Constraints on Extragalactic Point Source Flux from Diffuse Neutrino Limits

We constrain the maximum flux from extragalactic neutrino point sources by using diffuse neutrino flux limits. We show that the maximum flux from extragalactic point sources is E^2(dN/dE) < 1.4 x 10^-9 (L_nu/2x10^43 erg/s)^1/3 GeV cm-^2 s^-1 from individual point sources with average neutrino luminosity per decade, L_nu. It depends only slightly on factors such as the inhomogeneous matter density distribution in the local universe, the luminosity distribution, and the assumed spectral index. The derived constraints are at least one order of magnitude below the current experimental limits from direct searches. Significant constraints are also derived on the number density of neutrino sources and on the total neutrino power density.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, and 2 table

Integrating religious engagement into diplomacy: challenges and opportunities

The last few years have witnessed a flurry of interest and activity around religion and religious engagement in diplomatic circles on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2013, the US State Department established a new Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives as part of a broader national strategy on religious leadership and faith community engagement led by the White House’s National Security Council. Within the same year, the European Union issued new guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief; the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development opened a new office focused on similar issues; and the French Foreign Ministry sponsored a major conference on the question of religion and foreign policy with a keynote address delivered by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius

Il Laboratorio per l’accreditamento di Ateneo. Prime valutazioni di un’esperienza di formazione personale e collettiva a UNIMORE

A Workshop for the accreditation of the University. Preliminary evaluations of an experience of individual and collective training at UNIMORE. The paper presents the results of the Workshop for the accreditation of the University, organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). The workshop is devoted to the students that are members of the Joint docents - students committees and consists of several educational activities ranging from lessons to practical exercises. The workshop is based on a principle established in the Document for QA of the education of UNIMORE, that is the commitment of the University «to act deliberately so that students are involved, individually and collectively, as partners in quality assurance and in strengthening their educational experience». The work considers some problematic aspects that gradually have emerged in the course of its implementation; it develops some critical reflections on the experience and concludes by outlining possible developments of this work, which seems to be unique on the national scene

Future mobility and land use scenarios: Impact assessment with an urban case study

In recent years the interest in urban mobility has grown considerably, not only due to the local increase in negative externalities generated by transport, but also because recent technological innovations are offering effective solutions especially in urban context. In particular, the introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) could radically change the mobility scenario allowing, on the one hand, a widespread diffusion of shared vehicles that could feed the stations of the mass rapid transit network, improving the attractiveness of Public Transportation (PT), and on the other, the implementation of Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures on large areas of the most densely urbanized (and congested) territory of a city, without reducing accessibility and creating social exclusion. The present study aims at evaluating, through a system of Land-Use Transportation Interaction (LUTI) models, the impacts on transport demand and on population and activities location, of transportation policies oriented to both enhancing PT and restricting the individual use of the car. The case study analyzed is represented by the urban area of Rome. Several scenarios have been simulated and compared by means of sustainability indicators. Preliminary results show that the improvement of PT services, combined with the introduction of car use restriction and car free areas, do induce not only a significant modal shift towards more sustainable transportation modes, but also a limitation of urban sprawl

Estimating and visualizing perceived accessibility to transportation and urban facilities

In this paper we present some estimated functions of residential location utility, perceived by individuals, varying with the distance from selected transportation and urban facilities, such as metro and train stations, highway and road junctions, as well as hospitals, green spaces and leisure centres. By summing up such functions we get a measure of the overall convenience of residing in different zones of a given study area, that we call “perceived accessibility”. The functions, estimated by means of SP-surveys, have been implemented into an accessibility Interactive Visualisation Tool (i.e. InViTo) and applied to case study of Rome (Italy). The application allows to validating the use of interactive visualization tools to measure accessibility and its potential usability to produce easy-to-read accessibility maps of urban scenarios of urban development

Chiral Anomalies via Classical and Quantum Functional Methods

In the quantum path integral formulation of a field theory model an anomaly arises when the functional measure is not invariant under a symmetry transformation of the Lagrangian. In this paper, generalizing previous work done on the point particle, we show that even at the classical level we can give a path integral formulation for any field theory model. Since classical mechanics cannot be affected by anomalies, the measure of the classical path integral of a field theory must be invariant under the symmetry. The classical path integral measure contains the fields of the quantum one plus some extra auxiliary ones. So, at the classical level, there must be a sort of "cancellation" of the quantum anomaly between the original fields and the auxiliary ones. In this paper we prove in detail how this occurs for the chiral anomaly.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, misprint fixed, a dedication include