From viability to sustainability: the contribution of the viable systems approach (VSA)

The current dynamics of business systems require new ways of conceiving the role of single entities. On this basis, a complex of interactions between the company and the reference context must be activated to guarantee survival dynamics. From these considerations re-emerge the ideas of Peccei (2013) and King (2013) that recognise in the systemic thought the foundations for a sustainable society. The present study derives from these considerations, and aims at contributing to the advancement of the knowledge necessary to overcome the challenges in the sustainability field. The methodological approach, albeit heuristic, can be traced back to the positive scientific and constructivist method. The results of the study showed the prevalence of qualitative and subjective techniques, accompanied by the so-called inductive method, testifying to the intense interaction between the scholar and the object investigated. With regard to future research, it would be interesting to construct a flexible, scalable and extensible model to recover both a database and an ontology for the theoretical framework

The impact of a new median statistics H0H_0 prior on the evidence for dark radiation

Recent analyses that include cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the South Pole Telescope have hinted at the presence of a dark radiation component at more than two standard deviations. However, this result depends sensitively on the assumption of an HST prior on the Hubble constant, where $H_0=73.8\pm2.4$ km/s/Mpc at 68% c.l.. From a median statistics (MS) analysis of 537 non-CMB $H_0$ measurements from Huchra's compilation we derive $H_0=68 \pm2.8$ km/s/Mpc at 68% c.l., in good agreement with the results of a recent analysis of the full Huchra list of $H_0$ measurements. This result is also fully consistent with the value of $H_0=69.7\pm2.5$ km/s/Mpc at 68% c.l. obtained from CMB measurements under assumption of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. We show that with the MS $H_0$ prior the evidence for dark radiation is weakened to $\sim 1.2$ standard deviations. Parametrizing the dark radiation component through the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom $N_{eff}$, we find $N_{eff}=3.98\pm0.37$ at 68% c.l. with the HST prior and $N_{eff}=3.52\pm0.39$ at 68% c.l. with the MS prior. We also discuss the implications for current limits on neutrino masses and on primordial Helium abundances.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Creativity and Autism Spectrum Conditions: a Hypothesis on Lewis Carroll

The hypothesis formulated by Simon Baron-Cohen and his collaborators on the onset of autistic syndromes and their link with an excess of the so-called S brain is reflected in the work of Lewis Carroll, a formal logic and mathematics professor deeply inclined to visual and spatial descriptions, interested in affordances and systemic circuits, and devoid of empathic tendencies in creating his characters. In the future, this finding may serve as a test for predicting autism spectrum disorders and support the elaboration of narrative artefact for therapeutic purposes in relation to people with autism

Creativity and Autism Spectrum Conditions: a Hypothesis on Lewis Carroll

The hypothesis formulated by Simon Baron-Cohen and his collaborators on the onset of autistic syndromes and their link with an excess of the so-called S brain is reflected in the work of Lewis Carroll, a formal logic and mathematics professor deeply inclined to visual and spatial descriptions, interested in affordances and systemic circuits, and devoid of empathic tendencies in creating his characters. In the future, this finding may serve as a test for predicting autism spectrum disorders and support the elaboration of narrative artefact for therapeutic purposes in relation to people with autism

The Fine Structure Constant and the CMB Damping Scale

The recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies at arcminute angular scales performed by the ACT and SPT experiments are probing the damping regime of CMB fluctuations. The analysis of these datasets unexpectedly suggests that the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom is larger than the standard value of Neff = 3.04, and inconsistent with it at more than two standard deviations. In this paper we study the role of a mechanism that could affect the shape of the CMB angular fluctuations at those scales, namely a change in the recombination process through variations in the fine structure constant. We show that the new CMB data significantly improve the previous constraints on variations of {\alpha}, with {\alpha}/{\alpha}0 = 0.984 \pm 0.005, i.e. hinting also to a more than two standard deviation from the current, local, value {\alpha}0. A significant degeneracy is present between {\alpha} and Neff, and when variations in the latter are allowed the constraints on {\alpha} are relaxed and again consistent with the standard value. Deviations of either parameter from their standard values would imply the presence of new, currently unknown physics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The Case for Dark Radiation

Combined analyses of recent cosmological data are showing interesting hints for the presence of an extra relativistic component, coined Dark Radiation. Here we perform a new search for Dark Radiation, parametrizing it with an effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom parameter, \neff. We show that the cosmological data we considered are clearly suggesting the presence for an extra relativistic component with \neff=4.08_{-0.68}^{+0.71} at 95% c.l.. Performing an analysis on Dark Radiation sound speed $c_{\rm eff}$ and viscosity $c_{\rm vis}$ parameters, we found \ceff=0.312\pm0.026 and \cvis=0.29_{-0.16}^{+0.21} at 95% c.l., consistent with the expectations of a relativistic free streaming component (\ceff=\cvis=1/3). Assuming the presence of 3 relativistic neutrinos we constrain the extra relativistic component with \nnus=1.10_{-0.72}^{+0.79} and \ceff=0.24_{-0.13}^{+0.08} at 95% c.l. while \cvis results as unconstrained. Assuming a massive neutrino component we obtain further indications for Dark Radiation with \nnus=1.12_{-0.74}^{+0.86} at 95% c.l. .Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures minor revisions, accepted for publication on PR

Quantum Many-Body Dynamics of Coupled Double-Well Superlattices

We propose a method for controllable generation of non-local entangled pairs using spinor atoms loaded in an optical superlattice. Our scheme iteratively increases the distance between entangled atoms by controlling the coupling between the double wells. When implemented in a finite linear chain of 2N atoms, it creates a triplet valence bond state with large persistency of entanglement (of the order of N). We also study the non-equilibrium dynamics of the one-dimensional ferromagnetic Heisenberg Hamiltonian and show that the time evolution of a state of decoupled triplets on each double well leads to the formation of a highly entangled state where short-distance antiferromagnetic correlations coexist with longer-distance ferromagnetic ones. We present methods for detection and characterization of the various dynamically generated states. These ideas are a step forward towards the use of atoms trapped by light as quantum information processors and quantum simulators.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, references adde

Primates and mouse NumtS in the UCSC Genome Browser

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>NumtS (Nuclear MiTochondrial Sequences) are mitochondrial DNA sequences that, after stress events involving the mitochondrion, colonized the nuclear genome. Accurate mapping of NumtS avoids contamination during mtDNA PCR amplification, thus supplying reliable bases for detecting false heteroplasmies. In addition, since they commonly populate mammalian genomes (especially primates) and are polymorphic, in terms of presence/absence and content of SNPs, they may be used as evolutionary markers in intra- and inter-species population analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The need for an exhaustive NumtS annotation led us to produce the Reference Human NumtS compilation, followed, as reported in this paper, by those for chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and mouse ones. Identification of NumtS inside the UCSC Genome Browser and their inter-species comparison required the design and the implementation of NumtS tracks, starting from the compilation data. NumtS retrieval through the UCSC Genome Browser, in the species examined, is now feasible at a glance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Analyses involving NumtS tracks, together with other genome element tracks publicly available at the UCSC Genome Browser, can provide deep insight into genome evolution and comparative genomics, thus improving studies dealing with the mechanisms that drove the generation of NumtS. In addition, the NumtS tracks constitute a useful tool in the design of mitochondrial DNA primers.</p