Soft Colour Interactions in Non-perturbative QCD

Improved understanding of non-perturbative QCD dynamics can be obtained in terms of soft colour exchange models. Their essence is the variation of colour string-field topologies giving a unified description of final states in high energy interactions. In particular, both events with and without large rapidity gaps are obtained in agreement with data from ep at HERA and ppbar at the Tevatron, where also the surprisingly large production rate of high-p_T charmonium and bottomonium is reproduced.Comment: 4 pages, contribution to PANIC 99 conference proceedings, to appear in Nucl. Phys. A. Uses espcrc1.st

Rapidity Gaps from Colour String Topologies

Diffractive deep inelastic scattering at HERA and diffractive W and jet production at the Tevatron are well described by soft colour exchange models. Their essence is the variation of colour string-field topologies giving both gap and no-gap events, with a smooth transition and thereby a unified description of all final states.Comment: 3 pages, 6 eps figures, contribution to the DIS 99 workshop proceedings, uses npb.st

Moving At-Risk Teenagers Out of High-Risk Neighborhoods: Why Girls Fare Better Than Boys

neighborhood effects; social experiment; mixed methods; youth risk behavior

Diffractive Higgs boson production at the Tevatron and LHC

Improved possibilities to find the Higgs boson in diffractive events, having less hadronic activity, depend on whether the cross section is large enough. Based on the soft color interaction models that successfully describe diffractive hard scattering at HERA and the Tevatron, we find that only a few diffractive Higgs events may be produced at the Tevatron, but we predict a substantial rate at the LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, uses Revtex

Energy Dependence of the Contribution of Pion Exchange to Large-Rapidity-Gap Events in Deep Inelastic Scattering

We study the energy dependence of the contribution of pion exchange to large-rapidity-gap events in deep inelastic scattering. The results show that this contribution can be quite significant at low energy and that the LRG events observed by E665 collaboration in \mu Xe and \mu D interactions at 490 $GeV$ can be reasonably well described in terms of meson exchange. We also show that the distribution of the maximum rapidity for all hadrons is quite different from that for charged hadrons only and that the former exhibits also shoulder-like structure for events at 490 $GeV$ similar to that at HERA.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. D (in press

Second language user support

Computer users rarely experience entirely trouble-free interaction. The natural variety ofindividuals ensures that no software systems yield constantly fluent interaction for allusers. In consequence, software designers often strive to ameliorate this situation bybuilding 'user support' into their systems. User support can take different forms but,conventionally, each aims to assist the needy end-user by means of facilities directly supporting the performance of certain operations, or through supply of information thatadvises the user on available system functionality.The present paper briefly characterises a range of user support facilities before describingone requirement in greater detail. This aspect considers the needs of users whose mother-tongue is not English, but who are obliged to use English-based information systems. Inthis context, 'helping the user' must reasonably extend beyond mere advice on systemoperation to selective elucidation of information content. We regard this move as alogical extension of the user support concept, by seeking to address specific interactionneeds in a target user population. An example of this approach is described through aninformation system, in the domain of civil engineering, for native Chinese speakers ofEnglish

Color Evaporation and Elastic Υ\Upsilon Photoproduction at DESY HERA

The diffractive photoproduction of vector mesons is usually described considering the two-gluon (Pomeron) exchange, non-diagonal parton distributions and the contribution of the real part to the cross section. In this letter we analyze the diffractive photoproduction of the $\Upsilon$ at HERA using an alternative model, the Color Evaporation Model (CEM), where the cross section is simply determined by the boson-gluon cross section and an assumption for the production of the colorless state. We verify that, similarly to the $J/\Psi$ case, the HERA data for this process can be well described by the CEM. Moreover, we propose the analyzes of the ratio $R = \sigma_{\Upsilon} / \sigma_{J/\Psi}$ to discriminate between the distinct approaches.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PRD (Brief Reports

Gluon distributions in nucleons and pions at a low resolution scale

In this paper we study the gluon distribution functions in nucleons and pions at a low resolution $Q^2$ scale. This is an important issue since parton densities at low $Q^2$ have always been taken as an external input which is adjusted through DGLAP evolution to fit the experimental data at higher scales. Here, in the framework of a model recently developed, it is shown that the hypothetical cloud of {\it neutral} pions surrounding nucleons and pions appears to be responsible for the characteristic valence-like gluon distributions needed at the inital low scale. As an additional result, we get the remarkable prediction that neutral and charged pions have different intrinsic sea flavor contents.Comment: final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. Discussion on several points enlarge

Color separate singlets in e+e−e^+e^- annihilation

We use the method of color effective Hamiltonian to study the properties of states in which a gluonic subsystem forms a color singlet, and we will study the possibility that such a subsystem hadronizes as a separate unit. A parton system can normally be subdivided into singlet subsystems in many different ways, and one problem arises from the fact that the corresponding states are not orthogonal. We show that if only contributions of order $1/N_c^2$ are included, the problem is greatly simplified. Only a very limited number of states are possible, and we present an orthogonalization procedure for these states. The result is simple and intuitive and could give an estimate of the possibility to produce color separated gluonic subsystems, if no dynamical effects are important. We also study with a simple MC the possibility that configurations which correspond to "short strings" are dynamically favored. The advantage of our approach over more elaborate models is its simplicity, which makes it easier to estimate color reconnection effects in reactions which are more complicated than the relatively simple $e^+e^-$ annihilation.Comment: Revtex, 24 pages, 7 figures; Compared to the previous version, 1 new figure is added and Monte-Carlo results are re-analyzed, as suggested by the referee; To appear in Phys. Rev.

Patient-Specific Prosthetic Fingers by Remote Collaboration - A Case Study

The concealment of amputation through prosthesis usage can shield an amputee from social stigma and help improve the emotional healing process especially at the early stages of hand or finger loss. However, the traditional techniques in prosthesis fabrication defy this as the patients need numerous visits to the clinics for measurements, fitting and follow-ups. This paper presents a method for constructing a prosthetic finger through online collaboration with the designer. The main input from the amputee comes from the Computer Tomography (CT) data in the region of the affected and the non-affected fingers. These data are sent over the internet and the prosthesis is constructed using visualization, computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. The finished product is then shipped to the patient. A case study with a single patient having an amputated ring finger at the proximal interphalangeal joint shows that the proposed method has a potential to address the patient's psychosocial concerns and minimize the exposure of the finger loss to the public.Comment: Open Access articl