A Study Concerning Small Manufacturing Business within B2B eCommerce Value Chain

This paper addresses challenges faced by one small manufacturing business in a competitive environment that is expanding with lower costs, higher quality, improved reliability and quicker responsiveness. The business processes require changing the relationship between companies and suppliers to establish a competitive advantage. The company identifies the business process and the supplier aligns with the process to create a value chain. The paper starts with identifying the complexities of manufacturing business and the demands created from the technological advances and the competitiveness of the industry. Examples of the challenges facing a small manufacturing business are then identified through a case study on Globe Engineering Co., Inc. The case study shows the impact of the changes in the industry on small manufacturing business and recognizes the necessity to build a flexible system to provide services in a timely fashion

Strange mesons and kaon-to-pion transition form factors from holography

We present a calculation of the $K_{\ell 3}$ transition form factors using the AdS/QCD correspondence. We also solidify and extend our ability to calculate quantities in the flavor-broken versions of AdS/QCD. The normalization of the form factors is a crucial ingredient for extracting $|V_{us}|$ from data, and the results obtained here agree well with results from chiral perturbation theory and lattice gauge theory. The slopes and curvature of the form factors agree well with the data, and with what results are available from other methods of calculation.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Quark scalar current correlator in AdS/QCD approach

We use a holographic model to compute the quark scalar current correlator. Already used in other contexts, our model consists in a bulk field theory defined on a deformed Anti de Sitter space and allows to derive analogous results to those of the soft wall model. One issue of such computations is to understand relevant holographic physical constraints which give predictive QCD results rather than to make the inverse step as done until now.Comment: Talk presented at QCD 10, the 25-th anniversary of QCD Montpellier conference series, to appear in the Proceeding

Holographic Electroweak Symmetry Breaking from D-branes

We observe several interesting phenomena in a technicolor-like model of electroweak symmetry breaking based on the D4-D8-D8bar system of Sakai and Sugimoto. The benefit of holographic models based on D-brane configurations is that both sides of the holographic duality are well understood. We find that the lightest technicolor resonances contribute negatively to the Peskin-Takeuchi S-parameter, but heavy resonances do not decouple and lead generically to large, positive values of S, consistent with standard estimates in QCD-like theories. We study how the S parameter and the masses and decay constants of the vector and axial-vector techni-resonances vary over a one-parameter family of D8-brane configurations. We discuss possibilities for the consistent truncation of the theory to the first few resonances and suggest some generic predictions of stringy holographic technicolor models.Comment: REVTeX, 25 pages, 8 eps figures, version published in PR

Deconstructing Superconductivity

We present a dimensionally deconstructed model of an s-wave holographic superconductor. The 2+1 dimensional model includes multiple charged Cooper pair fields and neutral exciton fields that have interactions governed by hidden local symmetries. We derive AdS/CFT-like relations for the current and charge density in the model, and we analyze properties of the Cooper pair condensates and the complex conductivity.Comment: 24 pages, 10 eps figures. v2: Sign conventions clarified, references adde

Towards improved management of coastal submersion crises - CRISMA-WAVE solution as an example of CRISMA Framework application

Coping with various types of natural or man-made hazards the FP7 SECURITY CRISMA project (http://www.crisrnaprojecteu) has designed and developed an experimental software framework allowing building crisis management simulation application. One of the five pilot applications of CRISMA dealing with preparedness to the coastal submersions was developed and implemented using return of experience of the reference Xynthia storm surge event in the Charente Maritime County in France. The paper addresses the generic CRISMA Framework applicability to simulate mitigation effects of a coastal submersion through CRISMA-Wave implementation of a full modelling cycle. The CRISMA-Wave paradigm reflects user needs for simulation of "what-if" scenarios for short and long-term actions and the paper describes in particular its different components : *Simulation of submersion effects at a range of temporal and spatial scales, *Preparedness Planning, *Assessment of impacts depending on scenarios based on options for managing the inundation risks, *Cascading effects and *Evaluation of damages with comparison of submersion defence scenarios based on cost-benefit and multi criteria analysis

How Well Does AdS/QCD Describe QCD?

AdS/QCD is an extra-dimensional approach to modeling hadronic physics, motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence in string theory. AdS/QCD models are often more accurate than would have been expected at energies below a few GeV. We address the question of why these models are so successful, and respond to some of the criticisms that have been waged against these models.Comment: To appear in proceedings of Crossing the Boundaries: Gauge Dynamics at Strong Coupling (Shifmania), Minnesota, May 14-17, 2009. 12 pages, 2 eps figure

Necessary and sufficient conditions for non-perturbative equivalences of large N orbifold gauge theories

Large N coherent state methods are used to study the relation between U(N) gauge theories containing adjoint representation matter fields and their orbifold projections. The classical dynamical systems which reproduce the large N limits of the quantum dynamics in parent and daughter orbifold theories are compared. We demonstrate that the large N dynamics of the parent theory, restricted to the subspace invariant under the orbifold projection symmetry, and the large N dynamics of the daughter theory, restricted to the untwisted sector invariant under "theory space'' permutations, coincide. This implies equality, in the large N limit, between appropriately identified connected correlation functions in parent and daughter theories, provided the orbifold projection symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the parent theory and the theory space permutation symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the daughter. The necessity of these symmetry realization conditions for the validity of the large N equivalence is unsurprising, but demonstrating the sufficiency of these conditions is new. This work extends an earlier proof of non-perturbative large N equivalence which was only valid in the phase of the (lattice regularized) theories continuously connected to large mass and strong coupling.Comment: 21 page, JHEP styl

Assessment of recent outbreaks of Dickeya sp (syn. Erwinia chrysanthemi) slow wilt in potato crops in Israel

Suspected Dickeya sp. strains were obtained from potato plants and tubers collected from commercial plots. The disease was observed on crops of various cultivars grown from seed tubers imported from the Netherlands during the spring seasons of 2004-2006, with disease incidence of 2-30% ( 10% in average). In addition to typical wilting symptoms on the foliage, in cases of severe infection, progeny tubers were rotten in the soil. Six strains were characterised by biochemical, serological and PCR amplification. All tests verified the strains as Dickeya sp. The repPCR and the biochemical assays showed that the strains isolated from blackleg diseased plants in Israel were very similar, if not identical to strains isolated from Dutch seed potatoes, suggesting that the infection in Israel originated from the Dutch seed. The strains were distantly related to D. dianthicola strains, typically found in potatoes in Western Europe, and were similar to biovar 3 D. dadanti or D. zeae. This is the first time that the presence of biovar 3 strains in potato in the Netherlands is described. One of the strains was used for pathogenicity assays on potato cvs Nicola and Mondial. Symptoms appeared 2 to 3 days after stem inoculation, and 7 to 10 days after soil inoculation. The control plants treated with water, or plants inoculated with Pectobacterium carotovorum, did not develop any symptoms with either method of inoculation. The identity of Dickeya sp. and P. carotovorum re- isolated from inoculated plants was confirmed by PCR and ELISA