Ground state cooling of atoms in optical lattices

We propose two schemes for cooling bosonic and fermionic atoms that are trapped in a deep optical lattice. The first scheme is a quantum algorithm based on particle number filtering and state dependent lattice shifts. The second protocol alternates filtering with a redistribution of particles by means of quantum tunnelling. We provide a complete theoretical analysis of both schemes and characterize the cooling efficiency in terms of the entropy. Our schemes do not require addressing of single lattice sites and use a novel method, which is based on coherent laser control, to perform very fast filtering.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Nature-Inspired Interconnects for Self-Assembled Large-Scale Network-on-Chip Designs

Future nano-scale electronics built up from an Avogadro number of components needs efficient, highly scalable, and robust means of communication in order to be competitive with traditional silicon approaches. In recent years, the Networks-on-Chip (NoC) paradigm emerged as a promising solution to interconnect challenges in silicon-based electronics. Current NoC architectures are either highly regular or fully customized, both of which represent implausible assumptions for emerging bottom-up self-assembled molecular electronics that are generally assumed to have a high degree of irregularity and imperfection. Here, we pragmatically and experimentally investigate important design trade-offs and properties of an irregular, abstract, yet physically plausible 3D small-world interconnect fabric that is inspired by modern network-on-chip paradigms. We vary the framework's key parameters, such as the connectivity, the number of switch nodes, the distribution of long- versus short-range connections, and measure the network's relevant communication characteristics. We further explore the robustness against link failures and the ability and efficiency to solve a simple toy problem, the synchronization task. The results confirm that (1) computation in irregular assemblies is a promising and disruptive computing paradigm for self-assembled nano-scale electronics and (2) that 3D small-world interconnect fabrics with a power-law decaying distribution of shortcut lengths are physically plausible and have major advantages over local 2D and 3D regular topologies

Topological p_x+ip_y Superfluid Phase of Fermionic Polar Molecules

We discuss the topological p_x+ip_y superfluid phase in a 2D gas of single-component fermionic polar molecules dressed by a circularly polarized microwave field. This phase emerges because the molecules may interact with each other via a potential V_0(r) that has an attractive dipole-dipole 1/r^3 tail, which provides p-wave superfluid pairing at fairly high temperatures. We calculate the amplitude of elastic p-wave scattering in the potential V_0(r) taking into account both the anomalous scattering due to the dipole-dipole tail and the short-range contribution. This amplitude is then used for the analytical and numerical solution of the renormalized BCS gap equation which includes the second order Gor'kov-Melik-Barkhudarov corrections and the correction related to the effective mass of the quasiparticles. We find that the critical temperature T_c can be varied within a few orders of magnitude by modifying the short-range part of the potential V_0(r). The decay of the system via collisional relaxation of molecules to dressed states with lower energies is rather slow due to the necessity of a large momentum transfer. The presence of a constant transverse electric field reduces the inelastic rate, and the lifetime of the system can be of the order of seconds even at 2D densities ~ 10^9 cm^{-2}. This leads to T_c of up to a few tens of nanokelvins and makes it realistic to obtain the topological p_x+ip_y phase in experiments with ultracold polar molecules.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, published versio

An explorative study setting a national supportive system of near-miss management for the Italian industrial sector

Initiatives, projects, and programmes for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management benefit from supportive systems to develop and properly last over time. National OSH systems were born to enforce the law by applying national regulations. In the last years, most countries have started to take preventative actions to improve workers’ health and safety conditions. Assistance initiatives are growing fast, and new roles and profiles are arising to keep up with changes. Nowadays, national OSH actors usually perform both supervisory and supporting activities. This is widely applied in Italy where several bodies promote and support companies in taking part in OSH initiatives. In Italy, a collaborative project for near-miss management is under development by the Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL, i.e., in Italian, “Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro”). The project aims at increasing awareness of the relevance of near-miss monitoring. This paper studies the environment setting for this project, so bodies that will have an active role in its implementation and daily management. A focus group with INAIL’s experts and researchers from two Italian universities has enabled to identify key actors and their role in the project’s development and to select the most viable scenarios. This work provides a methodological approach to study other national supportive OSH systems and also detects Italian best practices replicable in other countries

Quantum Simulations of Extended Hubbard Models with Dipolar Crystals

In this paper we study the realization of lattice models in mixtures of atomic and dipolar molecular quantum gases. We consider a situation where polar molecules form a self-assembled dipolar lattice, in which atoms or molecules of a second species can move and scatter. We describe the system dynamics in a master equation approach in the Brownian motion limit of slow particles and fast phonons, which we find appropriate for our system. In a wide regime of parameters, the reduced dynamics of the particles leads to physical realizations of extended Hubbard models with tuneable long-range interactions mediated by crystal phonons. This extends the notion of quantum simulation of strongly correlated systems with cold atoms and molecules to include phonon-dynamics, where all coupling parameters can be controlled by external fields.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figure

Workforce planning in project-driven companies: a high-level guideline

Workforce Planning (WFP) has become a crucial part of the governance of project-driven companies and has been deemed fundamental to drive critical decisions on resource management. To manage manpower planning, companies independently developed internal procedures according to their sector, size, and skills. Despite the efforts to create a reliable workforce planning process, a lack of knowledge, standardization and sharing might lead to misalignment and to heterogeneous approaches among different organizations. This study aims at investigating the current knowledge of the WFP, pointing at the detection of its key factors in terms of process steps, application context, methods, input data, actors, tools and reports’ frequency. Additionally, it attempts to define WFP high-level guidelines which can be generally valid for project-driven organizations. The research seeks to meet these goals by combining the results of the academic literature review on the WFP with the findings of the empirical study in which the representatives of ten project-based enterprises participated. The paper describes the key principles of WFP and its main process’ sections, offering high-level guidelines in terms of recommended process steps, actors involved, operative models, data input, report’s frequency, and tools. The presented features, generated by the literature review and the empirical study, are meant to be generally applicable to project-driven companies and to support the practitioners initiating this process in their organization

Guidelines for the implementation of workforce planning (WFP) in project-driven environments

A core activity of human resource management, facing the huge challenge of matching the staffing needs in terms of right amount of skilled workers at the right moment, so as to make the whole organization able to deliver a project within a scope, on time, and budget

Smart Metering Projects: An Interpretive Framework for Successful Implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze a set of smart meters implementation projects and provide insights and recommendations to facilitate smart metering deployment strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Several significant projects are analyzed on different fronts: scale, technology, economics and regulation, using a common methodology to unfold patterns that constitute key components of successful smart meters diffusion. Findings – Key elements and controllable enabling patterns from Europe-wide SM implementation projects are identified together with drivers and barriers for patterns replication. Research limitations/implications – The authors provide a framework considering different stakeholders that will help distribution systemoperators to accelerate and extend smart meters’ penetration. Originality/value – Based on the Meter-ON project (supported by the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission), we provide valuable information aimed at facilitating the large-scale deployment of smart meters