2,197 research outputs found
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 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 km/s/Mpc at 68%
c.l.. From a median statistics (MS) analysis of 537 non-CMB measurements
from Huchra's compilation we derive km/s/Mpc at 68% c.l., in
good agreement with the results of a recent analysis of the full Huchra list of
measurements. This result is also fully consistent with the value of
km/s/Mpc at 68% c.l. obtained from CMB measurements under
assumption of the standard CDM model. We show that with the MS
prior the evidence for dark radiation is weakened to standard
deviations. Parametrizing the dark radiation component through the effective
number of relativistic degrees of freedom , we find
at 68% c.l. with the HST prior and
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 and
viscosity 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
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