A Random Multifractal Tilling

We develop a multifractal random tilling that fills the square. The multifractal is formed by an arrangement of rectangular blocks of different sizes, areas and number of neighbors. The overall feature of the tilling is an heterogeneous and anisotropic random self-affine object. The multifractal is constructed by an algorithm that makes successive sections of the square. At each $n$-step there is a random choice of a parameter $\rho_i$ related to the section ratio. For the case of random choice between $\rho_1$ and $\rho_2$ we find analytically the full spectrum of fractal dimensions

Resonance Propagation and Threshold Singularities

We consider the problem of propagation of an unstable particle in the framework of Quantum Field Theory. Using unitarity, we show that a real renormalization constant free of threshold singularities naturally arises.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, revte

Testing the SUSY-QCD Yukawa coupling in a combined LHC/ILC analysis

In order to establish supersymmetry (SUSY) at future colliders, the identity of gauge couplings and the corresponding Yukawa couplings between gauginos, sfermions and fermions needs to be verified. Here a first phenomenological study for determining the Yukawa coupling of the SUSY-QCD sector is presented, using a method which combines information from LHC and ILC.Comment: 5pp, slightly expanded version of contributions to the Proc. of the Linear Collider Workshop (LCWS 06), Bangalore, India, 9-13 March 2006, and the Proc. of the 14th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions (SUSY 06), Irvine, California, USA, 12-17 June 200

Alcanena Industrial Waste Landfill − Description of a Portuguese Case History

Alcanena is a municipality located in the center of Portugal where about 85% of the Portuguese tanning industries are located, representing 65% of the national production. During decades the industrial waste was disposed directly in the soil and the waste waters discharged into the river without any treatment. Following the recent Portuguese environmental policy, the national authorities decided to rehabilitate this area. First, by the construction of a waste water treatment plant (WWTP) and a impermeabilized lagoon for WWTP mud deposition, then by the construction of a landfill for deposition of the tanning scraps and, finally, when the maximum capacity of the lagoon was reached by the construction of a landfill for deposition of the pre-treated WWTP muds. In this paper special importance will be given to this landfill, to the mud pre-treatment procedures and to the air and water monitoring systems

Quantifying the Drivers of Star Formation on Galactic Scales. I. The Small Magellanic Cloud

We use the star formation history of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) to place quantitative limits on the effect of tidal interactions and gas infall on the star formation and chemical enrichment history of the SMC. The coincident timing of two recent (< 4 Gyr) increases in the star formation rate and SMC/Milky Way(MW) pericenter passages suggests that global star formation in the SMC is driven at least in part by tidal forces due to the MW. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the other potential driver of star formation, but is only near the SMC during the most recent burst. The poorly constrained LMC-SMC orbit is our principal uncertainty. To explore the correspondence between bursts and MW pericenter passages further, we model star formation in the SMC using a combination of continuous and tidally-triggered star formation. The behavior of the tidally-triggered mode is a strong inverse function of the SMC-MW separation (preferred behavior ~ r^-5, resulting in a factor of ~100 difference in the rate of tidally-triggered star formation at pericenter and apocenter). Despite the success of these closed-box evolutionary models in reproducing the recent SMC star formation history and current chemical abundance, they have some systematic shortcomings that are remedied by postulating that a sizable infall event (~ 50% of the total gas mass) occured about 4 Gyr ago. Regardless of whether this infall event is included, the fraction of stars in the SMC that formed via a tidally triggered mode is > 10% and could be as large as 70%.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Personalised trails and learner profiling within e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on personalisation and personalised trails. We begin by introducing and defining the concepts of personalisation and personalised trails. Personalisation requires that a user profile be stored, and so we assess currently available standard profile schemas and discuss the requirements for a profile to support personalised learning. We then review techniques for providing personalisation and some systems that implement these techniques, and discuss some of the issues around evaluating personalisation systems. We look especially at the use of learning and cognitive styles to support personalised learning, and also consider personalisation in the field of mobile learning, which has a slightly different take on the subject, and in commercially available systems, where personalisation support is found to currently be only at quite a low level. We conclude with a summary of the lessons to be learned from our review of personalisation and personalised trails

Relationship between the DTA peak and phase diagram : symbiosis between a thermodynamic database and a DTA curve

The shape of a differential thermal analysis (DTA) curve depends on the sample and the reference, the heating or cooling rates used in theexperiment as also the thermal resistance to heat ¯ow from the heat source to the cell containing the sample (or the reference), Ra (Rr).Having access to a database that contains the values of the sample heat capacity, Cp, and those of the enthalpy of transformation, H, andcalculating the parameters that depend on the apparatus, the cells and the reference, as well as the heating rate used, it is possible todetermine the T (Ta ÿ Tr) values through the equationTa ÿ Tr RadHdt RrCrdTrdt ÿ RaCadTadtwhere Ca is the heat capacity of the cell sample system and Cb the heat capacity of the cell reference system. The comparison betweenthe calculated and experimental values for T enables an assessment to be made as to whether the modelled parameters are in agreementwith the experimental information. This procedure enables a deeper perception of the thermal analysis in general and of the apparatus usedin particular