2,626 research outputs found
Living within a One Planet reality: the contribution of personal Footprint calculators
During the last 50 years, humanity's Ecological Footprint has increased by nearly 190% indicating a growing unbalance in the human-environment relationship, coupled with major environmental and social changes. Our ability to live within the planet's biological limits requires not only a major re-think in how we produce and distribute 'things', but also a shift in consumption activities. Footprint calculators can provide a framing that communicates the extent to which an individual's daily activities are compatible with our One Planet context. This paper presents the findings from the first international study to assess the value of personal Footprint calculators in guiding individuals towards sustainable consumption choices. It focuses specifically on Global Footprint Network's personal Footprint calculator, and aims to understand the profile of calculator users and assess the contribution of calculators to increasing individual awareness and encouraging sustainable choices. Our survey of 4245 respondents show that 75% of users resided in 10 countries, 54% were aged 18–34 years and had largely used the calculator within an educational context (62%). The calculator was considered a valuable tool for knowledge generation by 91% of users, and 78% found it useful to motivate action. However, only 23% indicated the calculator provided them with the necessary information to make actual changes to their life and reduce their personal Footprint. The paper discusses how and why this personal Footprint calculator has been effective in enhancing individuals' understanding of the environmental impact of their actions, framing the scale of the problem and empowering users to understand the impacts of different lifestyle choices. Those individual-level and system-level changes needed to generate global sustainability outcomes are also discussed. Similar to other calculators, a gap is also identified in terms of this calculator facilitating individuals to convert new knowledge into action
Constraints on cosmological parameters from future cosmic microwave background experiments
The Planck satellite experiment will soon let cosmologists to determine most of the cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. In particular a strong improvement is expected in many parameters of interest, including neutrino mass, the amount of relativistic particles at recombination, the primordial Helium abundance and the injection of extra ionizing photon by dark matter self-annihilation. Here we review the constraints achievable by future experiments and discuss the implications for fundamental physics. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd
From Cavendish to PLANCK: Constraining Newton's Gravitational Constant with CMB Temperature and Polarization Anisotropy
We present new constraints on cosmic variations of Newton's gravitational
constant by making use of the latest CMB data from WMAP, BOOMERANG, CBI and
ACBAR experiments and independent constraints coming from Big Bang
Nucleosynthesis. We found that current CMB data provide constraints at the 10%
level, that can be improved to 3% by including BBN data. We show that future
data expected from the Planck satellite could constrain G at the 1.5% level
while an ultimate, cosmic variance limited, CMB experiment could reach a
precision of about 0.4%, competitive with current laboratory measurements.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, corrected typos, added reference
New Constraints on variations of the fine structure constant from CMB anisotropies
We demonstrate that recent measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background
temperature and polarization anisotropy made by the ACBAR, QUAD and BICEP
experiments substantially improve the cosmological constraints on possible
variations of the fine structure constant in the early universe. This data,
combined with the five year observations from the WMAP mission yield the
constraint alpha/alpha_0 = 0.987 \pm 0.012 at 68% c.l.. The inclusion of the
new HST constraints on the Hubble constant further increases the accuracy to
alpha/alpha_0 = 1.001 \pm 0.007 at 68% c.l., bringing possible deviations from
the current value below the 1% level and improving previous constraints by a
factor 3.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Forward scatter radar for air surveillance: Characterizing the target-receiver transition from far-field to near-field regions
A generalized electromagnetic model is presented in order to predict the response of forward scatter radar (FSR) systems for air-target surveillance applications in both far-field and near-field conditions. The relevant scattering problem is tackled by developing the Helmholtz-Kirchhoff formula and Babinet's principle to express the scattered and the total fields in typical FSR configurations. To fix the distinctive features of this class of problems, our approach is applied here to metallic targets with canonical rectangular shapes illuminated by a plane wave, but the model can straightforwardly be used to account for more general scenarios. By exploiting suitable approximations, a simple analytical formulation is derived allowing us to efficiently describe the characteristics of the FSR response for a target transitioning with respect to the receiver from far-field to near-field regions. The effects of different target electrical sizes and detection distances on the received signal, as well as the impact of the trajectory of the moving object, are evaluated and discussed. All of the results are shown in terms of quantities normalized to the wavelength and can be generalized to different configurations once the carrier frequency of the FSR system is set. The range of validity of the proposed closed-form approach has been checked by means of numerical analyses, involving comparisons also with a customized implementation of a full-wave commercial CAD tool. The outcomes of this study can pave the way for significant extensions on the applicability of the FSR technique
Coordination Mechanisms along the Supply Chain: a Key-Factor for Competitiveness
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of relationships between
stakeholders in the supply chain as a potential source of competitive advantage. In the case study, we focus on the
wine industry in the Lazio Region (Italy). We observe a significant loss of competitiveness in this industry and we
suggest that a higher level of communication and different coordination mechanisms among stakeholders could help
in recovering a better market position. We focus on the linkages between farmers and the other food chain
stakeholders through the perspective of Institutional Economics and Economics of Organization, in order to identify
the key factors that determine the competitiveness of the supply chain’s product.
