Information-theoretic sensitivity analysis: a general method for credit assignment in complex networks

Most systems can be represented as networks that couple a series of nodes to each other via one or more edges, with typically unknown equations governing their quantitative behaviour. A major question then pertains to the importance of each of the elements that act as system inputs in determining the output(s). We show that any such system can be treated as a ‘communication channel’ for which the associations between inputs and outputs can be quantified via a decomposition of their mutual information into different components characterizing the main effect of individual inputs and their interactions. Unlike variance-based approaches, our novel methodology can easily accommodate correlated inputs

Improving the role of River Basin Organisations in sustainable river basin governance by linking social institutional capacity and basin biophysical capacity

The river basin organisation (RBO) model has been advocated as organisational best practice for sustainable river basin management, despite scant evidence of its effectiveness to manage complex river systems. This review provides a framework which combines functional social-institutional capacities with basin biophysical indicators in a diagnostic tool to determine RBO governance performance. Each of these two capacities are represented by four groups of indicators respectively covering social learning capacity and biophysical capacity. The distance and alignment between capacity and measure of performance scores can be used to prioritise program planning and resource allocation for improving river basin governance, and to undertake periodic evaluations as part of a trajectory analysis. The diagnostic functional framework provides tangible indicators of performance around key concepts in river basin governance. It offers a first attempt to strengthen the position and effectiveness of an RBO in dealing with complex adaptive systems

Terra avita. I giardini di matuta, La citta iniziatica, Sotto il segno di san Giorgio, ...

Terra avita : I giardini di matuta, La citta iniziatica, Sotto il segno di san Giorgio, [...] / Stefano Molle. - Roma : El Dia Grafico e La Noche Editori, c1931 Dedica manoscritta dell'autore: A S. E. Emilio Bodrero / Vice Presidente della Camera dei / Deputati / Stefano Molle / molto devoto https://galileodiscovery.unipd.it/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=39UPD_INST:VU1&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=alma99000156957020604

Past and Present Issues Relating to the Transfer of Ownership of Nuclear Material for Nuclear Research

In the past the ownership of nuclear materials was considered an asset without many more considerations. Treaties such as the US Atomic Energy Act and the Euratom Treaty had the objective of ensuring regular and equitable supply of nuclear ores and fuels. In the frame of this philosophy the right of ownership was introduced in the Euratom Treaty. Throughout the years the philosophy behind the concept of such particular right of ownership has changed and the US provisions on ownership were repealed in 1964 by the Private Ownership of Special Nuclear Materials Act. However, the ownership according to the provisions of the Euratom Treaty is still unmodified in place. Nuclear accidents, the ecological concerns and the threat of nuclear terrorism have influenced the public opinion and created the overall awareness of nuclear risks. These risks relate also to back-end or spent fuel and nuclear waste, not only from a safety and security point of view, but also from an economic point of view. The present study intends to focus on the effects this evolution has had on the situation related to nuclear materials in the context of scientific research. Where in the era of enthusiasm in relation to obtaining nuclear material for research purposes without in depth consideration of future liabilities, no excessive attention was paid to the creation of a sound legal frame of supply contracts, now a growing awareness with regard to possible liabilities and economic burden gave rise to the elaboration of a series of administrative and legal obligations. This study will try to analyse the legal basis to determine ownership/right of use/liabilities and will examine the interaction between the Euratom Treaty and domestic law (both private law and nuclear (public) legislation), also in the light of the recent case law of the EJC. Past practices will be described and the problems such practices create at present will be analysed, in particular what concerns liabilities in the frame of dismantling and disposal activities and decontamination costs. Further, this contribution will try to give a transparent and practical overview on the different aspects that should be taken into consideration when negotiating contracts involving a transfer of ownership of nuclear material. For such contracts, the most relevant articles will be described in order to give a practical guidance when drafting such type of (supply) contracts.JRC.D.1-Management suppor

Pressor effects from daily events and laboratory complex stimuli relating personality factors.

