Networked by design: can policy constraints support the development of capabilities for collaborative innovation?

While there has been some recent interest in the behavioural effects of policies in support of innovation networks, this research field is still relatively new. In particular, an important but under-researched question for policy design is “what kind of networks” should be supported, if the objective of the policy is not just to fund successful innovation projects, but also to stimulate behavioural changes in the participants, such as increasing their ability to engage in collaborative innovation. By studying the case of the innovation policy programmes implemented by the regional government of Tuscany, in Italy, between 2002 and 2008, we assess whether the imposition of constraints on the design of innovation networks has enhanced the participants’ collaborative innovation capabilities, and we draw some general implications for policy

No Escape

The initial idea for the film came from an inspiring performance of Chaplin's Easy Street (1917) accompanied by Donald MacKenzie, resident organist at the Odeon Leicester Square, which led me into researches of early cinema (c1895-1907), a period described by Tom Gunning as the ‘cinema of attractions’. James Lastra points out that during this time competition between cinemas was based on the success of various sound strategies all emphasising the ‘liveness’ of the film experience and films were made to motivate particular types of sound accompaniment. Particularly intriguing was the use of live sound effects performed by a skilled troupe from behind the film screen to produce ‘realistic’ sound effects. This is translated in No Escape into the manipulation of on-screen diegetic sound, also inspired by Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète and his notions of the sound object and reduced listening. The interaction between the live piano and the onscreen sound is crucial to No Escape as is that of the piano and images, which exist alone together for long stretches. The visual content and structure of the film draws on the city symphonies of Walter Ruttman and especially Dziga Vertov whose formal experimentation, startling juxtaposition of images and very rapid editing is important to No Escape’s non-narrative and at times complex montage of British rural and urban vistas. Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is by and partially about the man with the camera as is No Escape, the title of which refers to the idea that though we may travel to get away from something, there is no escape from the inner life. This is represented by the piano music, which varies but within fairly restricted limits. It does respond or drive image choice and editing but the overall sense should be that one cannot escape and these responses are temporary and fleeting Extrapolating from Tom Gunning's cinema of attractions, James Beattie's concept of ‘documentary display’ - a poetic, sensual and subjective approach which encourages listening and looking rather than cognitive understanding - underpins the aesthetic of No Escape, as is a belief in the supremacy of sound and of film as a performative event

Using Gaussian Process Regression to Simulate the Vibrational Raman Spectra of Molecular Crystals

Vibrational properties of molecular crystals are constantly used as structural fingerprints, in order to identify both the chemical nature and the structural arrangement of molecules. The simulation of these properties is typically very costly, especially when dealing with response properties of materials to e.g. electric fields, which require a good description of the perturbed electronic density. In this work, we use Gaussian process regression (GPR) to predict the static polarizability and dielectric susceptibility of molecules and molecular crystals. We combine this framework with ab initio molecular dynamics to predict their anharmonic vibrational Raman spectra. We stress the importance of data representation, symmetry, and locality, by comparing the performance of different flavors of GPR. In particular, we show the advantages of using a recently developed symmetry-adapted version of GPR. As an examplary application, we choose Paracetamol as an isolated molecule and in different crystal forms. We obtain accurate vibrational Raman spectra in all cases with fewer than 1000 training points, and obtain improvements when using a GPR trained on the molecular monomer as a baseline for the crystal GPR models. Finally, we show that our methodology is transferable across polymorphic forms: we can train the model on data for one structure, and still be able to accurately predict the spectrum for a second polymorph. This procedure provides an independent route to access electronic structure properties when performing force-evaluations on empirical force-fields or machine-learned potential energy surfaces

Quantum channel detection

We present a method to detect properties of quantum channels, assuming that some a priori information about the form of the channel is available. The method is based on a correspondence with entanglement detection methods for multipartite density matrices based on witness operators. We first illustrate the method in the case of entanglement breaking channels and non separable random unitary channels, and show how it can be implemented experimentally by means of local measurements. We then study the detection of non separable maps and show that for pairs of systems of dimension higher than two the detection operators are not the same as in the random unitary case, highlighting a richer separability structure of quantum channels with respect to quantum states. Finally we consider the set of PPT maps, developing a technique to reveal NPT maps.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, published versio

Linear and nonlinear evolution of current-carrying highly magnetized jets

We investigate the linear and nonlinear evolution of current-carrying jets in a periodic configuration by means of high resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations. The jets under consideration are strongly magnetized with a variable pitch profile and initially in equilibrium under the action of a force-free magnetic field. The growth of current-driven (CDI) and Kelvin-Helmholtz (KHI) instabilities is quantified using three selected cases corresponding to static, Alfvenic and super-Alfvenic jets. During the early stages, we observe large-scale helical deformations of the jet corresponding to the growth of the initially excited CDI mode. A direct comparison between our simulation results and the analytical growth rates obtained from linear theory reveals good agreement on condition that high-resolution and accurate discretization algorithms are employed. After the initial linear phase, the jet structure is significantly altered and, while slowly-moving jets show increasing helical deformations, larger velocity shear are violently disrupted on a few Alfven crossing time leaving a turbulent flow structure. Overall, kinetic and magnetic energies are quickly dissipated into heat and during the saturated regime the jet momentum is redistributed on a larger surface area with most of the jet mass travelling at smaller velocities. The effectiveness of this process is regulated by the onset of KHI instabilities taking place at the jet/ambient interface and can be held responsible for vigorous jet braking and entrainment.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Computation of microdosimetric distributions for small sites

Object of this study is the computation of microdosimetric functions for sites which are too small to permit experimental determination of the distributions by Rossi-counters. The calculations are performed on simulated tracks generated by Monte-Carlo techniques. The first part of the article deals with the computational procedure. The second part presents numerical results for protons of energies 0.5, 5, 20 MeV and for site diameters of 5, 10, 100 nm

Localization Transition in Incommensurate non-Hermitian Systems

A class of one-dimensional lattice models with incommensurate complex potential $V(\theta)=2[\lambda_r cos(\theta)+i \lambda_i sin(\theta)]$ is found to exhibit localization transition at $|\lambda_r|+|\lambda_i|=1$. This transition from extended to localized states manifests in the behavior of the complex eigenspectum. In the extended phase, states with real eigenenergies have finite measure and this measure goes to zero in the localized phase. Furthermore, all extended states exhibit real spectrum provided $|\lambda_r| \ge |\lambda_i|$. Another novel feature of the system is the fact that the imaginary part of the spectrum is sensitive to the boundary conditions {\it only at the onset to localization}

Concepts of microdosimetry

This is the first part of an investigation of microdosimetric concepts relevant to numerical calculations. The definitions of the microdosimetric quantities are reviewed and formalized, and some additional conventions are adopted. The common interpretation of the quantities in terms of energy imparted to spherical sites is contrasted with their interpretation as the result of a diffusion process applied to the initial spatial pattern of energy transfers in the irradiated medium