Sustainability management : insights from the viable system model

A review of current literature on sustainability standards reveals a significant gap between their adoption and the implementation of sustainability into every level of the organisation. In this paper, it is argued that in order to overcome this challenge, an appropriate model of an organisation is needed. The Viable System Model (VSM) is proposed as such a model and, in order to illustrate this argument, it is used to interpret the ISO 26000 standard on Social Responsibility (SR). First, the VSM theory is introduced and presented by modelling the hypothetical company Widget Co. Then, the clauses of ISO 26000 are mapped on the Widget Co. model, together with detailed descriptions and examples on the organisational and managerial implications of its adopting the standard's guidelines. The result is the identification of generic SR functions that need to be performed by the various organisational governance systems, as well as their dynamic interrelations, thus clarifying implementation issues. Moreover, by identifying different SR management layers, VSM is suggested as a way forward to develop an integration model for SR issues and respective sustainability tools. Finally, a discussion is given on the implications of using this approach to integrate sustainability standards and the way this research contributes to recent developments in sustainability research

Realizations of Hybrid Inflation in Supergravity with natural initial conditions

We present viable F-term realizations of the hybrid inflationary scenario in the context of supergravity addressing at the same time the well-known problems of the initial conditions and of the adequate suppression of the inflaton mass. An essential role in our construction is played by "decoupled" superheavy fields without superpotential acquiring large vevs due to D-terms associated with "anomalous" U(1) gauge symmetries. The naturalness of the initial conditions is achieved through a "chaotic" inflation starting at energies close to the Planck scale and driven by the "anomalous" D-terms. We discuss two distinct mechanisms leading to such an early "chaotic" D-term inflation which depend on the choice of the K\"ahler potential involving the superheavy fields. The one relies on a choice of the K\"ahler potential of the $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ K\"ahler manifold of the type encountered in no-scale supergravity whereas the other employs a more "conventional" choice for the K\"ahler potential of the $SU(1,1)/U(1)$ or $SU(2)/U(1)$ K\"ahler manifold but invokes rather specific valuesof the Fayet-Iliopoulos $\xi$ term.Comment: 32 pages LATEX, no figure

Large Field Inflation in Supergravity

We present a supergravity inflationary scenario in which the inflaton field takes values considerably larger than the Planck scale. It is based on a class of inflationary potentials which can be derived from ``singular'' Kaehler potentials assuming simple superpotentials of the type W\simS^n. To this class belong, among many others, all potentials which are even infinitesimally smaller than the one derived from the minimal Kaehler potential. Our scenario allows for a detectable gravitational wave contribution to the microwave background anisotropy.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex, 6 ps figures. New title, partially rewritten and extended. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Fine tuning of the initial conditions for hybrid inflation

We study the evolution of regions of space with various initial field values for a simple theory that can support hybrid inflation. Only very narrow domains within the range of initial field values below the Planck scale lead to the onset of inflation. This implies a severe fine tuning for the initial configuration that will produce inflation.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 8 figures in eps forma

Dirac Relation and Renormalization Group Equations for Electric and Magnetic Fine Structure Constants

The quantum field theory describing electric and magnetic charges and revealing a dual symmetry was developed in the Zwanziger formalism. The renormalization group (RG) equations for both fine structure constants - electric $\alpha$ and magnetic $\tilde \alpha$ - were obtained. It was shown that the Dirac relation is valid for the renormalized $\alpha$ and $\tilde \alpha$ at the arbitrary scale, but these RG equations can be considered perturbatively only in the small region: $0.25 \stackrel{<}{\sim} \alpha, \tilde \alpha \stackrel{<}{\sim} 1$ with $\tilde \alpha$ given by the Dirac relation: $\alpha {\tilde \alpha}$ = 1/4.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, made corrections of physics after comments from Kim Milto

Blue Perturbation Spectra from Hybrid Inflation with Canonical Supergravity

We construct a hybrid inflationary model associated with the superheavy scale of supersymmetric grand unified theories in which the inflaton potential is provided entirely by canonical supergravity. We find that the spectrum of adiabatic density perturbations is characterized by a strongly varying spectral index which is considerably larger than unity. Moreover, the total number of e-foldings is very limited. Implications of our analysis for other hybrid inflationary scenarios are briefly discussed.Comment: Replaced version corrects misprints and numerical errors in table 1, 12 pages, Revte