Modality, Potentiality and Contradiction in Quantum Mechanics

In [11], Newton da Costa together with the author of this paper argued in favor of the possibility to consider quantum superpositions in terms of a paraconsistent approach. We claimed that, even though most interpretations of quantum mechanics (QM) attempt to escape contradictions, there are many hints that indicate it could be worth while to engage in a research of this kind. Recently, Arenhart and Krause [1, 2, 3] have raised several arguments against this approach and claimed that, taking into account the square of opposition, quantum superpositions are better understood in terms of contrariety propositions rather than contradictory propositions. In [17] we defended the Paraconsistent Approach to Quantum Superpositions (PAQS) and provided arguments in favor of its development. In the present paper we attempt to analyze the meanings of modality, potentiality and contradiction in QM, and provide further arguments of why the PAQS is better suited, than the Contrariety Approach to Quantum Superpositions (CAQS) proposed by Arenhart and Krause, to face the interpretational questions that quantum technology is forcing us to consider.Comment: Published in: New Directions in Paraconsistent Logic, J-Y B\'eziau M. Chakraborty & S. Dutta (Eds.), Springer, in press. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1404.518

Returning Home: Unhcr\u27S Strategies For Repatriation For And Reintegration

Under what conditions is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) able to successfully repatriate and reintegrate refugees to their country of origin? This work aims to evaluate the success of UNHCR\u27s initiative to sponsor the repatriation and reintegration of political refugees who voluntarily chose to return to their homeland. The study of political refugees is essential in International Relations, since it entails the failure of preventing ethnic violence and civil unrest. Overall, the emergence of refugees is the product of the inability of conflict prevention. Voluntary repatriation and reintegration of these refugees provides a message of mending relations, state rebuilding and hope. Successful repatriation is the return of refugees with the expectation of a safe return to society. Successful reintegration however ensures their inclusion in society. Therefore, both terms may be related, but must be discussed separately. This inclusion is essential to reconciliation, and the formation of a peaceful, stable society. Hence, this research will bring a better understanding of victims of conflict, the inability of the state to protect its citizens, and possible patterns of repatriation, reintegration and conflict resolution. To answer the question of the success of UNHCR\u27s policies of repatriation and reintegration, I will use two cross-regional case studies: Guatemala and Afghanistan. I will address the hardship undergone by political refugees, the policies they have encountered from UNHCR, and the scenario of voluntary repatriation patterns. I will then evaluate the conditions on the ground to which refugees are returning. Clearly, if these have a high violence rate, a sustainable life and successful reintegration is very unlikely

Detection of the Ammonium Ion in Space

We report on the detection of a narrow feature at 262816.73 MHz towards Orion and the cold prestellar core B1-bS, that we attribute to the 1(0)-0(0) line of the deuterated Ammonium ion, NH3D+. The observations were performed with the IRAM 30m radio telescope. The carrier has to be a light molecular species as it is the only feature detected over 3.6 GHz of bandwidth. The hyperfine structure is not resolved indicating a very low value for the electric quadrupolar coupling constant of Nitrogen which is expected for NH3D+ as the electric field over the N nucleus is practically zero. Moreover, the feature is right at the predicted frequency for the 1(0)-0(0) transition of the Ammonium ion, 262817(6) MHz (3sigma), using rotational constants derived from new infrared data obtained in our laboratory in Madrid. The estimated column density is 1.1(0.2)e12 cm-2. Assuming a deuterium enhancement similar to that of NH2D, we derive N(NH4+) sim 2.6e13 cm-2, i.e., an abundance for Ammonium of a few 1e(-11).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters 04 June 201

The Circular Economy: What, Why, How and Where

This paper was prepared as a background document for an OECD/EC high-level expert workshop on “Managing the transition to a circular economy in regions and cities” held on 5 July 2019 at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, France. It sets a basis for reflection and discussion. The background paper should not be reported as representing the official views of the European Commission, the OECD or one of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s)

