Cho and Pak reply to Lamm et al. comment on "A Convergent Series for the QED Effective Action"

Cho and Pak reply to Lamm et al. [hep-th/0007108] comment on "A Convergent Series for the Effective Action of QED" [hep-th/0006057].Comment: 1 pag

Vacuum tunneling in gravity

Topologically non-trivial vacuum structure in gravity models with Cartan variables (vielbein and contortion) is considered. We study the possibility of vacuum space-time tunneling in Einstein gravity assuming that the vielbein may play a fundamental role in quantum gravitational phenomena. It has been shown that in the case of RP3 space topology the tunneling between non-trivial topological vacuums can be realized by means of Eguchi-Hanson gravitational instanton. In Riemann-Cartan geometric approach to quantum gravity the vacuum tunneling can be provided by means of contortion quantum fluctuations. We define double self-duality condition for the contortion and give explicit self-dual configurations which can contribute to vacuum tunneling amplitude.Comment: 11 pages, 1 fig. is added, final versio

Deterministic Transformations of Multipartite Entangled States with Tensor Rank 2

Transformations involving only local operations assisted with classical communication are investigated for multipartite entangled pure states having tensor rank 2. All necessary and sufficient conditions for the possibility of deterministically converting truly multipartite, rank-2 states into each other are given. Furthermore, a chain of local operations that successfully achieves the transformation has been identified for all allowed transformations. The identified chains have two nice features: (1) each party needs to carry out at most one local operation and (2) all of these local operations are also deterministic transformations by themselves. Finally, it is found that there are disjoint classes of states, all of which can be identified by a single real parameter, which remain invariant under deterministic transformations.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure; added new references and improved the presentatio

The Chinese New Middle Class and Green NGOs in South China: Vanguards of Guanxi (Connections)-Seeking, Laggards in Promoting Social Causes?

By examining the emerging Chinese new middle class as well as green non-governmental organisations, this study finds that while the emergence of the Chinese new middle class facilitates the growth of green NGOs, the Chinese new class is not activists or agitators working against the government. Based on in-depth interviews with leaders of green NGOs founded by the Chinese new middle class in Guangdong province, this research examines why green NGOs do not call for or advocate environmental protection It concludes that contrary to conventional wisdom, the Chinese new middle class is a vanguard of guanxi (connections)-seeking, but a laggard in promoting environmental protection and civil-society activism. Green NGOs are principally used as a tool to cultivate social capital in the form of guanxi in order to promote personal material interests