Quantum Twist to Complementarity: A Duality Relation

Some recent works have introduced a quantum twist to the concept of complementarity, exemplified by a setup in which the which-way detector is in a superposition of being present and absent. It has been argued that such experiments allow measurement of particle-like and wave-like behavior at the same time. Here we derive an inequality which puts a bound on the visibility of interference and the amount of which-way information that one can obtain, in the context of such modified experiments. As the wave-aspect can only be revealed by an ensemble of detections, we argue that in such experiments, a single detection can contribute only to one subensemble, corresponding to either wave-aspect or particle aspect. This way, each detected particle behaves either as particle or as wave, never both, and Bohr's complementarity is fully respected.Comment: Final version, to appear as letter in Prog. Theor. Exp. Phy

Tuning random lasing in photonic glasses

We present a detailed numerical investigation of the tunability of a diffusive random laser when Mie resonances are excited. We solve a multimode diffusion model and calculate multiple light scattering in presence of optical gain which includes dispersion in both scattering and gain, without any assumptions about the $\beta$ parameter. This allows us to investigate a realistic photonic glass made of latex spheres and rhodamine and to quantify both the lasing wavelength tunability range and the lasing threshold. Beyond what is expected by diffusive monochromatic models, the highest threshold is found when the competition between the lasing modes is strongest and not when the lasing wavelength is furthest from the maximum of the gain curve

Positive Surge Propagation in Sloping Channels

A simplified model for the upstream propagation of a positive surge in a sloping, rectangular channel is presented. The model is based on the assumptions of a flat water surface and negligible energy dissipation downstream of the surge, which is generated by the instantaneous closure of a downstream gate. Under these hypotheses, a set of equations that depends only on time accurately describes the surge wave propagation. When the Froude number of the incoming flow is relatively small, an approximate analytical solution is also proposed. The predictive ability of the model is validated by comparing the model results with the results of an experimental investigation and with the results of a numerical model that solves the full shallow water equations

Tools In Practice. Genealogy To Tackle Academic Inequalities

This paper introduces the method of genealogy to analyse the government of disability in Italian higher education contexts. Looking at how power and discourses construct disability within the academic setting, I problematize the truths that, throughout the last century, brought disabled subjects to be part of the mainstreamed education. Ethnographic work within a specific university milieu situated my research in the present of disabled students. That provides me with the access to tactics and power relations in specific and local settings, problematising the use of standardised criteria and classificatory systems. In depth-interviews with disabled students allow me to look for those technologies of power that work on the bodies and in the souls of disabled subjects, enabling me to delve into disabled students’ subjectivities. Seeing disability as a complex social function (Foucault, 1978; Peter and Fendler, 2003), the study shows how relations of power within precise historical, political and economic factors fashion the ways we are governed and we govern ourselves

Criteria for an environmentally sound reuse of construction and demolition waste in the EU within the concept of circular economy.

openEstate sector is energy and material intense industry. Construction and demolition waste represent the highest flux of waste at European Union. As part of the circular economy concept, the European Community has set certain limits on the re-use, recycling and recovery of other materials, including backfill for CDW, in order to make itself sustainable and more independent in terms of material sources. High recycling rate has been achieved in most EU Country as Austria and Italy, anyway to close the loop the main hurdler is the lack of confidence in the quality of the recycling aggregates. Standardised sampling methods and environmental testing increase confidence in the use of aggregates to prevent any environmental and health impacts from their use. They are also required as criteria to establish EoW status together with limit values on certain substances for an environmentally friendly use of recycled aggregates. The regulatory framework of virtuous countries with their sampling methods and analytical tests drawn up for an environmentally compatible use of CDWs was conducted by analysing common strengths and weaknesses. Regulations implemented to date for the reuse of materials from construction and demolition activities, such as the EoW, allow member states to achieve high recovery rates, even though they feed into low-quality recycling. Composite materials and the addition of chemicals in prefabricated materials make recycling an even more difficult challenge. The risk-based method for determining screening values or site-specific risk assessment for environmental reuse of CDWs should be implemented for emerging contaminants.Estate sector is energy and material intense industry. Construction and demolition waste represent the highest flux of waste at European Union. As part of the circular economy concept, the European Community has set certain limits on the re-use, recycling and recovery of other materials, including backfill for CDW, in order to make itself sustainable and more independent in terms of material sources. High recycling rate has been achieved in most EU Country as Austria and Italy, anyway to close the loop the main hurdler is the lack of confidence in the quality of the recycling aggregates. Standardised sampling methods and environmental testing increase confidence in the use of aggregates to prevent any environmental and health impacts from their use. They are also required as criteria to establish EoW status together with limit values on certain substances for an environmentally friendly use of recycled aggregates. The regulatory framework of virtuous countries with their sampling methods and analytical tests drawn up for an environmentally compatible use of CDWs was conducted by analysing common strengths and weaknesses. Regulations implemented to date for the reuse of materials from construction and demolition activities, such as the EoW, allow member states to achieve high recovery rates, even though they feed into low-quality recycling. Composite materials and the addition of chemicals in prefabricated materials make recycling an even more difficult challenge. The risk-based method for determining screening values or site-specific risk assessment for environmental reuse of CDWs should be implemented for emerging contaminants

