Scheme Dependence at Small x

We discuss the evolution of F_2^p at small x, emphasizing the uncertainties related to expansion, fitting, renormalization and factorization scheme dependence. We find that perturbative extrapolation from the measured region down to smaller x and lower Q^2 may become strongly scheme dependent.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX with epsfig, 2 uuencoded figure

BFKL at NNLO

We present a recent determination of an approximate expression for the O(alpha_s^3) contribution chi_2 to the kernel of the BFKL equation. This includes all collinear and anticollinear singular contributions and is derived using duality relations between the GLAP and BFKL kernels.Comment: 8 pages. Talk presented at 12th International Conference on Elastic and Diffractive Scattering: Forward Physics and QCD, Hamburg, DESY, Germany, 21-25 May 200

B_s^0 - bar{B}_s^0 Mixing and the B_s -> J/psi phi Asymmetry in Supersymmetric Models

We analyse supersymmetric contributions to B_s mixing and their impact on mixing-induced CP asymmetries, using the mass insertion approximation. We discuss in particular the correlation of SUSY effects in the CP asymmetries of B_s -> J/psi phi and B_d -> phi K_S and find that the mass insertions dominant in B_s mixing and B_d -> phi K_S are (delta_{23}^d)_{LL, RR} and (delta_{23}^d)_{LR, RL}, respectively. We show that models with dominant (delta_{23}^d)_{LR, RL} can accomodate a negative value of S_{phi K_S}, in agreement with the BELLE measurement of that observable, but yield a B_s mixing phase too small to be observed. On the other hand, models with dominant (delta_{23}^d)_{LL, RR} predict sizeable SUSY contributions to both Delta M_s and the mixing phase, but do not allow the asymmetry in B_d -> phi K_S to become negative, except for small values of the average down squark mass, which, in turn, entail a value of Delta M_s too large to be observed at the Tevatron and the LHC. We conclude that the observation of B_s mixing at hadron machines, together with the confirmation of a negative value of S_{phi K_S}, disfavours models with a single dominant mass insertion.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

A Constituent Quark Anti-Quark Effective Lagrangian Based on the Dual Superconducting Model of Long Distance QCD

We review the assumptions leading to the description of long distance QCD by a Lagrangian density expressed in terms of dual potentials. We find the color field distribution surrounding a quark anti-quark pair to first order in their velocities. Using these distributions we eliminate the dual potentials from the Lagrangian density and obtain an effective interaction Lagrangian $L_I ( \vec x_1 \, , \vec x_2 \, ; \vec v_1 \, , \vec v_2 )$ depending only upon the quark and anti-quark coordinates and velocities, valid to second order in their velocities. We propose $L_I$ as the Lagrangian describing the long distance interaction between constituent quarks. Elsewhere we have determined the two free parameters in $L_I$, $\alpha_s$ and the string tension $\sigma$, by fitting the 17 known levels of $b \bar b$ and $c \bar c$ systems. Here we use $L_I$ at the classical level to calculate the leading Regge trajectory. We obtain a trajectory which becomes linear at large $M^2$ with a slope $\alpha' \simeq .74 \, \hbox{GeV}^{-1}$, and for small $M^2$ the trajectory bends so that there are no tachyons. For a constituent quark mass between 100 and 150 MeV this trajectory passes through the two known Regge recurrences of the $\pi$ meson. In this paper, for simplicity of presentation, we have treated the quarks as spin-zero particles.Comment: {\bf 32,UW/PT94-0

Evaluation of the primary/secondary care interface in relation to a primary care rheumatology service

Objective The rheumatology department at The Royal Oldham Hospital developed a primary care service aimed at bridging the gap between primary and secondary care for patients with potential rheumatological conditions, and this was given the name rheumatology Tier 2. The objective of this study was to evaluate this primary care rheumatology service (Tier 2)in order to assess its validity, patient satisfaction and effectiveness. Design Ten patients participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Three GPs were interviewed individually, and two GPs formed a focus group. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the findings. Setting Patients were recruited from seven consecutive rheumatology Tier 2 clinics. GPs were recruited from Oldham Primary Care Trust (PCT) as this was the main source of patient referrals for the service. Results The key findings were in relation to the integration of primary healthcare and hospital services, i.e. the primary/secondary care interface. This highlighted the importance of early assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis. Conclusion Early diagnosis and treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs improves patients’ outcomes. The rheumatology Tier 2 service built on this evidence and provided a rapid assessment and referral to secondary care for those patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis

Remembering Our Heritage: Studies in Friends Beliefs

The material in this booklet was first written by Charles S. Ball in the form of eight articles for The Collegiate Contact, the monthly publication for college students in California Yearly Meeting of the Friends Church. At the time of publication, collegians received the articles with considerable appreciation for their relevance, lucidity and scholarly tone. In response to many requests that the articles be made available for a wider circulation, the Board of Christian Education of California Yearly Meeting has authorized this reprinting. It is our hope that this material may be of great value as resource material for membership classes, study groups, Sunday School teachers and all who may be interested in acquainting themselves more fully with Friends beliefs. In their original intent these essays were particularly oriented to relate Friends beliefs to the basic doctrines of Protestantism at large. Topics were selected for their relevance to the college community, and the brevity of the articles was dictated by the format of The Collegiate Contact. Charles S. Ball is a birthright Friend who was recorded as a minister by Ohio Yearly Meeting, Damascus, Ohio. After serving as pastor in Ohio, he headed the Friends Bible College and Academy of Haviland, Kansas, taught in the Bible Department of Friends University, and was president of William Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa, for eight years before becoming pastor of the East Whittier Friends Church in Whittier, California.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerbooks/1075/thumbnail.jp

Dominance of the light-quark condensate in the heavy-to-light exclusive decays

Using the QCD {\it hybrid} (moments-Laplace) sum rule, we show $semi$-$analytically$ that, in the limit M_b \rar \infty, the $q^2$ and $M_b$ behaviours of the heavy-to-light exclusive (\bar B\rar \rho~(\pi) semileptonic as well as the B\rar \rho\gamma rare) decay--form factors are $universally$ dominated by the contribution of the soft light-quark condensate rather than that of the hard perturbative diagram. The QCD-analytic $q^2$ behaviour of the form factors is a polynomial in $q^2/M^2_b$, which mimics quite well the usual pole parametrization, except in the case of the $A_1^B$ form factor, where there is a significant deviation from this polar form. The $M_b$-dependence of the form factors expected from HQET and lattice results is recovered. We extract with a good accuracy the ratios: $V^B(0)/A^B_1(0) \simeq A^B_2(0)/A^B_1(0) \simeq 1.11\pm 0.01$, and $A^B_1(0)/F^B_1(0) \simeq 1.18 \pm 0.06$; combined with the ``world average" value of $f^B_+(0)$ or/and $F^B_1(0)$, these ratios lead to the decay rates: $\Gamma_{\bar B\rar \pi e\bar \nu} \simeq (4.3 \pm 0.7)Comment: 10 pages, CERN-TH 7237/94 (the previous version contains numerical errors). Latex file (run twice) 3 ps.figures available by mai