The Simple Geometry of Perfect Information Games

Perfect information games have a particularly simple structure of equilibria in the associated normal form. For generic such games each of the finitely many connected components of Nash equilibria is contractible. For every perfect information game there is a unique connected and contractible component of subgame perfect equilibria. Finally, the graph of the subgame perfect equilibrium correspondence, after a very mild deformation, looks like the space of perfect information extensive form games.Perfect information, Subgame perfection, Equilibrium correspondence

General features of the energy landscape in Lennard-Jones like model liquids

Features of the energy landscape sampled by supercooled liquids are numerically analyzed for several Lennard-Jones like model systems. The properties of quasisaddles (minima of the square gradient of potential energy W=|grad V|^2), are shown to have a direct relationship with the dynamical behavior, confirming that the quasisaddle order extrapolates to zero at the mode-coupling temperature T_MCT. The same result is obtained either analyzing all the minima of W or the saddles (absolute minima of W), supporting the conjectured similarity between quasisaddles and saddles, as far as the temperature dependence of the properties influencing the slow dynamics is concerned. We find evidence of universality in the shape of the landscape: plots for different systems superimpose into master curves, once energies and temperatures are scaled by T_MCT. This allows to establish a quantitative relationship between T_MCT and potential energy barriers for LJ-like systems, and suggests a possible generalization to different model liquids.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Technical, economic and environmental assessement of bioethanol biorefinery from waste biomass

This study presents a sequential three-steps methodology for the technical, economic and environmental assessment (TEEA) of bioethanol production from waste biomass. In EU the most abundant waste biomasses produced in 2018 could be ascribed to three main categories: lignocellulosic (329.41 Mt), starch (160 Mt) and sugar-based (58.56 Mt). The technical assessment compiled an inventory of the waste biomasses and subsequently designed their biological conversion into ethanol through integrated biorefinery processes by means of material flow analysis (MFA); the economic assessment was aimed at the definition of the cut-off size of the biorefinery plant necessary to achieve profitability; the environmental assessment was based on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and energy balance (i.e. energy input consumption). For each of the three waste biomass categories, at least one that was significant as available amount and representative in terms of physico-chemical characteristics, was evaluated: sugarcane for sugar-based, potatoes for starch-based and rice straw, cattle manure and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) for lignocellulosic biomasses. The technical assessment of the biorefinery routes lead to the following yields (kg of bioethanol per kg of biomass): 0.16, 0.17, 0.22, 0.19 and 0.14 respectively. The economic profitability was reached by all biorefineries and Net Present Value (M€) were: 0.85 for sugarcane, 0.11 for potatoes, 0.09 for rice straw, 0.11 for cattle manure and 0.39 for OFMSW. From the environmental perspective, cattle manure reached the highest reduction of climate change and acidification impacts compared to other biomasses, while sugarcane achieved the lowest energy input consumption (around 64%)

Modelling of a standard gas mixtures generator with computational fluid dynamics

Monitoring VOC for climate change and for indoor and outdoor air quality at trace level concentrations need reference standard materials at high metrological performance. To improve this performance, the description of phenomena involved in mixtures generation by rigorous models is mandatory. A model to describe diffusion cells of a primary generator was developed and validated with experimental data. A good agreement was found between the uncertainties of measurements and calculations

“Fasad, Hijra and Warlike Diaspora” from the Geographic Boundaries of Early Islam to a New Dar al-Hikma: Europe

This paper aims to emphasize the influence that “Classic” Islamic Thought had on the contemporary European-Islamic one regarding the conceptualization and action of emigration (hijra-hajara) through the geographical and juridical redefinition of the Old Continent as a new “house” (dar/bayt) in hosting a Muslim population. The analysis should also be considered in relation to the sectarian and violent phase which followed the peaceful one of the so-called “Arab Spring” and the current deflagration of part of the Middle East. During the proto-Islamic historical phase, the term muhajirun was adopted to define those who made the hijra, referring to the prophet Muhammad’s followers in 622. They aimed to live according to religious behaviour and started to be different from their polytheist society of origin; the same term was also used to categorize those who partially populated the new conquered territories in the following decades: Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Iranian plateau, etc., and who decided to take root and become in-urbanized. The contemporary juridical, political, and religious perception, before and after 2011, started to consider a different “emigration” perspective, which, not so differently from the original hijra conceptualization, is rooted in abandoning a land of warlike and sectarian violence to reach a geography where individual religious affiliation can be safeguarded

El Islam y el Neo-liberalismo. La crisis de la democracia

La compleja evolución del Islam en el último siglo no se puede disociar de las peculiares relaciones entre su doctrina religiosa y a interpretación de las ideas económicas del Corán, en un entorno de países regados con la riqueza derivada de los petrodólares

Operationalizing perpetrator studies. Focusing readers’ reactions to The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell

Within the field of Holocaust Studies the last decade has witnessed a turn to the figure of the perpetrator, who had hitherto received little attention due to ethical, legal and psychological reasons. A similar turn can also be observed in connection with the study of empathy. In this context, the concept of “negative empathy,” intended as a sharing of emotions with morally negative fictional characters, has become an increasingly discussed topic. For research in this area, the novel The Kindly Ones (2006) by Jonathan Littell takes up a privileged position in light of its intrinsic literary quality and due to its commercial and critical success. This novel recounts the memories of an SS-officer, Maximilian Aue, who participated in the Shoah. We have carried out an experiment using some passages of this novel to test the empathic reactions of (104) readers. Passages were presented under either of two conditions: as a fictional text or as part of an autobiography. Results showed that fictionalization has a significant effect on moral disengagement; readers who read the narrative presented to them as fictional experienced higher levels of moral disengagement compared to readers in the autobiography condition. Moreover, higher levels of moral disengagement led to significantly higher levels of empathy for the protagonist of the novel