Metabolic alterations and mitochondrial bioenergetic profile in HDAC4-driven tumorigenesis

Many tumors display a high rate of glycolysis and lactate secretion even in presence of ample oxygen concentrations and a reduced rate of aerobic respiration - the so called Warburg effect. Nevertheless, most tumor mitochondria are not defective in their ability to carry out oxidative phosphorylation. Previous experiments demonstrated that NIH-3T3 murine fibroblasts expressing the TM mutant of class IIa HDAC4, which has an almost total nuclear subcellular localization and therefore acts as a "super-repressive" form of HDAC4, are capable, unlike the WT counterpart, to grow in anchorage-independent way in-vitro and to form tumors in mice. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the tumoral metabolic phenotype of HDAC4TM-expressing cells. Although HDAC4TM-expressing cells had a proliferative advantage with respect to control cells, they did not lower the pH of the medium. In accordance, HDAC4TM cells lactate secretion, taken as a marker of glycolytic metabolism, was comparable with their counterpart cells and the inhibition of LDHa was able to discriminate between HDAC4TM- and H-RASG12V-expressing tumorigenic control cells which displayed a classic Warburg phenotype. However, HDAC4TM-expressing cells showed higher glucose shortage sensibility and a lower 2-DG IC50 compared to control cells, indicating a glycolysis dependance of HDAC4TM-expressing cells in between that of H-RASG12V-expressing cells and non-tumorigenic cells. In contrast to H-RASG12V cells, short-term blockade of glycolysis in HDAC4TM-expressing cells affected ATP production in a manner undistinguishable from control cells, while long-term glycolysis inhibition differentially impacted H-RASG12V and HDAC4TM tumorigenic potential. High resolution respirometry showed, in sharp contrast with H-RASG12V cells, a slight increase in basal mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate of HDAC4TM cells with respect to control cells, without affecting mitochondrial mass or membrane potential, that can be in part accounted for a slightly higher ETS complex I activity. OXPHOS inhibition did not cause a dramatic drop in intracellular ATP levels even though was sufficient to abolish HDAC4TM proliferative advantage with respect to cotrol cells. Surprisingly, however, OXPHOS inhibition revealed a less pronounced effect on HDAC4TM than on H-RASG12V tumorigenic potential. These results seem to support a model in which, despite a tumorigenic potential similar to H-RASG12V cells, the augmented glycolytic flux of HDAC4TM cells is not coupled to lactate secretion because of the preservation of mitochondrial compartment functionality but is speculatively used to increase the pool of metabolic intermediates needed for sustained cell proliferation

Spatial Stochastic Modelling of Ecosystems

The modelling of spatial effects in ecological systems has often been overlooked for its intrinsic complexity, both from a computational and a mathematical point of view. But real ecological systems are spatially extended and there is proved empirical evidence that this strongly influences their dynamics. At its core this thesis analyses a simple spatial extension of a birth death process with linear rates. In the regime of large fluctuations the model is amenable to analytical treatment, which, for example, leads to an explicit formula for the probability distribution of the number of individuals living in a given volume in any dimension. Comparison to simulated data shows excellent agreement where expected. Despite the lack of time reversibility at the individual level, at the community level the dynamics of the model satisfies time reversibility. These results are applied to infer the spatial empirical distributions of tree species in two lowland tropical forest inventories. In fact, the model allows to link observations of some of the most important ecological descriptors into a unified framework, and the predictions are shown to match data well. An extension of the model is also considered that aims at giving a first account of the effect of environmental fluctuations on large scale patterns. Analytic formulas are obtained, and comparisons to simulated data show again excellent agreement. The conclusions drawn from the present work can help to shed a light on the effects of spatial dispersal on large communities of living organisms and on the mathematical analysis of spatial stochastic processes. This could ultimately lead to the design of more effective conservation strategies, and to further unveil the delicate laws governing the coexistence of living organisms in complex natural systems