Le implicazione metaforiche del confronto tra Habermas e Rawls del 1995 sul concetto di posizione originaria

The article goes through the critical analysis of the rawlsian concept of origi- nal position, expressed by Habermas in 1995. Habermasian remarks on the original posi- tion aims to undermine the justifiability of such a concept as fundamental to the whole political theory. In fact, it is supposed to substitute the procedures of democratic de- liberation with a well thought-out construction belonging uniquely to the theoretician. According to Habermas, substantive outcomes of procedures must be left out from po- litical theory, whose task is to set a standard for the best possible procedures, meaning a democratic framework in which all opinions and beliefs take part to the decision. Rawls approves the critique since from his point of view, no procedure is able to avoid the in- clusion of some substantive contents. On such assumption he twists to habermasian the- ory the same remarks, observing that it avoids substantive assumptions at political level, embodying them at the epistemic one. As a result, the article raises some issues about the desirability and feasibility of both theories, even considering which interpretation of the role of political philosophy they imply

PLURALISM AS IT IS, PLURALISM AS IT SHOULD BE. A CASE FOR MODUS VIVENDI

Pluralism is an inescapable feature of contemporary liberal societies and it raises the demand for a normative strategy to face the disagreement it generates. Contemporary debates in normative political theory deal with pluralism by proposing a variety of solutions to prevent it from degenerating into unmanageable conflicts. The most prominent and dominant theoretical paradigm is John Rawls\u2019s theory of political liberalism, that dissolves the dangerous potential of political disagreement by imposing a discipline of pluralism. This work is guided by the question: is there a way to govern the undesirable consequences of pluralism that does not imply a disciplining of pluralism itself? The goal is to find a solution to the problem of pluralism, a strategy for its management able to preserve its features without putting order, peace and stability at risk. Along with modus vivendi scholars and contrary to the Rawls outlook on modus vivendi, this work is committed to show that modus vivendi contains the potential to give an answer to the pluralism of beliefs and not just to the plurality of goals. Modus vivendi is here regarded as an independent political project, capable of providing an answer to pluralism whilst representing a valuable alternative to political liberalism. I commence my analysis challenging the Rawlsian paradigm of political liberalism, starting with an assessment of his version of pluralism, reasonable pluralism, and of what I call the \u201ctools\u201d that political liberalism puts in place to contain the effects of reasonable pluralism and to attain a form of strong and enduring consensus. I then turn to the appraisal of modus vivendi solutions. I define the Rawlsian understanding of modus vivendi (which I called \u201cRawlsian modus vivendi\u201d, RMV) as the black mirror of political liberalism since it is entirely thought out to perform an ancillary role with respect to the purposes of it. The pars construens on this work is dedicated to the project of re-thinking modus vivendi along the dynamics of compromise, a model that I call \u201ccompromise modus vivendi\u201d (CMV). I argue that CMV should fall within the scope of non-ideal realist political theory and that it is normative as it demands that citizens have an attitude to compromise, specified by a list of requirements. I observe how the dynamics of CMV result in a specific form of consensus that does not require any selection of reasons and a specific form of stability (light stability) that mirrors such openness to plural reasons. I conclude that CMV has the virtue of being a desirable and practicable solution while respecting pluralism in its actual form

Chief digital officers:An analysis of the presence of a centralized digital transformation role

By appointing a chief digital officer (CDO), firms decide for a central role responsible for their digital transformation. While CDOs have recently appeared in the C-suites of firms across the globe, the current literature lacks insights into the specific antecedents of CDO presence. Grounded in the peculiarities of the digital age, we provide theoretical arguments explaining how the decision to centralize digital transformation responsibilities might be related to transformation urgency and coordination needs. Empirical analyses based on a panel data set of 913 U.S. and European firms support that transformation urgency and coordination needs predict CDO presence. An additional analysis of moderating temporal effects reveals that, over time, the effect of transformation urgency is weakened and the effect of coordination needs on CDO presence is strengthened. We discuss implications for research and practice regarding the antecedents of CDO presence, TMT research more generally, and centralization in the digital age

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

The vacuolar H+ ATPase is a novel therapeutic target for glioblastoma

The vacuolar H+ ATPase (V-ATPase) is a proton pump responsible for acidification of cellular microenvironments, an activity exploited by tumors to survive, proliferate and resist to therapy. Despite few observations, the role of V-ATPase in human tumorigenesis remains unclear.We investigated the expression of ATP6V0C, ATP6V0A2, encoding two subunits belonging to the V-ATPase V0 sector and ATP6V1C, ATP6V1G1, ATPT6V1G2, ATP6V1G3, which are part of the V1 sector, in series of adult gliomas and in cancer stem cell-enriched neurospheres isolated from glioblastoma (GBM) patients. ATP6V1G1 expression resulted significantly upregulated in tissues of patients with GBM and correlated with shorter patients' overall survival independent of clinical variables.ATP6V1G1 knockdown in GBM neurospheres hampered sphere-forming ability, induced cell death, and decreased matrix invasion, a phenotype not observed in GBM monolayer cultures. Treating GBM organotypic cultures or neurospheres with the selective V-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 reproduced the effects of ATP6V1G1 siRNA and strongly suppressed expression of the stem cell markers Nestin, CD133 and transcription factors SALL2 and POU3F2 in neurospheres.These data point to ATP6V1G1 as a novel marker of poor prognosis in GBM patients and identify V-ATPase inhibition as an innovative therapeutic strategy for GBM

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic