Next-to-leading order numerical calculations in Coulomb gauge

Calculations of observables in quantum chromodynamics can be performed using a method in which all of the integrations, including integrations over virtual loop momenta, are performed numerically. We use the flexibility inherent in this method in order to perform next-to-leading order calculations for event shape variables in electron-positron annihilation in Coulomb gauge. The use of Coulomb gauge provides the potential to go beyond a purely order alpha_s^2 calculation by including, for instance, renormalon or parton showering effects. We expect that the approximations needed to include such effects at all orders in alpha_s will be simplest in a gauge in which unphysically polarized gluons do not propagate over long distances.Comment: 36 pages with 7 figure

Evaluating the Applicability of Socially-Oriented Perspectives to the IT Service Level Agreement Negotiation Process: A Theory-Driven Exploratory Study

Continuing exponential growth in the Information Technology (IT) outsourcing market implies a need to understand the negotiated Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that underlie the majority of those sourcing relationships. Knowledge of the negotiation processes that are associated with the development of IT SLAs is a necessary precondition for designing and developing Negotiation Support Systems (NSSs) intended to support those processes. To gain such knowledge, it is first necessary to identify theoretical perspectives that may be relevant to the IT SLA negotiation process, postulate reasonable propositions therefrom, and then evaluate those propositions in a practical, exploratory fashion. Accordingly, the current paper draws on socially-oriented perspectives to develop theory-driven propositions which are then evaluated in an experimental setting. The results of this study indicate that several socially-oriented theories may be relevant to the IT SLA negotiation process, and represent a starting point for the identification of context-specific IT SLA negotiation support systems

Interparty Social Dynamics in the IT Service Level Agreement Negotiation Process: A Preliminary Assessment of Competing Theories

In response to the global economic crisis, organizations are cutting costs and focusing on core competencies. One natural corollary of this situation has been an increased interest in the outsourcing of IT services. Such sourcing relationships are established and maintained via formally negotiated IT service level agreements (SLAs), the goal of which is to generate utility for both parties. Understanding the processes that produce successful IT SLA negotiation outcomes is thus of critical importance. While several well-established social theories seem germane to IT service level agreement negotiations, the predictions of those theories are not entirely compatible and consistent. This paper therefore develops and tests several preliminary research propositions in an effort to assess the applicability of these competing theories to the IT SLA negotiation process

Asthma in the Disadvantaged: A Phenotype in Need of a Personalized, Multidisciplinary Approach to Therapy

Most patients with asthma can be managed with standardized, traditional therapies; however, 5–10% of patients suffer from disease that is difficult to control. Uncontrolled asthma disproportionally affects low income and racial minority patients. The disadvantaged asthma phenotype is defined by the presence of overlapping social, economic and environmental factors. These factors, such as environmental exposures in substandard housing or suboptimal adherence to controller therapy due to impaired health literacy are challenging to address in the clinic or inpatient setting. Personalized management of the disadvantaged asthma phenotype must target these interconnected factors through a multidisciplinary approach that includes longitudinal collaboration with community-based organizations, social workers and legal aid

An Empirical Examination of the Impact of ICT Investments on Future Levels of Institutionalized Democracy and Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Societies

The macro-level impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) investments on institutionalized democracy and foreign direct investment (FDI) levels in emerging societies are examined within a multi-theoretic framework that considers societal structure, power, and globalization-driven societal change. Using multilevel change modeling and longitudinal data from 48 emerging societies across seven years, ICT investments are observed to produce positive direct impacts on future levels of institutionalized democracy and FDI. After controlling for several covariates, the direct impact of ICT investments on future levels of institutionalized democracy in emerging societies is shown to partially explain the observed relationship between ICT investments and future FDI in those societies. The implications of these results are discussed in light of an emerging and exemplary World Bank debate over the historical search for a simple recipe for emerging society development and the need for a new way of thinking represented by what has been referred to as “new structural economics”

A Vector Based, Content Analytic Methodology for Comparing Negotiated IT Service Level Agreements

Growth in the outsourcing of IT services has led many organizations to enter into negotiated contractual agreements with both internal and external service providers known as information technology service level agreements (IT SLAs). To further empirical research into IT SLAs, we present a methodological approach based on the theory of conceptual spaces that allows the content of these negotiated agreements to be analyzed and compared geometrically using vector representation. The outcome of such an analysis is a set of distance measures by which defensible statements regarding the similarity of IT SLAs can be made. We also discuss how the comparisons provide insights for IT SLA negotiation researchers that go beyond alternate empirical and analytic methods. The implications of these comparisons are discussed with a specific focus on research methods that can foster cumulative empirical investigation of IT SLA negotiation support system requirements

Strong WW scattering in unitary gauge

A method to embed models of strong $WW$ scattering in unitary gauge amplitudes is presented that eliminates the need for the effective $W$ approximation (EWA) in the computation of cross sections at high energy colliders.The cross sections obtained from the U-gauge amplitudes include the distributions of the final state fermions in $ff \rightarrow ffWW$, which cannot be obtained from the EWA. Since the U-gauge method preserves the interference of the signal and the gauge sector background amplitudes, which is neglected in the EWA, it is more accurate, especially if the latter is comparable to or bigger than the signal, as occurs for instance at small angles because of Coulomb singularities. The method is illustrated for on-shell $W^+W^+ \rightarrow W^+W^+$ scattering and for $qq \rightarrow qqW^+W^+$.Comment: 14 pages, Latex with 2 epsf-embedded postscript figure

Color Exchange in Near-forward Hard Elastic Ecattering

We study the large-$t$ small angle behavior of quark-quark elastic scattering. We employ a factorization procedure previously developed for fixed angle scattering, which depends on the color structure of the factorized hard subprocess. We find an evolution in $t$ that (in leading logarithmic approximation) becomes diagonal in a singlet-octet basis in the $t$-channel as $s\rightarrow \infty$. Octet exhange in the hard scattering is associated with the familiar `reggeized', $s^{\alpha_g(t)}$ behavior, which arises from $s$-dependence in Sudakov suppression. In contrast, Sudakov suppression for $t$-channel singlet exchange in the hard scattering is $s$-independent. In general, these contributions are mixed by soft corrections, which, however, cancel in many experimental amplitudes and cross sections.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures (available upon request), LaTeX styl