Kinetic description of avalanching systems

Avalanching systems are treated analytically using the renormalization group (in the self-organized-criticality regime) or mean-field approximation, respectively. The latter describes the state in terms of the mean number of active and passive sites, without addressing the inhomogeneity in their distribution. This paper goes one step further by proposing a kinetic description of avalanching systems making use of the distribution function for clusters of active sites. We illustrate application of the kinetic formalism to a model proposed for the description of the avalanching processes in the reconnecting current sheet of the Earth magnetosphere.Comment: 9 page

Seven years of marine environmental changes monitoring at coastal OOCS stations (Catalan Sea, NW Mediterranean)

Since March 2009 up to the present (more than 7 years now), the Operational Observatory of the Catalan Sea (OOCS; http://www2.ceab.csic.es/ oceans/) remains a witness of persistent marine environmental changes. The OOCS has two fixed observation stations at the head of the Blanes Canyon (200 m depth, 41.66°N; 2.91°E) and at the Blanes bay (20 m depth, 41.67°N; 2.80°E) in the Catalan Sea, NW Mediterranean. At the canyon station, a multi-parametric buoy presently installed delivers high frequency (by 30 min) and multi-parametric oceanographic (i.e. salinity, temperature, chlorophyll, turbidity, as well as light intensity in the PAR range for the upper 50 m depth) and atmospheric (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction and PAR) data. Subsurface photos and videos by an IP high resolution fisheye camera attached to the buoy are also delivered at 4-hour basis. Data and multimedia are transmitted in near real time for public access, via combined GSM/GPRS and 3G connections. At both stations, CTD profiles and water samples (collected for nutrients and picoplankton analyses) are carried out on board a research vessel at fortnightly basis. Numerical simulations along with the time series of in-situ observations show inter-annual seasonality anomalies possibly linked to global environmental changes. The lower-atmosphere and upper-sea environmental time series data collected prove the occurrence of shifting patterns of heat and matter fluxes impacting pelagic and benthic organisms.Peer Reviewe

Distributed Generation and Resilience in Power Grids

We study the effects of the allocation of distributed generation on the resilience of power grids. We find that an unconstrained allocation and growth of the distributed generation can drive a power grid beyond its design parameters. In order to overcome such a problem, we propose a topological algorithm derived from the field of Complex Networks to allocate distributed generation sources in an existing power grid.Comment: proceedings of Critis 2012 http://critis12.hig.no

Continuous Time Random Walks in periodic systems: fluid limit and fractional differential equations on the circle

In this article, the continuous time random walk on the circle is studied. We derive the corresponding generalized master equation and discuss the effects of topology, especially important when Levy flights are allowed. Then, we work out the fluid limit equation, formulated in terms of the periodic version of the fractional Riemann-Liouville operators, for which we provide explicit expressions. Finally, we compute the propagator in some simple cases. The analysis presented herein should be relevant when investigating anomalous transport phenomena in systems with periodic dimensions.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure. References added. Published versio

A sandpile model with tokamak-like enhanced confinement phenomenology

Confinement phenomenology characteristic of magnetically confined plasmas emerges naturally from a simple sandpile algorithm when the parameter controlling redistribution scalelength is varied. Close analogues are found for enhanced confinement, edge pedestals, and edge localised modes (ELMs), and for the qualitative correlations between them. These results suggest that tokamak observations of avalanching transport are deeply linked to the existence of enhanced confinement and ELMs.Comment: Manuscript is revtex (latex) 1 file, 7 postscript figures Revised version is final version accepted for publication in PRL Revisions are mino

Fractional generalization of Fick's law: a microscopic approach

In the study of transport in inhomogeneous systems it is common to construct transport equations invoking the inhomogeneous Fick law. The validity of this approach requires that at least two ingredients be present in the system. First, finite characteristic length and time scales associated to the dominant transport process must exist. Secondly, the transport mechanism must satisfy a microscopic symmetry: global reversibility. Global reversibility is often satisfied in nature. However, many complex systems exhibit a lack of finite characteristic scales. In this Letter we show how to construct a generalization of the inhomogeneous Fick law that does not require the existence of characteristic scales while still satisfying global reversibility.Comment: 4 pages. Published versio

Hepatic Complications

Peer reviewe

Impacto del consejo médico para dejar de fumar durante la gestación

ObjetivoEl consumo de tabaco entre las mujeres ha aumentado en España en los últimos años, especialmente entre los grupos en edad reproductiva. El objetivo del estudio es evaluar el impacto del consejo médico integrado en la atención prenatal sobre el consumo de tabaco durante el embarazo y en el posparto.DiseñoEstudio de intervención cuasiexperimental.EmplazamientoHospital del Mar de Barcelona.PacientesEl grupo control estaba constituido por 219 pacientes que acudieron para atención al parto al hospital del Mar en 1996, el grupo de intervención, por 169 pacientes atendidas durante el embarazo en el mismo hospital en 1997.IntervencionesLas pacientes del grupo control habían recibido atención habitual. Las gestantes del grupo de intervención recibieron de forma sistemática un consejo estructurado para dejar de fumar, reforzado por un folleto elaborado con esta finalidad.Mediciones y resultadosLos grupos de intervención y control no presentaban diferencias estadísticamente significativas en las variables sociodemográficas ni en el consumo de tabaco. En ambos grupos se determinó la evolución del hábito tabáquico durante el embarazo a lo largo de las visitas prenatales, y a los 6 meses posparto, a través de una entrevista telefónica. De las gestantes del grupo control, 44 (20,1%) habían dejado de fumar antes de la primera visita prenatal y 11 (5%) lo hicieron durante el embarazo. En el grupo de intervención 26 (17,7%) habían dejado de fumar espontáneamente y 16 (10,9%) dejaron de fumar durante el embarazo. De las que dejaron de fumar completamente durante el embarazo, se mantenían abstinentes a los 6 meses el 36,4% de las mujeres del grupo de control y el 64,3% en el grupo de intervención (p = 0,002).ConclusionesEl consejo para dejar de fumar en la visita prenatal produce un aumento discreto en la proporción de abandonos, y una disminución significativa de las recaídas en el posparto.ObjectiveWomen´s tobacco consumption has increased in Spain in recent years, especially among women of reproductive age. This study aims to evaluate the impact of medical counselling integrated into pre-natal care on tobacco consumption during pregnancy and the period after delivery.DesignQuasi-experimental intervention study.SettingHospital del Mar, Barcelona.Patients219 patients who attended the Hospital del Mar for delivery during 1996 (control group) and 169 patients seen during their pregnancies at the same hospital in 1997 (intervention group).InterventionsThe control group patients had received normal care. The pregnant women in the intervention group received systematic structured counselling on giving up smoking, backed up by a special brochure composed for this purpose.Measurements and resultsThe intervention and control groups showed no statistically significant differences either in their social or demographic variables or in their tobacco consumption. In both groups the evolution of their smoking during pregnancy was determined during their pre-natal visits and six months after delivery through a telephone interview. 44 of the women in the control group (20.1%) gave up smoking before their first pre-natal visit, and 11 (5%) gave up during pregnancy. In the intervention group 26 (17.7%) had given up spontaneously and 16 (10.9%) gave up during pregnancy. Of those who gave up completely during pregnancy, 36.4% of women in the control group and 64.3% in the intervention group remained abstinent at six months (P=.002).ConclusionsCounselling at pre-natal checkups to give up smoking lightly increases the number of women who give up and reduces significantly the number of post-delivery backsliders