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance in the Context of Upper Echelon Theory

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is a firm-level phenomenon, which involves the firm’s prospects to take risks, be proactive, and be innovative. Most of the research assumes a positive EO-performance relationship adopting the EO-as-advantage perspective without providing enough theoretical foundations of the way EO enhances performance. This paper provides insights into the EO and firm performance relationship looking into the EO-as-experimentation perspective. Through EO-as-experimentation perspective, we argue for the importance of looking into the differential effects of each of the EO dimensions on firm performance in active and inactive firms. We hypothesized that the effect of each of the proactiveness and innovativeness dimension of EO on firm performance is positive among active firms and negative among inactive firms. Whereas risk taking dimension of EO is negative among active and inactive firms. Based on the results of firm fixed effect regression some empirical support for the hypotheses is presented and discussed

Shape effects in the fluctuations of random isochrones on a square lattice

We consider the isochrone curves in first-passage percolation on a 2D square lattice, i.e. the boundary of the set of points which can be reached in less than a given time from a certain origin. The occurrence of an instantaneous average shape is described in terms of its Fourier components, highlighting a crossover between a diamond and a circular geometry as the noise level is increased. Generally, these isochrones can be understood as fluctuating interfaces with an inhomogeneous local width which reveals the underlying lattice structure. We show that once these inhomogeneities have been taken into account, the fluctuations fall into the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class with very good accuracy, where they reproduce the Family-Vicsek Ansatz with the expected exponents and the Tracy-Widom histogram for the local radial fluctuations

High-throughput electrochemical sensing platform for screening nanomaterial-biomembrane interactions

A high-throughput, automated screening platform has been developed for the assessment of biological membrane damage caused by nanomaterials. Membrane damage is detected using the technique of analyzing capacitance–current peak changes obtained through rapid cyclic voltammetry measurements of a phospholipid self-assembled monolayer formed on a mercury film deposited onto a microfabricated platinum electrode after the interaction of a biomembrane-active species. To significantly improve wider usability of the screening technique, a compact, high-throughput screening platform was designed, integrating the monolayer-supporting microfabricated electrode into a microfluidic flow cell, with bespoke pumps used for precise, automated control of fluid flow. Chlorpromazine, a tricyclic antidepressant, and a citrate-coated 50 nm diameter gold nanomaterial (AuNM) were screened to successfully demonstrate the platform’s viability for high-throughput screening. Chlorpromazine and the AuNM showed interactions with a 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) monolayer at concentrations in excess of 1 µmol dm−3. Biological validity of the electrochemically measured interaction of chlorpromazine with DOPC monolayers was confirmed through quantitative comparisons with HepG2 and A549 cytotoxicity assays. The platform also demonstrated desirable performance for high-throughput screening, with membrane interactions detected in <6 min per assay. Automation contributed to this significantly by reducing the required operating skill level when using the technique and minimizing fluid consumption

A 3D mathematical model for planning ostectomy on long-bone angular deformities

This study describes a 3D mathematical model for planning a corrective ostectomy on long bones with angular deformities based on CT imaging. The use of three-dimensional information allows the model to compute and correct the bone angulation and rotation. The cutting point selection is developed minimizing the bone length reduction inherent in an ostectomy process. An example of its application on a two year old dog is shown at the end of the paper.Veterinari

A heavy quark effective field lagrangian keeping particle and antiparticle mixed sectors

We derive a tree-level heavy quark effective Lagrangian keeping particle-antiparticle mixed sectors allowing for heavy quark-antiquark pair annihilation and creation. However, when removing the unwanted degrees of freedom from the effective Lagrangian one has to be careful in using the classical equations of motion obeyed by the effective fields in order to get a convergent expansion on the reciprocal of the heavy quark mass. Then the application of the effective theory to such hard processes should be sensible for special kinematic regimes as for example heavy quark pair production near threshold.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 1 EPS figure