Our preliminary research has attempted to establish a series of methods to study the complex interactions occurring between pressor reactivity and personality profile. Ten untreated mild hypertensives (age 42.9 +/- 8) without damaged target organs were recruited from an outpatient hypertension center along with an equal number of normotensive volunteers (age 38.2 +/- 8.1). We performed a sequence of stressor types under laboratory conditions (sensory perceptual activities, psychomotor responses, and cognitive behavior) following an order ranging from inferior levels to superior levels of systemic integration. The subjects also underwent a 24-h automatic noninvasive blood pressure recording which took into account the situational reactivity. They filled in MMPI and STAI questionnaires before and after the stressor batteries. Only the sensory-perceptual test (Stroop color test modified), the arithmetic test, and the psychomotor test provoked a significant increase in blood pressure and, in the latter test, also a significant increase of the heart rate. The test batteries' mean differences were not significant between the two groups. Similarly, the answers to the trait-anxiety questionnaires did not allow us to make a substantial division between normotensive and hypertensive subjects. On the contrary, the situational anxiety questionnaires showed a significant difference in the score reading preceding and following a task performed by the hypertensive subjects. We observed significant differences for both systolic and diastolic 24-h blood pressure data in transition from a working situation to the sleeping period. However, there was not a significant difference in hypertensive blood pressure readings recorded during work and at home.

Optical Conductivity of Two-Dimensional Silicon: Evidence of Dirac Electrodynamics

The exotic electrodynamics properties of graphene come from the linearly dispersive electronic bands that host massless Dirac electrons. A similar behavior was predicted to manifest in freestanding silicene, the silicon counterpart of graphene, thereby envisaging a new route for silicon photonics. However, the access to silicene exploitation in photonics was hindered so far by the use of optically inappropriate substrates in experimentally realized silicene. Here we report on the optical conductivity of silicon nanosheets epitaxially grown on optically transparent Al2O3(0001) from a thickness of a few tens of nanometers down to the extreme two-dimensional (2D) limit. When a 2D regime is approached, a Dirac-like electrodynamics can be deduced from the observation of a low-energy optical conductivity feature owing to a silicene-based interfacing to the substrate

Pressor effects from daily events and laboratory complex stimuli relating personality factors.

Our preliminary research has attempted to establish a series of methods to study the complex interactions occurring between pressor reactivity and personality profile. Ten untreated mild hypertensives (age 42.9 +/-8) without damaged target organs were recruited from an out- patient hypertension center along with an equal number of normotensive volunteers (age 38.2 +/-8.1). We performed a sequence of stressor types under laboratory con- ditions (sensory perceptual activities, psychomotor responses, and cognitive behavior) following an order ranging from inferior levels to superior levels of systemic integration. The subjects also underwent a24-h automatic noninvasive blood pressure recording which took into account the situational reactivity. They filled in MMPI and STAI questionnaires before and after the stressor batteries. Only the sensory-perceptual test (Stroop color test modified), the arithmetic test, and the psychomotor test provoked a significant increase in blood pressure and, in the latter test, also a significant increase of the heart rate. The test batteries’ mean differences were not significant between the two groups. Similarly, the answers to the tmit- anxiety questionnaires did not allow us to make a substantial division between normotensive and hypertensive subjects. On the contrary, the situational anxiety questionnaires showed a significant difference in the score read- ing preceding and following a task performed by the hypertensive subjects. We observed significant differences for both systolic and diastolic 24-h blood pressure data in transition from a working situation to the sleeping period. However, there was not a significant difference in hypertensiveblood pressure readings recorded during work and at home. The personality structures did not present remarkable differences between the two groups. With reference to the single personality dimensions, we found a number of higher scores expressing difficulty in adapting to social situations, a low capacity for self-assertion, and a great sense of insecurity

Optical response and ultrafast carrier dynamics of the silicene-silver interface

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the optical response of epitaxial silicene on silver. The silicene/Ag(111) ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra, which turn out to be strongly nonadditive, are analyzed in the framework of ab initio calculations. Electronic transitions involving silver states are found to provide huge contributions to the optical absorption of silicene, compatible with a strong Si-Ag hybridization. The results are independent of the specific silicene configuration and are also worked out for thin amorphous silicon. This points to a dimensionality-driven peculiar dielectric response of the two-dimensional-silicon/silver interface, which is confirmed by means of transient-reflectance spectroscopy. The latter shows a metalliclike relaxation time, hence demonstrating the effects of the strong hybridization arising in silicene/Ag(111) systems on charge carriers dynamical properties