The Lazio wine supply chain is investigated through the analysis of official data, integrated with primary data,
collected through in-person interviews and questionnaires addressed to producers and experts. It emerges that the
wine supply chain in the Lazio Region is characterized by a serious decline, suggested by a sharp decrease in
production and sales, low reputation among experts, widespread negative consumers perception. We interpret this
turn-down through the structural features of the market and through the low level of communication and coordination
between the agents. This leads to the identification of potential instruments able to deal with the difficulties
highlighted. We emphasize the role of public institutions in fostering communication and cooperation among firms
and suggest the potential role of a web portal, in linking sellers and buyers in a common network
Pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in acutely ill medical patients: some work remains to be done
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Constraining Fundamental Physics with Future CMB Experiments
The Planck experiment will soon provide a very accurate measurement of Cosmic
Microwave Background anisotropies. This will let cosmologists determine most of
the cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. Future experiments
will improve and complement the Planck data with better angular resolution and
better polarization sensitivity. This unexplored region of the CMB power
spectrum contains information on many parameters of interest, including
neutrino mass, the number of relativistic particles at recombination, the
primordial Helium abundance and the injection of additional ionizing photons by
dark matter self-annihilation. We review the imprint of each parameter on the
CMB and forecast the constraints achievable by future experiments by performing
a Monte Carlo analysis on synthetic realizations of simulated data. We find
that next generation satellite missions such as CMBPol could provide valuable
constraints with a precision close to that expected in current and near future
laboratory experiments. Finally, we discuss the implications of this
intersection between cosmology and fundamental physics.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
Tickling the CMB damping tail: scrutinizing the tension between the ACT and SPT experiments
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) have
recently provided new, very precise measurements of the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) anisotropy damping tail. The values of the cosmological
parameters inferred from these measurements, while broadly consistent with the
expectations of the standard cosmological model, are providing interesting
possible indications for new physics that are definitely worth of
investigation. The ACT results, while compatible with the standard expectation
of three neutrino families, indicate a level of CMB lensing, parametrized by
the lensing amplitude parameter A_L, that is about 70% higher than expected. If
not a systematic, this anomalous lensing amplitude could be produced by
modifications of general relativity or coupled dark energy. Vice-versa, the SPT
experiment, while compatible with a standard level of CMB lensing, prefers an
excess of dark radiation, parametrized by the effective number of relativistic
degrees of freedom N_eff. Here we perform a new analysis of these experiments
allowing simultaneous variations in both these, non-standard, parameters. We
also combine these experiments, for the first time in the literature, with the
recent WMAP9 data, one at a time. Including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
prior on the Hubble constant and information from baryon acoustic oscillations
(BAO) surveys provides the following constraints from ACT: N_eff=3.23\pm0.47,
A_L=1.65\pm0.33 at 68% c.l., while for SPT we have N_eff=3.76\pm0.34,
A_L=0.81\pm0.12 at 68% c.l.. In particular, the A_L estimates from the two
experiments, even when a variation in N_eff is allowed, are in tension at more
than 95% c.l..Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, v.2. some typos and sentences correcte
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
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