations of the d-RVB superconducting (SC) state. Properties related to the Fermi surface geometry deduced from quasi-hole energy dispersion of the SC state is shown to be consistent with the observation by photoemission spectroscopy. With the calculated spectral weights (SW's) for adding and removing an electron, we found not only the anti-correlation between conductance peak height and width between peaks seen in tunneling experiments, but also unique properties due to strong correlation which need to be verified by future experiments.Comment: 6 revtex pages with 5 (.eps) figures. To appear in a special volume of Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials for the ICM 2006 proceeding

Exotic Meson Production in the f1(1285)π−f_{1}(1285)\pi^{-} System observed in the Reaction π−p→ηπ+π−π−p\pi^{-} p \to \eta\pi^{+}\pi^{-}\pi^{-} p at 18 GeV/c

This letter reports results from the partial wave analysis of the $\pi^{-}\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\eta$ final state in $\pi^{-}p$ collisions at 18GeV/c. Strong evidence is observed for production of two mesons with exotic quantum numbers of spin, parity and charge conjugation, $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ in the decay channel $f_{1}(1285)\pi^{-}$. The mass $M = 1709 \pm 24 \pm 41$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 403 \pm 80 \pm 115$ MeV/c^2 of the first state are consistent with the parameters of the previously observed $\pi_{1}(1600)$. The second resonance with mass $M = 2001 \pm 30 \pm 92$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 333 \pm 52 \pm 49$ MeV/c^2 agrees very well with predictions from theoretical models. In addition, the presence of $\pi_{2}(1900)$ is confirmed with mass $M = 2003 \pm 88 \pm 148$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 306 \pm 132 \pm 121$ MeV/c^2 and a new state, $a_{1}(2096)$, is observed with mass $M = 2096 \pm 17 \pm 121$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 451 \pm 41 \pm 81$ MeV/c^2. The decay properties of these last two states are consistent with flux tube model predictions for hybrid mesons with non-exotic quantum numbers

Confirmation of a pi_1^0 Exotic Meson in the \eta \pi^0 System

The exclusive reaction $\pi^- p \to \eta \pi^0 n$, $\eta \to \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0$ at 18 GeV$/c$ has been studied with a partial wave analysis on a sample of 23~492 $\eta \pi^0 n$ events from BNL experiment E852. A mass-dependent fit is consistent with a resonant hypothesis for the $P_+$ wave, thus providing evidence for a neutral exotic meson with $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$, a mass of $1257 \pm 20 \pm 25$ MeV$/c^2$, and a width of $354 \pm 64 \pm 60$ MeV$/c^2$. New interpretations of the meson exotics in neutral $\eta \pi^0$ system observed in E852 and Crystal Barrel experiments are discussed.Comment: p3, rewording the paragraph (at the bottom) about the phase variations. p4, rewording paragrath "The second method ..." . p4, at the bottom of paragrath "The third method ..." added consistent with the results of methods 1 and 2

Identification and Functional Validation of Caldesmon as a Potential Gastric Cancer Metastasis-Associated Protein

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Search for Exotic Mesons in pi- P Interactions at 18 GeV/c

The recent search for non $q \bar{q}$ mesons in $\pi^{-}p$ interactions at Brookhaven National Laboratory is summarized. Many final states such as $\eta \pi$, $\eta' \pi^{-}$, $a_{0} \pi$, $f_{1} \pi$, $a_{2} \pi$, $b_{1} \pi$, which are favored decay modes of exotics, are under investigation.Comment: 9 pages, PostScript, Presented at the International School of Nuclear Physics, Erice, Sicily, Italy, September 199

The MSW Effect in Quantum Field Theory

We show in detail the general relationship between the Schr\"{o}dinger equation approach to calculating the MSW effect and the quantum field theoretical S-matrix approach. We show the precise form a generic neutrino propagator must have to allow a physically meaningful ``oscillation probability'' to be decoupled from neutrino production fluxes and detection cross-sections, and explicitly list the conditions---not realized in cases of current experimental interest---in which the field theory approach would be useful.Comment: 20 page REVTeX file, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Observation of a New J(PC)=1(+-) Isoscalar State in the Reaction Pi- Proton -> Omega Eta Neutron at 18 GeV/c

Results are presented on a partial wave analysis of the Omega Eta final state produced in Pi- Proton interactions at 18 GeVc where Omega -> Pi+ Pi- Pi0, Pi0 -> 2 Gammas, and Eta -> 2 Gammas. We observe the previously unreported decay mode Omega(1650) -> Omega Eta and a new 1(+-) meson state h1(1595) with a mass M=1594(15)(+10)(-60) MeV/c^2 and a width Gamma=384(60)(+70)(-100) MeV/c^2. The h1(1595) state exhibits resonant-like phase motion relative to the Omega(1650).Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B Eight total pages including 11 figures and 1 tabl

Observation of Pseudoscalar and Axial Vector Resonances in pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n at 18 GeV

A new measurement of the reaction pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n has been made at a beam energy of 18 GeV. A partial wave analysis of the K+ K- pi0 system shows evidence for three pseudoscalar resonances, eta(1295), eta(1416), and eta(1485), as well as two axial vectors, f1(1285), and f1(1420). Their observed masses, widths and decay properties are reported. No signal was observed for C(1480), an IG J{PC} = 1+ 1{--} state previously reported in phi pi0 decay.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figs, to be submitted to Phys. Let

Heavy quarkonium 2S states in light-front quark model

We study the charmonium 2S states $\psi'$ and $\eta_c'$, and the bottomonium 2S states $\Upsilon'$ and $\eta_b'$, using the light-front quark model and the 2S state wave function of harmonic oscillator as the approximation of the 2S quarkonium wave function. The decay constants, transition form factors and masses of these mesons are calculated and compared with experimental data. Predictions of quantities such as Br$(\psi' \to \gamma \eta_c')$ are made. The 2S wave function may help us learn more about the structure of these heavy quarkonia.Comment: 5 latex pages, final version for journal publicatio