The ASTRI mini-array within the future Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a large collaborative effort aimed at the design and operation of an observatory dedicated to very high-energy gamma-ray astrophysics in the energy range from a few tens of GeV to above 100 TeV, which will yield about an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity with respect to the current major arrays (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS). Within this framework, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics is leading the ASTRI project, whose main goals are the design and installation on Mt. Etna (Sicily) of an end-to-end dual-mirror prototype of the CTA small size telescope (SST) and the installation at the CTA Southern site of a dual-mirror SST mini-array composed of nine units with a relative distance of about 300 m. The innovative dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical solution adopted for the ASTRI Project allows us to substantially reduce the telescope plate-scale and, therefore, to adopt silicon photo-multipliers as light detectors. The ASTRI mini-array is a wider international effort. The mini-array, sensitive in the energy range 1-100 TeV and beyond with an angular resolution of a few arcmin and an energy resolution of about 10-15%, is well suited to study relatively bright sources (a few $\times 10^{-12}$erg cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ at 10 TeV) at very high energy. Prominent sources such as extreme blazars, nearby well-known BL Lac objects, Galactic pulsar wind nebulae, supernovae remnants, micro-quasars, and the Galactic Center can be observed in a previously unexplored energy range. The ASTRI mini-array will extend the current IACTs sensitivity well above a few tens of TeV and, at the same time, will allow us to compare our results on a few selected targets with those of current (HAWC) and future high-altitude extensive air-shower detectors.Comment: Proceedings of the "The Roma International Conference on Astroparticle Physics (RICAP) 2014". Submitted to EPJ Web of Conferences. 5 pages, 5 figures. ((1) INAF/IASF Palermo, (2) http://www.brera.inaf.it/astri/, (3) https://portal.cta-observatory.org

The new articulation of wages, rent and profit in cognitive capitalism

The current transformation of capitalism is characterised by a full-fledged comeback and proliferation of forms of rent parallel to a complete change in the relationship between wages, rent and profit. To demonstrate our hypothesis, this article is divided in two sections: in the first section we are going to examine the definitions of the categories of wages, rent and profit , and claim that the lines separating rent from profit are flexible and mobile both theoretically and historically. To illustrate this point we rely on suggestions found in Marx's Capital volume III, where he drafts a theory of the becoming-rent of capital that provides new insights into the related theory of the general intellect . In the second section we will provide a synthetic framework for the interpretation of transformat ions of the labour-capital relation that led simultaneously to an increase in the power of rent and the collapse of a distinction between rent and profit in the transition from industrial to cognitive capitalismwages, rent, profit, cognitive capitalism

From Formal Subsumption to General Intellect: Elements for a Marxist Reading of the Thesis of Cognitive Capitalism, in Historical Materialism

Since the crisis of Fordism, capitalism has been characterised by the ever more central role ofknowledge and the rise of the cognitive dimensions of labour. This is not to say that the centralityof knowledge to capitalism is new per se. Rather, the question we must ask is to what extent we canspeak of a new role for knowledge and, more importantly, its relationship with transformations inthe capital/labour relation. From this perspective, the paper highlights the continuing validity ofMarx's analysis of the knowledge/power relation in the development of the division of labour. Moreprecisely, we are concerned with the theoretical and heuristic value of the concepts of formalsubsumption, real subsumption and general intellect for any interpretation of the present change ofthe capital/labour relation in cognitive capitalism. In this way, we show the originality of the generalintellect hypothesis as a sublation of real subsumption. Finally, the article summarises keycontradictions and new forms of antagonism in cognitive capitalism.crisis; division of labour; knowledge; formal subsumption; real subsumption; general intellect; cognitive capitalism; diffuse intellectuality

The new articulation of wages, rent and profit in cognitive capitalism

In the transition toward a cognitive capitalism, the transformations of the social organisation of production are strictly connected to those of income distribution. This evolution is deeply characterised by the re-emerging of the rent under different forms. The aim of this article is to provide a marxist interpretation of these mutations and their social and economic implications. The analysis is organised in two sections. In the first section we are going to examine the definitions of the categories of wages, rent and profit, and claim that the lines separating rent from profit are flexible and mobile both theoretically and historically. To illustrate this point we rely on suggestions found in Marx's Capital volume III, where he drafts a theory of the becoming-rent of capital that provides new insights into the related theory of the general intellect. In the second section, we will provide a synthetic framework for the interpretation of transformations of the labour-capital relation that led simultaneously to an increase in the power of rent and the collapse of a distinction between rent and profit in the transition from industrial to cognitive capitalism.Income distribution, Wage, Rent, Profit, General intellect, Cognitive capitalism

Networking of Information – An information-centric approach to the network of the future

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Il ritorno del rentier: Salario, rendita e profitto nel capitalismo cognitivo

L'attuale mutazione del capitalismo è segnata da un ritorno in forza della rendita che va di pari passo con uno sgretolamento della distinzione tradizionale tra rendita e profitto. Per dimostrare questa tesi, l'articolo è diviso in due parti. Nella prima ritorneremo sulla definizione delle categorie di salario, rendita e profitto. In questa riflessione, insisteremo, sia dal punto di vista teorico che storico, sulle frontiere flessibili e mobili che separano la categoria della rendita da quella del profitto. Per fare ciò ci appoggeremo su alcuni spunti che Marx svolge nel III libro del Capitale, quando abbozza una teoria del divenire rendita del capitale, teoria che può essere messa in relazione e dare nuova luce all'attualità dell'ipotesi del General Intellect. Nella seconda parte, proporremo una griglia di lettura sintetica delle trasformazioni del rapporto capitale-lavoro che, nella transizione dal capitalismo industriale verso il capitalismo cognitivo, hanno condotto contemporaneamente a una crescita di potenza della rendita e a uno affievolimento della distinzione tra rendita e profitto