Charge Distribution on Annealed Polyelectrolytes

We investigate the equilibrium charge distribution along a single annealed polyelectrolyte chain under different conditions. The coupling between the conformation of the chain and the local charge distribution is described for various solvent qualities and salt concentration. In salt free solution, we find a slight charge depletion in the central part of the chain: the charges accumulate at the ends. The effect is less important if salt is added to the solution since the charge inhomogeneity is localized close to the chain ends over a distance of order of the Debye length. In the case of poor solvent conditions we find a different charging of beads and strings in the framework of the necklace model. This inhomogeneity leads to a charge instability and a first order transition between spherical globules and elongated chains.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Relating Weyl and diffeomorphism anomalies on super Riemann surfaces

Starting from the Wess-Zumino action associated to the super Weyl anomaly, we determine the local counterterm which allows to pass from this anomaly to the chirally split superdiffeomorphism anomaly (as defined on a compact super Riemann surface without boundary). The counterterm involves the graded extension of the Verlinde functional and the results can be applied to the study of holomorphic factorization of partition functions in superconformal field theory.Comment: (LATEX, 18 pages), MPI-Ph/92-38, LPTB 92-

Aspects of fine-tuning of the Higgs mass within finite field theories

We reanalyze the perturbative radiative corrections to the Higgs mass within the Standard Model in the light of the Taylor-Lagrange renormalization scheme. This scheme naturally leads to completely finite corrections, depending on an arbitrary scale. The formulation avoids very large individual corrections to the Higgs mass. This illustrates the fact that the so-called fine-tuning problem in the Standard Model is just an artifact of the regularization scheme. It should therefore not lead to any physical interpretation in terms of the energy scale at which new physics should show up, nor in terms of a new symmetry. We analyze the intrinsic physical scales relevant for the description of these radiative corrections.Comment: 9 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1011.174

The Impact of Using Social Media for Advertising Appliances on Consumer Behaviour

The small appliance industry in South Africa offers consumers a wide range of appliances, models and brands. Understanding the consumer and shopper trends is still in its infancy stage within this segment of the market. This study focuses on investigating the use of effective online engagement and the ability to understand how online interaction changes consumers’ behaviour among an appliance brand’s customers which constitute the sample of the study. How the group can understand the full route to market and best make use of segments for engagement was also investigated. A survey was conducted where questionnaire was administrated via the group’s page on Facebook and consisted of opinion-based questions on the perception of Facebook as a medium to influence consumer behaviour. The results of the survey revealed that potential consumers who use Facebook do engage with appliance brands and manufactures, and they admit that engaging with them on Facebook influences their behaviour around appliances

Development, A question of Opportunity. A critique of the 2006 World Development Report, Equity and Development

The World Bank’s World Development Report 2006 addresses Equity and Development. It defines equity as respect for equal opportunities combined with the avoidance of absolute deprivation. Even though justice theories have long been interested in equity (given that equality of opportunity is one of the recognised values of Western society), it has hitherto remained a marginal issue in development economics. Our critique presents a detailed analysis of this report in the light of recent economic studies on this subject and endeavours to place it in the context of the evolution of World Bank thinking and policies. The first part illustrates the wealth of this concept, with its downside being that it is hard to accurately define. The second part demonstrates the gap between the prospects opened up by the enlargement of the development goals beyond poverty reduction and the report’s policy recommendations, which are generally an extension of the World Bank’s traditional analyses. The future of the equity concept for development policy-making could be closely dependent on the development community’s ability to take on board both all its complexity and wealth.

Cadastración y construcción del Estado en la Provincia de Buenos Aires y Uruguay (1820-70) : pistas metodológicas desde la geografía.

International audienceIntentamos en este artículo analizar la relación entre la formación de catastros de tierras -o cadastración- y la construcción del Estado en el área platina durante el siglo XIX. Algunas de las hipótesis formuladas en el precedente aquel artículo de este libro en base a fuentes textuales, serán aquí evaluadas en base a a otras fuentes, principalmente cartográficas. El objetivo general de esta investigación es entender en qué medida la formación de administraciones encargadas del control de la tenencia de la tierra y de su mensura en la Provincia de Buenos Aires y en Uruguay respectivamente a partir de 1824 y 1831 (Comisiones y Departamentos Topográficos), contribuyó a la construcción de los nuevos Estados independientes. Más específicamente, nos interesamos a los procesos de elaboración de un nuevo "saber territorial" del Estado en el Río de la Plata, y a las características de este saber. Los principales cambios introducidos en este saber por la creación de administraciones topográficas después de las independencias son: (la pretensión de) un conocimiento exhaustivo de la tenencia de la tierra en el espacio que controla el Estado; el aumento de la "resolución espacial" de este conocimiento mediante el uso sistemático de mensuras de gran escala; el asentamiento de un monopolio estatal del saber cartográfico en gran escala, gracias a un estricto control de los profesionales encargados de la mensura de las tierras, los agrimensores. Al estar vinculado en los casos uruguayo y "bonaerense" a objetivos en parte fiscales, podemos cualificar este proceso de "cadastración" del territorio