Realization of SOC behavior in a dc glow discharge plasma

Experimental observations consistent with Self Organized Criticality (SOC) have been obtained in the electrostatic floating potential fluctuations of a dc glow discharge plasma. Power spectrum exhibits a power law which is compatible with the requirement for SOC systems. Also the estimated value of the Hurst exponent (self similarity parameter), H being greater than 0.5, along with an algebraic decay of the autocorrelation function, indicate the presence of temporal long-range correlations, as may be expected from SOC dynamics. This type of observations in our opinion has been reported for the first time in a glow discharge system.Comment: Key Words: Glow discharge; Self Organized Criticality; Hurst exponent; R/S technique; Power spectrum; Autocorrelation function; Nongaussian probability distribution function. Phys Lett A (article in Press

Willingness to Pay for Community Health Fund Card in Mtwara Rural District,Tanzania

\ud The Ministry of Health in Tanzania has established a new programme in the primary health care service. CHF is a district-level prepayment scheme targeted at the rural population.CHF starts in 1995 on a pilot basis in one district and in 2003 has to be implemented in all districts. Mtwara Rural District is in the implantation stage. This study was proposed for assisting the district in pricing the health service and developing recommendations for the process of CHF implementation. It is focused primarily on the willingness of the population to pay for a CHF card.Price is not the only factor related to willingness to join the CHF. Complex human behavior,choices and motivation can also determine it. The result of the survey have drawn up the demand curve and constructed the chart of expected revenues from CHF card. Next stage was estimating the health Facility costs in order to find out the amount of funds to be collected. The CHF card rates proposed are based in maximizing the population under the health care system and covering the HF costs. The questionnaire prepared for the survey includes a section to know the opinion of respondents about the quality of care provided by MoH health facilities. According to the data obtained, the study proposed to establish the Tanzania national drug programme(Indent System),before CHF. Indent System changes the drug supply system and might improve the health quality. Experiences in Africa countries are also reviewed. This section contents the constraints identifies in other studies about different systems of payment. Evidence demonstrates the dangers associated with charging clients at the point of use of health service. Almost invariably payment systems have the affect of dissuading the poor from ccessing this services. Exemption mechanisms attempting to mitigate this impact have not tended to work. The experiences suggests querying some issues about CHF. The study is addressed to two audiences , MRD and MSF. This factor made complex drawing up the document. It was prepared with a view to: Pricing the health care services ,Developing recommendations for the CHF implementation in MRD and Providing qualitative information about the side effects of payment systems in the health care sector.\u

Density estimates on a parabolic spde

We consider a general class of parabolic spde's [formula] with (t, x) [member of] [0, T]×[0, 1] and [epsilon]Wt,x, [epsilon] > 0, a perturbed Gaussian space-time white noise. For (t, x) [member of] (0, T]×(0, 1) we prove the called Davies and Varadhan-Léandre estimates of the density p[epsilon]t,x of the solution u[epsilon]t,x

Genera Esfera: Interacting with a trackball mapped onto a sphere to explore generative visual worlds

Genera Esfera is an interactive installation that allows the audience to interact and easily become a VJ (visual DJ) in a world of generative visuals. It is an animated and generative graphic environment with a music playlist, a visual spherical world related with and suggested by the music, which reacts and evolves. The installation has been presented at MIRA Live Visual Arts Festival 2015, in Barcelona. Genera Esfera was envisioned, developed and programmed on the basis of two initial ideas: first, to generate our spherical planets we need to work with spherical geometry and program 3D graphics; second, the interaction should be easy to understand, proposing a direct mapping between the visuals and the interface. Our main goal is that participants can focus on exploring the graphic worlds rather than concentrate on understanding the interface. For that purpose we use a trackball to map its position onto sphere rotations. In this paper, we present the interactive installation Genera Esfera, the design guidelines, the mathematics behind the generative visuals and its results.Postprint (published version

AUV/ASC cooperative survey

In this paper we describe a solution to perform autonomous surveys taking advantage of a cooperative multivehicle setup. In the proposed configuration, an ASC provides –through an USBL- absolute positioning and communications to an AUV. Thus, by following the AUV with the surface vehicle we facilitate the reception of USBL measurements in the AUV regardless of the extent of the mission. This turns into an improved navigation on the AUV’s side, with the drift bounded thanks to the absolute measurements. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is able to maintain the ASC at a close distance and improve the navigation of the AUV. Moreover, the bathymetric maps built from the AUV data are consistent enough to enable the automatic detection of present targets and program further localized missions in the area.Peer Reviewe