  Strangeness enhancement in heavy-ion collisions is studied at the parton
level by examining the partition of the new sea quarks generated by gluon
conversion into the strange and non-strange sectors. The CTEQ parton
distribution functions are used as a baseline for the quiescent sea before
gluon conversion. By quark counting simple constraints are placed on the hadron
yields in different channels. The experimental values of particle ratios are
fitted to determine the strangeness enhancement factor. A quantitative measure
of Pauli blocking is determined. Energy dependence between SPS and RHIC
energies is well described. No thermal equilibrium or statistical model is
assumed.
