A Probabilistic Angle on One Loop Scalar Integrals

Recasting the $N$-point one loop scalar integral as a probabilistic problem, allows the derivation of integral recurrence relations as well as exact analytical expressions in the most common cases. $\epsilon$ expansions are derived by writing a formula that relates an $N$-point function in decimal dimension to an $N$-point function in integer dimension. As an example, we give relations for the massive 5-point function in dimension $n=4-2\epsilon$, $n=6-2\epsilon$. The reduction of tensor integrals of rank 2 with $N=5$ is achieved showing the method's potential. Hypergeometric functions are not needed but only integration of arcsine function whose analytical continuation is well known.Comment: 35 pages, no figure

Women, Solidarity & the Global Factory

[Excerpt] For many of us who are concerned with international labor issues, a new image has come to represent our collective understanding of the global economy. It is an image of women in Third World nations toiling under sweatshop conditions in huge assembly plants owned by U.S.-based transnational corporations (TNCs). Yet what does international solidarity really mean in practice? Who does it include, and how? From a U.S. standpoint, if so many women workers are not organized into unions, how can they be included in international networks? If their voices are not heard, what can these networks hope to accomplish? This article explores these questions by looking at the experience of several groups in promoting international communication among women workers in the nonunion sector. It is excerpted from The Global Factory: An Organizing Guide for a New Economic Era. The complete publication, developed by the American Friends Service Committee, surveys the efforts of many different kinds of groups, inside and outside the trade union movement, to build international labor networks

Religious and Political Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alfred Stepan’s “twin-tolerations” thesis (2000) is a model for explaining different ways that religious and political authority come to be reconciled. In this paper, we investigate some obstacles and challenges to realizing a reconciliation between religious and political authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) that might result in a transition away from a theocratic monarchy to a more consultative form of political authority. Whereas most analyses of religion and politics in KSA focus on geopolitics, the rentier state model, or economic and military aid from the United States, we also consider local factors that emphasize the agency of political and non-political actors within KSA, focusing in particular on education policy and how this policy is a barrier to political reform. Our position is not meant to replace the standard models, but rather to supplement them by offering a multi-variable perspective on the challenges and prospects for meaningful political reform in KSA